Necessary News
1) PUBLIC OPTION, IT’S BACK BABY!
The Wonk Room’s Igor Volsky explains the public option/opt-out legislation announced yesterday by Sen. Harry Reid: “The opt-out compromise, initially floated by Sen. Tom Carper (D-DE), is loosely modeled on Medicaid, which originally allowed states to “opt-out” of the program and today enjoys the participation of all 50 states. Supporters of the plan believe that if the public option proves itself in states where it’s functional, then legislators from conservatives states would be hard pressed to exempt their states from the program. After all, why reject an option that offers lower premiums and saves the state billions in health care costs? Rhetoric about a ‘government-takeover’ of health care may sound good on television, but it loses its appeal when you’re trying to balance your books.” [WonkRoom]
2) WASTE NOT, WANT NOT?
According to new research conducted by Reuters, the U.S. health care system wastes between $505 billion and $850 billion every year. Let’s put that into a little context: That’s one-third of the nation’s annual health care bill. Here’s what we’re talking about: $300 billion wasted on unnecessary care like extra antibiotics to protect doctors against malpractice exposure. $200 billion in fraud, like fake Medicare claims or kickbacks for referrals for unnecessary services. Hundreds of billions for redundant paperwork, medical mistakes and preventable conditions like uncontrolled diabetes. Heck, even clinging to a paper-based system that stops doctors from easily sharing of medical records accounts for 6 percent of annual overspending. [Reuters]
3) WOE IS DETROIT
2009 has not been a great year for Detroit. The failure of several auto companies has caused a massive amount of job losses, and now the city’s housing auction flopped. Despite a minimum bid of $500 for most houses,the vacant land in Detroit now occupies an area almost the size of Boston, according to a Detroit Free Press estimate. [ Reuters]
4) WAR IS HELL
Two helicopter crashes in Afghanistan left fourteen Americans dead on Monday, marking one of the deadliest days for Americans in Afghanistan. Seven soldiers and three civilian employees of the United States embassy were killed in a western Afghanistan crash, and in southern Afghanistan, four American soldiers were killed when their helicopters collided. [NYT]
5) HYPOCRISY
Rep. John Culberson of Texas was among hundreds of people lined up to get the swine flu vaccine at a public clinic Wednesday morning. He was taking his daughter to get vaccinated, which wouldn’t be newsworthy...except that the Texas Rep. voted against the funding that was used to purchase the vaccines in the first place. [Daily Kos]
6) GOOD SIGNS
The National Association for Business Economics found that, for the first time since the recession began in December 2007, the number of employers planning to hire workers exceeded the number expecting to make job cuts. Good news, yes, but we’ve still got a long way to go. [CNN Money]
7) QOTD
“After eight years of neglecting Afghanistan as vice president, Dick Cheney is coming out of retirement to criticize President Obama ... This from the man who in 2002 told America, ‘The Taliban regime is out of business permanently.’ I think this is one time I wish Dick Cheney had been right, but tragically he wasn’t, and he isn’t today, and that’s why we have to make the tough choices about Afghanistan now."—Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.), pushing back against an attack from former Vice President Dick Cheney on the White House’s Afghanistan decision-making. [Huff Post]
8) SMART GRID
President Obama is set to make an announcement today about “smart grid,” which will be the largest stimulus investment so far in clean energy. “Smart Grid” is aimed at bringing clean domestic energy sources to consumers in 49 states and help to build a stronger and more reliable electricity grid.[Politico]
9) DEBUNKING THE MYTH
At the request of AP News, independent statisticians conducted an analysis of global temperatures in order to confirm or deny the legitimacy of new rumors pushed by climate change skeptics that the Earth is actually cooling, not heating up. Their finding: “In short, it is not true, according to the statisticians who contributed to the AP analysis.” [AP]
10) SOMETIMES IT’S HARD TO BE A WOMAN, PART DEUX
The business research group Corporate Library crunched the numbers this week and discovered “female chief executives earned just 58 percent of what their male counterparts did in 2008, and their compensation packages were slashed three times as much as their male peers.” Guess we haven’t come that long of a way, baby? [Reuters]
Watercooler Sensation
1) READ WHAT?
