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To: mishedlo who wrote (51110)	1/24/2006 3:35:26 AM
From: Yorikke	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 110194

'Nurses are one of the few bright spots.' Yes but program demand often far exceeds the ability of the school to grant admission. In my state if you want a nursing degree you almost have to go to a private school which is very expensive. Nursing is damn hard. It is exhausting work, unless one is an RN, and then it is often hours of mind numbing paperwork. Lower level staff are chronically prone to injury. RN's burn out early if they don't pace themselves. But it is a giving life. I have rarely found something as rewarding elsewhere. We speak of an era of deflation. ( which is some ways off) But costs are sticky and it will get more expensive relatively before it gets less so. I think the final blow to the middle class will be the engineered high cost of Dying. Nothing will be passed on, it will just go to the Care Homes and Lawyers. The boomers will bankrupt their children and be cranky about it...when they can remember a reason for their crankiness. I sat with a woman who was spending 250 dollars a day waiting to die. She didn't consume that much, but the institution had its costs. It was only in the final weeks of a 9 month stay that she ever got anywhere near her money's worth. All the while she lamented the fact that the nest egg she had planned for her daughter was being drained by this need to sit and formally await death. She finally just stopped eating and drinking--said to Hell with it in disgust. she was a spry 90, and understood. But soon we are going to see a magnificent crowd of people with little money and great need. Most won't be able to sit in the piano room and read quietly while the minutes tick by and dollars oil the gears. It will be giant 'low cost' institutions with lines of diaper wetters in wheel chairs filling basketball court sized recreation rooms while those with some kind of awareness hit big helium filled beach balls back and forth over low loose hanging badmittin nets during the daily exersize period. All to some tune like 'Merry ... Merry....Merry-go-round. Bring my love back to me....beep beep...boop boop'. That's when I'll turn to my own old age insurance policy which I purchased from Colt. It's the 45 Magnum plan. Limited benefits but very affordable.

To: mishedlo who wrote (51110)	1/24/2006 7:03:30 AM
From: shades	Respond to of 110194

J Lomax Sees "Some Risk" Of Disruptive Market Adjustment -3 . Lomax said, given the size of Asian central bank holdings of dollar assets, their decisions will likely affect the calculations of private investors. "Since the foreign official sector - mostly Asian central banks...now hold a substantial amount of the outstanding stock of U.S. Treasurys, private investors' willingness to hold dollar assets depends to some extent on their expectations of what these Asian central banks will be doing," Lomax said. (END) Dow Jones Newswires J BOE's Lomax Sees "Some Risk" Of Disruptive Mkt Adjustment . LONDON (Dow Jones)--There is "some risk" financial markets will undergo "disruptive adjustments" as global imbalances unwind, Bank of England Deputy Governor Rachel Lomax said Tuesday. In a speech to a conference on global imbalances organized by the Royal Institute of International Affairs, Lomax said those adjustments could have a significant impact on growth if they include a "sharp reversion" of long-term interest rates to more usual levels. Long-term rates have been unusually low for a number of years, a development partially explained by the high levels of savings in some Asian countries relative to investment. However, Lomax said it is difficult for the central bank's Monetary Policy Committee to reflect these risks in its decisions on short-term interest rates. "We have been trying to factor this risk in to our thinking about interest rates as long as I have been on the MPC," Lomax said. "But it is not a risk that maps easily on to any particular interest rate decision." (MORE TO FOLLOW) Dow Jones Newswires January 24, 2006 04:35 ET (09:35 GMT)

To: mishedlo who wrote (51110)	1/24/2006 7:36:14 AM
From: orkrious	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 110194

Cost of education...should drop. Mish, why do you think the cost of education will drop. Professor's salaries?

To: mishedlo who wrote (51110)	1/24/2006 4:48:32 PM
From: FiveFour	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 110194

<Something has to give and I can only see tiny bits of solutions. There is a real serious problem with medical expenses. > imo, socializing it, however unpleasant that is, is the only way out of the mess.

To: mishedlo who wrote (51110)	1/24/2006 4:58:12 PM
From: shades	Respond to of 110194

The beginnings of protectionism? DJ US Presses China For Info On Intellectual Property Rights By Elizabeth Price Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES WASHINGTON (Dow Jones)--The Bush administration has again asked China to provide more information about its efforts to enforce intellectual property rights. This second request, outlined in a letter to China's Ambassador to the World Trade Organization dated Jan. 20, follows up one made by the U.S. Trade Representative's office in October. The USTR then gave China a Jan. 23 deadline to respond. Deputy U.S. Trade Representative Peter Allgeier, in the letter responding to questions from the Chinese government, laid out a legal rationale for why the U.S. believes China must provide details on intellectual property rights enforcement cases. "My government wishes to work cooperatively with yours to enhance mutual understanding of those issues, and we hope that you will take advantage of the opportunity to do so," Allgeier said in the letter released by the USTR. In October, U.S. trade officials invoked a rarely used WTO procedure that requires the Chinese government to outline the steps it is taking to comply with international trade rules on intellectual property. U.S. trade officials said they wanted more information in the hopes of pinpointing deficiencies in China's enforcement regime and correcting them. Should China fail to show progress in curbing rampant piracy and counterfeiting, the White House -now under intense pressure from members of Congress concerned about the issue - could ask for a WTO panel to settle the dispute. Intellectual property enforcement has long been a sore point in the U.S.-China trade relationship. Last year, the U.S. put China on its "Priority Watch" list for patent and copyright violations, a first step in a long process that could eventually result in trade sanctions. Chinese officials have told the U.S. they have prosecuted thousands of cases of intellectual property violations. The U.S. is seeking information about these cases in six areas: the legal basis for the claim; the types of remedies imposed; timing and location of the enforcement actions; whether cases were transferred to criminal authorities; whether rights holders were foreign or Chinese; and the types of products involved. In the letter, Allgeier said the USTR is concerned about Chinese statements noting that the relevant section of the international agreement on intellectual property, or the TRIPS Agreement, refers to a member's right to request information but makes no mention of another member's requirement to respond to those requests. "We assure you that our request was made in good faith and a spirit of cooperation, and we look forward to China's full response in the same spirit," Allgeier told the Chinese. -By Elizabeth Price, Dow Jones Newswires; 202-862-9295; Elizabeth.Price@dowjones.com