Misc. Mental Musings
Perdu Purview
S. G. Lacey
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Phrase:
Perdu(e) = Out of sight, in hiding, concealed. [REF]
Purview = The range or limit of authority, competence, responsibility, concern, or intention. [REF]
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Both these words starting with “p” are rarely used in modern parlance. However, their individual meanings are still quite apt, and when combined this pair essentially summarizes the transgressions which have epitomized shady behavior and legislative overreach across many segments of America, from business to politics, education to health care. Not to mention the entire U.S. governmental complex.
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The activities of the 2021 calendar year alone have brought many of these ugly and secretive wrongdoings to the forefront, and into the bright light of direct public scrutiny. The findings unearthed are not pretty, and have led to all matter of judicial proceedings. However, in each case, irrevocable damage has already been done, due to illicit acts conducted over a long duration, ultimately at the general public’s expense.
As with most such misbehaviors, monetary motives are at the heart of the matter. Let’s peruse several series of events which end up with surprisingly similar results, despite their obtuse starting conditions.
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Perdue Farms:
Chicken pervades all manner of American culinary pursuits.
Chicken parmesan at your favorite Italian restaurant, the basic meaty breast amplified by breading preparation and sauce treatment. Chicken wings, slow cooked on the grill, or deep fried in oil, which personify any sports tailgate of repute. Chicken nuggets, prepared at nearly all fast-food joints, feeding hordes of hungry children, and nearly as many unhealthy adults.
All this poultry protein must come from somewhere.
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The process for creating these birds is generally known, despite the “chicken or egg” origin story which has been the source of jokes and thought experiments for decades. In reality, the progression of going from fledgling embryo to fuzzy chick, then from mature bird to meaty portions, is an incredibly defined and optimized development cycle.
The entire poultry business, while not a true oligopoly, has a small and finite set of influential players. This select list includes Perdue Farms, an century old, still family-lead, private operation with over 20k employees, and $8 billion of revenue in 2021. [REF]
In September of 2021, Tyson and Perdue, the two industry giants, representing a conglomerate of chicken processors, agreed to a $35 million dollar settlement of a lawsuit by poultry farmers alleging price fixing.
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This specific case, brought forward by Alabama growers in Oklahoma Federal Court, sought to address many of the issues which have faced this difficult, but important, commoditized meat segment in recent years.
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The overarching claim was that major industry players colluded to fix long-term chicken contracts at very low levels which were unprofitable for farmers, while the corporations made massive profits downstream. Such behavior is prevalent in a capitalist system, and definitely not limited to industrial food production.
In the poultry business, collaboration between growers and producers is common, the former group providing the facilities and labor, while the latter entity contributes the chicks and feed. This symbiosis, which worked for the past 6 decades, has finally come to a combative head.
Long hours and low wages are a norm in the farming industry these days. The final straw turned out to be the mandated requirements for chicken barn improvements, which put these poor operators even deeper into debt.
Perdue Farms alone was on the hook for $14.75 million of this negotiated deal. Representing a measly 0.2% of annual revenue, this fine was just a single kernel of corn in the corporate grain bucket. A key element of the settlement was that none of the processing companies were forced to admit wrongdoing, thereby leaving the door open for continued manipulative pricing tactics in the future.
The following quote from Perdue Farms spokeswoman Diane Souder, issued after the verdict, summarizes the complexities in this industry, and Perdue’s perspective of the situation.
“As an imperative lifeblood of our business, we value the excellent relationships built on trust we have with our farmers, and remain committed to providing them fair, competitive contracts that benefit them and, therefore, our animals, company, customers, and consumers.” [REF]
As with many claims, the situation isn’t black and white. Many of the costly barn upgrades which farmers are rebelling against have been mandated by Perdue and other producers as a means of improving welfare of the chicken during life, and promote higher safety standards for the yielded meat. Upstanding goals, which the consumer certainly appreciates, even if they aren’t willing to pay more for the final product.
For those who want to participate in this ongoing legal battle, and stick it to the entities in charge of high poultry prices at the grocery store, there’s an ongoing class action lawsuit which lets commoners join in on the price gouging that this collaborating conglomerate has allegedly executed. [REF]
Unfortunately, residents in just half of the states are eligible to apply, and while a $181 million dollar claim has been made in the Illinois courts, the legal battle is still pending, and the final negotiated payout will likely be much smaller. Still, getting a few bucks back for any chicken “tendies” purchased over the past decade never hurts.
