"Massachusetts life sciences initiative brings fewer jobs than expected; Patrick says effort curtailed by downturn" by Robert Weisman | Globe Staff, June 14, 2012
Four years after Governor Deval Patrick signed a $1 billion initiative designed to boost the Massachusetts life sciences industry, the program has brought new companies and jobs to the state - but not as many jobs as originally anticipated.
Related: Biotech Giveaway Was Borrowed Money
Un-flipping-believable!
We are PAYING DEBT SERVICE so the state can hand out tax loot to phat pharmaceuticals!!!
Also see: Massachusetts' Lost Decade of Jobs
Those Are the (Tax) Breaks in Massachusetts
Yup, tough break, taxpayers.
While the governor said in January 2008 that the biomedical initiative could generate 250,000 jobs over 10 years, the economic slowdown has made it unlikely the real gain will come close to that figure. The Massachusetts Life Sciences Center estimates the total number of jobs created so far is 8,750 - half of them temporary construction jobs.
And Patrick borrowed how much in our name to sit in an account so they could dole them out to phat pharma.... (blog editor races to porcelain god to puke).
Still, growth in life sciences comes at a time when other sectors have been shrinking.
And yet month after month we are told everything is okay in a scary world.
Yup, everything is oaky except for the endless horse s*** shoveled forth by my newspaper regarding the economy.
State officials blame the global financial crisis that took hold in fall 2008 for preventing even more job growth in the industry....
I'm tired of lame-a$$ excuses by tax looters.
Besides, we have been told that's been over for years and we are now flyin' high.
The economy not only eroded growth of the biotech sector, but it prompted cuts in the state’s support for promoting biotech expansion. The life sciences center, the agency created to manage the Patrick administration’s signature economic development program, so far has spent just over $300 million on a mix of grants, loans, and tax credits to help companies and academic research centers expand.
Which means they are SITTING ON $700 million in BORROWED LOOT that YOU HAVE TO PAY INTEREST ON, Massachusetts taxpayers -- as you are told to swallow social service cuts.
That is less than the center had hoped to invest by this stage, largely because lawmakers have scaled back on annual appropriations due to cuts in the state budget. To reach the target envisioned in 2008, the Legislature would have to pick up spending levels in coming years.
But officials have pushed forward with the life sciences initiative despite the headwinds, and claim a number of successes.
A particular focus has been on recruiting overseas companies to base their US business, and research, in Massachusetts. Patrick said he will be meeting with executives from Israel, France, Italy, Chile, and Turkey, at next week’s Biotechnology Industry Organization convention in Boston. Patrick said the initiative has brought “buzz’’ to the state’s biotech and medical technology hub, which makes life science professionals excited to be here....
I'll bet.
Related: The Money Pipeline From Massachusetts to Israel
Been flowing for over three years now.
But one question even supporters of the initiative have raised is: How much growth would have taken place anyway? Massachusetts had one of the nation’s strongest life sciences clusters long before the $1 billion push, mostly because it’s home to four medical schools, more than a dozen teaching hospitals, hundreds of start-ups, and bio-focused venture capital firms.
“Doing the analysis of what would have happened without the incentives is difficult,’’ said Peter D. Enrich, a professor at Northeastern University’s School of Law, who has studied the impact of government efforts to woo companies and jobs to regions. “The general evidence is the effect of state and local tax breaks on location decisions is marginal at best. Of course, once businesses have decided where to locate, if they can get tax breaks . . . that’s cream on the top.’’
It's not cream I'm getting topped off with.
The initiative was never entirely about luring companies, however. Most of the state’s grants have gone to help build new research labs and manufacturing space, especially at hospitals and state universities, that create the infrastructure for a booming biomedical sector....
Yes, public research dollars turned into privatized profits. Sort of like a socialism for certain intere$t$.
While companies have created some jobs for lab technicians or office assistants, many have been the kind of skilled scientific positions that aren’t likely to employ large numbers of blue-collar workers. To address that shortcoming, Patrick said, manufacturing will become an increasing focus of the state’s life sciences strategy in the coming years.
Any excuse to tell you there are no jobs -- even while saying there are jobs galore.
And they wonder why there is anger out here?
State officials say they have used their $302 million in spending to draw $938 million in matching investment from corporations, federal agencies, foundations, and other private investors.
Do you know where they are getting that money?
That’s fueled activity in what officials call the nation’s top life sciences cluster....
Also see: Fueling the next wave of biotech growth in Mass.
Gue$$ who is getting f***ed, Massachusetts citizens.
Life sciences executives say Massachusetts is taking a smart approach at a time when they are being recruited to move to other states.
Well, if they THROW MORE MONEY AT THEM!
Related: EMC buys Israeli competitor
Absorbed is more like it.
