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Do US Hospitals Harm Patients for Profit? By Clark Baker On the Massachusetts border that joins with Connecticut and Rhode Island, the green woods and blue waters of Lake Chaubunagungamaug shimmer in the summer breeze. Turning northeast along Sutton Road, it’s easy to see why America’s first colonists settled in these gently rolling hills and tilled its fields. In the fall, the thick green forests turn into a kaleidoscope of rusty yellows, reds, and browns before the first snow falls. At Nipmuck Pond, you won’t notice that Sutton Road has become Cliff Road until it changes again to Joe Jenny...

WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) -- Acting quickly to prevent a run on major global financial firms, the Federal Reserve cut its discount rate by a quarter percentage point to 3.25% and offered to lend money to a longer list of firms than ever before. he extraordinary weekend moves came as J.P. Morgan Chase sealed a deal to buy Bear Stearns Cos. for just $2 a share backed by funds borrowed from the Fed. The Fed board gave its approval to that unique funding arrangement, which guarantees JP Morgan against losses from buying Bear. See full story. The Fed board also approved the...

Ethanol industry losing its momentum By Michael Hooper | MORRIS NEWS SERVICE Tuesday, March 11, 2008 Story last updated at 3/11/2008 - 2:42 am TOPEKA, Kan. - Tough times have struck the ethanol industry as profit margins have declined while corn prices have soared. Last month, Cargill suspended development of an ethanol plant near Topeka. An ethanol plant that opened last fall in Pratt, Kan., already has stopped producing ethanol. A new biofuels plant in Mead, Neb., shut down last fall. Another ethanol plant in Canton, Ill., is in bankruptcy. The industry was skyrocketing five years ago when the price...

Bill Gates may be the world's richest person — and also the most generous, as measured by amount of philanthropy — but we shouldn't assume those characteristics make him the most perspicacious.In a Jan. 24 speech to the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Gates laid out his vision of "creative capitalism," which encourages companies to spend money on worthwhile causes or on money-losing projects that are judged to be socially desirable. According to Gates' fuzzy logic, this is "market-based social change" that does "work that eases the world's inequities." Good goals, bad strategy. Gates is not the first paragon...

One final thought regarding last night's debate keeps reverberating, and that comes from the repeated assertion from John McCain that he led for patriotism, not for profit. No one can doubt that this is true, and no one can doubt John McCain's patriotism and sacrifice for this country. He has also, in the Senate, been a leader on national issues far more than others like John Kerry, for instance; he takes very public stands on issues and drives major legislation. Regardless of what people think of those positions, he has never let an overwhelming desire to safeguard his political career...

BENTONVILLE, Ark. - A year after its worst holiday sales season ever, Wal-Mart Stores Inc. may rebound to have a good season after finding the right mix of merchandise and marketing to complement its return to a focus on low prices. A whiff of this already showed up when the nation's largest retailer posted third-quarter earnings Tuesday of $2.86 billion, an 8 percent rise that beat Wall Street expectations. The company earned 70 cents per share, up from 62 cents per share in the same period a year ago. The 70 cents includes an after-tax gain equal to 1 cent...

Travelodge Hotel Chain Switches Off its Porn TV It wants to "appeal to the ever-growing number of families" By Elizabeth O'BrienUNITED KINGDOM, August 8, 2007 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Travelodge, one of the largest UK hotel chains, has decided to cut out its pornography option and replace the "adult" channels with family friendly material in order to encourage the growing number of parents and children who stay at its budget hotels. With branches in Spain, Ireland and the United Kingdom, Travelodge is the fastest growing and most recognized UK budget hotel chain, boasting a total of 20,000 bedrooms. The company recently announced...

The Sixteenth Amendment DID NOT authorize the federal government to tax your PERSONALLY earned wages, but only that part of your wages that is PROFIT, or GAIN above and beyond what you gave up in order to receive them. Can you say what part of your wages are above and beyond your personal investment in earning them? Neither can the government. So it LIES to you by saying in PUBLICATIONS, like its Form 1040 Instructions, (WHICH ARE NOT LAW) that you must report and pay taxes on ALL of your wages . . . even that part that is...

