The "New" Math

The "New" MathEveryone needs to learn it, because if the President uses it, so should everyone else, right? Percentage calculations, that is.
Senator Warren had interesting back and forth with Secretary of Health Kennedy, Jr. I'm sure it's on video somewhere. And he also didn't realize drugs on TrumpRx were actually higher than generic versions at places like Costco:"Elizabeth Warren humiliates RFK Jr. over Trump's insane lie that he's lowering prescription prices by 600% - a literal mathematical impossibility.
Finally, someone called them out on this BS!
"President Trump and the Republicans slashed health care for millions of families. The president pitched his TrumpRx website as the answer for Americans who are worried about health care costs," Senator Warren said during a hearing.
"He claims that TrumpRx has reduced prices by as much as 600%," she continued. "600%, which I think means companies should be paying you to take their drugs."
Trump has repeatedly touted absurd price reductions but as Warren pointed out, 600% is impossible. Even 100% would be untenable for these companies, because it would mean that they were giving the drugs away for free. If a drug costs $10 and you reduce it by 100%, it's now $0.
"But let's do some real math here," continued Warren. "Take one drug, Protonix, a 30-day supply of this heartburn medication, cost $200 on TrumpRx. But there is an identical generic version of this pill called Pantoprazole. Secretary Kennedy, do you know how much it costs for a 30-day supply of that drug at Costco?" "But I would say this, Senator, President Trump has a different way of calculating," said RFK. "If- There's two ways of calculating percentage. If you have a $600 drug and you reduce it to $10, that's a 600% reduction."Of course, Kennedy is dead wrong. If you drop $600 to $10 that would be a 98.33% reduction. You calculate based on the starting number, not on the reduced number working backwards. This is emblematic of the entire MAGA ethos: reject reality and use that rejection to claim some great achievement. Meanwhile, the rest of us still exist in the real world paying real prices."I understand, but you know I only have five minutes," Warren said, bulldozing over RFK's bunk math. "Do you know what the drug costs at Costco?" "I do not," conceded Kennedy."The drug is $16 at Costco. TrumpRx charges $200 for Protonix and Costco charges $16," said Warren. "Let's do another one. Tikosyn is a treatment for heart arrhythmia. It costs $336 on TrumpRx or you can get the generic at Cost Plus Drugs for $12. So you tell me, Mr. Secretary, are patients better off paying $336 on TrumpRx or $12 at Cost Plus Drugs?"This is exactly how you dismantle Trumpian lies. Drill through the misinformation, the propaganda, and the misdirection to get to the cold hard data. RFK and Trump can try all they want to mislead the American people, the numbers never lie."My opinion and mine alone and no one else.