-- GOP spending bill angers conservatives; February 16, 2003; Associated Press/billingsgazette.com

-- Bush's Tax Cut: Attacked from All Sides By Howard Gleckman, Richard S. Dunham, and Alexandra Starr; Businessweek; FEBRUARY 14, 2003

-- ANALYSIS: Religion meets environmentalism over energy policy by Brad Knickerbocker; Christian Science Monitor; March 3, 2002; Nando Media/Nando Times

-- Diverse groups oppose security proposal By Declan McCullagh; CNET News.com/ZDNet; March 17, 2003

-- A Far-Right Texan Inspires Antiwar Left By SHAILAGH MURRAY; Wall Street Journal; March 10, 2003

-- There is an Imbalance in the Marketplace of Ideas; accessible online on or around 6-1-05; commonwealinstitute.org

-- "Neo-conned"; Congressman Ron Paul (Republican) addresses the U.S. House of Representatives, July 10, 2003; thelibertycommittee.org

"...the Democratic party...is widely viewed in the US as subservient, impotent and co-opted by the same big-money influence peddling driving the ruling Republican agenda..."

-- MIT launches watch on US government By Egan Orion; 05 July 2003; The Inquirer

-- "A Republican Governor? We’ve already got one" from Circus Maximus by Marc Cooper; AUGUST 22 - 28, 2003; LA Weekly

"...conservative electoral victories have exceeded liberal ones over the past 25 years or so..."

-- The liberal legacy By Mitchell Rofksy, 2/22/2004; boston.com

Only around 50% of eligible US voters actually vote anymore. The decline in participation in the process has been occurring for 40 years. Voters in other western democracies apparently have more trust in their systems than Americans in their own, as turnout there is typically higher than in the US. Deteriorating quality in education and a reduction of involvement in local communities are some of the reasons experts give for this state of affairs.

-- Experts Alarmed at Declining U.S. Voter Turnout By Will Dunham; Yahoo!/Reuters; November 5, 2000

"The conservative think tanks have worked for 40 years now, developing not just language, but modes of thought that the language fit."

-- George Lakoff, professor, department of linguistics, University of California, Berkeley, and author of Moral Politics

-- Left Out By Right Rhetoric; an interview of George Lakoff by Sharon Basco; May 08 2003; TomPaine.com

"For five decades....the biggest bargain around...[was]....political influence. For many a year, it was far cheaper than anything to be found in the stock market."

"[If real campaign finance reform is not undertaken in the US]....we are well on our way to ensuring that a government of the moneyed, by the moneyed, and for the moneyed shall not perish from the earth."

-- Warren Buffett, Berkshire Hathaway Inc., 2000

-- The Billionaire's Buyout Plan By WARREN E. BUFFETT; September 10, 2000; The New York Times Company

Ian Fraser notes signs that the US has seemed to become ever more conservative over time.

-- The Learning Kingdom's Today in History for July 6, 2000, http://www.LearningKingdom.com

-- Media Concentration is a Totalitarian Tool by Molly Ivins; commondreams.org; January 31, 2003; citing http://www.thedailycamera.com/

"Frightening new evidence of the brain's susceptibility to suggestion..."

-- Studies question reliability of memory By Clive Cookson; February 17 2003; news.ft.com

-- Media may facilitate suicidal acts; EurekAlert!; 27-Feb-2003; Contact: Emma Dickinson; edickinson@bmj.com; 44-207-383-6529; BMJ-British Medical Journal

-- Media coverage boosts 'charcoal burning' suicides by Shaoni Bhattacharya; 28 February 03; New Scientist

-- Mind tricks take memories for a ride, scientists assert By MICHAEL WOODS; February 17, 2003; toledoblade.com

It was after all this that the Great Depression took place, lasting for many years.

-- Encyclopedia Americana: Republican Party possibly by George H. Mayer, University of South Florida, Grolier Incorporated

Corruption within the ruling Republican party of 1920s USA was rampant.

-- Welcome to the Machine by Nicholas Confessore; The Washington Monthly; July/August 2003

US President(s): Warren G. Harding, Republican, 1921-1923; Calvin Coolidge, Republican, 1923-1929; Herbert Hoover, Republican, 1929-1933

-- The Universal Almanac 1996, Andrews & McMeel, pages 70-91, and other sources

Senate: Republican majority (68th, 69th, 70th, 71st, 72nd Congresses)

-- U.S. Senate Statistics: Majority and Minority Parties and Senate Statistics Vice Presidents

House of Representatives: Republican majority, (68th, 69th, 70th, 71st, 72nd Houses)

-- Yahoo! News - Politics in the Supreme Court; The Associated Press; 9-8-03

The Bush Administration and its neoconservative allies routinely brand virtually all dissent or opposition to their policies as unpatriotic and traitorous.

