2016: A Year For Speculation

I also heard that in 2016, there will be a month called February that many people have difficulty pronouncing.

5 Ways We’re Being Violated By Big Business

The Article: Five Ways We’re Being Violated by Big Business by in The Contributor.

The Text: We already pay dearly for energy, medicine, banking, and telecommunications services. But a little research reveals that we’re paying more—much more—in a variety of ways that our business-friendly mainstream media won’t talk about.

1. Drug Companies: The Body Snatchers

A report by Battelle Memorial Institute determined that the $4 billion government-funded Human Genome Project (HGP) will generate economic activity of about $140 for every dollar spent. Although that estimate is controversial, drug industry executives say it’s just a matter of time before the profits roll in.

Big business is quickly making its move. Celera Genomics was first, as the company initiated a private version of the genome project, incorporating the public data into their work, but forbidding the public effort to use Celera data. Abbott Labs is developing products based on the HGP. Merck’s automated biotechnology facility was made possible by the HGP. Two-thirds of the products at Bristol-Myers Squibb have been impacted by the HGP. Pfizer is starting to make big profits from its genome-based cancer treatments.

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Obama’s Unlikely Trade With Amazon

Finally, an appropriate example of mutually beneficial trade.

Looking For Fraud? Look At Wall Street, Not Food Stamp Recipients

The Article: Looking for fraud? Don’t look at food stamp recipients, look at Wall Street by Chris Arnade in The Guardian.

The Text: Hunger will drive kids to do crazy things. Like stay at school.

A few weeks ago South Bronx public schools had a half-day, with dismissal at noon. Yet almost all the kids stayed an extra hour, waiting in the cafeteria to eat the schools’ free lunch.

Teachers even got calls from parents of children who hadn’t stayed, asking them why they let their children leave without a meal. The teachers explained that this had never been an issue before. Kids had always left when they could. The parents responded, “That was before the cut in food stamps. We get $45 less a month now”.

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Why Drug Prohibition Will Never Work In Under Three Minutes

We’ve tried to prohibit all sorts of things before, and while intentions may indeed be good, they’ve always had adverse outcomes. The War on Drugs has proven no differently.