EMERGING MARKETS-Grim U.S. jobs data prompts rescue plan rally (Reuters): The shock waves of the grim U.S. jobs report on Friday were felt throughout emerging markets but the  impact lifted asset prices rather than smash them down as investors bet the U.S. would pass a massive economic stimulus plan.

UAE regulator demands greater transparency(Financial Times): The market regulator of the United Arab Emirates called on Thursday for increased disclosure ahead of the companies reporting season, asking for extra information on companies’ real estate and financial positions.

Emerging markets face capital squeeze, action needed: IIF (Reuters): Private capital flows to emerging markets are set to drop by nearly two thirds in 2009 as the global economy makes its most extreme downturn since World War Two, the Institute of International Finance said on Tuesday.

The IIF is an association of financial services firms with 400 members worldwide.

The nation’s leaders “will do anything” to maintain an economic expansion of about 8 percent, the government’s target for creating jobs, said Huang Yiping, Asia economist at Citigroup Inc. in Hong Kong. The economy grew 9 percent for all of 2008 after a 13 percent expansion in 2007.

China Is ‘Manipulating’ Yuan, Geithner Tells Congress (Bloomberg): Timothy Geithner, President Barack Obama’s nominee for Treasury secretary, said the new U.S. administration believes China is “manipulating” its currency.

From Geithner’s confirmation hearing…

I do believe it is a significant issue. As I said earlier, I believe it is important for the United States and the global economy that our major trading partners operate with a flexible exchange rate system and that market forces determine the level of those exchange rates. I think that’s very important, and …when I have some time to think through how best to achieve that objective look forward to a chance to work with you and your colleagues on the committee on how we do that.

On Thursday, Geithner submitted written answers to the Senate Finance Committee.

Obama believes China manipulating yuan: Geithner(Reuters): President Barack Obama believes China is “manipulating” its currency, his choice to head the U.S. Treasury said on Thursday using a term the Bush administration had deliberately avoided for years to describe Beijing’s foreign exchange practices.

Under U.S. law, labeling China as a currency manipulator would require the Treasury Department to begin “expedited” negotiations with Beijing — either bilaterally or through the International Monetary Fund — to reduce China’s huge trade surplus with the United States and eliminate any “unfair” currency advantage.

 

Comments from Andrew Busch, global currency strategist with BMO Capital Markets in Chicago…

Rookies make rookie mistakes.  Our new President is not immune to this disease.
This is a situation where the US has known for a very long period of time that China has managed it’s currency.  The US chooses not to name China as a manipulator for two reasons.  One, China doesn’t meet the Treasury’s narrowly defined criteria.  Two, China owns a lot of US Treasury, Agency, and overall debt securities.  To engage in any action that would lead the Chinese to misunderstand actions by the US and therefore sell these holdings would be dangerous.  But rookies do what rookies do:  they make mistakes.
If this is indeed the new tactic being taken by the Obama administration, they will generate a weaker US currency and higher US bond yields.  Not exactly what they should be doing in their first 100 days in office.  This is the Obama’s first brush with the markets and they will quickly learn to exercise discretion in the future.

Short View: Currency interventions(John Authers with the Financial Times): See Authers’ report on the global currency situation.

During his trip to China in December, Henry Paulson handled this issue with care while making the U.S. interests felt among Chinese leaders. Geithner has pushed the envelope. Nothing may come of this as both countries are stuck in an economic recession. The concern that China will sell its Treasury portfolio may be exaggerated. Who would they sell to and what would they buy?

He said Brazil, China and Turkey were very attractive markets in the current environment, as these economies stood to gain from monetary changes. “In Turkey, exports have been impacted by what’s happened in Europe, but they have quite a vibrant domestic economy and tourism,” he explained. “The key factor is the global decline in inflation and interest rates – Turkey has suffered from high interest rates in the past,” he said.  “This decline is very good news for Turkey, which is one of the reasons why we’re pretty bullish.”

 

Pemex Oil Output Declines at Fastest Rate Since World War II(Bloomberg): Petroleos Mexicanos, Mexico’s state oil company, will probably report its fastest drop in production since 1942, eroding revenue as plunging crude prices limit the amount of cash available to drill for new reserves.

Brazil Stocks Drop on Economic Growth Concerns; Bolsa Tumbles (Bloomberg): Brazilian stocks dropped the most in a week, wiping out this year’s gains, as materials companies and banks slid on concern a global economic slowdown is worsening.

Deripaska, Potanin Propose Russian Metals Merger (Bloomberg): Billionaires Oleg Deripaska and Vladimir Potanin proposed merging OAO GMK Norilsk Nickel with five other Russian metals producers including Evraz Group SA to create the world’s second-largest mining company.

Shanghai glistens in the gloom (Reuters): Shanghai was the only bright spot in a gloomy week for Asia-Pacific equities as sentiment improved amid growing bank loans and hopes for a stimulus plan for China’s machinery makers.

Satyam’s Raju Faces Charges as Government Reconstitutes Board (Bloomberg): Satyam Computer Services Ltd. founder Ramalinga Raju and his brother Rama faced charges of criminal conspiracy and breach of trust in an alleged $1 billion fraud as the government assembled a new company board.

Satyam saga jolts Sensex (Economic Times): The Satyam financial fiasco has dragged down the Indian stock market to its fifth biggest fall in percentage terms in the last 14 years, a SundayET analysis. Even the recent Mumbai terror attack (26/11), attack on America’s World Trade Centre (9/11), and dot com bubble burst had lesser impact on Dalal Street.

