Daily Archives: 03/01/2009

(Community Matters) Jump from 3/30/09 – Capitol City 10k

Maureen

retiring AAS Community Manager, Rhetta Kelly

Kathy & Claus with Tana

Stephen Yelenosky & Jill – Happy Birthday today, Stephen

the tribe

Lily

Ivy

a block over, a band just set up and played – rather perfect actually

(Community Matters) Bill Hammond, President of the Texas Association of Business

‘It’s like a drug dealer. The dealer gives you your first hit for free to get you hooked, and then you are addicted and are paying the consequences for a long, long time.’

arguing against policies to provide aid for unemployed Texans

(Community Matters) He doesn’t get that most Americans were NOT hoping GWB would fail. here

(Community Matters) Nicholas D. Kristof in the NYTimes.

so many Americans fall through the cracks and don’t have insurance, life expectancy is higher in most of Europe than in the United States. Even the people of Cyprus live longer than Americans, according to United Nations figures.

American children are twice as likely to die by the age of 5 as children in Portugal, Spain or Slovenia. And the World Health Organization found that an American woman’s lifetime risk of dying in childbirth is more than three times that of a woman in Greece, Spain or Germany.

Meanwhile, Americans spend $6,800 per person to get these second-rate results, about double what is paid in Canada or much of Europe.

McKinsey Global Institute found that the United States spends about $650 billion more on health care each year than one would expect for a country at its income level. That’s $2,100 per American, and it’s one gauge of the waste of our existing system.

(Community Matters) It’s no secret I am unapologetic in my support of free market capitalism. And, I admit it is quite imperfect and requires government intervention and regulation – especially as relates to the costs of externalities and threats of exploitation.

(Community Matters) Following up on my earlier post, in a conversation today with good friend from the business and political world, I admitted I’m scared – increasingly – about our economy and where we might find the floor.  Also admitted I don’t understand why we are protecting the equity interest of stockholders in the national banks – fear the new treasury chief and others are too close to the Street and aren’t able to break from protecting those interests. 

(Community Matters) Warren Buffett on the economy and responsibility.