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Politics : Sioux Nation -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: geode00 who wrote (102693)	3/21/2007 2:37:06 PM
From: Karen Lawrence	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 361189

I didn't know GM went down because of healthcare costs. More and more folks now turn to "alternative" doctors and medicines realizing that big pharma drugs just mask the underlying problem and can ultimately lead to worse ones. My favorite "drug" is melatonin - a naturally occurring "sleep" hormone that dissipates as we age. After my husband died, I took it to fall asleep, and I still use it. Anyway, this one doctor or pharma guy tried to patent it years ago so he could charge exorbitant fees for the scrip. He failed, thank goodness. But then a massive anti-melatonin campaign arose claiming all sorts of deleterious effects. Bunk. I like it. Alzheimers - what the heck is it anyway? I've read that doing crossword puzzles and mental gymnastics helps prevent it. Avoiding aluminum cooking pans and eating nutritious, organic foods helps, too. Some claim that it's a human form of mad cow disease. I read back in '97 that a good diet is the best cancer prevention because the treatments and "cures" are too horrendous, horrific and dicey. That was in the NEw England Journal of Medicine, written by a doctor.

To: geode00 who wrote (102693)	3/21/2007 3:16:18 PM
From: stockman_scott	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 361189

Bush's `Ownership Society' Founders as U.S. Economy Weakens By Brendan Murray March 21 (Bloomberg) -- President George W. Bush spent years promoting an ``ownership society,'' the idea that Americans should own everything from homes to the assets needed to pay for their own health care and retirement. Now the weakening U.S. economy is exposing the dark side of that dream. The president's sales pitch for the ownership concept is being dialed back as housing prices fall, foreclosures reach record levels and U.S. stock markets shed more than $700 billion in market value over the past month. Bush, who mentioned the term three dozen times in 2004, has mentioned it only once this year. The ownership concept was the glue that bound together Bush's domestic agenda. While the president remains committed to the idea that giving individuals more of a stake in society reduces their reliance on paternalistic government, it's a tough sell when people are fearful that their finances may be eroding. ``A lot of people who promote ownership societies have kind of a glib optimism about human nature,'' said Robert Shiller, an economist at Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut, and the author of the book ``Irrational Exuberance.'' ``We have to be realistic'' about investment risks, Shiller said. `Privilege of the Few' Bush, in his January 2001 inaugural address, said that ``ownership, access to wealth and independence should not be the privilege of the few.'' Under his vision, citizens would help fund their retirement by putting savings into investment accounts outside of the traditional Social Security program, use health- savings accounts to pay for medical care and take advantage of incentives in the tax code to save and invest more. ``In order to bring stability to people's lives, we must encourage an Ownership Society,'' Bush said at a September 2004 campaign rally in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. In a nation that values social insurance as much as it extols entrepreneurship, however, the idea of investing without a safety net has been hard to put into practice. Bush's Social Security overhaul died in 2005, the victim of bipartisan fears that it would unravel the government's social compact with the elderly. Administration plans for new Lifetime Savings Accounts, tax- advantaged plans that would give individuals unlimited flexibility to tap their nest eggs, haven't been passed by Congress since being proposed in 2003. Health Savings Accounts While Republican-backed health savings accounts are a growing presence in the marketplace, they have yet to put a dent in Americans' reliance on employer-provided health benefits. The biggest problem Bush faces promoting his ownership society now is the softness of the housing market. Easy credit and adjustable-rate mortgages lured many first-time homebuyers over the past few years; now rising interest rates have forced thousands into foreclosure and led to a squeeze on so-called subprime lenders, those who gave loans to borrowers with poor or limited credit histories. The shakeout may help make 2007 the third straight year the U.S. has seen a dip in home ownership. That would be the longest slide since the mid-1980s, when 30-year mortgage rates were double the current average of 6.1 percent. In 2000, the year before Bush took office, mortgage loans were 65 percent of total household debt, Federal Reserve figures showed. That number grew to a record 88.1 percent in 2004 before falling to 78.3 percent in 2006. Risky Loans The bust has thus far been limited to mortgage financiers and the borrowers who got burned on the riskiest loans. New Century Financial Corp., the second-biggest subprime lender, and other mortgage companies are facing possible bankruptcy after the number of borrowers falling behind on payments rose to a four- year high. Administration officials say the subprime debacle will be contained: Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson said March 6 that most companies in the U.S. financial sector won't feel a big impact. Shiller says he's more concerned about the systemic risks posed by the turmoil at the bottom end of the mortgage-finance market. He calls the administration's current assurances ``wishful thinking.'' `Minor Blip' Jitters in the housing market are a ``minor blip,'' said David Boaz, executive vice president of the Cato Institute, a Washington-based group that backs limited government. While he doesn't blame the president for talking up the concept during the 2004 campaign -- ``Any president running for re-election is going to take credit for everything he can,'' he said -- he added that Bush probably should have eased off his rhetoric during a super- heated period rife with financial speculation. Bush continues to stump for the Republican vision of free enterprise and property rights. In a New York City speech Jan. 31, the president hailed job creation by small businesses, robust retail sales, strong consumer spending and growth in U.S. exports as signs of a healthy economy. He made no mention of housing or the goal of expanded home ownership. Backers of the ownership concept say the omission was probably tactical rather than a departure from his principles. ``I really strongly doubt that the Bush administration has changed its mind about the ownership society,'' said Veronique de Rugy, an analyst at the American Enterprise Institute, a Washington research organization that favors limited government. ``This has been a bedrock part of their economic program.'' To contact the reporter on this story: Brendan Murray in Washington, at brmurray@bloomberg.net