I use MSN.com as my internet home page and I’ve noticed that they seem to have quite a fixation on GERD. It seems that just about every other day, they have some link to a story about GERD – you can fight GERD, pregnancy and GERD, how to sleep with GERD.
What the heck is GERD? And why would I want to fight it and sleep with it? Is this some kind of new-age approach to marital problems?
Well, I finally clicked on one of those links and found that GERD stands for gastro-esophageal reflux disease. I think it used to be called heartburn. Apparently, it must be the primary health threat facing America, given MSN’s urgency in helping us in our war on this old ailment with the new name.
But then I noticed that every one of the articles on GERD was framed in a pretty, light purple color. A purple that is identical to the color of the little purple pill called Nexium, a product of the pharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca. It turns out that they are the primary, if not only, sponsor of the pages with these articles on GERD. And what, pray tell, is Nexium prescribed for? Can you spell G-E-R-D?
Now I remember the days when you spelled relief R-O-L-A-I-D-S. But in today’s world, why spend a buck on a pack of Rolaids, when you can spend $120 for a vial of Nexium?
The answer is both simple and complex. Simple, because we want more effective treatments for that which ails us. Complex, because the healthcare industry is all-too-eager to squeeze more and more dollars out of our pockets.
It’s common in every industry – from McDonald’s asking if we want to super-size our order, to the car dealer suggesting that we test drive the car with leather seats. But the healthcare industry is taking it to new and dangerous heights, and if we’re not careful, we’ll end up bankrupting ourselves and our economy.
It’s a new variation on Dwight Eisenhower’s warning about the threat of the military-industrial complex. But instead of playing on our fears of death at the hands of the Soviets to create a military behemoth, we have the medical-industrial complex playing on our fear of death and disease in order to satisfy shareholders’ demands for greater profits.
Certainly, the profit motive has served us well in bringing new medical breakthroughs to the market. Without it, we’d have no MRI’s, no anti-AIDS treatments, no new cancer breakthroughs. But where does it stop?
There is a frightening synergy to MSN’s mix of news and commerce. Microsoft posts headlines about GERD as news items, then links them to pages paid for by Nexium. Those who suffer then seek (or is it demand) a Nexium prescription from their doctor.
I won't argue that publicly traded companies don't have a responsibility to increase shareholder value, but at some point, shareholder gains must be balanced with the public’s resources. We risk reaching a day when our economy is so centered around health care that it starves resources for other endeavors - and due to its immensity, believed too important to the economy and too influential to be reined in.
For example, Pfizer had U.S. sales of about $26 billion last year. To achieve a sales increase of ten percent this year, they would need to sell nearly ten dollars of additional product to every man, woman and child in the U.S. That’s just one company – and we have to wonder if hitting their target will be in our best interest or just theirs.
There was a time when we would treat gangrene with a shot of whiskey and a hacksaw. Today, it’s with antibiotic IV drips and microsurgery. Thank heaven for that, but if we’re not careful, we may find that whiskey is our only refuge from the financial pain.
6/25/2004
Opposite Approaches to Crime and Violence
Paul’s note: The subject is a local Cincinnati issue, but with global implications.
Ten years ago I had an opportunity to expand my business when a competitor went up for sale on Second Street in Hamilton, Ohio. It was a perfect match, but the deal fell apart when I asked the owner his hours of operation. He told me they stayed open until 7:30 p.m. during the summer, but closed at 5:30 during the winter. His explanation was that it wasn’t safe to leave after dark.
Now I’m in business to earn a living and provide for my family. Money is nice, but it’s not so important that I’m willing to risk my safety for it. So I passed on the opportunity. Less than a year later the business I was looking at shut down, taking all the jobs they offered with it.
There is a lesson there for anyone who wants to provide jobs for troubled urban areas. Provide a safe environment and the jobs will come.
It’s always been a chicken-and-egg debate. One side argues that crime flourishes because there are no jobs, while the other says that jobs are scarce because crime scares them away.
Well, it appears that two Cincinnati politicians want to find out which is the chicken and which is the egg.
Alicia Reece, the young vice mayor, coordinated a "Day Of Peace" this past Father’s Day. Ministers and community leaders spoke of the need for individuals to each do their part to put an end to the violence that has swept the city. Business owners, including Ms. Reece’s father, preached a message of hope by speaking to city youth about the power to become successful entrepreneurs and the opportunities available to anyone.