The Sensex fell as much as 7.25% on January 7, 2009, after Satyam Computer Services’ erstwhile chairman B Ramalinga Raju confessed to an accounting fraud. The analysis captures how the Indian equity market behaved in the face of major events in Indian history. For the calculation, closing index figures have been considered since 1995.”

Brace yourself: Political-market risks in 2009 (Reuters): There are a number of macro risks that will continue to grab headlines in 2009, including the conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq, cross-border tensions and state instability in Pakistan, and Iran’s 
ongoing quest to develop advanced nuclear technologies.

Chinese companies go abroad (Seking Alpha): Just as a good China strategy is increasingly important to the continued growth and competitiveness of MNCs worldwide, expansion overseas is a top priority for many of China’s leading firms.

By Shaun Rein with China Market Research Group.

Michael’s most recent article in Portfolio is a fantastic profile of an investor who bet on the housing bust and is traumatized by how awfully right he was. It’s quite amazing how he’s still able to milk the story of his job 20 years ago for profits.

Mobius Says Emerging Markets Are Bottoming, Will Jump (Bloomberg): Emerging-market stocks are “bottoming” and will begin a new bull market next year as interest-rate cuts spur economic growth in developing nations, investor Mark Mobius said.

Be careful with advice that is not supported with evidence. Mobius sounds confident that the low interest rates will be enough to bounce stock prices off their bottom.  Low interest rates spur BUBBLES not organic demand. There may be bargains, but this may not be the bottom. In the same article,  Arnab Dasof Dresdner Kleinwort said emerging markets may not recover next year.

“Possibly the whole year will be a very difficult year for the entire global economy, especially emerging markets,” Das, the global head of emerging-markets research at Dresdner Kleinwort.”

India has avoided direct exposure to the credit crisis with a cultural aversion toward credit and with an anti-inflation, anti-Greenspan central banker, Y.V. Reddy.

China to the Rescue? Not! (NYT): I had no idea that many of those oil paintings that hang in hotel rooms and starter homes across America are actually produced by just one Chinese village, Dafen, north of Hong Kong. And I had no idea that Dafen’s artist colony — the world’s leading center for mass-produced artwork and knockoffs of masterpieces — had been devastated by the bursting of the U.S. housing bubble. I should have, though.

We’re going to have to get out of this crisis the old-fashioned way: by digging inside ourselves and getting back to basics — improving U.S. productivity, saving more, studying harder and inventing more stuff to export. The days of phony prosperity — I borrow cheap money from China to build a house and then borrow on that house to buy cheap paintings from China to decorate my walls and everybody is a winner — are over.”

Thank you Mr. Friedman.

Since October, emerging stocks have begun to close the gap on developed-market stocks, a trend that will continue next year, Garner says. But where? And how will the relationship with oil affect these stocks?

Looking Ahead: Emerging markets remain attractive (The Economic Times): Given the steep market decline, investors have begun to shift their focus to the increasingly attractive valuations in emerging markets. Many markets are trading at single-digit price-to-earnings ratios, with many companies trading at below their net asset value. Stock prices rebounded in December, as investors sought to benefit from the attractive investment opportunities in the asset class.

Dr. Joseph Mark Mobius and Garner both say the emerging markets are undervalued, but so is oil right now. These guys don’t even mention oil or other commodities for that matter. Obviously some countries aren’t relying on oil (China and India) and will benefit from the low prices. But do we need an equilibrium before stocks rebound?

EMERGING MARKETS-Bond advance narrows spreads, stocks sink(Reuters): Investors dipped deeper into their cash horde on Friday, buying selectively in emerging market sovereign bonds but stopped short when it came to stocks and currencies in thin pre-Christmas holiday trade.

Brazil Bank Estimates Cut at Goldman Sachs on Rates (Bloomberg): Brazilian banks had their 2009 and 2010 earnings forecasts cut by Goldman Sachs Group Inc., which said a drop in lending rates will lower profits while an economic slowdown curbs loan growth.

Oil’s Crash Stirs Unrest in Russia as Slump Hits Home (WSJ): Russia’s oil-fired economic miracle is unraveling as industry shrinks and job losses mount. Now the first stirrings of social unrest have the Kremlin groping for a response.

Exhibit A: The emphasis on oil here is clear. If oil prices remain depressed, then it is difficult to justify Garner’s  and Mobius’ thesis.

In the 2006 fiscal year, states received an additional $200 million in federal matching funds, according to the Center for Law and Social Policy.

That means the average monthly number of children served increased from $1.75 million in 2005 to $1.80 million in 2006.

To see how your state fared,  check out the State-by-State Child Care Spending and Participation in 2005 website, and click on your state in the picture like the map below.

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Hundreds of low-income families could get help paying for child care when eligibility standards change in one Colorado town next year.

The Larimer County commissioners last week agreed to raise the income ceiling for eligibility in the Child Care Assistance Program, or CCAP, from 150 percent of the federal poverty level to 185 percent.

Here’s how the Coloradoan.com broke down the effect of the increase:

As of Jan. 1 Larimer County will increase income ceilings for eligibility in the Child Care Assistance Program from 150 percent of the federal poverty level to 185 percent. The following shows family size, followed by 150 percent of poverty, followed by 185 percent of poverty:

• Two: $1,712/month; $2,111/month
• Three: $2,146/month; $2,647/month
• Four: $2,581/month; 3,184/month
• Five: $3,016/month; $3,720/month

The change is expected to help more than 350 children.

