Showing posts with label US. Show all posts
Showing posts with label US. Show all posts

PostHeaderIcon Death toll of H1N1 reaches 4,000 in the US

11/12/2009 | Posted by mesiamd | Edit Post


In a recent estimate by the Center of Disease Control, H1N1 flu claimed the lives of 4,000 people since the disease spread to the United States in April. The number was more than the 1,000 that was previously reported. The rise in mortality was explained by adding the deaths caused by flu complications such as pneumonia and other infections.

So far about 40,000 people stricken with the H1N1 virus have been treated in hospitals. Authorities believe that the swine flu will not cause deaths more than the ordinary seasonal flu which kills about 36,000 people in the US yearly. The World Health Organization has placed the death toll of H1N1 pandemic to 6,000 across the continents.

The vaccine for H1N1 is now available and being administered to vulnerable individuals including those with pre-existing medical condition such as asthma, end stage renal disease, diabetes, those undergoing chemotherapy and immunosuppression. (Photo Credit: Amadaruth) =0=

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PostHeaderIcon House passes US healthcare revamp bill

11/08/2009 | Posted by mesiamd | Edit Post


On late Saturday, November 7, 2009, in a vote of 220-215, the house passes the healthcare bill proposed by Democrats that will provide coverage for 96 percent of Americans. It will make healthcare “affordable and accessible” to most Americans at a price of greater than $1 trillion in 10 years. Hailed by Pres. Barack Obama, the bill’s approval is facilitated by excluding funding for abortion (240-194 vote) previously proposed in the bill.

“The Congressional Budget Office estimates that by 2019, the bill would leave about 96% of legal residents with health insurance, up from 83% now. To pay for expanding insurance coverage, the bill calls for hundreds of billions of dollars in cuts to Medicare aimed at eliminating its wasteful spending.

It levies a 5.4% tax on the wealthy that targets individuals earning more than $500,000 a year and couples earning more than $1 million a year. All but the smallest employers would be required to provide insurance and pay for most of the premium, or they would face a fine of up to 8% of their payroll.”----Wall Street Journal (11/08/09. Adamy, J; Bendavid, N.)

The Democrats headed by Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) were jubilant. The passage was a victory of Pres. Barack Obama and party members who needed to advance their campaign promise to mend the broken healthcare system, a centerpiece project of the current administration which was left undone by those that preceded it.

Most Republicans voted against the bill and pushed their own proposal of improving healthcare that is far less expensive ---- $61 billion in 10 years. The resistance by the Republicans against the Democrat’s house version arise from many unresolved issues--- i.e. the soaring cost, high tax burden, government interference on doctorr-patient relationship and failure to drive down the budget deficit and come up with tort reform to curb lawsuits and control fraud in the system.

The ambitious healthcare overhaul will need to clear several hurdles before it transforms into law. There will be more debates and uncertainties in the coming weeks to streamline the bill’s stipulations. The senate needs to approve its own bill to reconcile with the house version before Pres. Obama can sign it into law. (Photo Credit: www.techimoto) =0=

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PostHeaderIcon US unemployment rate rises further to 10.2% in October

11/06/2009 | Posted by mesiamd | Edit Post


According to the Labor Department that new jobless claims fell to 512,000 last week, the lowest level in 10 months. This was the kind of news we all wanted--- to complement a rosy outlook that the manufacturing sector was on a rebound to usher in the recovery from recession. Yet, signs of recovery was not buoyed by the joblessness report from last month:

“U.S. employers cut a deeper-than-expected 190,000 jobs in October, government data showed on Friday, driving the unemployment rate to 10.2 percent, the highest in 26-1/2 years… Payrolls have declined for 22 consecutive months now, throwing 7.3 million people out of work since December 2007, when the recession started.”--- Reuters (11/06/09)

This new unemployment figure is the highest since 1983. The dismal figure, worse than most economists predicted, comes earlier than expected and it suggests improvement in the economy will not come fast. (Photo Credit: Debtfree.Daniloff) =0=

RELATED BLOG: "Credibility: a big factor in economic recovery" Posted by mesiamd at 11/04/2009

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PostHeaderIcon July 4, 2009: Let Freedom Ring to the Home of the Brave!

7/04/2009 | Posted by mesiamd | Edit Post



Earning liberty from Great Britain in July 1776, the United States of America was formed to become a diverse nation of people that pursue the American dream.

