tomo,
That was lengthy, but there was quite a lot to tell. Gives a strong case for Biden having been ruthless and grasping. Seems unlikely that justice will ever be served in his case though — pretty sure the ga ga Joe persona is not an act. We can hope it catches up with others.

Can't get excited about "waiting lists". In my view they can be constructed to be as long or as short as you like and are always just a political football. You mentioned waiting *times* earlier; they're much harder to rig, though can still be abused with averaging, etc.

Ross Lea,
Lindzen was in good form for that one. On the front foot straight out of the gate: ridiculing the notion of a World climate.

Mailman,
In my view it's a bleak picture throughout. The politicians, the bureaucrats, the pharmaceutical companies are all working hard for the health interests of Americans. Well, I'm sure it was true once upon a time, but it's make-believe today, just a facade for the swamp.

Your suggestion to have them self-fund (formally, as opposed to the kickbacks in tomo's link) would probably make it even worse. The *real money* is not the direct NIH funding, it's in the approvals of medications for Medicare/Medicaid. Such approvals open the tap for really serious money.

I mentioned recently that "independent" is a synonym for "unaccountable". My preferred approach would be to demand the politicians take control and stand accountable for any stuff-ups. No more hiding behind the "independent" FDA, NIH, etc. No more out-sourcing the core tasks of government.

Surely there is a case for NIH being completely self funded? Certainly seems like a cushy little number, accessing all those untold hundreds of millions of dollars and doing with it as they please.

This from the great man himself; (Richard Lindzen) if only the world would listen !

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DYWrehjaMFQ

tomo,
Yes, I should have said rationalised rather than justified.

What you describe sounds terrible. We're kind of used to most foreign aid getting caught by sticky fingers along the way, but it's a bit much when the same thing's happening with the direct tax->service pipeline. Is it righteous indignation or is it envy motivating the government against Putin?

I don't think it's that bad here in the hospital system. I'd guess it'd be between the military and Aboriginal welfare for the stickiest fingers in Australia. Only a guess though, and there are other means by which the taxpayer gets ripped off. The recent scandal with government contracted financial consultants is only the tip of the iceberg I'm sure, but there would be a lot of people with a real interest in the full extent never being uncovered.