Dawn and Brad Palmer had never ventured outside the United States until a trip last year to Brazil.

But rather than a trek through the Amazon River basin, their itinerary took them to Santa Cruz Hospital in the southern Brazilian metropolis of Curitiba.

That’s where they underwent obesity surgeries that were not covered by their health insurance policies. Their total tab, including medical costs, drugs, airfare and hotel bills: $24,000.

If they would have had the surgeries in this country, the combined medical costs alone would have totaled at least $140,000, Dawn Palmer said.

Besides saving more than $100,000, the Palmers have lost more than 290 pounds and feel better than they have in years.

“I’d tell people not to give up hope if there’s a procedure they want or need and their insurance won’t cover it, or they can’t get the care they’re looking for here in the United States,” Dawn Palmer said. “Just be open to the idea that you can find wonderful medical care from people in other countries.”

Growing legions of American patients — by one estimate, 150,000 last year — are following in the Palmers’ footsteps and traveling to countries such as India, Thailand, Brazil and Mexico for medical care. And while earlier waves of medical tourists sought mostly cosmetic procedures, more and more Americans are going abroad to get their hearts fixed, joints replaced and stomachs stapled.

“From a health-care competition and policy perspective, it’s significant,” said Gregg Laiben, president of the Metropolitan Medical Society of Greater Kansas City. “We are no longer operating on just a local or regional level. Once these other countries come into play, they become another marketplace that competes with U.S. health care.”

Most consumers who take the medical tourism plunge do it to save money. The cost difference between medical procedures in the United States and foreign countries can be huge. According to information presented at a hearing last year before the U.S. Senate Special Committee on Aging, the typical cost of a coronary bypass in the United States ranged from $55,000 to $86,000, compared with $7,000 to $7,500 in India and $15,612 to $16,913 in Thailand.

“It’s primarily a signal of the growing unaffordability, relative to American income, of health care,” said Arnold Milstein, chief physician for Mercer Health & Benefits in San Francisco. “For tens of millions of Americans, this is probably the only avenue to elective, non-emergency procedures.”

Experts attribute those whopping price differentials to lower earnings by most health-care personnel in developing countries. In addition, malpractice insurance premiums are non-existent in most foreign countries, and global health-care product suppliers sell to developing countries at cheaper prices.

American patients also are drawn to medical tourism by the high-quality reputations of many overseas health providers.

“Ninety percent of the doctors I recommend are U.S.-trained or board-certified, and they’re working in hospitals that are palatial and state of the art,” said Rudy Rupak, president of PlanetHospital, a California company that sets up overseas medical care.

Foreign hospitals that treat large numbers of English-speaking patients recruit U.S. surgeons. American doctors who make the trek typically are paid the same fees they earn in the United States, but enjoy the lower cost of living and lack of malpractice insurance premiums in the countries they move to, Rupak said.

Presidential candidates take note: We’ll just go overseas if you don’t fix the health-care industry.

Along with Oprah Winfrey (which a whole different news story), former President Bill Clinton was in the state, stumping for wife Hillary’s health care plan, according to a report by The New York Times.

He said her plan would insure the 672,000 people in South Carolina who have no health coverage, including 99,000 children, and would save families thousands of dollars a year. Hillary Clinton has cared about health care for at least the nearly four decades her husband has known her, he said, and improving health care is “at the heart of” what she wants to do for the country.

He did not compare her health plan to those of her rivals, nor did he mention those rivals except to say that he was excited about the campaign because it featured not only a woman but “a really good African-American” and an Hispanic-American governor. He went on to note that women have been elected to head India, Pakistan, Germany, Argentina and Chile, and “America shouldn’t be behind anybody.”

Which is true if you think about it. When Middle Eastern countries are ahead of you in women’s rights, you’ve got a problem.

“Right now, even families that have health insurance are often unprotected from catastrophic events, as insurers reject legitimate claims, impose coverage caps, and look for technicalities to cancel policies,” he said.

“The truth is, the American health care system is broken because wealthy health insurance corporations and their lobbyists have rigged the system against the American people,” Edwards said. “I have spent my entire life fighting and beating those same special interest groups to protect the rights of regular Americans, and that’s exactly what I’ll do as President.”

Edwards is the only candidate who has not taken campaign money from health-industry lobbyists, the article says (and which I think is true, but could not be independently verified).

“Under the Edwards plan, insurance companies will be required to sell insurance to everyone, regardless of their pre-existing conditions, and prevented from denying coverage after a condition develops,” the article reads. “Edwards will put a stop to the practice of charging more to individuals with certain occupations or with pre-existing conditions, and will set national accounting standards requiring insurers to spend at least 85 percent of their premiums on patient care. Edwards will empower consumers by forcing insurance companies to be more honest and transparent about what they will ultimately cover and making sure all insurers guarantee comprehensive benefits. Edwards also called for an updated bill of rights for patients and providers.”

The survey, which researchers conducted by telephone between Nov. 7 and Nov. 25, included responses from 460 likely Democratic voters in Iowa, 594 in New Hampshire and 373 in South Carolina, according to the Kaiser Daily Health Report.
According to the survey, 41% of respondents in Iowa cited Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) as the Democratic presidential candidate most trusted to improve the health care system, about double the percentage of respondents who cited Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) and former Sen. John Edwards (D-N.C.).

