Thanks, but no thanks, to Donald Trump and Kamala Harris and to the Olympic athletes in Paris who are causing me to watch a lot of television that is clarifying for me a trick of the television trade to make money. More and more money. We’re all watching that trick. You know, those never-ending television commercials pitching medicines. The makers of the medicines are paying huge amounts of money to network and cable television companies for just 15 or 30 seconds of air time to tell us over and over again about the wonders of the medicines now available at what they call bargain prices, promising us their medicines will heal our wounds, hide our freckles, protect us from our allergies, and take off and keep off the weight we so want off. The people on TV who are praising and promoting the medicines are, of course, young, beautiful, handsome, and happy. Or older, beautiful, handsome, wiser, and happy. All of them always appearing to be healthy. But for the end of those medicine commercials, there’s often a voice warning us about the “side effects” of the medicines that can cause infections and even heart disease. A warning I recently heard says, “If you’re allergic to a medicine, stop taking it and call your doctor.” While listening to that, I said to myself, “What? If allergic to a medicine, stop taking it? Duh!”

Walter Jacobson gives his Perspective: