posted January 13, 2013 12:56 AM            

this book might shed some light on why i am continually trying to point out that obama is not the problem, nor is any one party, but that taking all the brakes off business is not the answer either.

i know many will continue to think it's all in the "left" or the "right" but the problems are systemic and have been for a long time.

http://www.amazon.com/dp/0375760946/tag=femeliyomeit-20?tag=hyd fbook0e-20&ascsubtag=US-SAGE-1357909694707-NRBBK

During her two decades at The New England Journal of Medicine, Dr. Marcia Angell had a front-row seat on the appalling spectacle of the pharmaceutical industry. She watched drug companies stray from their original mission of discovering and manufacturing useful drugs and instead become vast marketing machines with unprecedented control over their own fortunes. She saw them gain nearly limitless influence over medical research, education, and how doctors do their jobs. She sympathized as the American public, particularly the elderly, struggled and increasingly failed to meet spiraling prescription drug prices. Now, in this bold, hard-hitting new book, Dr. Angell exposes the shocking truth of what the pharmaceutical industry has become–and argues for essential, long-overdue change.

Currently Americans spend a staggering $200 billion each year on prescription drugs. As Dr. Angell powerfully demonstrates, claims that high drug prices are necessary to fund research and development are unfounded: The truth is that drug companies funnel the bulk of their resources into the marketing of products of dubious benefit. Meanwhile, as profits soar, the companies brazenly use their wealth and power to push their agenda through Congress, the FDA, and academic medical centers.

Zeroing in on hugely successful drugs like AZT (the first drug to treat HIV/AIDS), Taxol (the best-selling cancer drug in history), and the blockbuster allergy drug Claritin, Dr. Angell demonstrates exactly how new products are brought to market. Drug companies, she shows, routinely rely on publicly funded institutions for their basic research; they rig clinical trials to make their products look better than they are; and they use their legions of lawyers to stretch out government-granted exclusive marketing rights for years. They also flood the market with copycat drugs that cost a lot more than the drugs they mimic but are no more effective.

The American pharmaceutical industry needs to be saved, mainly from itself, and Dr. Angell proposes a program of vital reforms, which includes restoring impartiality to clinical research and severing the ties between drug companies and medical education. Written with fierce passion and substantiated with in-depth research, The Truth About the Drug Companies is a searing indictment of an industry that has spun out of control.

posted January 13, 2013 09:21 AM            

quote:

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Originally posted by katatonic:

i guess the choice is to continue waiting for the rapture, continue playing out your greek tragedy, or choose something and DO something about it...but please, stop letting THEM pit you against each other.[/B]

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I think it is harder for people who have no or little fire in their chart to conceive a struggle as a good starting point, something motivational. if they rely more on air, they might end up speculating instead. it is my case, my only planet in fire is neptune lol, in sag, although I have a leo north node and uranus in 5th and mercury and venus in 9th. but luckily, one things that life didn't deprive me of, was a mother and a 3 years older sister that are very fiery and determined (mum aries sun/cap moon and sis leo sun/aries moon). complacency was a no-no. it was one of my worst nightmare growing up. but now, my virgo saturn (mars, jupiter and IC too) can use this strength.