UK doctors wasting money on branded drugs -MPs

LONDON, Jan 17 (Reuters) - British primary care doctors are wasting hundreds of millions of pounds a year by prescribing heavily promoted and pricey branded medicines rather than cheaper generics, a parliamentary committee said on Thursday.
The critical report from the Committee of Public Accounts adds to the growing pressure on the pharmaceuticals industry across Europe, where healthcare payers are seeking to rein in runaway healthcare costs as tougher economic times loom.
The British government is already renegotiating an agreement with drugs firms over medicine pricing in an attempt to get better value for money.
"The NHS (National Health Service) spends each year at least 200 million pounds ($393 million) more than it should as a result of GPs (general practitioners) prescribing too high a proportion of higher cost, branded medicines," the committee's chairman Edward Leigh said.

Read the article at Reuters.

Michigan: Highest unemployment; residents flee state

Michigan's unemployment rate in 2007 hit its highest level in 14 years, losing a total of 90,000 jobs as the state draws near to what everyone hopes is the bottom of a very deep hole.
Worse than jobs disappearing is the fact that tens of thousands of residents are, too. A total of 40,000 people vanished from the state's labor force -- signs that the state's economy has been weak for so long that many potential workers simply quit the state to try their economic luck elsewhere.
The preliminary 2007 average jobless rate for Michigan was 7.2 percent, the highest since 1993 when the annual rate hit 7.4 percent, according to data released Wednesday by the state Dept. of Labor & Economic Growth.

The December unemployment rate also reached a troubling high of 7.6 percent, up two-tenths of a point from November's 7.4 percent, the highest rate in the nation.
The national unemployment rate for December was 5 percent; the national average jobless rate for the year was 4.6 percent.
As expected, the auto sector lost the most jobs in 2007, about 19,000, followed by 16,000 construction jobs as the housing market continues to reel from the subprime mortgage crisis. And retail jobs, shaken by lagging consumer spending, were down by 10,000.
The one sector that grew was education and health services, which gained 9,000 jobs, mainly in health care, state data shows.

Read the article at DetNews.

What a shock...our residents are moving out of state because there is no work here. Granholm can't blame any of this on Engler any longer, as she has been in office way too long already. Hire a COO to help run the state? I'm surprised we had money to even do anything like that. Why can't our legislature do anything about that? Why do we need a COO to help run our state? Because we have an ineffective Governor. Enough said...

Housing crisis starts hitting wealthy

HINSDALE, Illinois (Reuters) - A house in this wealthy Chicago suburb is far beyond the reach of most Americans.
Unfortunately, Hinsdale may also now be too expensive for some of the people who already live here.
"There is a section of the population here that over-extended themselves to buy here and then keep up the facade of wealth," said Sharon Sodikoff, a broker associate at local real estate agency Prudential Homelife Realty. "In the next year or so they'll be forced out in dribs and drabs."
With a picturesque little downtown area and large, expensive houses -- according to the Headrick-Wagner Consulting Group, the average home sale price here in the 12 months to September 30, 2007, was around $1.15 million -- Hinsdale seems a world away from the housing slowdown that may have brought the U.S. economy to the brink of a recession.
But even here, far from the housing crisis' epicenter, high earners with good credit may be heading for trouble as their adjustable rate mortgages (ARMs) adjust beyond their means, local real estate agents and others say. In a normal housing market they'd be able to sell, but now they are stuck.
"The next wave of problems will come from prime borrowers who bought too much house or borrowed too much against it," said Michael van Zalingen, director of home ownership services at Neighborhood Housing Services of Chicago. A "prime" borrower is one with good credit.
Real estate agents warn that some high-income borrowers have already been forced to sell or leave their homes and more will follow. Especially those who used their homes as ATMs, withdrawing cash via home equity loans.
"For those who utilized home equity loans for five to ten years to finance their lifestyle, the chickens are coming home to roost," said Chicago-based real estate agent Marki Lemons.

Read the story at Reuters.


My question: Were these individuals really wealthy, or just put on the false facade of wealth with an expensive home (and like the article says) use their home as an ATM to finance their lifestyle? I believe that most people of true wealth (actual multi-millionaires, not people who make $999,999 a year) follow their money closely and don't get stuck in ridiculous adjustable rate mortgages.

Sex in restroom stalls is private, ACLU says

Sex in restroom stalls is private, ACLU says
Civil liberties group goes to bat for Sen. Craig

Interesting....