Senator Perdue:
The past few years have been a rough go for David Alfred Perdue Jr. He’s lost the support of his peers, got his hand caught in the cookie jar, and had some issues with basic counting math. And we’re not talking about a scandal surrounding a local high school student council treasury position. These transgressions are on a national scale, with equally widespread significance.
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Senator Perdue, elected in 2014, served one fairly mundane term as a U.S. Senator in Georgia, generally falling in line with the traditional Republican values espoused by his chosen party. The past few years have been much more exciting.
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A congressional insider trading fiasco during the COVID-19 market crash in March of 2020, allegedly using knowledge from a closed Senate session to inform his stock sales.
A contentious runoff election for his Senate seat which he lost, thus sealing the party split in this key branch of government.
A convoluted claim that his Senate race was rigged, choosing the same “stolen” verbiage which former President Trump’s lawsuit has pawned off to the general public.
Most upstanding politicians are involved in just one such scandal throughout their career. Perdue found himself in a venerable whirlwind of activity in just two short years.
Hoping to strike while the iron was hot, this septuagenarian leaned in as opposed to stepping away from the political arena to which he was a relative newbie. The recent landslide loss to Georgia incumbent Brian Kemp for the gubernatorial role has likely sealed Perdue’s fate as an elected official.
Still, there’s likely all manner of board seats which this accomplished businessman will be able to secure in the future. So it goes, in this bifurcated landscape where the rich are continuously presented with new entrepreneurial opportunities, regardless of their recent transgressions.
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Young Perdue grew up in Macon, Georgia under the tutelage of schoolteacher parents and has spent most of his life in his home state. An open and honest upbringing to Democratic parents during a period of desegregation should have instilled the values espoused by a proper southern family in the 1960’s, a time of significant political and social tumult.
After high school, one year into a stint at the Air Force Academy, a post earned by leveraging endorsement from a prominent Georgia congressman, the junior Perdue decided this regimented military lifestyle was not for him, and dropped out.
He found his path and passion at Georgia Tech, earning both bachelor’s and master’s degrees in engineering operations fields by 1975, then becoming a management consultant.
Mr. Perdue’s resumé as a successful businessman reads impressively. Leveraging his operations skills, Perdue climbed to VP and CEO roles at prominent consumer product companies including Haggar clothing, Reebok footwear, and Dollar General stores during a busy decade of corporate movement from 1994 to 2004.
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Especially when you factor in the stint at PillowTex, a now defunct and obscure company which Perdue extracted $1.7 million dollars of compensation from in just a year, at the same time over 7,000 employees were laid off as a result of the bankruptcy proceedings. [REF]
This period, very successful financially on a personal level, was dotted with shady deals, big payouts, stock shenanigans, and high turnover. Most of his corporate actions were personified by eliminating American jobs and moving manufacturing overseas, in a time when this strategy was taking root across all manner of manufacturing industries.
Aside from his father, who topped out as the local high school superintendent, political aspirations were spurred on by David’s cousin, Sonny Perdue, a former Georgia governor and U.S. Secretary of Agriculture. Thus, the bloodline seeds were sewn in Washington.
Riding the coattails of his business success, and connections, Perdue secured the junior Georgia Senate seat by 5% of the votes in 2014. His only term was personified by generally average policy, appeasing the religious and conservative Republican base which put him in this legislative post.
The following speech from Senator Perdue, uttered at the Faith and Freedom Coalition's Road to Majority conference in June 2016, summarizes this political tact.
"We should pray for Barack Obama. But I think we need to be very specific about how we pray. We should pray like Psalms 109:8 says. It says, 'Let his days be few, and let another have his office'". [REF]
The one regulation which Perdue repeatedly championed during his short tenure was supporting initiatives regarding increased tax incentives for professional sports teams. This cause stemmed from his experience in the consumer apparel industry, and undoubtably the corporate and lobbyist connections made during his time working in this space.
During the highly volatile 2020 election season, now incumbent Senator Perdue lost his position in a runoff against opponent Jon Ossoff. The pair of Georgia Senator elections held on this infamous date, both won by Democrats, secured this party’s incredibly slim majority in the Senate when accounting for Vice President Harris. [REF]
Generally, Perdue’s career can be summarized by getting caught up in trends that made sense at the time, but which may not shine so brightly in the light of historical scrutiny.