Clinton's Golden Voice Bill Clinton earned $31 million in speaking fees between 2001 and 2005, as disclosed in his wife's Senate ethics reports. This page lists information about each speech and the amount the former president earned. Related: See the map of speeches and read the Post story

All too often today we hear condemnations of the profit motive as destructive and uncaring. But is it really? Or is the profit motive one of the noblest forces that can impel a man to act? To understand whether the profit motive is desirable, we must first grasp the goals of a life properly lived. These goals are twofold; on the first level, survival is the goal of sustaining one's biological existence and preventing one's downward slide toward poverty, ruination, and death. On the second level, flourishing is the extension of one's control over the external reality-the ability to harness...

Per FR excerpt policy, Bloomberg is link only.Read article here.

High gas prices and strong oil company earnings have generated a rash of new tax proposals in recent months. Some lawmakers have called for new “windfall profits” taxes—similar to the one signed into federal law in 1980 by President Jimmy Carter—that would tax the profits of major oil companies at a rate of 50 percent. Meanwhile, many commentators have voiced support for the idea of increasing gas taxes to keep the price of gasoline at post-Katrina highs, thereby reducing gas consumption. However, often ignored in this debate is the fact that oil industry profits are highly cyclical, making them just...

Boeing Co. is showing early signs of turning company-record orders for jetliners into profits. After raking in 1,044 new orders in 2006, on top of 1,002 orders in 2005, Boeing's Commercial Airplanes unit has about six years of production on its books at current rates, valued at $174 billion. As the company ramps up production, its ability to profitably produce the airplanes on order will test its commitment to efficient manufacturing, and it should have a greater influence on Boeing's stock performance than the usual practice of keeping track of the yearly order race against rival Airbus. "If you add...

New Mexico's use of jails run by companies is the highest in the country -- and rising -- but do they live up to their promises?New Mexico leads the nation on another list: We're No. 1 in using private prisons to house inmates. The latest U.S. Justice Department statistics, published in a study called Prisons in 2005, showed 43 percent of New Mexico prisoners were in private lockups. That's well ahead of the 6 percent national rate for privately held state prison inmates. And the percentage in New Mexico is bound to rise even higher in the near future. Cells...

All too often today we hear condemnations of the profit motive as destructive and uncaring. But is it really? Or is the profit motive one of the noblest forces that can impel a man to act? To understand whether the profit motive is desirable, we must first grasp the goals of a life properly lived. These goals are twofold; on the first level, survival is the goal of sustaining one's biological existence and preventing one's downward slide toward poverty, ruination, and death. On the second level, flourishing is the extension of one's control over the external reality—the ability to harness...

WASHINGTON, July 12 (UPI) -- Hundreds of novel anti-cancer agents have entered clinical trials in the first six months of this year, according to a report released Wednesday by a firm that tracks drug development. Katie Siafaca, spokeswoman for New Medicine, which released the report, said there has been a dramatic rise in the number of drugs being developed for treating cancer in recent years. "It's a tremendous increase in the last five or six years," Siafaca told United Press International, noting there are 100 compounds in phase 1 clinical development alone. "Everything has increased dramatically." The compounds in development...

Apollo Group is the biggest of the ForPro education groups. It owns the University of Phoenix. Yesterday its stock fell 2 percent after reporting lower third-quarter profits because of higher costs. Corinthian Colleges is another of the big players. It, too, reported a loss of 3 cents/share. DeVry lost 15 cents, and Educational Services lost 3 cents/share as well. Everybody's trading down, albeit down very little. Does this mean that the quality of education provided by these groups has also dipped? Are students losing out 2% on their classes? or 3 cents/dollar they spend on their tuition? Hardly. One of...