-- "Neo-conned"; Congressman Ron Paul (Republican) addresses the U.S. House of Representatives, July 10, 2003

-- Inevitably, The Politics Of Terror By E.J. Dionne Jr.; washingtonpost.com; May 25, 2003; Page B01

"...the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is to tell them they are being attacked, and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. It works the same in any country."

-- Hermann Goering, Hitler's chosen successor for ruling Nazi Germany during World War II; quote from the Nuremberg Trials 1945-1946

-- 9-11 boosted trust in government, temporary distress, research shows; eurekalert.org; 9-Jun-2003; Contact: David Williamson; 919-962-8596; University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

"Preventative war ... I don't believe in such a thing, and frankly I wouldn't even listen seriously to anyone that came in and talked about such a thing."

-- US Republican president Dwight Eisenhower, 1954

-- The Impact of the USA PATRIOT Act on Free Expression by By Nancy Kranich; fepproject.org; May 5, 2003

-- U.S. becoming Big Brother society: Report; Associated Press/rtnews.globetechnology.com; Jan. 16, 2003

-- Fighting terror by terrifying U.S. citizens by ROB MORSE; San Francisco Chronicle; November 20, 2002

-- Backlog of Whistleblower Cases Growing, Agency Report Says By Tania Branigan; Washington Post; July 21, 2003; Page A04

Over a third of all economic crimes are only uncovered with the help of whistleblowers.

-- Economic Crime Detected Mostly by Whistleblowers and Audits, PwC Survey Finds By SmartPros Editorial Staff; July 9, 2003

"Whistleblowers can pay dearly for doing the right thing"

-- In the name of truth by Caroline Overington; The Age; July 22 2003

What becomes of US and British government whistleblowers? Smears and harassment

-- Insiders Outed ; July 24, 2003; motherjones.com

-- Whistleblowers get the axe by Jed Gottlieb; The Independent Online; Vol. 14 No. 48; Issue Date 11/27/2003 [this item was still a live link as of 12-03-03; however, the datestamp on the article seemed awfully recent compared to my memory of originally running across the item online, perhaps a month or so earlier in realtime than the datestamp indicates].

"the fact that the Bush Administration would try and use the courts to stiffle dissent is nothing short of astounding, and must be broadcast to as wide an audience as possible"

-- Ashcroft tried to prevent NYC protests; February 16, 2003; daily KOS

"Important economic data that casts a bad light on administration policies has been expunged from government Web sites."

-- Bush's Data Dump The administration is hiding bad economic news. Here's how By Russ Baker; July 11, 2003; slate.msn.com

-- Bush's Bad Science (washingtonpost.com) By J.W. Anderson; July 11, 2003; Page A21

-- No political substitute for sound science By Henry Kelly; August 14, 2003; seattletimes.nwsource.com

"A growing number of US national security professionals are accusing the Bush Administration of slanting the facts and hijacking the intelligence apparatus to justify its rush to war in Iraq."

-- Bush 'skewed facts to justify attack on Iraq' By Jim Wolf; June 1 2003; smh.com.au

"The Bush administration persistently manipulates scientific data to serve its ideology and protect the interests of its political supporters..."

-- White House accused of manipulating data By Christopher Marquis, New York Times; From the Dayton Daily News: 08.10.2003; This may have been one original NYT URL for this article.

"It appears that this administration is marginalizing the recommendations of major scientific organizations on the one hand, while defending artificial "research" to support political goals, or, worse still, manufacturing it."

-- The Citizen-Scientist's Obligation to Stand Up for Standards By LAWRENCE M. KRAUSS; April 22, 2003; the New York Times

"Criminal prosecutions are highly unusual for corporate criminals, and convictions carrying jail time are even more rare."

-- Big crimes? Maybe. Big punishment? Not likely; Yahoo! Op/Ed - USA TODAY; Gannett Co. Inc.; Feb 5, 2002

-- Crime And (Very Little) Punishment by Arianna Huffington; Arianna Online; July 15, 2002

-- WorldCom, Enron execs elude charges By David E. Rovella; BLOOMBERG NEWS; Aug. 20, 2003; bayarea.com

-- Punishment falls short of crime against investors By Dan Gillmor; Dec. 21, 2002; siliconvalley.com

Gross inconsistency in punishments for businesses which knowingly abused their customers often results in negligible penalties for relatively large-scale crimes.