The survey found that Clinton “boasts even wider leads” in New Hampshire and South Carolina as the Democratic presidential candidate most trusted to improve the health care system. Overall, a plurality of respondents in New Hampshire and South Carolina favored Clinton over other the other Democratic presidential candidates, while she and Obama were “essentially tied” in Iowa, the survey found.

As I reported in November, a new study by the Institute for Research on Poverty, Public Affairs and Social Work at the University of Wisconsin-Madison found that:

“Child-support payments for children on welfare are being used in almost every state to recoup state and federal welfare expenses. When Congress created the child-support system 30 years ago, recouping welfare costs by siphoning off collected child-support payments was an explicit goal. Yet close to half the states pass along none of the collected child-support while most others pay only $50 per child, even when a non-custodial parent pays several hundred more.”

In other words, when a custodial parent gets both welfare assistance and child support, many state governments collect the child support to make up the difference.

As a forward-thinking state, Wisconsin officials enacted waiver that allowed the state to forward all money collected to families. As a result, more non-custodial parents came forward and paid more of the money they owed, making families less reliant on aid and making up for any short-term loss of government revenue spent on welfare, according DMI blog.

However, the Bush administration did not renew the waiver, perhaps reflecting a greater emphasis on foreign affairs, rather than low-income economic issues.

According to their motto, DMI Blog covers “Politics, Policy and the American Dream.” At least one of these is missing when it comes to child support and welfare policies.

WRTV-TV reports the Indiana Housing Authority is calling for the owners of the Phoenix Apartments to repay $300,000.

Officials said the complex failed to disclose required information to qualify for the payments.

Bud Myers, of the Indianapolis Housing Authority, said RCM Phoenix Partners, which owns the Phoenix apartments, supplied incorrect information to the agency to get federal aid. Myers also said there are other problems, WRTV-TV reports.

The apartment complex recently drew local and national attention as the location where a 3-year-old was tortured and beaten to death by her parents.

Federal rules require welfare landlords to disclose troubled business deals and legal problems. RCM has until Dec. 14 to repay the money or challenge the order.

• Read the Indiana Housing Authority HOME/Development Fund Guidelines

Fulton County Assistant District Attorney Kellie Hill said of the workers used the money to pay off gambling debts, she said. Hill said these workers have the responsibility to use tax dollars to help needy families.

None of the workers is still employed by DFCS.

Fulton County Superior Court Judge Ural Glanville Owens to 15 years of probation and said she must avoid employment that allows her access to public funds.
Related: Welfare worked pleads guilty to bilking agency of $105,654

As part of their venture, the bureau sponsors Working Women in Transition . The multi-regional demonstration project, co-sponsored by the U. S. Department of Labor, is designed to assist women who have arrived at a significant transition in their work lives.

Hands.net, a news wire on human service events, detailed the latest graduation from at Working Women in Transition initiative in Little Rock, Arkansas.

The Arkansas-based Hope Center, a faith-based organization, conducted the graduation ceremony for current and past recipients of Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) who completed the program.

The transition program currently has initiatives in 11 states.

For more information on how to start an initiative in your area, contact the U.S. Department of Labor’s Women’s Bureau.

Center for Governmental Research

report

According to the report, over 12,000 children in Monroe County are living in families that are potentially eligible for child care assistance and are not receiving it.

Many of those families also receiving TANF, or welfare aid, but still are not receiving extra child assistance.

The report details several policy changes at the county and state levels have contributed to the decline in children receiving assistance:

• Since 2002, income eligibility for child care subsidies in Monroe County has fallen from 200 percent of poverty to 165 percent.
• While fewer families are income-eligible for assistance, more parents seeking child care subsidies are being denied. The rate of applicant denial increased from 11 percent in 2001 to 50 percent in 2006. A contributing factor to this increase in denials was failure of applicants to comply with a 2004 New York State law that requires applicants to seek child support payment as a condition of receiving child care assistance. (Federal law does not require parents to seek child support from a non-custodial parent in order to obtain a child care subsidy although several states have this requirement.)
• Finally, the county has decreased spending on child care in recent years, contributing to an accumulation of approximately $5 million in unspent child care funds.

The report was unable to conclude why a large number of TANF child care cases were of a short duration or why few families transitioned to the income-eligible child care assistance program.

California is under pressure to get more parents off welfare, and working for their income.

The state’s welfare-to-work program — the California Work Opportunity and Responsibility to Kids, or CalWORKS — must meet federal guidelines or face fines.

The Sacramento Bee reports, if Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger can’t get 28,000 low-income parents off welfare soon, then  the state could face a $150 million annual penalty and force the state to spend an additional $180 million.

According to the Sac Bee, a draft report released in September suggested two proposals:

• Give $50 more in food stamps to former CalWORKS recipients who make the transition out of the program. Such a move would cost the state $25 million and allow the state to claim credit for successfully moving those people into the work force.

• Establish a state-only welfare assistance program for recipients who have a harder time finding jobs. An elaborate shift of existing state resources is being proposed for funding such a program.

Gov. Schwarzenegger was supposed to turn in a state report detailing a plan to the California legislature Oct. 1.

As of Dec. 4, government and social service leaders were still waiting.

“There has been important progress made in many areas of health such as increased life expectancy and decreases in deaths from leading killers such as heart disease and cancer,” Dr. Julie Gerberding, director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said in a statement.

“But this report shows that access to health care is still an issue where we need improvement.”

