Latest news with #Pipes
Yahoo
14-05-2025
- Automotive
- Yahoo
Wilkes County prepares for 2025 NASCAR All-Star Race
NORTH WILKESBORO, N.C. (WGHP) — The green flag is dropping for the 2025 NASCAR All-Star Race at North Wilkesboro Speedway soon. Sunday's race is expected to bring the crowds despite no fan fest or hauler parade this year. This is year three for the All-Star race back at North Wilkesboro Speedway, and it just keeps getting bigger. The Wilkes County Tourism Development Authority said thousands of fans are expected to come for the race weekend. A new pedestrian bridge has been put in place to help move crowds safely to the speedway. 'In past races, we've had to close down one lane of Fisher Creek, put stop lights on both sides, install barrier fencing for the pedestrians because the old bridge was not accommodating to pedestrians based on the railing heights,' North Carolina Department of Transportation Resident Engineer for Wilkes County and Ashe County Scott Pipes said. The WCTDA estimates between 80,000 to 90,0000 people will be coming over four days for the NASCAR All-Star race weekend. With fans comes foot traffic. That's where this new pedestrian bridge comes in. It was installed in April ahead of the busy race weekend. The NCDOT's new pedestrian bridge crosses U.S. 421, allowing people to safely walk over the busy highway to the North Wilkesboro Speedway. 'The new bridge is designed for pedestrians,' Pipes said. The bridge is a part of a bigger traffic control plan involving cameras, NCDOT crews and troopers monitoring on U.S. 421 that will be heavily traveled over the race weekend. 'The biggest thing is keeping 421 flowing, but expect delays,' Pipes said. While the speedway brings the people in, WCTAD Executive Director Thomas Salley said the deep history of racing in the county keeps them exploring. That history is on display at the Wilkes Heritage Museum. 'NASCAR has its roots right here in Wilkes County with the moonshine … capital of the world … That business beget this idea of stock car racing because the moonshiners were modifying their cars to outrun the police,' Salley said. In its third year, Salley said the All-Star race is revving up more than just engines. It's driving economic growth. NASCAR's All-Star race weekend runs from May 16 through May 18, with the big race event on Sunday at 8 p.m. Fans have already started arriving, and campgrounds are open. If you're not headed to the speedway for the NASCAR weekend events, NCDOT officials recommend avoiding U.S. 421. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Mint
07-05-2025
- Business
- Mint
1,235% rally in 5 years! THIS multibagger stock is Anand Rathi's pick for May 2025. Buy, sell or hold?
Multibagger Stock: Indian brokerage firm Anand Rathi Investment Services has selected APL Apollo Tubes (APLAPOLLO) as its stock pick of the month of May 2025 and expects a potential upside of 6.66 per cent for the stock. Shares of the iron and steel product maker closed 2.99 per cent higher at ₹ 1,662.85 after Wednesday's stock market session, compared to ₹ 1,614.55 at the previous market close. APL Apollo Tubes shares, after a prolonged consolidation, have now witnessed a major 'trendline breakout' above the 1,650 mark in Wednesday's stock market session. 'After a prolonged consolidation, APLAPOLLO has witnessed a major trendline breakout above the 1,650 mark in today's session,' said the brokerage firm. Anand Rathi analysts highlighted that the breakout is well-supported by encouraging volumes, indicating strong market participation. 'Weekly RSI has confirmed a bullish breakout, reinforcing the positive price action,' said the brokerage firm in its stock report. APL Apollo Tubes shares have given stock market investors more than 1,235 per cent returns on investment in the last five years and over 7 per cent gains in the last one-year period. On a year-to-date (YTD) basis, the shares have gained 4.32 per cent in 2025, and 14.85 per cent in the last one-month period in the Indian stock market. APL Apollo Tubes shares hit their 52-week high levels at ₹ 1,729.45 on May 22, 2024, while the 52-week low level was at ₹ 1,253 on October 8, 2024, according to BSE data. The shares are currently edging towards the year-high levels. The market capitalisation (M-Cap) of the firm was at ₹ 46,148.17 crore as of the stock market close on Wednesday, May 7, 2025. 'We advise traders to buy the stock near ₹ 1,650 with a stop loss of ₹ 1,594 for an upside target of ₹ 1,760,' said the Anand Rathi analysts as they anticipate a 6.66 per cent upside for the stock. APL Apollo Tubes Ltd. (APLAPOLLO): Buy near ₹ 1,650; Target Price at ₹ 1,760; Stop Loss at ₹ 1,594. APL Apollo Tubes is one of the largest producers of structural steel tubes in the Indian market, and the firm also has an extended distribution network of warehouses and branch offices in 29 cities across the country, catering to domestic as well as 20 countries worldwide, according to the official data. The Delhi NCR-based company has a distribution network of more than 800 dealers in India. Pre-Galvanised Tubes, Structural Steel Tubes, Galvanised Tubes, MS Black Pipes and Hollow Sections are some of the steel products manufactured by the company, as per the official website. Disclaimer: The views and recommendations made above are those of individual analysts or broking companies, and not of Mint. We advise investors to check with certified experts before taking any investment decisions.