While US airlines cut and slash service -- care and feeding -- of their travelers, the Asian airlines have been buying new planes, installing elaborate entertainment systems, and allowing passengers in-flight e-mail and web surfing options. Add to that plush seats and meals created by celebrity chefs, and the result is that America doesn't know service. Cathay Pacific and Singapore Airlines services beat all American carriers, hands down. On the long-haul flights, choices of movies, frequent meals (America doesn't need this) -- Western or Asian style -- and friendly service are the standard. Not only are the US airlines behind,...

Online learning will continue to grow for several reasons. The first reason is because of the advent of high-speed Internet. Anybody with a home PC can now take a course online. If you have a laptop, you can take your course online and take it with you to the coffice (coffee house/office). That is where I am writing this. PCs and Macs are also becoming more affordable. For the price of one credit hour at some schools, a student can now buy a good desktop Dell or Gateway PC. There is no more driving to school, finding a parking place,...

Enrollments in online courses are increasing 10 times faster than traditional enrollments. Let's see, every time someone visits a campus, takes a tour, visits a book store, eats in a cafeteria, looks at an empty gym or stadium, and then sits with a counselor for an hour or so, and then finally signs the enrollment form...10 people sign up online! Uh...gee...I wonder ...If I were a school, where should I apply my time and effort? Hard question. Schools like Arizona State University expect enrollment in at least one online course to soar from 15,000 to 100,000 within the next five...

Grand Canyon University might be a school for ultramarathoners (super marathoners) -- guys and gals who run multiple marathons in one day. I know of one race that goes from rim to rim of the Grand Canyon and back all in one day. But that is not relevant here. Sorry. Grand Canyon School was a traditional University with an annual shortfall of $12 million to $15 million as late as 2004. It broke even last year and is now turning a profit. The difference is, it was bought by a significant other -- Significant Education -- and turned into a...

Former Toyota President Shoichiro Toyoda has founded Kaiyo Academy, a $175-million school that he modeled after Britain's Eton Academy -- a school that boasts 19 British Prime Ministers among her alumni and the second-in-line to the throne, Prince William. In Japan there is dissatisfaction with the 'dumbing-down' of its curriculum. Four years ago, the government cut 30% of the workload off the elementary and junior high school curriculum. Toyota's Kaiyo academy is attractive for many reasons. 1. It is backed by Toyota. 2. It is focusing on developing kids who can do more than just pass exams. 3. It is...

eCollege provides value-added information services to the post-secondary and K-12 industries. Its customers include publicly traded fopros, community colleges, public and private universities, school districts, and state departments of education. Its mission is to help increase new enrollments and increase student retention. National University is my alma mater. It includes National University, National Polytechnic College of Engineering and Oceaneering, Spectrum Pacific Learning Company LLC, National University Virtual High School, California Medical Institute, National University International, and National University Institute. Whew! That's a lot. eCollege is committed to excellent customer service and partnership and unparalleled product division. NU is is committed...

Berkery, Noyes & Co. LLC is a leading independent investment bank that provides M & A services to the global information, publishing, and IT sectors. The group has been involved as an advisor for most major transactions, buying and/or selling, related to the education market in recent years. 1. National Geographic Society bought Hampton-Brown Co. 2. ProQuest bought Voyager Expanded Learning. 3. Touchstone Applied Science Associates just purchased Questar Educational Systems. I reckon Berkery, Noyes figures it better get someone on board who knows something about post-secondary schools and other forms of higher-ed, including the fopros. So, they have hired...

Sakhalin Island is a remote and sparsely populated area in the farthest east section of Russia. It sits to the north of Japan's northernmost island of Hokkaido. Its ports freeze over part of each year because, well, it is so dang cold. But Sakhalin is where the future may lie -- at least for Russia's big oil. The island is about 600 miles long -- about the length of California but about one/fourth the size -- and there are an estimated 45 billion barrels of oil equivalent that lie beneath its seas. California probably has that much, too, but the...