The report, summarized by a Reuters article, contained an analysis of data from 2005, whereas now, nearly three years later, Americans’ health circumstances may have changed. And we know from polls that health care is the No. 1 most important domestic issue to voters and presidential candidates have responded, with nearly all of them presenting detailed health plans as a part of their campaigns.

Other details from the article and report:

• The report found about one third of all children living below the poverty level had not visited a dentist in 2005, compared with fewer than one-fifth of children from wealthier families.

• “The United States spends more on health per capita than any other country, and health spending continues to increase,” the report said.

• “In 2005, national health care expenditures in the United States totaled $2 trillion, a 7 percent increase from 2004. Hospital spending, which accounts for 31 percent of national health expenditures, increased by 8 percent in 2005.”

• Private insurance plans paid for 36 percent of total personal health care expenditures in 2005, while the federal government paid 34 percent, state and local governments paid 11 percent, and patients paid for 15 percent out of pocket.

• Prescription drugs accounted for 10 percent of national health expenditure in 2005.

• Some good news: life expectancy was up to 77.8 years for a baby born in 2004 — three years more than in 1990. “Mortality from heart disease, stroke, and cancer has continued to decline in recent years,” the report said.

Click on the video above to find out how you can write as you think.

Think you have to be 18 to rock the vote? Sure, voting is a liberty important to having you voice heard.

But so is your right to write your local representative.

I’m going to show you how.

• Step one, log on to www.projectvotesmart.org.
• Next, in the left-hand search bar, enter the name of your representative from either the candidate or representative in the House or Senate. According to GovTrack.us, U.S. citizens in the 50 states have three representatives in the U.S. Congress: two senators and one representative. Each state elects two senators for six-year terms. The 435 representatives have two-year terms.
• If you don’t know your rep’s last name, enter your 9-digit ZIP code. To find those last four digits, click on the “Don’t Know Your 9-Digit ZIP?’ enter your address, then return to Project Vote Smart.
• Step three, scroll down your list of results, and choose from current elections, officials, or candidates. I’ll pick Julia Carson, my Congresswoman from the house7th district.
• Then, Scroll down the page to view a biography, work history, and most importantly legislative history of your representative
• Step five, copy down the address of the your rep and get ready to pen democratic prose.

The study, based on a 2003 telephone survey of thousands of California residents, specifically found that although such immigrants tend not to have a regular doctor or other health-care provider, they do not visit emergency rooms – often a last resort in such cases – with any more frequency than Latinos born in the United States, according to a report by Reuters.

The makeup of the studied group:

• 1,317 undocumented Mexicans
• 2,851 citizens with Mexican immigrant parents
• 271 undocumented Latinos from countries other than Mexico
• 852 non-Mexican Latinos born in the United States

What researchers said:

“One recurrent theme in the debate over immigration has been the use of public services, including health care,” wrote lead researcher Richard Ortega and his team in the report, which was published in the Archives of Internal Medicine (pdf).

“Proponents of restrictive policies have argued that immigrants overuse services, placing an unreasonable burden on the public. Despite a scarcity of well-designed research … use of resources continues to be a part of the public debate,” they said.

• Illegal Mexican immigrants had 1.6 fewer visits to doctors than people born to Mexican immigrants
•  Other undocumented Latinos had 2.1 fewer physician visits than their U.S.-born counterparts

Conclusion?

Perhaps critics shouldn’t worry so much about illegal immigrants draining resources meant for Americans.

“Low rates of use of health-care services by Mexican immigrants and similar trends among other Latinos do not support public concern about immigrants’ overuse of the health care system,” the researchers wrote.

“Undocumented individuals demonstrate less use of health care than U.S.-born citizens and have more negative experiences with the health care that they have received.”

Then again, illegal Latinos may have had fewer doctors’ visits than others, but they still had some, and in my opinion, any unauthorized use of social services meant for Americans is illegal and should be stopped.

Picture Source: Sally Ryan for The New York Times

Against a doctor’s advice, Karla Hart, a mother of four, took a part-time job at a day care center in Milwaukee to help pay her bills.

She’s the face of a Dec. 1 story in the The New York Times on a state policy that blocks child support payments for parents on welfare.

The Times pulled a clipping from her monthly child-support statement to show why she puts her health on the line to pay her bills:

• Paid by the father: $229.40
• Amount deducted to repay federal costs of welfare: $132.18

According to the NYT, close to half the states pass along none of collected child support to families on welfare, while most others pay only $50 a month to a custodial parent, usually the mother, even though the father may be paying hundreds of dollars each month.

Critics say using child support to repay welfare costs harms children instead of helping them, contradicting the national goal of strengthening families, and is a flaw in the generally lauded national campaign to increase collections.

In an Oct. “fare them well” report, “Families benefit from ex-offender jobs,” a story from Indiana supported this notion. The entry highlighted a program in Indianapolis focused on giving recent ex-offenders jobs in order establish an income that could help pay child support as well as court fees.

Work Force Inc.’s mantra is one reason many welfare advocates are pushing for a bill introduced in the house last Feb., which if approved, would allow $50 from a non-custodial paycheck to immediately pass-through to a child, instead of being automatically extracted as restitution to the state for welfare costs.

It’s an outstanding journalistic example of the rising wave of voices speaking out against the prevent of pass-through.

“I need your help in Congress to look into the cost of drugs that are being prescribed,” the man, Fred Anderson, told Kucinich, according to an article on SeacoastOnline.

In response, Kucinich told the group assembled at the academy that he is advocating for not-for-profit health care.

