No one is claiming otherwise. And back to normal is still a long ways off.
If you’re admitting we’re giving them money for a thing, it’s paid for. I don’t know why you quote it like that, transfer payments of public money to private institutions is a thing, is it up for debate it happens?
Also cost is emotional. Does it have to be 20 billion or is the government handing out cheddar for consulting jobs later?
There’s more too it than high school capitalist theory. Just because you can’t for $20 billion doesn’t mean someone else couldn’t for $5.
But we hide the work in private accounts. Humanities work, built towards by countless hands and minds.
Yeah ok we get it, Murray Rothbard; You’re only 1 in 7 billion. Why does your theory matter? Roll up them sleeves. What? He’s dead? In the bin with it, no need to carry water for a dead man.
And "we" are already paying for it. Let's not let them double-dip.
These things cost money, and you assume your taxes are covering them in full. They don't.
Edit: people don't seem to understand that there are several stages in pharma development... (1) research, (2) trials, (3) scaling production. It sounds to me that even if (1) and (2) are "paid for" (with public money), (3) is still non-trivial and therefore expensive.