John Dingell (D-Pharma) wins the race to sell out.

Robert Reich and Greg Mankiw agree that his bill is a sick joke at the expense of the US treasury. Now Mankiw is very slightly right of center and Reich is no bomb thrower, but they rarely agree, because Reich is not exactly an economist and Mankiw is exactly exactly an economist.

The idea is that Dingell's bill will allow the Medicare administration to bargain over prices with drug companies saying "you better not demand that absurd price or we will be forced to ... buy your pills anyway."

Dingell is the most senior member of the Democratic caucus. I think he's already served the Republic enough and has earned an honorable retirement starting Jan 2009.