THE HEADLINES

HEALTH INSURANCE COSTS, AND INSURANCE COMPANY PROFITS, ARE SKYROCKETING.

(New York Times)

America may be headed for a crisis in health care as costs for insurance are rising at a shocking rate. The cost of employer-based insurance for an average family has increased 9 percent over the past year, the higher costs hitting hard in an economy that has yet to recover. Such an increase is actually part of a decade-long trend in sharp spikes in insurance premiums, having doubled since 2001 while average wages have not kept up. The price squeeze for both employers providing coverage and for ordinary workers bearing higher premiums has led to concern about a new wave in uninsured Americans. One group benefiting from the surge in health costs are insurance companies, whose profits have risen dramatically along with their premiums. It is believed that at least part of last year’s jump in insurance costs is due to these companies seeking to protect their rising profits and beat new government regulations that will cap premium spikes beginning in 2012.

`

FROM THE “ARAB SPRING” TO THE “AMERICAN AUTUMN”? A MOVEMENT TO “OCCUPY” WALL STREET MAY SIGNAL A NEW EFFORT TO HOLD AMERICA’S CAPITALIST ELITE ACCOUNTABLE FOR THEIR DESTRUCTION..

(AlterNet)

Faced with “colossal social failure,” thousands of people, have descended upon Wall Street for an unprecedented mass protest to “occupy” the heart of capitalism and the country’s financial center. The act may be digested as a mode of retribution for an entire generation of Americans that have been faced with the wreckage of the failed ideology that free markets “run themselves” and that aggressive and untamed capitalism is faultless and unbreakable. Faced with few jobs, a disinterested government pledged to deficit reduction, and little hope for the future, Americans are beginning to share a visceral reaction of anger and open resentment to the political and corporate forces that, for them, have killed off the American Dream.

`

WHEN FOOD BECOMES A “COMMODITY” AND IS TRADED ON WALL STREET, BAD THINGS HAPPEN. AND OUR GOVERNMENT IS DOING NOTHING TO STOP IT.

(Grist)

The sharp global increase in food prices is not tied to any mass shortages of important staples, but rather has been directly attributed to the explosion of commodities trading and the entrance of Wall Street hedge fund managers and market traders into the system. Panicked by the 2008 financial crisis, these speculators poured money into “safe” and “innovative” commodities, from oil to grains, driving up prices artificially. Now, with Wall Street’s greed literally leading to a devastating hit in the pocketbook for all Americans and, more seriously, starvation for millions of people in poor nations, the US government has written new regulations on commodities speculation that actually protects the speculators. News rules put in place by the White House and lawmakers in Congress that are ostensibly supposed to curb food speculation “might actually encourage speculation in the commodities markets.” Imagine that.

`

“I DON’T KNOW HOW YOU COULD CAST MORE DOUBT ON THE USE OF A DRUG THAN WHEN YOU HAVE THE CONDEMNATION OF IT BY ITS OWN MAKER.“

(UK Guardian)

The president of a Danish drug manufacturer that makes pentobarbital has written a personal letter to Florida Gov. Rick Scott urging him not to use the drug in the upcoming execution of Manuel Valle, a Cuban national convicted of killing a police officer. The president of Lundbeck, the company that manufactures pentobarbital, took the unusual step of directly contacting a potential customer and warning Scott that use of the drug “outside of the approved labeling” is not safe and that using it to kill someone “contradicts everything Lundbeck is in business to do.” Controversy has grown over the use of pentobarbital in executions because some medical experts contend that it inflicts “extreme suffering” on those being executed and is not intended to be used as a lethal drug. Florida is one of several states that have opted for this alternative in place of another drug whose supply has been deliberately cut by its maker as a means of protesting its use in executions. So far, the governor’s office has denied all requests to find a different means of killing Valle.

……………………………………………………………………………………………..

Do you receive the daily headlines in the form of an early-morning e-mail? If you don’t and you would like to receive them, just send a note to sunstateactivist2@yahoo.com and you’ll be enrolled in the “Progressive breakfast club.”