-- Penalizing Wall Street: Pick a Fine, Any Fine By Heather Timmons and Mike McNamee; Businessweek; DECEMBER 23, 2002

-- Banking's Bigwigs May Be Beyond the Law's Reach By Mike McNamee, Nanette Byrnes, and Emily Thornton; Businessweek; MAY 19, 2003

The Republican political party of USAmerica controlled both houses of Congress for the whole decade preceding the Great Depression of the 20th century. They also held the Presidency during these years. They pushed tariffs to an all time high, often looked the other way as big business commited violations of the Sherman Anti-Trust Act and market competition within the USA waned, and made tax cuts which benefited the wealthy.

It was after all this that the Great Depression took place, lasting for many years.

-- Encyclopedia Americana: Republican Party possibly by George H. Mayer, University of South Florida, Grolier Incorporated

Republicans controlled both the Senate and the House in Congress, as well as the Presidency, from 1921 to 1933. After the debacle of the Great Depression, they never again managed to control all three of these positions simultaneously for longer than a year or two at a time, at most (as of mid-2003).

-- The World Almanac and Book of Facts 2002, pages 92 and 545; World Almanac Books

Corruption within the ruling Republican party of 1920s USA was rampant.

-- Welcome to the Machine by Nicholas Confessore; The Washington Monthly; July/August 2003

Between 1,977 AD and 1,999 AD the wealthiest one percent of USAmericans enjoyed a 115% rise in income

Of course, the above isn't entirely accurate. Because those same execs also often got stock options worth possibly millions of dollars in themselves, in addition to the income described above. They often qualified for income tax breaks production workers didn't, as well.

-- Parallels Between the 1990s and the 1920s Is History Repeating Itself? (apparently by Robert S. McElvaine); Aug 08 2000; www.tompaine.com

"The average American worker earns only about $40,000 per year"

-- Jobs, jobs, jobs: Bush’s blueprint By PAUL KRUGMAN; April 23, 2003; TODAY newspaper and ABS-CBN Interactive

-- Ownership Statistics by The Shared Capitalism Institute; found on or about 10-23-2000

Among the perks top execs sometimes get from their companies are substantial loans (up to $millions) -- which often end up becoming essentially gifts, with no requirement for payback whatsoever. And regardless of how well (or badly) the company is doing under the exec's supervision.

"[In]...an outrageous abuse of power...executives treat the corporate treasury as their own personal checkbook..."

-- Marjorie Kelly, publisher of Business Ethics magazine (Minneapolis)

-- Company loans to top execs common By Jennifer Beauprez; Denver Post; May 12, 2002

-- "The Rich-Poor Gap Grows" by John Allen Paulos, Special to ABCNEWS.com Aug. 1, 1999, ABC News Internet Ventures, http://www.abcnews.go.com/

-- Wage gap widens By ALAN BJERGA; Lori O'Toole Buselt, contributor; Apr. 24, 2002; eagle and wire service sources; http://www.kansas.com

-- Repeal of estate tax to increase tax burden and widen wealth gap; EurekAlert!; 24-Feb-2003; Contact: Johanna Ebner or Lee Herring; pubinfo@asanet.org; 202-383-9005 x332; American Sociological Association

"For the majority of Americans, the question is not if they will experience poverty, but when"

-- Most Americans Experience Poverty Sometime In Adult Life, Study Finds; 7 APRIL 1999; Contact: Gerry Everding; gerry_everding@aismail.wustl.edu; 314-935-6375; Washington University in St. Louis

-- Bush Signs Bill Prohibiting Higher Local Minimum Wages The Associated Press/click10.com; June 5, 2003

The overwhelming majority (90%) of young white male employees in USAmerica are destined to experience a smaller rise in income over their lives than their father's generation did

-- Ninety percent of young white male workers now doing worse than they would have 20 years ago; EurekAlert!; 20-Feb-2002; Contact: Joel Schwarz; joels@u.washington.edu; 206-543-2580; University of Washington

-- Whites join slide into poverty as US incomes fall by Matthew Engel; September 26, 2002; The Guardian

-- Census U.S. Poverty Up, Income Down (washingtonpost.com) By Steven Pearlstein; September 24, 2002

-- Census: U.S. Poverty Up, Income Down Poverty Rate Rose in 2001 for First Time in Eight Years As Household Income Fell, U.S. Says; The Associated Press/abcnews.go.com; apparent datestamp Sept. 24 2002

-- Study: the Rich Expect to Stay That Way; ABCNews; Reuters; 11/02/2001

-- The Power of the Super-Rich; review by Jeff Madrick of the book Wealth and Democracy: A Political History of the American Rich by Kevin Phillips, Broadway Books publisher; The New York Review of Books Volume 49, Number 12 · July 18, 2002

-- Republican Party is very accommodating to rich tax avoiders By ROBYN E. BLUMNER; St. Petersburg Times; December 1, 2002

-- A GOP reward for fleeing taxes By Molly Ivins; Nov. 28, 2002; Star Telegram

"Companies which have moved offshore to avoid paying US taxes are making a billion dollars a year from US government contracts, an Associated Press investigation has found."

