Dangerous fruit

Nancy Pelosi’s 100 hour march continues today, as the House takes up a bill that will allow the U.S. Government to negotiate directly with pharmaceutical companies when purchasing drugs for the newly-enacted Medicare Part D program. Like raising the minimum wage, this proposal represents Pelosi’s efforts to find low-hanging liberal fruit — in other words, domestic programs that, unlike the bulk of the liberal agenda, poll well.
Raising the minimum wage isn’t a very good idea, but it does not threaten great harm. However, the same cannot be said for using the government’s negotiating power to regulate drug prices.
To understand the issue, I recommend this piece by Pat Cleary at his Shop Floor blog, and this one by Robert Goldberg in the Washington Times.