Genzyme, for instance, considered other options for its drug manufacturing plant, but saw the state’s willingness to fund the wastewater project in Framingham, about 20 miles from its Cambridge headquarters, as a vote of confidence.
I see it as extortion.
“It’s not so much the amount of money, because you can get money from many places,’’ said Genzyme chief executive David Meeker. “It’s the signal that it sends that this is a state that takes life sciences seriously. It’s a competitive world, and many places have a strong desire to have these plants in their backyard.’’
Then you know what? Get it from someone else, not me!
Some lawmakers, including state Senator James B. Eldridge, Democrat of Acton, believe too much has been given to big companies. “I’m skeptical about government incentives to larger, well-established corporations,’’ he said. “I’d rather see money invested in education and infrastructure. And I continue to push for more details about the number of jobs created from all these tax breaks, including for life sciences companies.’’
I'm outraged at this point.
Other industry watchers say they are wary of government enticements in some cases, but believe the life sciences push makes sense given the industry’s importance to the state.
Especially when it come$ to repleni$hing tho$e campaign coffer$.
“It is possible this sector would have grown without the benefit of the life sciences initiative, but it’s far from guaranteed,’’ said Barry Bluestone, dean of Northeastern University’s School of Public Policy and Urban Affairs. “And it probably wouldn’t have grown as quickly. Everybody wants bioscience because of its great potential. This is one that is worth betting on.’’
I'm TIRED of the STATE GAMBLING with MY TAX MONEY!!!!!!
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And who are the big winner$?
"Europe’s biotech firms flocking to Bay State; Companies cite potential for growth, talent in area" by Robert Weisman | Globe Staff, June 17, 2012
I can't even hazard a gue$$ why, can you?
Massachusetts, often considered a difficult place to do business, is becoming a popular choice for a key global sector: European life sciences companies.
Executives from the Continent’s pricey precincts are unfazed by Boston-area costs and the trans-Atlantic flights. And they see the Massachusetts biomedical cluster as a gateway to a US market that increasingly looks like a safe haven from Europe’s debt crisis.
At least 15 companies from Europe have set up shop or expanded
operations in the Bay State over the past four years, representing more
than half of all life sciences firms that have done so, according to the
Massachusetts Life Sciences Center.
As the annual convention of the Biotechnology Industry Organization kicks off Monday in Boston, local officials will be rolling out the red carpet to foreign delegations here for the conference, which is expected to attract more than 15,000 attendees from 65 countries.
Governor Deval Patrick will be meeting this week with French biotech leaders, the British minister of industries and science, the Italian ambassador to the United States, and the president of Catalonia, among others, in a round of receptions and private sessions around BIO.
“I see showing up at BIO as the part of my job that’s the salesman part,’’ the governor said.
Do you ever stop?
Boston Mayor Thomas M. Menino is also welcoming visitors. Biotechnology executives from Great Britain, France, and other western European countries, who were early arrivals for BIO, got a tour Friday of the city’s Longwood Medical Area, home to its world-famous teaching and research hospitals, and then were invited to a lavish reception on Sunday.
“We’re going to be out there selling our city,’’ said Menino.
The interest is certainly mutual....
Of cour$e it is.
The Patrick administration’s 10-year, $1 billion life sciences initiative, which gives companies incentives to create jobs in Massachusetts, is another selling point - and a sharp contrast to the austerity measures European executives see in their own countries.
Actually, we are being told to ACCEPT AUSTERITY HERE, so WTF?!
Accept austerity so European drug companies can benefit from taxpayer-funded incentive$?
Buying property, plants, and equipment in the United States is a way for European companies to hedge their bets as the Continent’s debt crisis worsens.
Oh, MORE BETTING I SEE!
Related: Plenty of Seats Available at Mass. Gaming Tables
I said I'm out!
Foreign direct investment in the United States climbed to $234 billion last year, up 14 percent from 2010, the Commerce Department reported last week.
Massachusetts has been viewed as a difficult place to do business because of a reputation as a high-tax, high-cost state with onerous regulations. But companies expanding in the United States from London or Paris often aren’t fazed by Boston expenses, said Phil Budden, the Cambridge-based British consul general for New England.
Not when you wave TENS of MILLIONS of DOLLARS in their faces!
A more important factor, especially as the debt crisis casts a shadow over European economies, is the ability to capitalize on Boston’s assets to sell into the large and relatively stronger US market, hiring top graduates of Boston’s universities and forging partnerships with local biomedical start-ups that can provide new products and technology, Budden said....
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Related:
BIO convention comes back to Boston
As biotech giants convene, Massachusetts stands out
In about a billion way$.
"Federal drug review nettles biotech industry; Concern evident on eve of Boston expo" by Robert Weisman | Globe Staff, June 19, 2012
Federal drug regulators found themselves under the spotlight Monday as the massive Biotechnology Industry Organization’s annual convention opened in Boston.
