{"id":48019,"date":"2026-05-03T21:27:27","date_gmt":"2026-05-04T04:27:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/?p=48019"},"modified":"2026-05-03T21:28:26","modified_gmt":"2026-05-04T04:28:26","slug":"presidents-drug-prices-boast-shows-the-math-isnt-mathing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/2026\/05\/03\/presidents-drug-prices-boast-shows-the-math-isnt-mathing\/","title":{"rendered":"President\u2019s drug-prices boast shows the math isn\u2019t mathing"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<ul>\n<li><em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.sfexaminer.com\/users\/profile\/Marc%20Sandalow\">By Marc Sandalow | Special to The Examiner<\/a><\/em><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>16 hrs ago (SFExaminer.com)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com\/sfexaminer.com\/content\/tncms\/assets\/v3\/editorial\/b\/1e\/b1e5d504-8ee7-48da-a38d-9856c91dc148\/628d6073baf4e.image.jpg?resize=400%2C266\" alt=\"Algebra and mathematics\"\/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\"><em>Even an eighth-grade algebra student knows that you can\u2019t divide by zero \u2014 and prices can\u2019t fall by more than 100%, writes Marc Sandalow.<\/em><em>Examiner file<\/em><em><\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Here\u2019s something for \u201creckless, feckless and defeatist\u201d&nbsp;haters of President Donald Trump to ponder now that algebra is back in San Francisco\u2019s middle schools.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Trump repeatedly boasts of reducing drug prices by 600%, sometimes as much as 1,500% \u2014 a seeming mathematical impossibility. Last week his health secretary, Robert Kennedy Jr., came to his defense twice, once in testimony before Congress and once before reporters in the Oval Office, insisting that Trump\u2019s claim is one of \u201ctwo ways of calculating\u201d percentages.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Those who understand basic arithmetic ridicule the assertion as \u201cMAGA math.\u201d It conjures up the twisted reality portrayed in George Orwell\u2019s \u201cNineteen Eighty-Four,\u201d in which fear arises that Big Brother will declare that two plus two is five.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>But what if the critics could be proven wrong? With apologies to those who understand mathematics on a much higher level than I do, here\u2019s one explanation supporting Big Brother\u2019s calculation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Let\u2019s start with something everyone can agree on: 0 = 0.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>And you don\u2019t need algebra to know that any number subtracted from itself is zero. Which means, in algebraic terms, x &#8211; x = 0. Or, x &#8211; x = x &#8211; x.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Furthermore, any number multiplied by zero equals zero. So, it is also true that 4(x &#8211; x) = 5(x &#8211; x) is a mathematically sound equation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Now comes the more complicated calculation, which will soon be introduced to San Francisco eighth graders. In algebra, one way to simplify an equation is by dividing each side by an identical number.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>So, divide both sides by x &#8211; x and you end up with 4 = 5. And if 4 equals five, then 2 + 2 = 5.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Perhaps Big Brother, Trump and Kennedy are right!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Kennedy, who holds degrees from Harvard and the University of Virginia and attended the London School of Economics, insisted that his boss\u2019s math was accurate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cIf a drug was $100 and its price rose to $600, that would be a 600% increase\u201d Kennedy said last week (that\u2019s&nbsp;actually a 500% increase, but who\u2019s counting?). \u201cIf it drops from $600 to $100, that would be a 600% savings.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Ex \/\/ Top Stories<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.sfexaminer.com\/news\/community\/golden-city-kezar-stadium-plan-to-put-sf-clubs-on-the-road\/article_9a4ade68-c231-4731-b15a-6af111be4b90.html#tncms-source=top-stories-article\">As SF awaits pro team, soccer clubs scramble for new homes<\/a><\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p>Teams that have called Kezar Stadium home for decades will bounce around the Bay Area this season<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.sfexaminer.com\/news\/community\/sf-entertainment-zones-pop-up-in-glen-park-upper-fillmore\/article_0fa7c128-06d4-4805-9046-543bd13d9996.html#tncms-source=top-stories-article\">Outdoor booze zones coming to two San Francisco neighborhoods<\/a><\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p>Good times and to-go alcohol sales are set to pop up in the upper Fillmore and Glen Park, much to the delight of nearby bar and restaurant owners<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.sfexaminer.com\/news\/climate\/sf-supervisors-amendment-would-let-puc-buy-new-facilities\/article_7239108e-98fb-402d-8261-69d2d1258afe.html#tncms-source=top-stories-article\">SF turns to customers in quest to electrify The City<\/a><\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p>Under new proposal, SFPUC would be able to purchase infrastructure the utility would otherwise be required to install itself<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cRight,\u201d the president proclaimed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Actually, that\u2019s wrong, as most eighth-graders could tell them. You can\u2019t divide by zero. And prices can\u2019t fall by more than 100%.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Say a 300-pound man balloons up to 600 pounds. That\u2019s a 100% increase. But if drops back to 300 pounds, he hasn\u2019t lost 100% of his weight. If he had, he\u2019d be gone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Though it might be confusing to some \u2014 including Trump and Kennedy \u2014 going from 300 to 600 is a 100% increase. Falling from 600 to 300 is a 50% decrease.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Of course, haggling over numbers is only important if you are concerned about reality. And reality, as comedian Stephen Colbert once observed, \u201chas a well-known liberal bias.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Were Trump or Kennedy making an honest mistake, they would correct themselves. But assertions such as \u201cthe U.S. has already won the war in Iran,\u201d or that prices have plummeted since Joe Biden was president, or that the U.S. economy is the hottest in the world are not meant to fact-checked.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThis is the problem with the media,\u201d Trump\u2019s first campaign manager, Corey Lewandowski, said after the 2016 election. \u201cYou guys took everything that Donald Trump said so literally. The American people didn\u2019t. They understood it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>And the White House is counting on Americans not understanding algebra.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In the final season of the HBO comedy series \u201cVeep,\u201d the buffoonish Jonah Ryan insists he has more delegates than the math shows in his quixotic run for the presidency. He then learns that algebra was developed by Muslims in the 9th century.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cHow do you explain that when I add up my delegates \u2014 with Christian math \u2014 the number is quite different?\u201d he says, vowing to end the teaching of \u201cSharia math\u201d in schools.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Americans have grown accustomed to MAGA math. It explains how Trump\u2019s victory over Kamala Harris&nbsp;in 2024 by a margin of 1.5 percentage points was a \u201chistoric landslide,\u201d how Washington, D.C., no longer has crime, or how such an unpopular president can have a \u201c100% approval rating.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>And if bringing algebra back to eighth grade doesn\u2019t make believers out of them, perhaps the White House can find alternate facts that will.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Here\u2019s something for \u201creckless, feckless and defeatist\u201d&nbsp;haters of President Donald Trump to ponder now that algebra is back in San Francisco\u2019s middle schools. Trump repeatedly boasts of reducing drug prices by 600%, sometimes as much as 1,500% \u2014 a seeming mathematical impossibility. Last week his health secretary, Robert Kennedy Jr.,&#8230; <a class=\"continue-reading-link\" href=\"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/2026\/05\/03\/presidents-drug-prices-boast-shows-the-math-isnt-mathing\/\"> Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr; <\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48019"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=48019"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48019\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":48024,"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48019\/revisions\/48024"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=48019"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=48019"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=48019"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}