“Under my plan, the prescription drugs are free, the long-term care is covered. Anyone who has cancer is covered for all their treatments,” Kucinich said, citing the hundreds of thousands of dollars it can cost to treat the disease.  “[Health coverage] should be a basic right in a democratic society, not a privilege based on your ability to pay.”

Oberlander’s findings on the Dems:

• The three front-runners – Sen. Hillary Clinton [D-NY], Sen. Barack Obama [D-Ill.] and former Sen. John Edwards [D-NC] – all have very similar plans. Their goal is to provide coverage for all or nearly all of the 47 million currently uninsured Americans.
• The Democratic plans all rely on a “play-or-pay” employer mandate to move toward universal coverage, requiring businesses to either offer workers insurance or pay a tax.
  • “Employer-sponsored insurance has been a cornerstone of the U.S. health care system since the 1940s and now covers about 160 million nonelderly Americans. Play-or-pay models enable reformers to finance universal coverage mainly through employer payments rather than creating a publicly funded system that would require new broad-based taxes.”
• Medicare would be retained, and Medicaid and SCHIP would be expanded to cover more low-income Americans. In addition, the Clinton, Edwards, and Obama plans all create a new public insurance plan that would be available alongside private options.
• The  top three candidates avoid any explicit budgeting of health care spending or centralized cost controls, instead offering a politically friendlier assortment of cost-saving measures, including electronic medical records and a focus on prevention and disease management. These measures may be good health policy, but their capacity to generate large savings is uncertain, and they are unlikely to restrain health care spending for long.
• The Democratic plans are financed largely by rolling back tax cuts adopted by the Bush administration for families making more than $200,000 (Edwards) or $250,000 (Clinton and Obama) annually.
  • “Democratic presidential candidates are, in essence, betting that the public would rather spend federal money on covering the uninsured (and making coverage for the already-insured more secure and affordable) than on extending tax cuts for the wealthy.”
• All of them contain provisions designed to reassure insured Americans that they can keep their current coverage if they want to.

Oberlander’s findings on the Republicans:

• None of the top three candidates – former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani and Sen. John McCain [R-Ariz.] – has introduced a health plan as detailed or comprehensive as any of the Democrats’.
• The leaders generally favor incremental expansions of insurance coverage and changes in tax policy to improve access and control costs.
• Giuliani and McCain would offer tax credits to Americans purchasing their own insurance. The aim is to shift enrollment from employer-sponsored into the private market. Romney, on the other hand, would have the federal government work with the states to form a health solution, and his tax credits would also allow individuals to purchase private insurance.
• All the Republican plans call for deregulation of insurance markets, investments in health information technology, medical malpractice reform, and expansion of health savings accounts (tax-preferred accounts that can be used to pay for medical expenses in conjunction with high-deductible health insurance).
• “Without more details, it is difficult to assess the plans’ potential impact, but their incremental measures are unlikely to substantially increase health insurance coverage or effectively control costs.”

Clinton’s campaign manager, Patti Solis Doyle, told reporters on a conference call that Obama’s suggestion that his health-care plan will cover all Americans is “demonstrably false” and that the ad is misleading.

According to an article in Friday’s Boston Globe, Solis Doyle even sent a letter to Obama’s campain manager asking him to stop running the ad.

“On an issue of this magnitude, Americans are looking for more than a nice ad or a good speech. It’s not enough for Sen. Obama to say he covers everyone, especially when that is inaccurate,” Solis Doyle wrote. “Until the time comes when Sen. Obama has a plan that will cover everyone, you should stop running this false advertisement. The American people deserve an honest debate about health care.”

Obama’s response:

The campaign does not plan to pull the ad, which has been running for about a month in Iowa. It just began airing in New Hampshire this week.

The polls show a tight race in both states between Clinton, Obama and former Sen. John Edwards [D-NC], which Obama’s manager referred to in a response to Clinton’s criticism.

“The Clinton campaign didn’t say a word when this ad was released a month ago, and the only thing that’s changed since then is the poll numbers,” Obama spokesman Reid Cherlin said in a statement.

“Rather than spending their time attacking Barack Obama, the Clinton campaign should explain how exactly they plan to force every American to buy health insurance even if they can’t afford it,” he said.
Is the ad truly misleading?

It depends on how you look at it. If you read into it that Obama’s plan will provide health coverage for all Americans, then yes, it is misleading.

Let’s take a look at Obama’s proposed health plan (pdf):

• The plan will make available a new national health program that will allow (not force) individuals and small businesses to buy affordable health care similar to that available to federal employees.
• It will not turn anyone away or charge more due to illness or pre-existing conditions.
• It would require insurance companies to accept all applicants.
• It would require employers to make a “meaningful” contribution to the health coverage of their employees.
• The plan would require hospitals to collect and report health-care cost and quality data.
• Drug costs would be lowered by allowing importation of pharmaceuticals from other countries.
• The only sect of society that would be required to have coverage is children.
  

What the candidates did talk about:

• Illegal immigration
• Abortion rights (or lack thereof, as it were)
•  Gun control
• Fiscal responsibility
• Imported toys containing lead
• Crime and capital punishment
• (And, of course) Iraq

Where to get coverage of the debate if you missed it:

• Read the transcript (Parts one and two)
• View the recap and individual questions on YouTube

What the bloggers are saying:

• “When CNN airs a YouTube debate for Republican presidential hopefuls, you might think they’d select questions about the most important concerns Americans have,” wrote Buzz Flash blogger Joe Brewer. “After all, the questions were taken from everyday citizens with a video camera and access to the Web. But health care wasn’t mentioned.”
• “I waited. And waited. And kept waiting,” wrote “nyceve” of the Daily Kos blog. But a single question about the plight of 47 million uninsured Americans, or the rest of us who have to wage an unending true holy war against the for-profit insurance industry, just didn’t make the CNN cut.”