-- US 'pays offshore firms $1bn'; BBC; 27 May, 2003

-- ITALY; ECONOMICS REPORTING REVIEW: The NYT and the Washington Post Under the Microscope [possibly by Dean Baker] Week of October 28 - November 3 (found on or about 11-5-00), citing "Italy's New Politics: The Beauty Contest," by Alessandra Stanley in the New York Times, October 30, 2000, page A6; [TOMPAINE.com: ECONOMICS REPORTING REVIEW may be the original link]

US Republicans enjoyed a full decade of control over both the executive and legislative branches of government during the 1920s with which to prove the worth of their economic theories, such that cutting taxes for the wealthy and relaxing regulations on business would bring about improved economic results for everyone. Instead, such policies seemed to help create a speculative bubble which eventually burst, resulting in the Great Depression, and a lengthy period of economic pain for both America and the world as they struggled to recover. This global economic calamity may also have contributed to the rise of Hitler and the Nazis in Germany, which in turn led to World War II.

-- Encyclopedia Americana: Republican Party possibly by George H. Mayer, University of South Florida, Grolier Incorporated

Corruption within the ruling Republican party of 1920s USA was rampant.

-- Welcome to the Machine by Nicholas Confessore; The Washington Monthly; July/August 2003

The total death toll for World Wars I and II combined, including combatants from all sides, and civilians, and deaths caused directly and indirectly by the conflicts, is estimated to have been around 36 million.

-- 'Minimal' U.S. Combat Death Toll Seen in Iraq War By Will Dunham; January 05, 2003; Reuters

US President(s): Warren G. Harding, Republican, 1921-1923; Calvin Coolidge, Republican, 1923-1929; Herbert Hoover, Republican, 1929-1933

-- The Universal Almanac 1996, Andrews & McMeel, pages 70-91, and other sources

Senate: Republican majority (68th, 69th, 70th, 71st, 72nd Congresses)

-- U.S. Senate Statistics: Majority and Minority Parties and Senate Statistics Vice Presidents

House of Representatives: Republican majority, (68th, 69th, 70th, 71st, 72nd Houses)

-- Political Divisions of the House of Representatives (1789 to Present), Source: Committee on House Administration. Charlie Rose, Chairman. U.S. Government Printing Office. 1994. History of the United States House of Representatives, 1789-1994 Washington: 1994

-- "SOAKING THE RICH DOES WORK" By Peter Coy; Businessweek; 5-11-98

-- You may hate paying them, but taxes are necessary By Dan Gillmor; Mercury News; Feb. 10, 2003

"income taxes for the median American family of four are already lower than they've been since 1957"

-- Feeling Overtaxed? (apparently by Matt Bivens); The Daily Outrage; Rapid Response Weblogs; http://www.thenation.com/; found on or about 4-11-03 (different content appears to have been posted at the URL since)

-- Wealth and our Commonwealth: Why America Should Tax Accumulated Fortunes by William H. Gates, Sr. and Chuck Collins, Foreword by Paul Volcker; Beacon Press, 2003; responsiblewealth.org; Why America Should Tax Accumulated Fortunes is a second related URL.

-- The wealth gap in america and the Case for Preserving the Estate Tax

-- Economists attack Bush's 'madness'; BBC; 11 February, 2003

-- Economists' statement opposing the Bush tax cuts; epinet.org; this item was accessible online 12-13-03

-- Nobel winners attack Bush economics; BBC; 7 February, 2003

-- Some of America's Rich Urge No Repeal of Estate Tax; February 14, 2001; Yahoo!/Reuters

-- Well-heeled stand behind estate tax; February 14, 2001; The Associated Press/Nando Media/Nando Times; http://www.nandotimes.com

-- This is no April Fool's joke: Rich protest they aren't taxed enough By LEO RENNERT; 3/31/1998; McClatchy Newspapers

-- Please tax us, say (some) of America's richest by Duncan Campbell; February 12, 2003; The Guardian

"The battle over the 'death tax' pits some of the nation's wealthiest people against . . . some of the nation's wealthiest people. But the stakes are high for the rest of us, too"

-- Sharing the Wealth? By Bob Thompson; Washington Post; April 13, 2003; Page W08

"The rich are already rich enough to be able to end poverty."