Forbes
07-05-2025
- Business
- Forbes
A Most Flawed Notion: Medicaid "Fix" Will Worsen 340B Crisis
"MFN reinforces the worst incentives in 340B, shifts costs to patients and employers, and threatens ... More the long-term health of both public programs and private enterprise," writes Pipes. AFP via Getty Images Congressional Republicans are under pressure to find savings to make the math in their budget reconciliation package add up. Medicaid, which accounts for just under 10% of federal spending, has become an obvious target. But instead of addressing the flawed incentives driving the program's unsustainability, the Trump administration is pushing for a "most favored nation," or MFN, policy on drug pricing. The idea is to peg Medicaid reimbursement to what other developed countries pay for prescription drugs. Those prices are lower because foreign governments maintain price controls on prescription drugs. This isn't reform. It's a gimmick. It attempts to import foreign price controls to generate budgetary savings on paper. Its consequences will ripple throughout the healthcare system—distorting markets, enriching the hospitals that already abuse the flawed 340B drug discount program, and sapping biopharmaceutical innovation. The 340B program was created to help hospitals and clinics serving low-income and rural populations buy medicines at steep discounts. Over time, it's morphed into a profit center for large health systems. These hospitals aren't required to pass savings on to patients. Instead, they buy discounted drugs and resell them—often to Medicare or privately insured patients—at full price and pocket the difference. The size of 340B discounts is tied to the Medicaid rebate formula. So when Medicaid prices fall—as they would under MFN—340B discounts would deepen automatically. For every dollar a manufacturer loses on Medicaid, it could lose up to two more through 340B. What looks like a budget win would become a multiplier of government-mandated losses—with no real benefit to the low-income patients these programs were meant to serve. To offset mounting losses, manufacturers would raise prices in the commercial market. Meanwhile, hospitals would continue marking up discounted 340B drugs—and billing insurers and employers for them at full price. That markup would act as a hidden tax on patients, small businesses, and anyone with private insurance. Hospitals are already leveraging 340B's perverse incentives to enrich themselves at ordinary Americans' expense. They purchase outpatient clinics and partner with retail pharmacies—not to reach more underserved patients but to expand 340B eligibility and their revenue. Many of these pharmacies operate in affluent suburbs, far from the communities 340B was intended to help. The numbers speak for themselves. Discounted purchases under 340B grew from $4 billion in 2009 to almost $54 billion in 2022. Yet the majority of participating hospitals provide less charity care than they generate in 340B profits. MFN would only accelerate these trends. MFN would also put drug access and innovation at risk. Under current law, manufacturers must participate in both Medicaid and 340B in order to access Medicare Part B, which covers doctors' services and outpatient care. But Medicaid already forces manufacturers to offer steep rebates. The "Best Price" rule requires them to match the lowest price they've given any other buyer. Then, if a drug's price has risen faster than inflation since launch, an additional 'inflation penalty' rebate kicks in. Today, the average Medicaid discount exceeds 50%. For some drugs, it's over 100%—meaning the manufacturer must pay the government every time the drug is dispensed. These "negative prices" are not hypothetical. They're real. MFN would make them more common by anchoring Medicaid to the lowest prices in countries where governments set prices without regard for how much it costs to develop a new drug—or the negative impact that such controls have on innovation. Facing this math, some manufacturers may choose to exit the Medicaid and Medicare markets altogether. That would leave Americans with access to fewer treatments—and would mean fewer dollars to reinvest in the next generation of cures. It's one thing to criticize foreign governments for freeloading off American innovation. It's another to adopt their pricing practices, which have gutted research investment within their borders. There are better ideas for generating savings in Medicaid. Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, has been leading the charge for block grants or per-capita caps, stricter eligibility verification, and reducing the federal match rate for able-bodied enrollees to that in force for Medicaid's legacy population. These are the kinds of reforms that would restore fiscal sanity without stifling innovation or rewarding market manipulation. MFN reinforces the worst incentives in 340B, shifts costs to patients and employers, and threatens the long-term health of both public programs and private enterprise. It's a budget sleight-of-hand wrapped in bad economics.