ST. PAUL, Minnesota - In a legal effort to help a U.S. senator, the American Civil Liberties Union is arguing that people who have sex in public bathrooms have an expectation of privacy.
Republican Senator Larry Craig is asking the Minnesota Court of Appeals to let him withdraw his guilty plea to disorderly conduct related to a bathroom sex sting at the Minneapolis airport last year.
Craig was arrested by an undercover police officer who said Craig tapped his feet and swiped his hand under a stall divider in a way that signaled he wanted sex. Craig has denied that, saying his actions were misconstrued.

Read the article at MSNBC.

Mich. GOP Congratulates Wrong Candidate

A recent article by Breitbart has a funny article stating that the Michigan GOP congratulated the wrong candidate after the election! Instead of congratulating Romney, they congratulated McCain!

Read about it at Breitbart.

Hillary...Can she last?

With just one loss under her belt, speculation seems to be running rampant with rumors of Hillary dropping out of the race. While I think it is way to early in the game to even consider her dropping out, news stories abound online. I have provided the links below.

Looking at the most recent Rasmussen polls, the numbers don't look to be in her favor:

South Carolina: Obama 42%, Clinton 30%
New Hampshire: Obama 38%, Clinton 28%

Rasmussen Markets data currently shows Obama with a 67.8 % chance of winning the Democratic nomination while Clinton has a 30.8 % chance. Among Republicans, the numbers are McCain 36.9 %, Giuliani 29.0 %, Mike Huckabee 16.7 %, Mitt Romney 12.4 %, and Fred Thompson 2.1 %. Numbers in this paragraph are from a prediction market, not a poll. The markets accurately projected Obama and Huckabee as the winners. Prospects for New Hampshire, other candidates, and other races are featured on the Rasmussen Markets Summary page. (Rasmussen Report).

If you pay attention to polling data, be sure to visit Rasmussen.

TALK OF HILLARY EXIT ENGULFS CAMPAIGN...

'She did not work this hard to get out after one state! All this talk is nonsense'...

FLASH: RASMUSSEN South Carolina: Obama 42% Clinton 30%...

VIDEO: BILL SAYS HE CAN'T MAKE HILLARY 'YOUNGER, TALLER, MALE'...

SHRUM: Clinton's massive mistake - and the final chance to fix it...

HILLARY TEARS IN EYES...

'IT'S NOT EASY'...

VIDEO...

Rivals React...

Fluorescent vs. incandescent? Environmentalists can't decide

New concerns over mercury hazards split green activists on switch to CFLs

WASHINGTON – Al Gore says switching from incandescent light bulbs to compact fluorescents can help save the planet from global warming.
California, Canada and the European Union are so persuaded he's right, the three governments are in the process of banning the sale of incandescent light bulbs, following the trailblazing paths of Fidel Castro in Cuba and Hugo Chavez in Venezuela.
Even the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is on board, urging American citizens to do their part for the environment and switch to the twisty little CFL bulbs that last longer and use less electricity.
But opposition is building among other environmentalists who say the threat of mercury contamination as a result of hundreds of millions of broken CFLS, each containing about 5 milligrams of the highly toxic substance, outweighs any benefits from a switch from Thomas Edison's trusty old invention.

Read about it at WorldNetDaily.

Safety of CFL bulbs in question

Less than a month after the U.S. Congress passed an energy bill banning the incandescent light bulb by 2014, the UK Environment Agency issued guidelines calling for evacuation of any room where an energy-saving compact fluorescent light bulb is broken, releasing toxic mercury.
The warning comes a month before the British government begins its phase-out of tungsten bulbs, scheduled to be completed in 2011. The switchover to CFL bulbs will save at least five million tons of carbon dioxide emissions every year, the government said.
Health experts warned this week that people with certain skin ailments will suffer from the new eco-friendly bulbs which cause conditions such as eczema to flare up. Additionally, the bulbs have been linked to migraine headaches in some people.
The Environment Agency's latest advice focuses on the 6 to 8 milligrams of toxic mercury in each bulb.
Users who break a bulb should vacate the room for at least 15 minutes, the new guidelines say. The debris should not be removed with a vacuum cleaner, which could put toxic dust into the air, but with rubber gloves. The broken glass and all residue is to be placed into a sealed plastic bag and taken to a local official recycling site for proper disposal.