Perhaps someone should have looked at the polls before selecting the questions. . .

I have to admit I harbor a bit of a “business crush” on Google, what with its oodles of on-hand cash, investment in global servers and by all account, kick-ass offices. But my crush has more to do with the fact that Google’s business platform model, based on openness and accessibility, is an approach that nudges other forward-thinking tech folks to enter, perhaps master, a new arena. Rumor is Google plans to make “open” cellphone software, which would allow others to develop software control applications and interactions with hardware, according to the wsj.com. Some highlights of Google’s cell phone foray, details of which could be released as soon as today (Nov. 5, 2007):

• Internet access that feels more like a Web experience, with links to location-specific restaurants, maps and instant photo-sharing
• Pages that display more personal, customized content
• Software developers say the open source approach will allow phones to handle more content

Doesn’t look like Google plans to make phones, just create an open platform to allow software developers to go crazy making next-generation phones. And hey, if this approach works, some evolution from this technology one day could arguably become a component of a true competitor to the iPhone. And choices are good!

Source: wsj.com

THAT IPHONE IS JAILBROKEN….LIKE MINE :):) :)….i bet apple is pissed…and the carrier logo doesnt [sic] look like at&t…so its also unlocked(like mine ;)) or he switched the carrier image with customize

Nothing like kicking the king.

You know, I love my dishwasher, as I no longer have to wash (many) dishes by hand. I love my washer and dryer, they which rock by cleaning my clothes for me. Granted, the technology needed for these appliances isn’t new, but these are inventions that changed the way we live. These machines free up time so people can do other things. Good stuff. But the absurd can’t be far behind. So behold: the miniature 1970s-looking vacuum that will have no technological impact on your life whatsoever. But hey — it’s powered through a USB! And it looks like a useful domestic appliance! For you know, all that, um, lint that piles up around your PC. God, this thing looks like it belongs with Dwight on The Office. Who is the audience for this? Is there a poor schlub out there who be be on the recipient end of this oddity at this year’s office holiday swap party??

Source: Whateverworks

Ten Chicago Shell gas stations are part of a pilot program that allows gas-getters to swipe their finger to pay at the pump. While this Pay By Touch technology isn’t new, it is a first for gas stations. To be honest, I’m not sure how the technology works, but the Shell’s Chris Suess, manager of global refueling innovations (not kidding), promises it’ is effifient and secure. Hmmm, fingerprint payment. Kinda weird. Secure? Well, perhaps, for the purchase. But now your local gas station has a permanent, and arguably court-admissible, record of you. Hmmm. Wonder if fed or your local DAs could subpoena fingerprint records from Shell stations? And how long would Shell keep the records? Could they sell them? Frankly, my debit card is enough of a trail of my comings and goings, my tastes, my hangouts, etc. ; I consider myself pretty well tracked. Looks like some customers at Sunflower Market, a Chicago grocery store, might agree with me. From Yahoo!News:

About 2 percent of its customers signed up for the payment option, said the store’s manager, Debbie Britton.

“I think it scares people,” Britton said. “They’re more confused about the whole system. Some of them say, ‘Well, now the FBI can find me.’

And since they can’t find anyone on their own, it’s probably not a leap to assume they’ll lean on private enterprise to do their investigating for them.

Source: Yahoo News, Popsci.com

I’m a huge Detroit Tigers fan. Being from Michigan, I’ve been a fan of Detroit’s storied baseball team since I was a little girl. And while this season wasn’t great, as a fan you know the Tigs will roar again, and you watch the World Series anyway because, well, it’s the World Series. Little did I know that online technology has already infiltrated America’s pastime, and in a very cool way. This past weekend, my boyfriend and I were listening to Game 3 of the Red Sox vs. the Colorado Rockies on the radio while making dinner, and of course a laptop is nearby for any split- second Googling we might need to do to settle an argument. (Sadly, I’m not kidding.) A batter waited on a particularly tough pitch, and Greg went straight to the laptop to see where the ball crossed the plate. He’s an avid user of MLB GameDay, this fabulous online feature from MLB.com. It’s got a bunch of different real time features — one of which will graph the path of the pitch. So, there we were in our Chicago kitchen watching exactly where the ball flew over a tiny plate in a ballfield in Colorado mere seconds ago, all while the radio announcer yapped away about the batter regrouping for the second pitch. It was kinda surreal.

Greg tells me MLB GameDay is also handy for those days when you can’t watch or listen to the game (i.e. when you are at work in a tiny cubicle). Just have GameDay up on your browser and you get the game live on your laptop. And suddenly, work doesn’t suck as much.

Forget silver spoons, today’s kids are born with cellphones in their tiny little hands, and more and more often, a username and password. Okay, in reality they probably won’t type until they’re say, the ripe old age of 2. But it’s no secret that today teens are online, all the time, and harboring addictions to social networks sites like Facebook. It’s natural this group is comfortable with technology. But their comfort level is so high, and their life experience so low, they often do not realize how vulnerable they can be online. This story from USA Today examines that comfort level, and points out that teens (via social networking sites) are comfortable sharing just about everything, that is until that drunken party pic gets posted and Jane Athlete gets kicked off the high school soccer team. One teen admits he even posts his real home address online. But most think they know the parameters of online privacy. I don’t buy it. I’ve never had my identity stolen, but my eBay and PayPal accounts have been hacked. I’m quite fearful that being online somehow negates my privacy rights. And that makes me soooo 2006.