Schools want regional accreditation. Fopros also want regional accreditation. It gives them status, recognition, and confidence with their students, who might want to take their class units and transfer them to a four-year or other institution. Fopros will go to extremes to get this accreditation. In order to get accreditation, schools must meet a number of standards - course offerings, financial stability, library facilities, and a certain quota of full-time faculty to name a few. Nowhere does it say the schools must actually be carrying out their objective of student learning - interesting, eh? There is also a waiting period,...

The Baltimore Sun has this story about an 80 year old lady who is trying to become a lawyer. Her kids and grandkids no doubt want her to stop wasting their inheritance on going to school. Age is less and less relevant to new students these days. With nearly 40 percent of college students above 25 years old, many of them are bringing 'baggage' to school with them. That is, they are bringing habits, kids, work loads, excuses, and the challenge of paying their tuition with their minimum-wage jobs. Schools have accomodated older students with special courses, accelerated courses and...

At a recent forum sponsored by the newspaper "Vedomosty" and the "Bazovy Element" company, there was unanimous agreement that Russian higher education is unable to meet the market's contemporary requirements in skilled specialists. The proposed answer: "the quality of education could be enhanced, and it could be turned into an instrument for promoting the social status of the most gifted and industrious people," ONLY by means of cooperation between the business circles, the state, and the higher schools themselves. It sounds to me like somebody or somebodies in Russia want to go the fopro route. According to the Dean of...

by Mark Finkelstein May 15, 2006 So much of the debate about high gasoline prices involve allegations that oil companies are 'gouging' and making 'windfall profits.' So if you were a TV show preparing a graphic display of the various components that add up to the price of gas at the pump, the one thing you would be sure to separately break out would be profit, wouldn't it? Not if you're the Today show. Not if you want to camouflage the fact that, in fact, the government's take via taxes dwarfs the amount that the various levels of commerce take...

New York - The Forbes 2000 is not only a comprehensive list of the world's largest, and most powerful, public companies. It is also unique in its way of measuring corporate size. Our logic for using sales, profits, assets and market value in a composite ranking: a list based on a single metric provides a lopsided view of which companies are most important to the world's economy.

The contracts former Rep. Randy “Duke” Cunningham bullied the Defense Department into awarding two contractors who showered him with money and gifts were not in the national interest, according to documents filed by prosecutors Tuesday. Instead, the prosecutors said, “Cunningham and his co-conspirators fleeced the people of the United States to the tune of millions of dollars, earning profit margins on some contracts in excess of 800 percent.” In the most detailed description yet of the former congressman's bribery case, prosecutors offered graphic examples of how Cunningham browbeat and intimidated government officials and his own staff into ensuring that millions...

In some countries the use of eminent domain can be a life or death issue. Last June, in the small village of Shengyou, China, six people were killed and 50 injured in a bloody clash between farmers and hundreds of armed thugs sent by government operatives to seize their land. This was just one of thousands of disputes over land appropriation that take place each year in China Fueling these conflicts is the ambiguous nature of property ownership in China. The rights of farmers who hold land collectively are not made clear under Chinese law. Although farmers can acquire property...

Record corporate profits will sustain the new payrolls of the last few years. Not all jobs are created equal. Some are volatile and speculative, and some are backed by real, existing profits. As it turns out, the jobs created over the last several years are backed by record levels of corporate profit. From 2001 to 2005, we’ve seen a 1.4 percent increase in payroll jobs. But over that same period of time, we’ve seen corporate profits jump from $767 billion to $1.3 trillion — an increase of more than 70 percent. This is in stark contrast to the job boom...

Spinal Cord Patient Speaks out: Embryonic stem cell helps patents not patients Embryonic stem cells help patents, not patientsJEAN SWENSON A battle is raging between embryonic and adult stem cell research. What are stem cells and why should we care?Stem cells, found in humans throughout their lifespan (including embryos), can divide and change into specialized cells. Researchers hope to use stem cells for human treatments, and we must decide which research deserves our financial support.Embryonic stem cells (ESCs) used for research are extracted from 5- to 6-day-old embryos and then multiplied. Under normal conditions, ESCs would eventually develop into...

