Sunday, 25 January 2026

Trump's mathematics

Just like us?


Published in The News on January 26, 2026   

Way back in the 1970s, Pakistan had a health minister who claimed in an international conference that he had got prices of medicines reduced by 1000 per cent by introducing generic drugs. He was asked how this was possible, as reducing the price of anything costing Rs 100 by a hundred percent would mean it would be available for free, and a reduction of a thousand percent would mean that the buyer would get Rs 900 as well as the free item. I do not remember what the minister said when this was pointed out to him (if at all it was), but it was forgotten in a few days.

I was reminded of this when I heard US President Trump promise a thousand per cent reduction in drug prices. I could understand a Pakistani minister saying it, as we know the state of education in our country, but how is it that even the US president does not know what a seventh grade student does? Should we then assume that the US is just another third world country?

Shakir Lakhani

Karachi

https://www.thenews.pk/print/1395166-just-like-us

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