Think newspapers are dying? Recent stats back you up. Newspaper sales fell about 10% in the six months ending Sept. 30, according to the Audit Bureau of Circulation. While circulation has been declining since the 1990s, this is the most dramatic drop in readership that’s occurred. [NYT]
2) PASS THE GRAPE NUTS
Cereals for kids aren’t just more colorful, they’re also packed with sugar that can harm growing children’s teeth. A new study confirms what many consumers already knew; cereals marketed to kids have 85% more sugar, 65% less fiber and 60% more sodium than those aimed at adults. [USAT]
3) BURGERS, AND FRIES, AND MILKSHAKES, OH MY!
A new study found that knowing calorie information about items in fast food restaurants may help you put down that Big Mac. Researchers at the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene found that people who used the calorie information available at fast-food chain restaurants in New York City bought 106 fewer calories’ worth of food than those who didn’t. [USA T]
4) GO PLAY OUTSIDE
A new study finds that at least one in five U.S. children aged 1 to 11 don’t get enough vitamin D, leaving them at risk for health problems including weak bones. In fact, a looser measure finds that almost 90 percent of black children that age and 80 percent of Hispanic kids could be vitamin D deficient. The easiest ways to get vitamin D are playing outside or drinking fortified milk. [Washington Post]
5) THE NEW OPRAH?
She’s already an accomplished TV and movie actress, so why not add talk show host to the list? According to new reports, Jennifer Aniston has agreed to do a weekly show for Oprah’s new cable channel, OWN, when it finally launches sometime next year. [FOX News]
6) ROCKING OUT TO THE RECESSION
It seems people of all ages have been taking a concert de-’tour’ around the ugly recession this year. For the second straight summer, the touring business weathered the bad economy, as concerts grossed $1 billion from May 1 to September 1. Some of this summers top acts include Kings of Leon, Beyonce, Taylor Swift and U2. [USA T]
7) SCARY HALLOWEEN NUMBERS
BOO! That didn’t scare you? Well, if you’re a big fan of Halloween, these numbers will: According to the National Retail Federation’s 2009 Halloween Consumer Intentions and Actions Survey, people are scaling way back this year on spooky costumes, scary decorations and sugary treats. Most of us will spend an average of $56 on the holiday this year, down from $66 in 2008, with 46% of us planning to buy less candy. Our advice to you: Watch out for little kids practicing their tricks, because treats this Halloween are going to be scarce. [Marketing Charts]
8) NECCO WAFERS 2.0
Remember Necco Wafers, that roll of slightly spicy sugar discs? The 162-year-old Massachusetts company which has made the iconic candy is going all-natural, with flavorings and colors made from nature, not a lab. Look for your candy to containbBeet juice, purple cabbage, cocoa powder and turmeric, a bright yellow spice often used in curries. [AP]
9) CRIME DOESN’T PAY...FOR THE LADIES
Jessica Mann has had enough. The award-winning author who reviews crime fiction for the Literary Review announced she will no longer review new crime novels because “sadistic misogyny” has become so prevalent in the genre. “Each psychopath is more sadistic than the last and his victims’ sufferings are described in detail that becomes ever more explicit, as young women are imprisoned, bound, gagged, strung up or tied down, raped, sliced, burned, blinded, beaten, eaten, starved, suffocated, stabbed, boiled or buried alive,” she said. [The Guardian]
10) SO LONG, GEOCITIES
Let’s have a moment of silence for Geocities, Yahoo’s free Web hosting service, which shut down its doors yesterday. Once the third most popular destination on the web, the site has since fallen out of fashion with users, who have switched to social networks. [BBC]
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