Normally I am not a big fan of symbolic rallies, but in this case the message being sent is precisely what Cincinnati’s young people need to hear – namely, that the answer to violence lies within themselves. If we can transform the attitude from one where guns mean power to one where education and responsibility mean power, we’ll see crime drop and jobs flow back into the city.
But while this was going on, State Representative Tyrone Yates was warning the Ohio legislature that unless the state provided $4 million for a summer jobs program, we could expect violence and bloodshed in the streets of Cincinnati. Now, he wasn't calling for violence, but he sends the message that if the state doesn't pony up, we shouldn't be surprised when the street erupts. Sadly, his warning could lead to precisely the type of violence that sends businesses and jobs packing. He's not marshalling the forces, but there are certainly those who will take it as a license to disrupt. And if the street does erupt, the groundwork has been laid to blame the disturbance not on the perpetrators, but on society.
It is ironic that while Alicia Reece’s effort was aimed at curbing violence, its end result will be more jobs and opportunities. Meanwhile, Tyrone Yates effort to create jobs is likely to have the opposite effect as violence is excused and jobs become more scarce.
Worse, Tyrone Yates perpetuates the myth that things can’t get better unless someone else does something about it. Alicia Reece is saying that the answer is lying there right inside each of us. One says we can’t do it ourselves, the other says yes we can. I’ll take can over can’t any day.
Ten years ago I had an opportunity to expand my business when a competitor went up for sale on Second Street in Hamilton, Ohio. It was a perfect match, but the deal fell apart when I asked the owner his hours of operation. He told me they stayed open until 7:30 p.m. during the summer, but closed at 5:30 during the winter. His explanation was that it wasn’t safe to leave after dark.
Now I’m in business to earn a living and provide for my family. Money is nice, but it’s not so important that I’m willing to risk my safety for it. So I passed on the opportunity. Less than a year later the business I was looking at shut down, taking all the jobs they offered with it.
There is a lesson there for anyone who wants to provide jobs for troubled urban areas. Provide a safe environment and the jobs will come.
It’s always been a chicken-and-egg debate. One side argues that crime flourishes because there are no jobs, while the other says that jobs are scarce because crime scares them away.
Well, it appears that two Cincinnati politicians want to find out which is the chicken and which is the egg.
Alicia Reece, the young vice mayor, coordinated a "Day Of Peace" this past Father’s Day. Ministers and community leaders spoke of the need for individuals to each do their part to put an end to the violence that has swept the city. Business owners, including Ms. Reece’s father, preached a message of hope by speaking to city youth about the power to become successful entrepreneurs and the opportunities available to anyone.
Normally I am not a big fan of symbolic rallies, but in this case the message being sent is precisely what Cincinnati’s young people need to hear – namely, that the answer to violence lies within themselves. If we can transform the attitude from one where guns mean power to one where education and responsibility mean power, we’ll see crime drop and jobs flow back into the city.
But while this was going on, State Representative Tyrone Yates was warning the Ohio legislature that unless the state provided $4 million for a summer jobs program, we could expect violence and bloodshed in the streets of Cincinnati. Now, he wasn't calling for violence, but he sends the message that if the state doesn't pony up, we shouldn't be surprised when the street erupts. Sadly, his warning could lead to precisely the type of violence that sends businesses and jobs packing. He's not marshalling the forces, but there are certainly those who will take it as a license to disrupt. And if the street does erupt, the groundwork has been laid to blame the disturbance not on the perpetrators, but on society.
It is ironic that while Alicia Reece’s effort was aimed at curbing violence, its end result will be more jobs and opportunities. Meanwhile, Tyrone Yates effort to create jobs is likely to have the opposite effect as violence is excused and jobs become more scarce.
Worse, Tyrone Yates perpetuates the myth that things can’t get better unless someone else does something about it. Alicia Reece is saying that the answer is lying there right inside each of us. One says we can’t do it ourselves, the other says yes we can. I’ll take can over can’t any day.
6/11/2004
Ronald Reagan's Greatest Legacy
Ronald Reagan’s passing made me think of two girls that I dated during Reagan’s second term in office. Both had lost their fathers when they were twelve years old. Both had graduated from state universities – one from Ohio State, the other from Penn State. Both had taken good jobs with Fortune 500 firms upon graduating.
One adored Ronald Reagan, the other loathed him.
For you see, both women had their college education paid in part by the survivor benefits due them from Social Security. Both had seen that benefit reduced under Reagan as part of an effort to preserve Social Security. Yet, while one was grateful to graduate from college, the other was bitter that she didn’t get everything she felt she was entitled to. I’ll let you guess which one despised Reagan.