<p>A computer hacker gained access to private files at Acxiom Corp., one of the world's largest consumer database companies, and was able to download sensitive information about some customers of the company's clients, the company said Thursday.</p> <p>"The data on the servers was a wide variety of information, some of which was personal, some of which was not," Jennifer Barrett, the company's chief privacy officer, said in an interview with The Associated Press on Thursday. The AP was notified of the intrusion by an anonymous caller who would not identify himself or his connection with the company.</p>

Oil industry earning are high, but not out of step with other industries. This week, ExxonMobil's earnings are in the news. But is there more to the story than the headlines? ExxonMobil's earnings are indeed at a record high, driven largely by the price of the commodities they sell. But if you compare profits per dollar of revenue across a wide range of U.S. companies - a true "apples to apples" evaluation - you see that oil earnings are not out of step with other major industries. As the chart below shows, oil and gas industry earnings averaged 7.7 cents...

NYTimes.com has launched a new subscription service, TimesSelect, an important step in the development of The New York Times. Subscribers to TimesSelect have exclusive online access to many of our most influential columnists in Op-Ed, Business, New York/Region and Sports. In addition to reading the columns, TimesSelect subscribers can also engage with our columnists through video interviews and Web-only postings. All of our news, features, editorials and analysis will remain free to readers of NYTimes.com, as will our interactive graphics, multimedia and popular video minutes. [. . .] TimesSelect costs $49.95 a year and will be free for home delivery...

UNITED NATIONS (AP) - Syria misspent more than $500 million in Iraqi oil money left over in its central bank after a three-year stretch of doing business with Baghdad in defiance of U.N. sanctions, U.S. investigators claimed in documents obtained Tuesday. A House of Representatives subcommittee is questioning if the money, deposited in two accounts at Syria's Central Bank, was later used to finance attacks in Iraq. The United States has repeatedly claimed that insurgents used the bank to launder cash. The documents were to be the focus of a Wednesday hearing by the subcommittee, on the Middle East and...

N. Korea: Food Aid Sold at the Market (smuggled-out video: 2min 10sec, taken at 11am, 04/26/05) The following video was taken at 11am on April 26, 2005, at Nam-heung Market in Anju, S. Pyongan Province, N. Korea, which is 70km(about 44 miles) to the north of Pyongyang. It was taken by Kim Man-chul(alias,) an undercover member of RENK, which is a N. Korean human right organization operating out of Japan. He is one of the most wanted men by N. Korean security, because he had previously taken videos of aid materials being diverted by N. Korean authorities. This was...

NEW YORK - Investors taking profits after the week’s big advance left stock indexes narrowly mixed at Friday’s close, but the lack of a wholesale sell-off left many on Wall Street pleased with the market’s resiliency. The market’s three major stocks indexes saw their best week of 2005. With few earnings reports and no new economic data to encourage buying, there was little impetus for investors to continue the week’s rally. The major indexes have all risen more than 3 percent since last Friday’s close, buoyed by positive economic data and falling oil prices. Investors mostly were waiting for next...

There are many kinds of anti-capitalism. The most militant variety, involving street protests and kicked-in windows, has subsided a little lately. But this was never the most important kind. A broader, milder, even cordial, discontent with capitalism saturates Western culture. It has become so familiar that it barely registers at the conscious level. But the feeling is there, and it creates the climate in which public policy is framed. Sipping a cup of Starbucks Fair Trade Blend -- the kind that guarantees growers a "living wage," while encouraging "equitable and sustainable development" (as opposed to the more normal kind of...

Democrats Could Profit From Blair's Labor Prime Minister Shows Value in Hewing to Center By Dan Balz Washington Post Staff Writer Sunday, May 8, 2005; Page A05 LONDON, May 7 -- Can the British Labor Party help the Democrats in the United States find their way back to power? **SNIP** Blair has been left weakened by Thursday's election, rebuked by voters for his alliance with President Bush as America's staunchest ally in the Iraq war. **SNIP** Politicians and the press here are focused on what went wrong for Blair. For Democrats, the significance of the election may lie as much...

