World. And the evidence is that these patent Innovation Box policies are not very good at that because what theyre targeting is the income generated from the patents rather than the research that leads to them. This is true of lots of r d tax credits. In holland they just designed one which is quite intelligent, i think, because it targets the research that leads to the r d. So the labor hired rather than the income generated from that r d. But i think we should remember that, for example, the act which in 1980 allowed publicly funded research to be patented. If you read that act, its really interesting. They also say we better make sure that the taxpayer doesnt pay twice, right . So just like year, i think the nih spent arounded 39 billion in research, both basic and applied. And the problem is what happens to the prices of these drugs . Do they reflect that input . So its not only and ive been reading a lot about this, but the pricing mechanism itself could be one way to be rewarded
Now that is 10 trillion. So there are not many places you can say i can take 10 trillion out of the spending stream to keep you healthier. Let me follow up on this now speaker gingrich. You are a conservative and as a result may have credibility than i do in some circumstances on the question on the role of government here. Why isnt it enough to count on private industry to do this . Why do we have to have a substantial investment from the federal government . Its a question about American History. [ inaudible ] and i are developing a project on why George Washington matters. And people dont often notice that the Founding Fathers wrote into the constitute a Patent Office because they so deeply believed in the future. They made investments. The First Federal highway was built during washingtons lifetime. They believed in improving things. They talked about them as improvements. Jefferson launched an expedition to the west and there was a Childrens Book on this called from sea to shining
of december alone, more than half a million people have signed up for health insurance vee kra the federal web site, healthcare.gov. that s a lot faster pace in the role that we ve seen in previous months. in november, it was 300 thousand or so. he also said that since october 1st, one in a million people have signed up through the federal and state marketplaces. so noo s a little bit of an updated number. we won t get official numbers until january. all right, athena jones, thank you so much. this will be the first christmas at the vatican for the pope. the pope is also sending christmas presents to the under-privileged with a rather personal touch. here s erin mcglaughin. pope francis has a lot going on. on saturday, he delivered a
0 i m curious about the transaction sns. as a mother, i can promise you that she ll be fully dressed at all times. and she will also not take the lord s name in vain or attempt to disrobe mr. anderson, mr. cooper. you don t have to call him mr. anderson. is she reading from the cnn contract you were forced to sign? yes, she is. she doesn t normally read contracts. all right. thafgs anderson cooper and cathy griffin and maybe even mom will be there new year s eve right here on cnn. they will be live in times square starting at 9:00 p.m. eastern time. we ve got so much more straight ahead in the news room. and it all restarts right now. hello, again, everyone. here are the top stories we re following in the cnn news room. the death toll climbs from a severe winter storm and the danger isn t over yet. ice and snoep are creating treacherous road conditions for tens of millions of holiday travelers. americans are air lifted, meantime, out of south sudan as violence there spreads