Offshoring manufacturing jobs to China to reduce manufacturing and labor costs. Coming down hard on party lines which match his home state’s political leanings. Panicking financially in the turbulent markets associated with the pandemic shutdowns. Aligning with superiors on an alleged national voting scandal.
At 72 years old currently, Perdue is just a decade older than average for a U.S. Government legislative branch representative. Who knows, maybe he’s got one more political foray in his future. As one of the wealthiest members of the recent Congressional contingent, due to his savvy business ventures early in life, with a net worth pushing $20 million, he should have plenty of personal funds to execute another election campaign.
Purdue University:
There are few topics where a seemingly obvious societal benefit has become completely convoluted and confused. Continuing education sits right at the top of this unenviable list.
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Cultivating the next generation of society in a relevant manner. Sounds great. Providing opportunity for minority groups to change the trajectory of their economic hierarchy. Very laudable. Preparing young adults to enter the workforce and become productive contributing members. Essential.
Fortunately, here in America we have a robust college system to facilitate these secondary learning pursuits. Unfortunately, these vaulted institutions have combined the most beneficial legislative elements of both the public and private sector to create a manipulative, monopolistic industry.
There is one school which has taken a novel approach with regards to college, specifically regarding what and how to pay for it. Purdue University.
For the uninformed, Purdue is a public, land-grant, institution located in West Lafayette, Indiana, on the banks of the Wabash River, just over an hour drive northwest from the state capital of Indianapolis. This facility was established in 1869 on farmland generously donated by local businessman and philanthropist John Purdue. Hence the moniker.
Envisioning large brick buildings surrounded by acres of cornfields. You’re not far off from reality, back then, or even today.
Two unique approaches, one incredibly successful, the other an abject failure, have cemented this institution’s legacy in the student loan space. Both policies have been driven by University President Mitch Daniels, who’s occupied the helm for the past decade. Let’s examine the positive initiative first.
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Back in the spring of 2013, incoming President Daniels, coming off an 8-year stint as Governor of Indiana, froze Purdue University’s annual tuition at just $10k. This bold act, introduced back when most elite institutions of higher education cost roughly this amount, hasn’t wavered since, despite rapid cost inflation across the rest of the collegiate landscape. With Mr. Daniels announcing his retiring in 2023, the future of this historic price freeze is up in the air. [REF]
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The tuition fix started as a simple “gesture” to acknowledge the rapidly rising costs of attending college. This ploy turned into a great advertising campaign for the university, with applications doubling over the past decade.
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As with any capitalistic endeavor, supply and demand need to be balanced. Constrained from a revenue standpoint, Purdue administrators faced a multitude of challenges keeping up with this unforeseen influx of students. Tightening the purse strings of the institutional coffers has surprisingly and counterintuitively helped the university focus on key operations.
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The investment committee changed annual distributions out of the $2.5 billion endowment from 5% to 4%, an unheard-of maneuver during a beneficial financial regime.
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To balance the reduced budget, major operational changes were necessary. Generally, cost cutting measures focused on scaling a modular external workforce as opposed to adding new permanent employees.
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Some procedural practices, like using public transportation on campus, or consolidating IT and custodial teams, have been viewed quite favorably. However, other decisions, including modified employee health and retirement benefits, or outsourcing food service, were met with strong dissent.
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It’s impossible to please everyone at a company, especially an establishment with over 10k employees across a diverse range of fields. But at least the customers were satisfied with the product. Understandably, based on the value being offered.
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In 2021, 60% of students graduating from Purdue University earned their bachelor’s degree without taking on any debt. This is a 10% improvement from 2012, the year before tuition was frozen.
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It’s important to acknowledge that the full annual cost of attending a college, known as the “sticker price”, includes much more than just tuition. Room and board, books, and administrative fees, add up to result in a significant expense beyond the base cost for university coursework participation.
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These days, total annual bills can exceed $60k for many top-tier programs. However, most students rarely ever pay this exceedingly high number, due to liberal distribution of merit scholarship and work study programs. Increasing tuition and grants simultaneously can theoretically allow aid to be targeted at the neediest applicants, with richer attendees, often foreigners, shouldering the higher costs.
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Despite their best efforts, Purdue University eventually acknowledged that even $10k annually is too high for many low-income families. Hence, initiation of the second, less beneficial in hindsight, program tried by the administration department.
