It's well recognized that the prices U.S. consumers pay a premium for prescription drugs, which the drug companies (including the one I work for) say pays for research, development and infrastructure costs, and then the rest of the world pays much, much less. Canada and Mexico are in the news a lot right now because retirees cross the border to get less expensive drugs.
This trend seems to extend to other products as well, especially college textbooks. This one is particularly assinine. If regular books (like the sci-fi and fantasy that I read for fun) cost the same thing, adjusted for exchange rates, so why would a college text be different? To enhance profits.
The cost of higher education is spiraling out of control for states, parents, and students, and there has been absolutely zero regulation of expenses other than tuition. which is going up as states cut budgets.
Americans do enjoy a high standard of living and have higher incomes than most people in other nations. The price seems to be paying higher costs for the exact same products and services to enhance corporate profit margns. This has to stop, especially since many of the products we pay such a premium for are now manufactured outside the country by U.S. companies. High compensation costs for workers are really not an issue in these cases, so the "expense" for many items has to be buried somewhere else.
Posted by Chris at October 24, 2003 09:33 AM