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Politics : Foreign Affairs Discussion Group -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: neolib who wrote (215839)	2/1/2007 12:12:25 PM
From: geode00	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 281500

You and Mitt Romney keep missing the entire point. The point is that a very large chunk of the exorbitant health care costs in the US are caused by an out-of-control for-profit system. You must be in favor of putting more money into Parsons projects in Iraq. Instead of FIXING the PROBLEM, you're just throwing more money at it until it finally breaks down entirely. What kind of good business is that? This is the problem: 1. Insurers, simply middlemen whose job it is to charge ever higher premiums (96% increase in premiums under Bush) and deny care. That is THEIR PURPOSE. Their purpose is not to spread risk, it is to DENY CARE whenever possible in order to achieve their stated goal: increase profits. If you don't think this is true then you really don't understand capitalism. 2. AMA, also into the denial of care by restricting the number of medical schools and, therefore, the number of practitioners and by lobbying to keep out foreign physicians. 3. Drug companies who, instead of looking for CURES, look for expensive, ongoing, limitless treatment of permanent chronic diseases. They won't look for antibiotics but they will look for another treatment for ED. 4. Politicos who get scads of money from the industry. 5. The food industry which, along with the government, foists crappola on the AmericanPublic in the form of highly processed foods, high fructose corn syrup and other junk which leads to chronic conditions. 6. The AmericanPublic, especially people LIKE YOU who buy the pablum and unsubstantiated claims from the above. Instead of looking at the actual problem, you're just bolstering the for-profit opinions of the above. Americans are UNHEALTHY and instead of investing in HEALTH and HEALTH CARE, all we're doing is pouring an unbelievable amount of money into a black hole of profit. The result is that Americans are UNHEALTHY even though we pay TWICE what others pay. For a supposed capitalist, you're supporting a lousy ROI.

To: neolib who wrote (215839)	2/1/2007 2:01:50 PM
From: michael97123	Respond to of 281500

Biden is having another bad hair day, pun intended. Son of presidential candidate sued over hedge fund deal Jennifer McCandless 01 Feb 2007 Hunter Biden, a lobbyist and son of Senator Joseph Biden, has been sued for $100m (€76.8m) by a former business partner just as his father enters the 2008 race for the White House. According to the lawsuit, a copy of which was obtained by Financial News, Anthony Lotito claimed Hunter Biden and his uncle, James Biden, lied to convince him to relinquish his share of their partnership in a fund of hedge funds firm. Lotito’s suit said he introduced the Bidens to Paradigm executives in January 2006 after Joseph Biden expressed concern that his son’s lobbying activities would be problematic during his presidential run. Last year, Lotito and Hunter and James Biden formed a partnership, LBB Holdings, and agreed to buy Paradigm for $21.3m. As part of the deal, Lotito and Hunter Biden were to be paid $25,000 a month to find financing for the Paradigm acquisition. They were also to share 50% of management and other fees for all new investment money the pair secured for Paradigm’s funds. The deal was expected to close October 31. However, the suit says that Hunter and James Biden routinely rejected third-party investors. Lotito said his relationship with the Bidens began to sour and in July the Bidens offered to buy Lotito’s interest in the partnership for $1m. Lotito initially refused. Lotito said the Bidens threatened to use their government connections for retaliation. In September, Lotito said he gave in and sold his interest in LBB to his partners for $250,000, his complaint says. Prior to forcing Lotito to sell his stake in LBB, the Bidens allegedly formed a new partnership, BG Partners, and agreed to buy Paradigm for $8.1m. Lotito alleges that the Bidens were obligated to tell him of their competing bid, which he accuses them of failing to do. He also accuses Paradigm entities of failing to inform LBB's general counsel of the offer excluding Lotito. The Bidens' attorney, Vincent Syracuse of Tannenbaum Helpern Syracuse & Hirschtritt, did not return calls about the suit. The Bidens have not yet filed a response to Lotito's complaint. Earlier this month, Hunter Biden stepped down as interim chief executive of Paradigm.