As more than 15,000 life sciences professionals converged on the Boston Convention & Exhibition Center for four days of panels, networking, and business dealing, a Food and Drug Administration plan to make decisions on new drugs more transparent and consistent drew criticism from industry skeptics.
The FDA is their frikkin' marketing agent -- until they are forced to call back so many of the poisons because some people died.
Drug makers have long complained about what they consider a needlessly complicated and sometimes risk-averse review process for experimental medicines. But a proposed framework for evaluating drug candidates did little to quiet their concerns.
In a separate panel, David Verbraska, vice president of drug maker Pfizer Inc., while claiming the FDA remains the “golden standard” for drug regulation, said industry leaders often grouse about “the mystery, the black box nature” of the agency’s process for reviewing and approving drug candidates.
See: Pfizer Phuck
The drug review process has been a perennial bone of contention between the industry and its regulators....
What a FAKE and FRAUD of a narrative pushed by the.... (blog editor races to porcelain god to puke).
Panels related to FDA regulation were among more than 100 scheduled at BIO, as biotech representatives from 48 states and 65 countries set up exhibits and meeting space in a cavernous hall larger than four football fields.
Strategically located at the bottom on the main escalators to the exhibition hall was the 7,700-square-foot Massachusetts pavilion, where Governor Deval Patrick, Mayor Thomas M. Menino of Boston, and state Senate President Therese Murray will be among the government officials planning to be on hand for news announcements scheduled for Tuesday and Wednesday.
Murray was set to disclose Tuesday a multinational collaboration on throat cancer research and detection, with a Massachusetts connection, as well as a US-European Union health care conference planned for Boston this fall. Patrick, meanwhile, will team up with Israel’s chief scientist, Avi Hasson, to award the first round of grants under the Massachusetts-Israel Innovation Partnership rolled out at last year’s BIO convention in Washington.
Related:
"Massachusetts is the first US state to establish a significant industrial R&D program with the State of Israel. The funding agencies approved four research and development collaborations. At least $1.3 million is being awarded to four research and development collaborations between Massachusetts and Israeli companies that have been jointly approved by the funding agencies on both sides. The four winning projects are...."
Oh, I'm so proud. Link is there if you want to look at who is getting the dough you are not, taxpayers.
Maybe they could take a look at Sal DiMasi's tongue.
Conventioneers flocked Monday night to a dozen private parties and receptions, from Kendall Square in Cambridge to the South Boston Waterfront, where companies such as Cubist Pharmaceuticals Inc., Amgen Inc., and Bayer AG hosted visitors from around the globe. More than 70 parties and special events related to BIO will be held this week.
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Regulators going to need to go overseas:
"Bill would boost regulation of foreign manufacturers
WASHINGTON - US regulators would inspect more drug manufacturing facilities in China, India, and other foreign countries as part of legislation approved Thursday that aims to step up oversight of the nation’s imported pharmaceutical supply.
The Senate bill, approved by a 96-1 vote, addresses a number of concerns about the safety and quality of imported medicines. It also gives regulators more tools to combat drug counterfeiting and shortages.
The legislation represents a major shift in how the government oversees the pharmaceutical industry. For more than 70 years, the Food and Drug Administration has focused its inspections on US factories. But over time, most companies have moved their operations overseas to take advantage of cheaper labor and materials....
Today roughly 80 percent of the ingredients used in US medicines are made overseas.
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Related: Drug makers, Massachusetts to form consortium
You won't believe who the gue$t $peakers were:
Robert E. Rubin (left) and Henry M. Paulson Jr. were keynote speakers at the annual BIO convention in Boston (Jonathan Wiggs/Globe Staff).
The two men most responsible for the destruction of the world economy.
"Former US Treasury secretaries sound alarm; Paulson, Rubin fear EU crisis could derail US" by Robert Weisman | Globe Staff, June 20, 2012
Former US Treasury secretaries Henry M. Paulson Jr. and Robert E. Rubin, who each fended off financial calamities over the past two decades, warned Tuesday that urgent political action is needed on both sides of the Atlantic to prevent a new global meltdown.
First all, the spin makes me sick. Yeah, they fended off the things, didn't cause 'em. F***ing banker's mouthpiece of a paper!
Secondly, I'm grabbing for my wallet and sounding the alarm any time money-junkies cite urgency for action. That's when I jam on the brakes!
And lastly, WHAT DO YOU MEAN we are RIGHT BACK WHERE WE WERE after we're sorry, we didn't mean it, we'll never do it again, TRILLIONS in LOST TAX LOOT, and THREE YEARS (allegedly) of RECOVERY!!!??
“We have a cliff coming,” said Rubin, who served as Treasury secretary under President Bill Clinton in the 1990s. “The idea is to avoid the cliff.”