Forbes
21-03-2025
- Business
- Forbes
Trump Must Challenge Foreign Freeloading, Not Copy It
"The Trump administration must confront foreign governments directly to end pharmaceutical ... More freeloading," writes Pipes. This morning, the America First Policy Institute released an issue brief highlighting a genuine problem—the rest of the world free-rides on American pharmaceutical innovation. American consumers bear most of the global costs associated with drug research and development and so subsidize lower prices abroad. President Trump is already working to address similar foreign freeloading—most notably by calling on our European NATO allies to contribute their fair share toward collective defense. He can, and should, apply the same firm approach to pharmaceutical pricing. Much of AFPI's analysis is correct. It accurately identifies foreign freeloading as detrimental to American patients and global research efforts. However, AFPI's proposed solution—a "most-favored-nation," or MFN, pricing policy that would set drug prices in Medicare based on the lowest prices paid in countries like Canada, the United Kingdom, and France—is fundamentally misguided. For starters, the MFN approach overlooks the complex dynamics of pharmaceutical pricing overseas. European countries use aggressive, government-backed negotiations to secure deep discounts from drug manufacturers. These "negotiations" often come with implicit and explicit threats. As just one example, if a manufacturer refuses to sell its products at dictated prices, a European government could retaliate by revoking its patents under Article 5 of the Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property, which allows compulsory licensing when a patent holder declines to sell its product in a market. Plus, it isn't as if U.S. drug firms can simply band together and leave Europe if the continent refuses to pay more for drugs. Any coordinated efforts would be viewed as cartel-like behavior and trigger antitrust penalties under European Union competition laws. Given these constraints, pharmaceutical companies are effectively forced to accept artificially low prices abroad. Expecting American firms to respond to MFN by raising prices overseas simply isn't realistic. In other words, MFN wouldn't fix freeloading. But it would worsen the impact of European price controls on American innovation and investment. Adopting an MFN policy would effectively import Europe's price controls into our own healthcare system—and thereby jeopardize America's global leadership in pharmaceutical innovation. Developing a new drug currently costs about $2.6 billion, takes 10 to 15 years, and only about 12% of drugs entering clinical trials eventually reach patients. Despite these challenging odds, more than 60% of the world's innovative medicines are developed in the United States. If the MFN proposal becomes policy, critical investments in drug research and development could sharply decline. A National Bureau of Economic Research study estimates that reducing U.S. pharmaceutical prices by 40% to 50% could lead to a 30% to 60% reduction in research initiatives. Similarly, research from University of Connecticut economist Joseph Golec found that America would have lost more than 100 new medicines from 1986 to 2004 under European-style price controls. Beyond limiting future discoveries, MFN pricing would delay access to new medicines already in development. The majority of new drugs first debut in the United States. Pharmaceutical firms prioritize the U.S. market precisely because it fairly compensates them for their substantial research and regulatory costs before they face markets with capped prices abroad. Lowering American prices to match Europe's artificially low prices would intensify global freeloading rather than reduce it. Foreign governments would continue paying little, while U.S. research budgets would shrink. Competitors like China are rapidly expanding their biotechnology capabilities. MFN pricing risks shifting global medical innovation leadership from America to China. The United States possesses numerous trade tools and diplomatic levers to compel foreign countries to pay prices that reflect the true value of American-developed medicines. We need to use them. Price controls don't work, whether they're devised domestically or imported from abroad. The Trump administration must confront foreign governments directly to end pharmaceutical freeloading. Doing so will protect U.S. innovation, preserve patient access to groundbreaking treatments, and maintain America's unmatched global leadership in medical research.