Yet their reaction to the man and his policies highlight what Reagan meant when he said that he wanted to appeal to our best hopes. Though they both faced hardships – and reacted differently to the benefit cuts – they both earned their degrees. And while it might not have been as easy without the aid, they – and the nation – are better off for having had to rely upon their own grit and determination.
That encapsulates Reagan’s greatest gift to America. More important than his tax cuts, more important than his sunny optimism, was the fact that he got us up off our collective duffs.
For more than a generation, beginning with the end of WWII, everything had gone America’s way. As the only economy to come out of the war unscathed, we built everything. But then came the Arab oil embargo in 1973. Suddenly, we were buying small Japanese cars – and finding they were pretty darn good.
We were no longer the only game in town. But we Americans were not ready to give up the good life. Like a spoiled trust-fund baby, we expected the perks and benefits to keep on coming. Automatic cost-of-living allowances, restrictive union workplace rules and ever-expanding government assistance all served to blind us to the harsh new economic reality.
But when economic reality hit on top of the humiliations of Vietnam, Watergate and the Iranian hostage crisis, a woe-is-me attitude settled in.
Enter Ronald Reagan. He refused to let us give in to the malaise that Jimmy Carter spoke of with such resignation. Like John Belushi’s character in the movie Animal House, who convinced his fraternity brothers that the day of their expulsion could become the best of their lives, Reagan convinced us when we were down that America’s best days still lay ahead. In the process, he knocked complacency on its ear.
He sent notice to the unions that it was no longer business-as-usual when he fired the striking air traffic controllers. He began trimming social benefits. Where some saw a safety net, he saw a blanket that was suffocating the American spirit.
Some feared we wouldn’t survive his policies. But rather than wither and die, we instead responded like a once overprotected child who thrives when finally removed from the withering care of mother, father and Big Brother.
Ronald Reagan had faith in the American people. He had faith that when left to our own devices, we would flourish like never before. And like my old girlfriends, we rose to his challenge and proved that faith well-founded.
One adored Ronald Reagan, the other loathed him.
For you see, both women had their college education paid in part by the survivor benefits due them from Social Security. Both had seen that benefit reduced under Reagan as part of an effort to preserve Social Security. Yet, while one was grateful to graduate from college, the other was bitter that she didn’t get everything she felt she was entitled to. I’ll let you guess which one despised Reagan.
Yet their reaction to the man and his policies highlight what Reagan meant when he said that he wanted to appeal to our best hopes. Though they both faced hardships – and reacted differently to the benefit cuts – they both earned their degrees. And while it might not have been as easy without the aid, they – and the nation – are better off for having had to rely upon their own grit and determination.
That encapsulates Reagan’s greatest gift to America. More important than his tax cuts, more important than his sunny optimism, was the fact that he got us up off our collective duffs.
For more than a generation, beginning with the end of WWII, everything had gone America’s way. As the only economy to come out of the war unscathed, we built everything. But then came the Arab oil embargo in 1973. Suddenly, we were buying small Japanese cars – and finding they were pretty darn good.
We were no longer the only game in town. But we Americans were not ready to give up the good life. Like a spoiled trust-fund baby, we expected the perks and benefits to keep on coming. Automatic cost-of-living allowances, restrictive union workplace rules and ever-expanding government assistance all served to blind us to the harsh new economic reality.
But when economic reality hit on top of the humiliations of Vietnam, Watergate and the Iranian hostage crisis, a woe-is-me attitude settled in.
Enter Ronald Reagan. He refused to let us give in to the malaise that Jimmy Carter spoke of with such resignation. Like John Belushi’s character in the movie Animal House, who convinced his fraternity brothers that the day of their expulsion could become the best of their lives, Reagan convinced us when we were down that America’s best days still lay ahead. In the process, he knocked complacency on its ear.
He sent notice to the unions that it was no longer business-as-usual when he fired the striking air traffic controllers. He began trimming social benefits. Where some saw a safety net, he saw a blanket that was suffocating the American spirit.
Some feared we wouldn’t survive his policies. But rather than wither and die, we instead responded like a once overprotected child who thrives when finally removed from the withering care of mother, father and Big Brother.
Ronald Reagan had faith in the American people. He had faith that when left to our own devices, we would flourish like never before. And like my old girlfriends, we rose to his challenge and proved that faith well-founded.
6/04/2004
Bill Cosby's Message of Empowerment
I am guessing that most everyone is familiar with the serenity prayer - grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference.