"Because these light bulbs contain small amounts of mercury, they could cause a problem if disposed of in a normal bin," environmental scientist Dr David Spurgeon told the London Daily Mail.
"It is possible that the mercury could be released into the air or from land-fill when they are released into the wider environment. That is a concern, because mercury is a well-known toxic substance."
The Environmental Agency noted that neither warnings about the bulbs' toxicity nor directions for proper disposal is printed on any packaging.
Such warnings aren't necessary, said one toxicologist who said a number of bulbs would have to be smashed simultaneously before there was a danger.
"Mercury accumulates in the body – especially the brain," Dr. David Ray, from the University of Nottingham, told the BBC. "The biggest danger is repeated exposure – a one off exposure is not as potentially dangerous compared to working in a light bulb factory.
"If you smash one bulb then that is not too much of a hazard. However, if you broke five bulbs in a small unventilated room then you might be in short term danger."
The most-immediate hazard from the CFL bulbs may be to Brits' pocketbooks. It costs about $1,300 to properly dispose of one municipal recycling bin full of bulbs – a figure that is sure to increase residents' tax bills.

The article can be found at WorldNetDaily.

Unbelievable. Force us to switch over to a toxic light blub! Add to that the higher cost of recycling the product! Buy up your supply of regular lightbulbs before the 2011 mandate. I know I will consider that. Say I am not eco friendly? How about health friendly and pocketbook friendly! :)

Romney spars with Huckabee, McCain in New Hampshire debate

New Hampshire debate shows a wide open Republican race

MANCHESTER, N.H. -- Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney clashed with Mike Huckabee on foreign policy and John McCain on immigration Saturday night in a high-stakes presidential campaign debate three days before the New Hampshire primary.
"It's not amnesty," McCain shot back after Romney criticized his plan for overhauling the immigration system. "My friend, you can spend your whole fortune on these attack ads, but it still won't be true."
Earlier, Romney criticized Huckabee for having written that the Bush administration was guilty of an "arrogant bunker mentality" on foreign policy.
"Did you read the article before you commented on it," asked Huckabee, the former Arkansas governor.

Read the article from the Associated Press at TheDetroitNews.

Edwards remains the same while rivals change tune

CONCORD, N.H. – John Edwards has a simple philosophy when it comes to fine-tuning his message for New Hampshire: if it ain't broke, don't fix it.
Edwards regaled a crowd of more than 200 this morning with indictments of corporate greed and lobbyists' grip on Washington D.C., along with pledges to fight for universal health care, fairer trade deals and an end to the Iraq war. He proclaimed himself the underdog in Tuesday's primary, but added "the real underdog in America is the middle-class, the low-income families in America who are struggling just to survive."
It's essentially the same pitch Edwards gave Iowans in the weeks leading up to his second-place finish in the Jan. 3 caucus (won by Sen. Barack Obama), and it's very similar to the language he employed on an early-fall swing through New Hampshire. And it stands in contrast to several other candidates touring the state this weekend, who have retooled their messages to appeal to New Hampshire's independent-minded voters and to incorporate lessons from the Iowa results.
Democratic Sen. Hillary Clinton is delivering a New Hampshire stump speech that warns of sharp contrasts with Obama, and which Boston Globe article this morning called "remarkable for the number of new elements introduced in it." Republican Mitt Romney has re-branded himself a man of "change," and GOP rival Mike Huckabee has toned down his religious references and upped his tax talk.

Read the story at TheBaltimoreSun.

New polls added

Please take an opportunity to vote on who you think won the New Hampshire debate that was on ABC. I have a Democratic and Republican section. If you would like, you can also add a comment to this post describing why you think that particular candidate won.

On the Democratic side, for me it was Edwards. He seemed the show the most passion on stage and was ready to go and kept his cool. On the Republican side, I felt that it was Paul. While I like Romney, I'm starting to think that his star is fading.

Your thoughts?