Boston Globe
07-03-2025
- Politics
- Boston Globe
In Trump era, ‘angry conservatives' have more explaining to do
Pipes's supposed history is too filled with reflexive Republican butt-covering to be taken seriously, but I want to confront Pipes over one sentence: He said, 'Barack Obama's two presidencies then confirmed the Democrats' leftward turn.' This is fallacious. Obama is a moderate Democrat squarely in the mainstream of American politics. His plans for government were less ambitious than those of President Lyndon Johnson, President Harry Truman, or President Franklin Roosevelt. Trying to blame Obama or the Democratic Party for the chaos in the Republican Party is irresponsible. Get The Gavel A weekly SCOTUS explainer newsletter by columnist Kimberly Atkins Stohr. Enter Email Sign Up Many Democrats feel like residents in a small apartment who suddenly discover that their roommate has been overcome by some kind of insanity. We look on as Robert F. Kennedy Jr. becomes head of Health and Human Services, and Elon Musk fires government employees without justification, and we wonder, where is this going? How bad could it get? Advertisement Please, do not blame the Democratic Party even indirectly for this mess. Stuart Gallant Belmont MAGA has deep roots in GOP history Daniel Pipes's op-ed blames the rise of MAGA on Democrats, whose supposed leftward turn after Bill Clinton's presidency radicalized Republicans and drove them to adopt 'bad manners' and support 'the immoderate Trump.' This argument is astonishingly myopic. Pipes must not remember that Newt Gingrich, US House minority whip during Clinton's presidency, instructed fellow Republican Party members to Advertisement Pipes also neglects to mention that since Clinton left Washington, Republicans have held the presidency for 13 out of 25 years, and majorities in both houses of Congress for roughly two-thirds of that period. Republicans have also had the edge in federal judicial nominations. It's hard to see the post-Clinton era as one dominated by a 'reinvigorated left.' Pipes predicts the MAGA movement will soon burn out. I hope he is correct, but MAGA's deep Republican roots make me skeptical. Arthur Goldsmith Brookline The writer is a professor emeritus at the University of Massachusetts Boston. Tracing Trump's rise, a laughable omission Any op-ed purporting to explain the rise of President Trump that includes no mention of white supremacy or racism belongs in the comics section, not the Opinion pages. As for Pipes's prediction that this 'abnormality' won't last a decade, if you think we can survive 10 more years of this, you really aren't paying attention. Chris Kelly Reading Questionable justifications for backing Trump Daniel Pipes has joined a growing chorus of 'traditional' Republicans who try to justify their decisions to vote for Donald Trump for president. His explanation: 'The Left made me do it.' A simple 'I'm sorry' would have been more acceptable. Pipes — like many other Reaganite Republicans who were frustrated by that president's inability to fully remake the country — saw in Trump and the MAGA movement an opportunity to get the country they wanted. Instead, they have given the rest of us the nightmare scenario of a moribund democratic Republic. Pipes — and anyone paying attention — knew who Trump was in 2016. We knew he had called for the execution of five young Black men before they were found guilty of attacking a white woman, and reiterated his call after they were exonerated. We knew he had spent years harassing a sitting president, insisting he wasn't a US citizen. We knew he was a self-aggrandizing, publicity-hungry, bankruptcy-prone businessman. Advertisement Any thoughtful person — which I presume Pipes is, and Mitch McConnell, and John Roberts — knew this. And rather than vote accordingly in the voting booth, in the Senate, or on the Supreme Court, they voted to favor the GOP, the Marilse Rodriguez-Garcia Belmont Crisis won't end through wishful thinking While Daniel Pipes now distances himself from President Trump, his admission of voting for Trump twice — despite Trump's corruption — reveals a contradiction he fails to address. By framing MAGA's excesses as a temporary phase that will 'burn out' within a decade, Pipes ignores the immediate threat to democratic institutions and the role enablers like him played in emboldening this movement. Democracy is not self-correcting; it requires urgent, active defense. Pipes's passive assertion that time will restore decency ignores history's lesson: Extremism metastasizes unless confronted. His declaration of independence from the GOP rings hollow without accountability for past complicity or a commitment to resisting authoritarianism today. Conservatives who reject Trumpism must do more than declare themselves 'unaffiliated.' True principle demands engagement, not detachment. The crisis Pipes describes will not resolve itself through wishful thinking. It demands immediate action to restore democratic norms, not a decade-long wait for renewal. Jordan Ryan Decatur, Ga.