Today we celebrate America’s birthday with gladness and gratitude. We pray that God will continue to guide and shower its freedom-loving citizens with love and care as the country advances into the uncertainties of the 21st century. We call on all brothers and sisters of all nations to share with us the wonder and sweetness of this great land. (Photo Credit: photobunny) =0=


The Defense of Fort McHenry
by Francis Scott Key
20 September 1814

The Star Spangled Banner

Oh, say can you see, by the dawn's early light,
What so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming?
Whose broad stripes and bright stars, through the perilous fight,
O'er the ramparts we watched, were so gallantly streaming?
And the rockets' red glare, the bombs bursting in air,
Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there.
O say, does that star-spangled banner yet wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave?

On the shore, dimly seen through the mists of the deep,
Where the foe's haughty host in dread silence reposes,
What is that which the breeze, o'er the towering steep,
As it fitfully blows, now conceals, now discloses?
Now it catches the gleam of the morning's first beam,
In full glory reflected now shines on the stream:
'Tis the star-spangled banner! O long may it wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave.

And where is that band who so vauntingly swore
That the havoc of war and the battle's confusion
A home and a country should leave us no more?
Their blood has wiped out their foul footstep's pollution.
No refuge could save the hireling and slave
From the terror of flight, or the gloom of the grave:
And the star-spangled banner in triumph doth wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave.

Oh! thus be it ever, when freemen shall stand
Between their loved homes and the war's desolation!
Blest with victory and peace, may the heaven-rescued land
Praise the Power that hath made and preserved us a nation.
Then conquer we must, for our cause it is just,
And this be our motto: "In God is our trust."
And the star-spangled banner forever shall wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave!


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PostHeaderIcon Quo Vadis, US?

11/23/2008 | Posted by myty555 | Edit Post


There is no firm estimate yet of the number of people who will lose jobs in the United States. After all, nobody assumes right now that the current economic (and not just financial) has already bottomed out. And nobody is hollering that recovery is just around the corner.

The property bubble has burst in the US. Together with a high level of personal debt done through the use of plastic cards, it has ravaged the whole economy and dragging the rest of the world with it. As they say, when the US sneezes, the rest of the world catches cold. And the current crisis seems more than a sneeze.

The plan of President-elect Obama to create 2.5M jobs is commendable. But I wonder how he will do it. Is he hoping for a recovery soon?

I remember that when the property bubble burst in Japan in the '80s the Japanese economy sagged. It has not really recovered after that and it has to be content with a 2% annual growth for years on end. After being the world's engine of growth in the '70s, it has not able to regain its former lofty role.

The US was lucky in the '80s when the ICT (Information and Communications Technologies) sector boomed and they happened to be the world's leader in this field. "Junk bonds" and similar instruments pioneered by the likes of Mike Milken made capital available to start-ups and fueling the boom that followed.

The US also earned big in its China investments. As they say, the early bird gets the worm. US companies were able to negate the loss of competitiveness at home by shifting factories to China.

But the trouble with this relation is that is it China which earned more. Proof of this is their mammoth foreign exchange reserves which is estimated to be $1.9 trillion dollars as of last September and growing. Most of this was earned through a big trade imbalance with the US. US investments in China actually worsened this imbalance.

The US was not immediately "impoverished" since China invested the bulk of its foreign exchange reserves in the US. It has to because it is the quid pro quo for maintaining its open door to the US. This "easy money" further fueled the boom in the US. Its system was awash in cash and interests were low. Actually, bankers and investment houses were fast devising new (but dubious, it turned out) instruments to invest this money. Soon this "sub-prime" thing shot down the balloon.

China's US investments will be severely burned by this crisis. Will they again invest as heavily as they did in the past? This is the future dance that is worth watching. Lord Chris Patten, the former Hongkong British governor, former European Commissioner for foreign affairs and now Oxford University Chancellor, has said that in the future he sees the US and China acting together to solve some of the world's problems. And he said this even before the current crisis became full-blown.

What will be the US next engine of growth after ICT and China? I will be interested in the answer because ultimately the answer to that will determine the US' recovery. I cannot predict if the US will hit the doldrums like Japan or it will discover a gold mine like what unified Germany found in Eastern Europe after the fall of the Berlin Wall.

Observers and planners needs to understand that the US bit the dust after its profligate Indochina wars which negated its undisputed status when Eisenhower relinquished office. I fear the US will be brought down by the after-effects of its wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. And if Nixon and Ford has the oil shock to contend, Obama now has this full-blown crisis to deal with.

Quo vadis, US?
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