Ex-Goldman Boss Does A Brutal Takedown Of Bernie Sanders Over Pharma 'Greed' Tweet

Former Goldman Sachs Group CEO Lloyd Blankfein is back on Twitter after a year-long hiatus — mocking Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., and progressives, a day after the House passed the $1.2 trillion infrastructure bill.

In response to the self-styled Democratic Socialist's tweet on Sunday calling to "end Big Pharma’s greed," Blankfein wrote, "Before you try to kill the industry, let them finish perfecting"vaccines and treatments for Covid and other diseases."

Sanders, who is the chairman of the Senate Budget Committee, has pushed for lowering the prices of prescription drugs by requiring Medicare to negotiate drug prices, and has said the expansion of Medicare to cover dental, hearing and vision is non-negotiable.

But the left's push to enact sweeping socialist policies have been frustrated by centrist senators Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., and Kyrsten Synema, D-Ariz., who have stood rock-like despite vicious personal attacks and protests unleashed by left activists.

The pharma industry has argued that limiting drug prices will have an impact on innovation, which drives the industry. Interestingly, 60% of its campaign donations this year went to Democrats, Time reported.

Blankfein supporters swarmed in. One wrote: "Lloyd you are right and thank you for speaking truth to power. Pharma industry saved the world. Full stop no debate."

Another wrote: "If it wasn’t for pharma industry we would still be suffering disproportionate deaths. Agree?"

However, there were voices of dissent too. While one responded by accusing him of "siding with the lobbyists," another tweeted: "But first, let’s make pharmaceutical companies non-profit, and limit CEO compensation to, say, 25 times that of the lowest paid employee. Deal? Healthcare is a captive market. It should NEVER have been allowed to be for-profit." (sic)

A day before, Blankfein had mocked progressives by tweeting "Progressives blinked" about the passage of the bipartisan infrastructure bill.

Though progressive Democratic lawmakers initially objected to the bipartisan infrastructure bill and held it hostage for months in the House, they later voted to pass it after accepting a promise from centrists that the $1.75 trillion Build Back Better (BBB) bill will advance by mid-November. Despite this, six progressive lawmakers voted against the bill, sticking on to their original plan of voting against infrastructure until the BBB plan also received a final vote.

Sanders, had recently said how "work is not over to get some more progressive policies" into the BBB bill before the House votes on the plan. He had touted the importance of lowering prescription drug prices and insisted on the inclusion of Medicare expansion and tax reform in the package.

Blankfein, who has contributed most to Democratic Party candidates, has always been vocal about his anti-Sanders stance. In 2020, when Sanders won the New Hampshire primary, emerging as a front-runner for the Democratic nomination to face then-President Trump, the billionaire CEO had taken a dig at him, tweeting "Russia should back Bernie Sanders for president in order to best screw up the U.S."

Blankfein also tweeted that "Sanders is just as polarizing as Trump AND he’ll ruin our economy and doesn’t care about our military." Blankfein had also said he may vote for Trump if Sanders was the Democrats’ presidential nominee.