PRESTOPUNDIT

George Bush is no friend of free markets or the the folks who work and pay taxes. Take a closer look, for example, at Bush's drug-money-for-votes initiative -- it turns out to be all about shifting huge costs from big business to the little guy, as Bruce Bartlett explains. Quotable:

A good example of how businesses manipulate government for their own benefit is the prescription drug subsidy bill now before Congress. Although marketed as a benefit for seniors, the true beneficiaries are big businesses that would be able to greatly reduce the cost of their retiree health programs. According to a July 2 report in The New York Times, Ford Motor Co. alone would save $50 million per year.

The Times notes that the biggest companies are mainly those that still offer drug benefits to their retired workers and would save the most. In the aggregate, they would save billions of dollars per year if the federal government takes over a big chunk of their retiree health expenses by paying for prescription drugs. That is why they are lobbying very heavily for passage of the legislation.

By contrast, seniors are unenthusiastic about the new benefit that is to be showered on them. According to a Zogby poll for the Galen Institute, a significant majority of seniors are satisfied with the drug coverage they have now, and many fear that they would actually be worse off under a mandatory government plan. They are right. Many will be worse off.

In short, to increase their profits, many of our nation's largest corporations are pushing a budget-busting government spending program that eventually will lead to higher taxes on all Americans. Sadly, the Bush administration often supports policies that benefit big businesses at the expense of average people, as it did with steel tariffs and agriculture subsidies.

On top of all that, the the giant monkey wrench of government regulation gets heaved into the incredibly successful workings of the pharmaceutical industry. It's a rotten deal.