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Purdue University has been a pioneer in the ISA, or Income Sharing Agreement, as an alternative to taking out federal loans. The program, quaintly dubbed the “Back a Boiler” campaign, allows private investors to put up capital that pays for a student’s tuition, in return for a portion of that individual’s salary in the future.
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A seemingly simple model, with both parties motivated towards workplace success. Or are they?
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10 years into the program, according to Purdue University’s official statistics, more than 1,600 students have selected the ISA route, racking up nearly $18 million in subsidized debt. [REF]
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As a relatively new offering, utilizing a somewhat obscure financial instrument, a variety of safety measures have been put in place to ensure debtors know what they are getting into. Students must pass a quiz when they enter the program to make sure they’re aware of the particulars. Not a bad screening process, for young scholars who are used to repetitive testing pursuits.
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Still, this approach is akin to asking a teenager to choose the trajectory of their life by simply looking through a career list provided by their guidance counselor. Another college planning issue which has yet to be effectively solved.
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When a student takes an ISA loan, they agree to pay a percentage of their income in the future based on planned degree and average salary. Further assumptions are made about achievable career advancement and earning trajectory. Seems simple enough, since these days everyone loves their first job out of college and stays at one company for their entire working life.
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Many math-based systems, while seemingly presenting the precision of finite arithmetic, are actually much more complex. In this case, calculations can be manipulated to misleadingly steer borrowers towards this alternative debt method.
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There’s a significant monitoring element to ISA’s which is not part of standard student loans. Participants are required to upload salary and raise information on an annual basis. While this process is invasive, one could argue we need more data about the actual earnings of individuals based on their chosen field of study and industry of employment.
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Recently, ISA’s have been claimed as predatory by various oversight bodies, including the national government.
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The Student Borrower Protection Center (SBPC) is a college loan advocacy group which is becoming increasingly involved with regulating ISAs. The focus is on the “debt trap” claim, where the funding provided is not explicitly a loan or a credit, but instead leverages the creditor benefits of both, exposing potential violations of the Higher Education Act. Clearly, this industry needs more acronyms.
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One innovative program has become the brunt of their scrutiny. Purdue University’s “Build a Boiler” initiative. The SBPC commentary on this alternative financing policy is direct and scathing.
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“All available evidence indicates that Purdue has brazenly ignored these limits and responsibilities as part of a scheme to drive its students to take on risky, high-rate, private student loans.” [REF]
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Despite loud clamoring from the SBPC and other groups, no current federal legislation regarding ISAs has been enacted. Understandable, considering the multitude of complications to factor in.
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More opacity than simply borrowing a set amount of money with a defined payoff period. Minimum salary requirements which can incentivize students to not work or get raises. Lump sum payments are typically not allowed with ISAs. Debt executed by private companies, sometime venture capital or P2P lending firms.
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Good luck trying to wade through all this legislative morass.
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Tellingly, Purdue recently switched ISA providers, from Vemo Education to Launch Servicing. This change caused significant paperwork and confusion for borrowers, becoming the source of many online complaints. Any new technology has its hiccups. Hopefully, ISA’s don’t end up like a freshman pledge the next morning after a keg party.
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In light of the recent student loan forgiveness plans by the Federal Government, ISA plans have come under increased scrutiny. In the current legislative format, ISA payments cannot be paused by the government, and are not subject to $10k of pending college debt relief.
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Regardless of one’s stance on this political tactic, it’s hard to argue that the cost of secondary schooling tuition has become bloated, thereby placing a multitude of undue stress on young and naïve attendees.
Despite Purdue University’s innovative efforts, they remain in the crosshairs of this discussion, on both the winning and losing sides of the ledger at the same time. Time will tell how this institution’s saga, and American collegiate system as a whole, play out.
Afghani Perdu:
The United States of America has been imposing its military might on countries throughout the world since the fall of the Soviet Union. Sort of.
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Each of the past 3 decades has been personified by a major struggle in a foreign land, along with countless smaller, and more discrete, incursions, which the general public are much less privy to.
Iraq in the 1990’s and 2000’s. Afghanistan in the 2000’s and 2010’s. Well-known repeat geopolitical offenders, with fighting playing out on national television.
Somalia in 1993. Haiti in 2004. Yemen in 2014. These stealthy conflicts in far flung locations are often hidden from the purview of general public.
Overseas engagements sold to American citizens as short and easy operations have a curious tendency of lasting longer, and thus costing much more, than advertised. It’s easy to forget how many U.S. troops have been deployed in recent times, and how extensively some committed soldiers have participated in these distant struggles.
