…but when talk show hosts start seeing Oxycontin shortages on the black market, or find out that half-a-Viagra is no Viagra at all, we may see some kind of action.

LOL LOL LOL!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We, as a nation, take far too many damn drugs anyway. Pharma invents a drug and then promotes an “illness” to use the drug with. Ouchy knee syndrome or OKS, elbow boo boo or EBB, non rising penis or NRP, are but a few of the dire illnesses that we are told, on teevee, we have and need to take very expensive drugs for “Just ask your doctor”. Most of the drugs taken are totally unnecessary and are for imaginary illnesses. It is a con game played by Pharma and it is costing Americans billions of dollars in the scam.

Not Filling prescriptions? Skipping doses? And (cue the Dramatic Chipmunk) splitting pills?!?!

Epocrates has also found out the sun will rise this morning. Glory be, we sent our kids to college for this.

fyi – the day’s congressional hearing list is up at oxdown:

For anyone who didn’t get enough of Tim Geithner yesterday, he will be testifying before the Senate Budget committee today. Personally, I did get enough of Geithner yesterday – but Senators Sanders, Feingold and Whitehouse are on the Senate Budget committee, so there is the possibility of hearing a Democrat ask a decent question something that I did not hear on Tuesday. That may make the hearing worth listening to. Alternatively, for those Congress watchers into Horror Flicks, the House Financial Services is scheduled to hear testimony from Vikram Pandit and seven other CEOs of the biggest most insolvent, bankrupt zombie banks. We like to call them the zombie bankers.

Geithner’s testifying again today? Great. Expect the market to drop another 300+ points…

Good morning, pups. It’s MoDo and Friedman today. MoDo doesn’t approve. She says, in “Trillion Dollar Baby,” that despite the touting, the Treasury chief unveiled a plan short on illumination, recrimination, fine points and foreclosure closure. The Moustache of Wisdom, writing from Bangalore (where part of my job migrated to, just sayin’…) gives us “The Open Door Bailout.” He says the centerpiece of our stimulus should be to stimulate everything that makes us smarter and attracts smart people to our shores.

Here they are.

The coffee, tea and hot chocolate are ready, and I’ve got a selection of bagels with cream cheese. It was a full moon last night… No wonder the cats were nuts. Have a great day.

Don’t forget that the Republicans will be coming out with their new cookbook of recipes for Grass Soup.

Are you suggesting that shakky leg syndrome is bogus? What about flaccid penis disease? The drug companies wouldn’t market new drugs for these serious conditions if they weren’t concerned with the health of the nation, would they?

And as an alternative to the zombie bankers, allow me to present an example of a smart banker from a smallish city in my state:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/…..id=topnews

Will be interesting to see if one of the questioners mentions this guy today.

Very true, dat! But who’s the most likely market for those kinds of drugs?……..those who can still afford to buy medicine. Big pharma may very likely find the sales of even these dropping as more and more people lose their jobs and medical bennies — which wouldn’t be a bad thing, in my book.

COBRA is no help,it’s a joke. It costs more than the unemployment checks for the whole month bring in. It’s more than my mortgage. So,my family is uninsured for the first time ever. It’s scary.

All we want is what Congress has(and appearently takes for granted). If Europe and Canada can provide quality,affordable healthcare,then why not the US? (I know,lobbyists,insurance companies and the pharma companies,that’s why. The bastards)

Since most of them probably couldn’t find a kitchen if their next meal depended on it, guess the recipes will be lifted from the new How to Live on Nothing for Dummies book. :-(

And get this: Somehow the directors of Citizens South managed to attract and retain a chief executive who turned in respectable profits during good times and bad, and yet was able to pay him only 10 times the salary of the average employee. Pretty neat, huh?
So here’s a question the House Financial Services Committee might put to the Titans of Finance: How is it that Kim Price, a community banker with an undergraduate degree from Appalachian State University, a tiny executive staff and a pay package that you would consider insulting, somehow managed to come up with a more creative use for his government bailout money than any of you?

The answer to the question is…. lack of greed. Not good for the ‘mercun way. Seriously though I did think that an easy way to cap the outrageous monies that the bankers are taking as salary should be capped at no more than 5 times the average wage of their employees.

And yes Kim Price should indeed be a witness at today’s kabuki.

Have a relative and several friends who live/have lived in Gastonia; sending a hard copy to each of them in today’s mail. Hope the local news is picking up on the story if they weren’t the origin of it.

One of the many problems with our economy is that YES greed and the lust for and the acquisition of wealth and more money that one needs or can spend IS at the heart of what the financse sector and capital is in the game for.

Since cashing out is their raison d’etre once can’t even question this pillar of the system and in fact, ANY scheme or strategy or means or method whereby one cashes out is respected, copied, envied and even worshipped including the signs of wealth and greed.

