Market would feast on flu

Thousands of people are flocking to the Spokane County health district in search of flu vaccinations. People are acting responsibly in immunizing themselves and their families from this epidemic. Our democratically elected officials have appointed people who have established a rational system of priorities for allocating this resource.

Of course the health district program is socialized medicine. All those who oppose such evils should step out of the line.

Imagine if this program were run by a purely capitalist system. According to the laws of economics, private vendors should be able to set the maximum price based upon the demand. If you wanted an early vaccination, you might pay $500, about what a baseball playoff ticket would cost. Mid-season, if the flu is widespread, the price might rise to $2,000 or in healthy times, drop to, say, $100 (futures market, anyone?). In the spring, there would be clearance sales to unload this year’s flu vaccine stock before next year’s model comes in. This system would probably result in a pandemic which would shut down the remainder of the economy, but the pharmaceutical industry would maximize its profits.

I prefer the socialized medicine model, don’t you?

Terrence V. Sawyer

Spokane