There’s another more specific meaning of “perdu”, which ties together this plot of repeated military incursion. When used as a noun, this word literally means “a soldier assigned to extremely hazardous duty.” That sounds like many of the hidden heroes who have risked life and limb in dark and dangerous corners of the globe.
During this current century, U.S. military presence has been persistent in one very specific zone of the world. The country of Afghanistan.
On his way out of office President Trump set in motion the exit of all American troops from this volatile region. President Biden continued the process upon taking over the White House, slightly behind schedule, but eventually following through on the commitment for full extraction during the 2021 calendar year.
The leadership decision to completely pull out of this Islamic State surprised even the most knowledgeable geopolitical analysts. Especially considering the relentless commitment to maintaining peace in this volatile region over the past 20 years.
The subsequent rushed extraction, culminating in August 2021, resulted in an obvious, publicized snafu on the global stage. As with any action which is not thoroughly planned out, unforeseen issues tend to arise. When the plot puts human lives and national security in the balance, small decisions become very important downstream.
Reviewing the facts around the last few hours of United States occupation in Afghanistan clarifies just how chaotic this operation was.
The planned withdrawal was progressing smoothly during the late summer, until efforts quickly ramped up and intensified. Specifically on Sunday, August 15th, when the Taliban surprisingly rapidly reclaimed the capital city of Kabul, an action which these same expert geopolitical strategists said wouldn’t happen until 2022.
This collapse pushed escape efforts into a whole new grinding gear. With insurgents surrounding the entire metropolis, the Kabul airport remained the only NATO controlled facility, the last bastion of relative safety.
Several civilian flights were able to depart this tense morning, then the Kabul airport was shut down aside from military operations. According to official documentation which has since been released, operation leaders had specific Americans on the ground they were targeting for extraction.
Over the next 11 hectic days, 120k at-risk individuals were evacuated from the Kabul Airport, with United States owned and operated planes facilitating two-thirds of these escapee transports. A record 823 passengers were evacuated on a single C-17A flight.
An impressive humanitarian effort, until one notes this craft had to taxi through throngs of begging Afghani refugees on the tarmac, and bodies were discovered in the cargo access and landing gear hatches when the journey terminated. Clearly not everyone was able to secure a safe passage. [REF]
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One year later, with the benefit of hindsight, it appears that a few individuals were missed on this fateful day. Since the official governmental exit, at least 800 American citizens have been evacuated through various means over the past 400 days.
This tally is a far cry from the 100 individuals the Administration touted as being missed during the rushed removal. Fortunately, getting these remaining citizens to safety is one of the few truly bipartisan political topics currently, though motives are decidedly different. [REF]
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There’s another item which was left behind in much larger quantities than people as the Western world fled Afghanistan. Wartime weaponry. Both entities present a risk, if they fall into enemy hands.
Independent tallies show over 100 total trucks and planes were disabled fubar-style at the Kabul airport prior to the Army’s departure. It’s impressive that soldiers on the ground were able to keep the facility and infrastructure functioning as long as they did.
One of the final acts executed by U.S. troops on-site was to make the Counter Rocket Artillery and Mortar System, or C-RAMS inoperable. A wise decision, when you’re trying to fly a bunch of large aircraft to safety through hostile skies.
Can anyone name the U.S. governmental bureau post responsible for this overseas operation? Antony Blinken, the current Secretary of State.
Strong leaders with charismatic personalities occupied this important diplomacy role as the recent millennium turned over: Madeleine Albright under President Clinton, and Colin Powell under President Bush 2.0. This former critical Cabinet assignment has now lost essentially all public relevance in light of growing domestic challenges.
There are several reasons the initial orderly withdrawal from Afghanistan turned ugly and chaotic. The last fateful straw which culminated the operation was a suicide bombing on August 26th, 2021, which killed 13 American troops and 170 Afghanis. This action occurred at Abbey Gate of the Kabul airport, a well-known risk zone at the time.
In fact, hindsight analysis of classified documents reveals less than 24 hours before this terrorist attack U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin informed military leaders to prepare for an imminent “mass casualty event” and suggested an “incredible amount of risk on the ground.” [REF]
Solid predictive foreshadowing, though the warning apparently wasn’t heeded.