I have to confess: I recently purchased my first iPod. I realize this implies that 1) I am not into technology and 2) I’m not into music. Neither could be further from the truth. My reasons for staying away from the iPod were also twofold: 1) I wanted to wait until Apple cycled through several generations so I wouldn’t get one with a plagued with kinks and 2) all of my friends have one so I’m never really starved for good music. So I was pretty excited to buy the 80GB video iPod that my most excellent new media professor/guru at Northwestern requires for class. I was psyched to finally get my own. I researched its features online. I read consumer reviews. I planned a day to go downtown, and thought ahead about all the extra stuff I’d need (car charger, wall charger, etc.). I’d never been to an Apple store, so when I got there I was relieved I knew exactly what I wanted. The place was teeming with tourists, and I’m not a huge fan of crowded stores, or really tourists for that matter. (There was even one guy directing foot traffic right at the entrance.) I was thrilled to finally make the purchase and was absolutely thrilled that the silver color iPod was in stock. No either/or black/white for me — I have a “unique” iPod! But my enthusiasm has been effectively snuffed out. In my excitement, I wanted to show everyone my new gadget. The response has invariably been the same: “Why didn’t you get the touch screen?”

Here’s why I didn’t get the touch screen: I clearly want to disappoint you.

Okay, here’s the real reason didn’t get the iTouch: I didn’t know it existed, okay? And now that I know more about it, I’m heartened that even if I had known I wouldn’t have bought it anyway, as it lacks the storage space I need for my new media class. But the whole incident has been a reminder that with technology, only the gadgets that are 5 seconds off the production floor are “cool.” Everything else is stale, barely worthy of a half-hearted compliment, let alone a few seconds of oogling.

So, I’m coping with the anticlimactic iPod purchase that is impressive to no one but me. I will survive. But I must say I at least find some amusement in the fact that my sleek, cool-lookin’ powerful iPod relies on a cassette tape do-dad to play through my car stereo. Ah, today’s technology needs yesterday’s technology to play through yesteryear technology. And still no one wants to look at it.

Approximately 127 million adults in the U.S. are overweight, 60 million are obese and 9 million are extremely obese, according to the The Endocrine Society, which also hosts obesityinamerica.org, an educational site that aims to curb obesity in America. Currently, an estimated 65 percent of U.S. adults age 20 years and older and 15 percent of children and adolescents are overweight and 30 percent are obese. The fact that we’re fat isn’t surprising. And the fact that some huge conglomerate wants to make money off that problem isn’t surprising either. Healthcare giant Abbott Laboratories in a northern Chicago issued a press release this week announcing its foray into “nutritionals,” or those bland “meals” that are supposed pack the nutrition of a Thanksgiving Day meal in a 5 oz. bar. So, the company hired someone to take a look at how often we Americans eat-on-the-go, and — wait for it — it happens. A lot. We’d prefer to fiddle with our PDAs than sit down for a meal. Behold the precious announcement:

ZonePerfect® Survey Finds Americans Are Overfed on Technology, Underfed at the Dinner Table

These authors clearly haven’t seen a family of four at an IHOP.

Technology has transformed the workplace, and gadgets like cell phones and PDAs mean we’re never far from an opportunity to add thousands of little tasks to each and every day. So it’s interesting to note this study found those who are multitasking can’t focus or concentrate as well as those who, you know, aren’t. And those who multitask share much in common with the world’s stoners: a lower IQ. In fact, some cheeky British researchers at the Institute of Psychiatry at King’s college London in 2005 got the Internets a-buzzin’ with the news that e-mail might do more damage to your brain than smoking pot. From Discover Magazine.com: “Of course, a closer examination of the study is less startling but still fascinating. Researchers asked two sets of subjects to take IQ tests. One group had to check e-mail and respond to instant messages while taking the test. The second group just sat down and did the test without distractions. Surprise, surprise, the distracted group didn’t do as well on the test—10 points worse than the control group. In similar testing conditions, people intoxicated by marijuana had scores 8 points lower. So researchers drew attention to their study by noting that multitasking is worse for your ability to concentrate than getting stoned.”

For what it’s worth, I don’t think the boss is going to take, “But it’s like I’m stoned…” as any kind of excuse for why you didn’t answer your cell while you were participating in an Webinar while texting a client and faxing that final contract during a global conference call.

Buro Vormkriigers has created this neon-looking overpriced table lamp, and I’m befuddled as to the audience for this thing. My guess is those who love lava lamps will love the Mary Louise, which is made of acrylic sheets cut to look like, well, a lamp. So, we’ve narrowed the audience to the nation’s middle-aged former club-goers and to teens who swear they’re not stoned, just “tired.” Only the first group has the cash to actually buy this hideous thing, which costs $999 for the one that looks like a kid’s Christmas tree cutout (thank you “Oh Gizmo!”). The uber-etched out one on the right will run you another $300. It’s illuminated with a 14-watt fluorescent bulb that can glow in several different colors, including amber, yellow, orange, purple, blue, pink, red and green. Run to Generate to snap this bulb-that-is-a-lamp. And then think about why you have too much money.