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Thursday, May 30, 2002
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Well what do you make of that? Hehe. Yesterday I commented that I liked John Robb's essay on the New Economy and I wanted more. Today on John's weblog is a second essay titled The New Economy II. I'm sure he didn't write it for me but it's good so I'll just say, thanks John.
 1:49:39 PM Google It! comment
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In April the S.F. Bay Area the median home price, was estimated at $530,000, up from slightly more than $507,000 in March and by far the highest in the country.
The area in the country with the biggest increase in home prices was Long Island, where the median price rose up 26.5 percent from a year before.
J.R. comments "This data answers the question: where are people going to put their money now that the stock market is in the tank (and is likely to stay there)? A quick look at the data indicates that a 5-7% sustainable increase is possible, given current wage growth, inflation, and interest rates. This may become the vehicle for a broad-based retirement plan for the nearly 70% of the workforce that own homes."
1:48:10 PM Google It! comment
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Last evening I watched a special report from Tom Brokaw about the high prices of brand name drugs in the US. I kept thinking, thank God I'm healthy. The drug companies are reaping huge amounts of profit from US citizens. On the surface, it's a capitalist society so where is the problem? That question along with a smarmy attitude was projected by some of the industry people interviewed. I think it's different in this circumstance as people often aren't given a choice. Why? Because the companies make superfluous small changes to existing drugs and re-patenting them over and over creating a very effective monopoly. The industry only talks about huge amounts of research dollars it spends (prove it) yet the US Government annually spends Billions of tax payers dollars on drug research which directly benefits the drug manufacturers. The drug companies need to change their ways and bring the retail prices down. All it will take is one company to turn this around. That company will gain the moral high ground and subsequent increased market share that goes with it.
I found another report on high prescription drug prices in the US here.
The AARP is joining a law suit against drug manufacturers saying the companies kept prices artificially high and thwarted competition from lower-priced generic drugs in violation of federal antitrust laws. If it turns out that in the US there is a drug manufacturing and distribution cartel then they deserve to be punished. Not the companies, the people who run the companies need the punishment. Read the story.
6:20:56 AM Google It! comment
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