UK living standards outstrip US

LIVING standards in Britain are set to rise above those in America for the first time since the 19th century, according to a report by the respected Oxford Economics consultancy.
The calculations suggest that, measured by gross domestic product per capita, Britain can now hold its head up high in the economic stakes after more than a century of playing second fiddle to the Americans.
It says that GDP per head in Britain will be £23,500 this year, compared with £23,250 in America, reflecting not only the strength of the pound against the dollar but also the UK economy’s record run of growth and rising incomes going back to the early 1990s.
In those days, according to Oxford Economics, Britain’s GDP per capita was 34% below that in America, 33% less than in Germany and 26% lower than in France. Now, not only have average incomes crept above those in America but they are more than 8% above France (£21,700) and Germany (£21,665).
“The past 15 years have seen a dramatic change in the UK’s economic performance and its position in the world economy,” said Adrian Cooper, managing director of Oxford Economics. “No longer are we the ‘sick man of Europe’. Indeed, our calculations suggest that UK living standards are now a match for those of the US.”
Although many people will be surprised by the figures, Americans have long complained that average incomes have been stagnant in their country. One often-quoted statistical comparison suggests that in real terms the median male full-time salary in America is no higher now than it was in the 1970s.

Read the interesting article at BusinessTimesOnline.

ANALYZING IOWA: TWO HISTORIC VICTORIES

By DICK MORRIS & EILEEN MCGANN
January 4, 2008 -- THE amazing victories by Barack Obama and Mike Huckabee in Iowa last night are truly historic. They demonstrate the impact and viability of a message of change in both parties.
VIDEO: Barack Obama's Victory Speech
On the Democratic side, Obama - by winning in a totally white state - shows that racism is gone as a factor in American politics. On the Republican side, Huckabee's win shows how a truly compassionate conservative can win by harvesting voters who want the message of concern for the poor and for values to prevail.
But what of Hillary Clinton? She's down but not out. In the first really contested election of her own political career, she lost dismally - outclassed, outdrawn and outpolled by Obama.
Her campaign professionals (including Bill) decided to stress experience, precisely the wrong message in a Democratic primary. Prematurely appealing to the center and abandoning the left, she fell between two chairs - not sufficiently centrist to win independents or liberal enough to attract Democrats.
On the GOP side, Huckabee brought a new phenomenon into politics. A New Testament Christian politician, he takes the Biblical message to the center-left, clothing the naked and feeding the hungry. His refusal to indulge in negative advertising sent a message to Iowa voters showing his strength under fire.

Read this excellent article at the NYPost.

2008: The year a new superpower is born

Here comes the world's newest superpower. The rest of the world is gloomily contemplating economic slowdown and even recession. Not in Beijing. China is set to make 2008 the year it asserts its status as a global colossus by flexing frightening economic muscle on international markets, enjoying unprecedented levels of domestic consumption and showcasing itself to a watching world with a glittering £20bn Olympic Games.
The world's most populous nation will mark the next 12 months with a coming-of-age party that will confirm its transformation in three decades from one of the poorest countries of the 20th century into the globe's third-largest economy, its hungriest (and most polluting) consumer and the engine room of economic growth.
Once regarded at best as a sporting also-ran, China is widely tipped to top the medals table in the Beijing Olympics in August, an event in which the country's leadership is investing huge importance and prestige.
It will be a celebration viewed with consternation by many, as China's authoritarian regime shows little sign of relaxing its grip on power and continues to expand its influence overseas from the oil fields and metal mines of Africa to the City of London. Appropriately, 2008 marks the Year of the Rat, an animal considered in Chinese folklore to be a harbinger and protector of material prosperity.
Britain will feel the full power of the new superpower's confidence. This month, for the first time, China's state-controlled banks will begin spending some of its $1.33trn (£670bn) in foreign currency reserves on London's financial markets. Beijing has ruled that Britain should become only the second destination after Hong Kong to be allowed to receive investors' money via so-called "sovereign funds" – the huge state-controlled surpluses built up by cash-rich economies from Qatar to South Korea. Throw in the biggest round of Chinese art exhibitions ever to tour these islands and the oriental bias to 2008 becomes even more pronounced.
The UK has made it clear that Beijing's investment, which could reach as much as £45bn, is welcome and it follows the recent acquisition by Chinese banks of stakes in such blue chip stocks as Barclays and the US private equity firm Blackstone, at a cost of $3bn. The talk in the finance houses is that the label "Made in China" will soon be replaced by one reading "Owned by China". Takeover speculation has provoked concern in some quarters at the wisdom of selling large assets to organs of a democratically unaccountable state where the financial sector remains underdeveloped.
China's trade surplus with the rest of the world will widen from £130bn in 2007 to £145bn this year as it tries to tame its burgeoning economy amid pressure from Washington and Brussels to narrow the trade gap and raise its currency's value.

Read the story at TheIndependent.