WASHINGTON -- It sounds hard to believe, but gasoline retailers' profit margins are at a 20-year low. Even more surprising, their troubles are being exacerbated by high pump prices. That has prompted motorists to avoid premium-grade gasoline and pay more often with credit cards -- both of which reduce earnings that already were just a few pennies per gallon. Coupled with rising competition from Wal-Mart, Costco and other discounters, these purchasing trends have reinforced the importance of an industrywide shift toward bigger facilities that sell more snacks, sodas and services that deliver higher profits. In a sign of just how...

WASHINGTON - Hawking baby and children's clothes — along with some garage sale and thrift store bargains — on eBay helps Sunni Wojnarowsky bring in some extra money so she can afford to stay home with her two young boys. The additional dollars are great, but does she really need to hassle with the paperwork and report her small profit to the Internal Revenue Service (news - web sites)? Her question, posed to the online auction site's discussion board for sellers, generated much advice — and more confusion. In tax law, there is no clear, bright line that separates fun...

Sometimes the simplest solutions are the most striking. Blogger Miguel Octavio in Caracas, Venezuela, has suggested the best way for Venezuela to draw some earnings from its Citgo refineries here in the U.S. is to sell shares. Houston-based Citgo has been in the news lately, with Hugo Chavez "threatening" to sell its eight U.S.-based refineries. Chavez says he doesn't get enough money out of them, and the U.S. markets suspect he'd like to sell to more easily cut off oil to the U.S. There are a lot of horse laughs in Houston, of course, given how much money he'd lose...

What Profiteth It a Man?The BitPig Rant/2005.02.14 Recently, I've been reading some spirited discussion online regarding the morality (or lack of) inherent in the "Big Box Retail" model of capitalist economics. What most of it boils down to is the question "Is Wal-Mart-style capitalism an example of Christian economics in action?" I say "No, it isn't" -- and here's why. Let's say I need to buy a widget. The Wal-Mart out by the freeway is selling Chinese-made widgets for $2.50 each, while Mom and Pop's Widget Store in the old downtown area is selling American-made widgets of equal quality for...

ConocoPhillips on Wednesday outlined plans to expand its investments in Russia as the US oil and gas group reported a near-doubling in profits for the fourth quarter. ADVERTISEMENT The third-largest US energy group by production opened a reporting season for the major oil companies expected to be dominated by near-record earnings, but tempered by concerns over rising exploration and production cuts and increasing government intervention. Conoco's net profits climbed from $1.02bn to $2.43bn in the three months to December 31, with earnings per share rising from $1.48 to $3.44, ahead of the $3.07 consensus among analysts. Rising oil, gas and...

Gold from the immigrants Latin American, Asian newcomers to lift earnings for many U.S. companies. January 22, 2005: 5:30 PM EST NEW YORK (Reuters) - The largest immigration boom in U.S. history is expected to lift earnings at companies from discount retailers to telecommunications providers, putting dollar signs in the eyes of investors looking to cash in on the wave of newcomers, mostly from Latin America and Asia. Demographics is "one of the top five tools any macro analyst and investment manager should be following," said Robert Justich, senior managing director at Bear Stearns Asset Management. "And there has been...

The purpose of FreeRepublic.com's multiple message boards is to limit the topics for each board to particular topics. Posting the same message on all the boards defeats the purpose of multiple-boards for special topics. It is very annoying to see the same message on every bulletin board. PLEASE! DO THE READERS A FAVOR. STOP CROSS-POSTING YOUR MESSAGES!

In those desperate last days before the election, liberal advocacy groups even managed to sneak political propaganda into routine business news, of all places. In an article ostensibly reporting facts about economic growth, Washington Post writer Jonathan Weisman managed to insert the following tidbit: The liberal Center for Budget and Policy Priorities noted that the share of the economy going to wages and salaries has slipped from 49.5 percent when Bush came to office to 45.4 percent in the third quarter of 2004, even as corporate profits have risen as a share of the gross domestic product over that time,...