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Showing posts from March, 2007

Drug resistant infections

The statistics on the number of Americans dying from infections - and in particular infections acquired in hospitals - are staggering. About 2 million Americans acquired an infection last year while in the hospital! I tell my friends that you can't leave someone alone in a hospital - that they are the most dangerous places in the country. Generally, my comments are met with skepticism - until they or a relative are in the hospital. Invariably, they report back to me that I was right; there aren't enought nurses, wrong medications or meals show up, something is unsanitary, and so on. We need some kind of a program to encourage the pharmaceutical industry to tackle infections. They just aren't interested any more - the risks and rewards greatly favor chronic illnesses where drugs can be used for years or decades - e.g. Lipitor - than for acute, short-lived drug regimens. The FDA - who I haven't trusted in years - needs to be assertive here - and so does all branche

Tax Stats

To the tax the rich crowd: Again - the most recent statistics (2004): the richest 1% paid 35.6% of the TOTAL federal income tax. The top 10% paid 67.6%. Two thirds! I believe if we elected some normal people to Congress, they could balance the budget in about 15 minutes....

NCAA Basketball Tournament

The single best sporting event in the U.S. is of course the NCAA tournament. Congratulations to my Memphis Tigers for making it to the Sweet Sixteen - and last eight - two consecutive years. And to the State of Tennessee for sending three teams to the round of 16, despite having a much smaller population than TX, CA, FL, NY and several others. Obviously good things are happening in TN basketball. To the Kentucky basketball program: keep your hands off Calipari.

The PA race course

Recently I've been driving the PA test course. Where the turnpike joins 309 North. Excellent test designed by PA DOT. About 8 feet to go from zero to highway speed, exceptionally limited visibility makes entry extremely challenging. To add to the excitement, lately they've turned off the big overhead lamp that would illuminate the course at night. Tach up; slam it. Topping it off, PA 309, in an event that should have been headline news, has evidently recently been shelled by insurgents.

Econorama

Falling home sales+Taliban attacks in Afganistan+rising oil prices+Japan MOF raising interest rates+falling Chinese stock market+open-ended $100 billion per year Iraq war cost+U.S. auto makers losing money+staggering federal debt+subprime lending problems+dollar in free fall=recession.