The potential for further attacks prompted President Biden to shut down the evacuation process completely. Many brave American soldiers, knowing the continuing danger, remained in the area to help shepherd key British personnel out. As the violence escalated, it became clear there was only one shot at getting to safety.
But how did the situation in Afghanistan’s capital of Kabul become so dire?
The killing of Osama Bin Laden at his compound in Pakistan was a watershed moment for the war on terror. This 2011 date also marked the start of phasing out American forces in Afghanistan and several surrounding countries.
At this high point, over 800 Western coalition bases, ranging from single person shacks with just a radio, to massive installations supported by daily B52 aircraft cargo runs, littered the region. This infrastructure required incredible logistical coordination, at immense cost.
With their leader gone, consensus was that the Taliban would crumble and fade back into the desert. Plus, America had gained at least a small semblance of retribution for the atrocities of September 11th, 2001 terrorist attacks.
Project done. Time to bring our troops home.
With the key protocols established, all that remained to do was teach productive locals to run the facilities. As a result, over the past decade, much of the Western transitional efforts have revolved around training and demolition activities. Returning Afghani lands to the Afghani people in native form.
Unfortunately, many Afghan commandos trained by U.S. personnel fled to Iran after the Taliban retook control of their home country. These soldiers present a significant ongoing threat, due to transferred military training, intel, and equipment.
There’s one factor which military strategists agree played an influential role in the revitalization of the Taliban movement. Heavy use of Predator drone strikes, an advanced new technology which came into prominence during President Obama’s first term. [REF]
These autonomous flying machines certainly limited the number of American forces being put at risk on the ground. However, separating active military engagement from live physical participation caused detrimental ancillary effects. Disconnected, dispassionate, destruction.
These repeated tactical aerial assaults, while extremely precise, occasionally resulted in collateral damage. The disenfranchise and enraged youth of Afghanistan became tired of living in fear, and often turned to the Taliban preachings as an outlet for their anger.
Another spark to the insurgent’s cause was the release of hundreds of prisoners from Guantanamo Bay, after a decade of being detained and tortured without due process. Amid growing public scrutiny regarding civil rights abuses, President Trump freed these characters, and they immediately returned to their homeland as heroic leaders.
The transgressions of the Taliban in recent years have been some of the most egregious to date. Strategically, they have targeted youth, women, and democracy, the previously most oppressed groups, which were just starting to gain strength and respect within the Afghanistan community.
A dynamic confluence of factors led to the botched exit of American personnel from Kabul, and the immediate return of these lands to Taliban rule. However, much earlier there were subtle but telling signs of the chaos which ensued in the late summer of 2021.
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The entire Afghanistan campaign by the numbers is startling: $2.3 trillion in defense spending, $2.5k American soldiers killed with 50k wounded, 150k Afghani deaths including many civilians. [REF]
The question now is what did the United States really gain from two decades of military engagement in Afghanistan. Even more importantly, what did the Afghani people gain from this invasive occupation, and is the country in a better condition now than at the turn of the millennium. Like all complex issues, the answer is a definite maybe.
Purdue Pharma:
This is a painful story about painkillers. One where the true historical facts, and worrisome future implications, become more obvious each passing day.
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For those living under a rock, there is an ongoing opioid crisis across many portions of the United States.
Opioids have been used to manipulate human consciousness for several millennia. Original preparations were made from poppy seeds in Asia, and led to the seedy opium dens popularized in various popularized literary accounts. Potent modern offerings in the illegal, like heroin, synthetic, like fentanyl, and prescribed, like codeine, realms are all members of this same drug classification.
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Engaging in illicit and covert acts in the darker corners of society is one thing. Unwittingly becoming addicted to a substance which your all-knowing doctor seemingly innocently proscribes is an entirely different matter. But, in both cases, the end result is often degradation, despair, and often death, for the user’s body and livelihood.
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The current societal tragedy started innocently enough; a few motivated scientists and doctors collaborating to help injured patients get through their daily existence in relative comfort.
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Purdue Pharmaceuticals, an innovative biotechnology firm, developed OxyContin in 1996. This new formulation was meant to replace income from MS Contin, a morphine-based painkiller, which was coming off the market as Purdue’s patent rights expired, and generic products entered the fray.
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MS Contin’s name comes from combining the active ingredient, morphine sulfate, and method of deliver, continuous time lapse release, due to the novel capsule format which Purdue Pharma researchers developed. Using the same pill format, OxyContin was originally developed to treat pain smoothly over a 12-hour timeline, using the even more potent oxycodone formulation.