Bill Cosby seemed to be invoking that prayer at an event celebrating the 50th anniversary of the Brown v. Board of Education decision. In his remarks, he criticized the poor English used by so many in the black community and refused to view African-American criminals as victims.
Referring to incarcerated black males, he stated, "These are not political criminals. These are people going around stealing Coca-Cola. People getting shot in the back of the head over a piece of pound cake and then we run out and we are outraged, [saying] 'The cops shouldn't have shot him.' What the hell was he doing with the pound cake in his hand?"
While many conservatives jumped on these remarks as a finger-pointing "I told you so" opportunity to say that racism is not the problem, others saw them as an unnecessarily negative attack on the black community. Such responses miss the deeper context of his comments.
Rather than being a negative slam, his remarks were all about empowerment. The power to make personal choices that can have a marked impact on one’s own life. One can choose to make good decisions and one can choose to make bad decisions. While he focused on the negative choices that he feels are made too frequently, the underlying truth is that there is a choice.
So often, self-destructive behavior is the result of hopelessness. One gets laid off and has trouble finding a job. Frustration sets in and is taken out on those around us. Families break up, relationships are lost. Sorrows are drowned in alcohol and drugs. Self worth plummets. A vicious cycle sets in where our negative outlook only serves to reinforce and justify our self-destructive behavior.
It can happen to anyone, be they black, white, green or blue. Add the deleterious effects of racism, and that hopelessness can become overwhelming.
But there is hope. Sure, life is hard and often unfair. And while we may not have control over the external events in our lives, we have complete control in how we react to them. We can choose to get up in the morning. We can choose to believe in ourselves, no matter what anyone else says. We can choose to do the right thing. External factors can encourage us to do the wrong thing, but they cannot force us to do so. We as individuals have complete power over our conduct.
Making the right choices gives us the peace of mind that comes from knowing that no matter what life has thrown our way, we have made the most of our opportunities. To paraphrase, we have been granted the wisdom to accept the things we cannot change, the power to change those we can and the serenity that comes from knowing the difference.
That is what I get from Bill Cosby’s remarks. Make the right choices, do what you can do as an individual to better yourself and disregard those things that are beyond your control. Do not accept obstacles as excuses to fail but as challenges to rise above. Therein lies the wisdom.
Bill Cosby seemed to be invoking that prayer at an event celebrating the 50th anniversary of the Brown v. Board of Education decision. In his remarks, he criticized the poor English used by so many in the black community and refused to view African-American criminals as victims.
Referring to incarcerated black males, he stated, "These are not political criminals. These are people going around stealing Coca-Cola. People getting shot in the back of the head over a piece of pound cake and then we run out and we are outraged, [saying] 'The cops shouldn't have shot him.' What the hell was he doing with the pound cake in his hand?"
While many conservatives jumped on these remarks as a finger-pointing "I told you so" opportunity to say that racism is not the problem, others saw them as an unnecessarily negative attack on the black community. Such responses miss the deeper context of his comments.
Rather than being a negative slam, his remarks were all about empowerment. The power to make personal choices that can have a marked impact on one’s own life. One can choose to make good decisions and one can choose to make bad decisions. While he focused on the negative choices that he feels are made too frequently, the underlying truth is that there is a choice.
So often, self-destructive behavior is the result of hopelessness. One gets laid off and has trouble finding a job. Frustration sets in and is taken out on those around us. Families break up, relationships are lost. Sorrows are drowned in alcohol and drugs. Self worth plummets. A vicious cycle sets in where our negative outlook only serves to reinforce and justify our self-destructive behavior.
It can happen to anyone, be they black, white, green or blue. Add the deleterious effects of racism, and that hopelessness can become overwhelming.
But there is hope. Sure, life is hard and often unfair. And while we may not have control over the external events in our lives, we have complete control in how we react to them. We can choose to get up in the morning. We can choose to believe in ourselves, no matter what anyone else says. We can choose to do the right thing. External factors can encourage us to do the wrong thing, but they cannot force us to do so. We as individuals have complete power over our conduct.
Making the right choices gives us the peace of mind that comes from knowing that no matter what life has thrown our way, we have made the most of our opportunities. To paraphrase, we have been granted the wisdom to accept the things we cannot change, the power to change those we can and the serenity that comes from knowing the difference.
That is what I get from Bill Cosby’s remarks. Make the right choices, do what you can do as an individual to better yourself and disregard those things that are beyond your control. Do not accept obstacles as excuses to fail but as challenges to rise above. Therein lies the wisdom.
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