I'd like to throw you guys over one.
“Under the best of circumstances, this will drag on for a long time,
and there will be a lot of strains,” said Paulson, who had the job under
President George W. Bush. “When markets collide with politics, markets
will win. Markets will have the last word.”
Yes, we have seen that in Europe with their self-appointed leaders.
Yes, we have seen that in Europe with their self-appointed leaders.
The revolving door makes me sick.
While the tone was relaxed and collegial, Paulson and Rubin were pessimistic about the European debt crisis and its potential to drag down the still fragile US economy.
“I’m not optimistic in the short term on Europe,” Paulson told the biotechnology luncheon forum. “One of the problems we have in Western democracies is voters wanting things they don’t want to pay for . . . The likely case is, although Europe is a drag, the US economy will continue to muddle along, but at a pace that doesn’t make a dent in unemployment.”
I'm so angry at that comment I am struggling to hold back the expletives.
And SOMEHOW WE GOT THINGS WE DIDN'T WANT TO PAY FOR like WARS and WALL STREET GIVEAWAYS!!
Paulson, a former chief executive of investment bank Goldman Sachs & Co., defended his own decision to support a $700 billion bailout of troubled US financial institutions during the 2008 crisis.
Yeah, HOW INTERESTING that he SLID INTO THE JOB (not paying taxes on the millions in Goldman Sachs stock he had to dump)
Btw, it was MORE ALONG the LINES of $45 TRILLION (yeh, with a t) for firms that soon after started making billions-per-quarter in profits again! What a coincidence, huh?
But he acknowledged that he erred in communicating the move to the public. The ex-secretary said that he should have made it clear that the bailout was intended to stabilize the nation’s financial system and prevent a collapse that would have hurt ordinary Americans.
“What I never was able to make the public understand was that the rescues weren’t for the banks, they were for the public,” he said....
Paulson, you are lucky that bald dome isn't rolling down the street right now.
Rubin, who led US efforts aimed at propping up the Mexican and several Asian economies, defended those Clinton-era bailouts.
“On the whole, we got it right,” said Rubin, a former director of banking giant Citigroup.
Where he made millions directing hedge fund trades and other bets.
Both men acknowledged, however, that their bailout decisions could have invited “moral hazard” at big banks where, in Rubin’s words, “the creditors feel that in very large measure they have been protected against the consequences of their actions.”
They should feel that way because they are.
Paulson agreed there was a danger of moral hazard — that if you protect people from the fallout of their risky behavior, they will continue to engage in such behavior. But he said that he was entirely focused on averting a catastrophe in the US and global markets. “You never really break the cycle [of financial bubbles] in market-based economies,” he said. “The most you can hope for is to mitigate it.”
No tough love for banksters!
And NO CRIMINAL HAZARD, huh?
Both said decisive political action is needed in Europe and the United States, by next year at the latest, to prevent a new financial meltdown that would be felt worldwide.
UN-FLIPPING-F***ING-REAL!!
The MONEY JUNKIES NEED ANOTHER BAILOUT!!!!!
Rubin said the world’s largest economies — the United States, the European Union, and Japan — all face unsustainable levels of debt that their leaders have avoided confronting....
And THUS you must ACCEPT AUSTERITY so that the SAME BANKERS who PLUNGED YOU INTO DEBT can GET PAID!!!
While they offered some rays of hope, citing the historic resilience of the US political system, both agreed it will be difficult to solve the financial problem in the current polarized environment — and impossible before the US election in November.
Hmmmmm. Romney should prepare to be president then. You will be getting a Republican Senate with a Republican president this November, Americans.
In the European Union, where a solution would involve multiple sovereign countries, it will be even harder, they said. “The [European] monetary union is not sustainable unless you forge something that looks much more like political union,” Paulson said.
And now you understand what is going on over there -- and why.
Both former Treasury secretaries said they remained hopeful a financial disaster can be averted. “As to what’s possible politically,” Rubin said, “you only find that out when you all get together in a room.”
With $omeone el$es help.
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Update: Mainstream media barred from attending BIO keynote
And all that optimism about Europe?
"Europe’s financial crisis hits firms in Mass.; Overseas sales slow in drug, tech sectors" by Michael B. Farrell | Globe Staff, June 11, 2012
Exports are important to the state’s growth because they bring new money into the economy that is used to expand plants, hire workers, and purchase goods and services. When exports decline, so does this infusion of revenue.
Exports may also decline when the dollar strengthens against the euro, which it has recently, making US goods more expensive for Europeans, who may instead buy domestically produced alternatives....
Many of the Massachusetts companies with strong ties to Europe are in the technology and life sciences industries: pharmaceutical and biotech companies....
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Do you remember what this is all supposed to be about?