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OxyContin gained traction quickly through a massive marketing campaign coinciding with the medication’s launch. As it turned out, many of these early adopter video advocates fell into two camps: individuals who were not actually given OxyContin for their ailment, and people who subsequently became completely reliant on Purdue Pharma’s remarkable new offering.
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The key marketing claim of OxyContin was an insistence that only 1% of users became addicted. This is an impressive statistic relative to other opiate painkillers. Doctors experienced with potent morphine and valium prescriptions were understandable skeptical, but eventually most came around to accept the findings from this sophisticated scientific study.
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Unfortunately, in actuality, no clinical trials were ever conducted to determine the addictive powers of OxyContin prior to market launch.
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Meanwhile, aggressive governmental lobbying funded by Purdue Pharma ensured required legislative approvals and medical insurance subsidies proceeded smoothly.
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Most relevant was the broad indication label approval given to OxyContin, the first such classification for a Schedule II narcotic. This lenient designation allowed the product to be marketed for a variety of mundane but chronic physical ailments, as opposed to specifically for short term, intense pain, injuries. [REF]
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In typical fashion, within months of this ruling, the FDA official responsible for the labelling gaff left the public sector, and joined Purdue Pharma’s payroll, undoubtably at a significantly higher rate of compensation.
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In the early years after OxyContin’s launch, being a sales rep for Purdue Pharma was a very lucrative proposition. These minions were armed with lots of debatably accurate marketing materials, enticing weekend trips for practitioners, and aggressive sales commission incentives. The staggering revenue growth from this single drug offering highlights the level of market success.
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2000 annual sales reached $1 billion, just 4 short years after being released in the wild. Another decade later, in 2010 OxyContin revenue exceeded $3 billion. These immense profits understandably resulted in lots of opioid competitors entering the market. Big pharma is notoriously cutthroat.
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Doctors kept prescribing. Patients kept imbibing.
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At the peak of this madness, in 2012, total volumes of pills sold equated to 4 out of 5 American adults having an opioid prescription. This means essentially 40 pills per citizen annually, showing how widespread this issue was. More concerning was the fact that these prescriptions were concentrated in a small subset of patients, as opposed to spread across the entire populous.
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Users, and regulators, finally started to become skeptical, but the charade played on. Clever Purdue Pharma representatives told doctors that unstable OxyContin patients were experiencing “pseudo addiction”, as opposed to an actual clinical dependance. [REF]
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The solution was obvious. A higher dose of Oxy. This scheme resulted in even more pills being prescribed rather than less, as should have been the case.
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In hindsight, rampant corruption was revealed amongst doctors and clinics, who were getting substantial monetary kickbacks for their clear Hippocratic Oath transgressions. No patient ailment justification was needed to write many prescriptions. Seems like a win-win for all, at least in the short term.
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Purdue Pharma was owned by the prominent Sackler, a lineage which has understandably come under increase public scrutiny in recent years.
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There are different levels of rich in modern society. The Sackler family, a Forbes Top 50 generational enterprise, is part of highest stratospheric echelon. Granted, their wealth has taken a substantial hit of late.
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In the back half of the 2010’s, as more damning details came to light, significant crackdowns were levied on doctors and distributors, with Purdue Pharma taking the brunt of the blame. Over 3k lawsuits were brought forth against the company, with one-fifth of these targeted directly at the Sacklers. Unfortunately, significant damage to a large swath of the American public was already done. Addictions, as the term implies, are difficult to kick.
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In 2021, after years of complex litigation, the Sackler family settled a multitude of civil disputes, agreeing to pay $6 billion of their personal wealth. Considering these shadowy owners are estimated to have earned over $10 billion in OxyContin profits throughout the life of the product, this seems like a debatably reasonable outcome.
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As the current opioid crisis is estimated to cost the American society over one trillion dollars annually, this settlement is really just a drop in the bucket.
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The Sackler’s representatives have always denied wrongdoing, and are now free from any future lawsuits, though criminal charges are still possible. Meanwhile, Purdue Pharma publicly declared bankruptcy in September 2019, so they have minimal assets worth chasing through future legal proceedings. [REF]
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Throughout its entire existence, Purdue Pharmaceuticals was never publicly traded. This lack of required financial transparency allowed many dubiously permissible expenditures to be made. During the company’s history, the Sackler family’s public persona was completely separated from this corporate cash cow. While this collective’s social life has been personified by divorce, dissention, and other drama, they’ve held their business affairs much closer to the chest.