The real problem with this is that no one will admit to the fact that they worship and love wealth, money and power and that having it is more important than anything else including how you get it.

The old days were old money shunned new are gone. New money plays fast and furious and rules and ethics don’t matter a bit. It’s all about the money.

Workers on the other hand are after money too, but they need it to live, pay for their necessities. This is a completely different need and quest for money. So they are confused. Since they want it, more of it to live to improve their lives, how can they resent that anyone else wants it. Isn’t money some sort of reward for doing something “good”? Isn’t that why inventors invent, investors invest, executives make – those hard decisions, shareholders buy shares, athletes and arts perform – they do it for the money, don’t they? That’s how it works, don’t it?

A good friend of mine died on Sunday and I will miss him. He was a gentle man, a man of principle and a man of action.

Guy Chichester, Clamshell Alliance Co-Founder, 1935-2009
Chichester, activist force, dies at age 73

Workers on the other hand are after money too, but they need it to live, pay for their necessities. This is a completely different need and quest for money. So they are confused. Since they want it, more of it to live to improve their lives, how can they resent that anyone else wants it. Isn’t money some sort of reward for doing something “good”? Isn’t that why inventors invent, investors invest, executives make – those hard decisions, shareholders buy shares, athletes and arts perform – they do it for the money, don’t they? That’s how it works, don’t it?

The thugs have certainly honed the selling of that philosophy to the sheeple down to a fine science. :-(

he should rest easy and well nomolos

“Of course, at least these people are actually seeing a physician, meaning they might have health insurance.”

You can’t get heart medication without a prescription. A prescription requiring a doctor’s appointment every three to six months. Health insurance? LOL You’ve got to be kidding. That has nothing to do with it.

Michael Moore is looking for whistle blowers.
**************
” I am in the middle of shooting my next movie and I am looking for a few brave people who work on Wall Street or in the financial industry to come forward and share with me what they know. Based on those who have already contacted me, I believe there are a number of you who know “the real deal” about the abuses that have been happening. You have information that the American people need to hear. I am humbly asking you for a moment of courage, to be a hero and help me expose the biggest swindle in American history.

A few good people have already come forward, which leads me to believe there are many more of you out there who know what’s going on. Here’s your chance to let your fellow citizens in on the truth. “

http://www.michaelmoore.com/

I ‘heard’ recently that Big Pharma spends 3 times more on advertising than R&D since congress let them advertise to the public.

True? Dunno.

Someone else looking for some whistles to blow. Where’s Linseed when you need him?

I am sorry…comfort to you. The age there is beginning to look quite young. Peace in your world and spirit.

Off-topic, i know but for the life of me I cannot find the list I’ve seen on what was ‘cut out’ of the stimulus package. I think my Google skills are fading. Any clues?

Hey..what did I ever do to you that you’d send me to look at that closeup picture of such a scary creature…shame on you…”g’ The stuff of nightmares.

This site might interest a lot of you. Current issues, letters, how congress critters vote, etc.

http://www.congress.org/congre…..n/letters/

Going off prescriptions for whatever reason is not necessarily a bad thing. We have a biomedical establishment whose enthusiasm is exceeded only by their lack of self-control.

I have a friend who works in a doctor’s office. They are treated 3-4 times per week to the most fabulous buffet lunches brought in by the drug reps. Not to mention the after hours Christmas parties and occasional dinners out. Even she recognizes that it is obscene.

Try looking next door over at Emptywheel. Marcy just put up a nifty list of changes.

Are you suggesting that shakky leg syndrome is bogus?

Now that you mention it, I haven’t seen that commercial lately. Must not have worked. For awhile it was on constantly.

Wait, didn’t that senator from Idaho have shaky foot syndrome?

You might find the information here. I don’t wish to register.
************

” The Senate on Tuesday voted 61-37 in favor of an $838 billion economic stimulus bill, but a tricky final negotiation still looms in a House-Senate conference committee that Democratic leaders hope to complete this week. “

http://www.rollcall.com/news/32219-1.html

For my money (no pun intended), the folks on the committee interviewing the Bank CEO’s should read the following article:

http://money.cnn.com/2009/02/1…..ney_latest

Inquiring minds want to know.

If you mean after 8 years of George Bush the only thing Americans will have to eat is grass, then I agree with ya! ;-)

http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITI…..ulus.cuts/

This is probably one of the better lists of what was cut from the stimulus bill. It’s the one I’m working from anyway.

Yep, this is exactly it! Thanks bunches. I was listeninig to John Kyl ramble on about what was cut and, to me anyway, some things sounded more along the line of ‘job creating’ than he apparently thought.

Thanks – and as per Marcy, terrific post to go along with the list.

I like the $700 dinners for two. It would be a $1000 for three, but the Drug Rep had other plans that night.