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While Purdue Pharma, and the Sackler family, are winding down their various battles in court, the impacts of OxyContin’s proliferation, and the resulting addictions, continue to ravage certain segments of the population. The total monetary outlay to society is immense: from law enforcement, to property damage, to healthcare resources. And that’s before accounting for the loss of life, including many teenagers, with an opportunity cost which is impossible to quantify.
The following statement, made by Deputy Attorney General Jeffrey A. Rosen in 2020, as the final U.S. Department of Justice settlement in the Sackler’s Purdue Pharma case was wrapping up, offers a terse and damning assessment of culpability.
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“The abuse and diversion of prescription opioids has contributed to a national tragedy of addiction and deaths, in addition to those caused by illicit street opioids.” [REF]
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While the pharmaceutical ills of OxyContin and other prescription opioids have been quelled in recent years, this was just the first chapter in an increasingly sad saga. Suppressing legal market access for addicted users resulted in the explosion of usage across a wide swath of more illicit avenues.
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Most notably, Mexican drug dealers swooped in, finding a lucrative new market in the Midwestern United States. This profitable business model focused on relatively affluent suburban marks, rather than poor degenerates in the city slums. A much more reliable clientele, with valuable disposable income to be milked. And thus, the flood of pharmaceutical opiates transitioned from prescribed to provided. A junkie didn’t even need to leave their porch, provided they still had cash.
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A recent, even more terrifying, development is the explosion of fentanyl. This laboratory creation can be up to 100 times more potent than oxycodone, and there’s debate amongst scientists if there are even any valid medical uses for such a product, even taking into account end-of-life cancer pain. When produced in bootleg fashion, and blended in unmeasured amounts, this becomes a very dangerous drug for recreational overdoses and death.
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Let’s try to put the current crisis in context. The world just went through one of the most devastating pandemics in recorded history.
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In the 2021 calendar year, over 400k American citizens died from the COVID-19 affliction. Over this same timeframe, drug overdose deaths topped 100k for the first time ever, a quarter of the annual losses from an unforeseen and unprecedented disease. However, basic numbers and charts don’t do justice to the truly damaging scope of this ongoing opioid offensive.
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In fact, the SARS-CoV-2 contagion, and the subsequent lockdowns, which promoted isolation and withdrawal throughout society, spurred on drug overdoses. While the pandemic’s root cause prayed on the elder, its downstream affects ravaged the youth.
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This new flu was a mere health blip for most under 30 years of age. However, those in their first 3rd of life, and even more worrisome, the adolescent cohort, saw a doubling in overdose deaths in just past few tumultuous turns of the calendar. [REF]
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When viewed through a loss of longevity lens, the opioid crisis is the real epidemic, preying on the youngest, poorest, segments of America. Addiction changes lives in many ways: bodily harm, monetary ruin, financial destruction, forced prostitution, and gateway drug use.
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Purdue Pharma’s OxyContin drug distribution debacle, and subsequent catastrophic landslide of misery for many individuals, should serve as a case study in poor moral compass and unintended societal consequences. The detrimental effects from this unfortunate chain of events are ongoing and generational.
Posturing:
These are not simple to understand, or easy to navigate, topics. In each case, the distinction between the protagonist and antagonist is blurry, depending on one’s point of view, and personal motives.
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For all of the ongoing issues with rampant social media oversharing, digital personal privacy invasion, and real-time internet updates, these invasive technologies offer a few minor, but important, benefits. Most notably, for truth-seekers of all stripes, the ability to cull through mounds of data, separating the wheat from the chaff, and hopefully finding a needle in the immense haystack which represents the daily news.
Drinking from a firehose doesn’t even begin to describe how rapidly content, both factual and fake, flows in these days.
That said, it’s worth asking if this informational influx is useful, or detrimental, to society as a whole. There are so many ways to twist, manipulate, and spin the truth, that a salsa dancer would be confused. Everyone has their motives, and often what’s good for one segment of the community adversely affects society as a whole, or visa versa.
The presumption is that those in power are making the complex calculations of near-term gains, net-present-value analysis, and long-lasting impacts. But assuming is risky business. With these various timelines in the balance, it’s important to understand the full “purview” of each decision, and avoid any “perdu” from those in power.
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