-- Economist Jeffrey D. Sachs, director of Columbia University's Earth Institute

-- Science to Save the World By David Appell; Scientific American; December 16, 2002

-- Grin and pay it No, taxes are not fun. But your rights depend on them... especially if you're rich by E.J. Dionne, Jr. Washington Post Writers Group 04.15.03; workingforchange.com

Either excessive wealth or poverty can lead to a greater tendency towards mental illness related suicide...but the wealthy person is a bit more likely to commit suicide than the poor one, under these conditions. So it would appear an increased redistribution of wealth from rich to poor would actually help reduce suicide rates among both groups.

-- Wealth Tied to Suicide Risk in the Mentally Ill; Reuters Health/Yahoo! Health Headlines; February 9 2001; citing British Medical Journal 2001;322:334-335

-- Poor less likely to commit suicide; Agence France-Presse; February 10, 2001; Nando Media/Nando Times; http://www.nandotimes.com

-- Nando InfoTech, on or about 5-6-97

In 1998 the average cost of a complete patent infringement lawsuit in the USA, with appeal, was roughly one and a half million dollars for each side of the dispute.

-- Would You Buy a Patent License From This Man? By Ian Mount; April 2001; eCompany Now

-- Entrepreneurs sacrifice health for success

The results surprised them. It turned out that those workers on their staff with the least scientific qualifications were responsible for most of the company's patents-- while those workers with the most scientific qualifications were responsible for the least number of patents. Indeed, the most prolific patent contributor of all in the company turned out to possess no scientific credentials whatsoever.

-- Flame-proof by Richard Milton, Last revised: October 07, 1999, Alternative Science Website, http://www.alternativescience.com

"...big corporations are not the hatchery of new ideas, in fact they annihilate them"

-- Like MacArthur by Dave Winer; Mar 10, 2003; DaveNet; Scripting.com

"...over 99% of the country's employers are small businesses and that they employ more than half of the private workforce"

-- Small Business Stats Posted by janet; beyond corporate; November 26, 2002

"When you lose small businesses, you lose big ideas"

-- Ted Turner, founder of CNN

-- Too much communication for FCC; CNN; May 30, 2003

-- Leonardo Da Vinci: Son of a Slave? -- Discovery Channel By Jennifer Viegas, Discovery News; found on or about December 12, 2003

It also appears that some of the most neglected and abhorred citizens in America (homeless mentally ill) may be a vast untapped source of creative genius-- if only we cared enough to include them in society with treatment and understanding.

-- MS snags crucial authentication, DRM opt-outs in DoJ settlement By Andrew Orlowski; 3 November 2001

"...."Sellout" isn't too strong a word to describe the U.S. Justice Department's settlement [with Microsoft]....Neither is "dangerous"..."

-- A Fraudulent, Cynical Settlement; News, Views and a Hong Kong Diary by Dan Gillmor; November 2, 2001; KnightRidder.com

Microsoft is steadily squeezing customers harder and harder for more revenues-- i.e., the real costs of being a Microsoft customer are growing by the day. Microsoft is also using its legal clout to gag sources which might publish information about Microsoft's software performance or quality compared to competitors. The company's latest software also leaves users with little or no privacy left at all on their machines, as personal info is routinely sent to the Microsoft mothership. Info, which among other things, allows Microsoft to keep tabs on competing software applications a user might install. With its new system Microsoft now could also decide to make your PC stop working entirely if you install too many new items on it-- unless you cough up more money for the company. The UCITA (Uniform Computer Information Transaction Act) theoretically gives them the power to shut down the entire world and demand new payments before allowing everyone to continue.

Oh yes-- and Microsoft is thumbing its nose at free speech rights in nations like the USA as well, by imposing censorship clauses in its software licenses. For example, users of FrontPage 2002 are not allowed to criticize the company or its products using the package.

-- A punitive puppeteer? The Gripe Line by Ed Foster; INFOWORLD; InfoWorld Media Group, Inc., October 04, 2001

-- Extending its tentacles; The Economist Newspaper/The Economist Group; Oct 20th 2001

The Republican political party of USAmerica controlled both houses of Congress for the whole decade preceding the Great Depression of the 20th century. They also held the Presidency during these years. They pushed tariffs to an all time high, often looked the other way as big business commited violations of the Sherman Anti-Trust Act and market competition within the USA waned, and made tax cuts which benefited the wealthy.

It was after all this that the Great Depression took place, lasting for many years.

-- Encyclopedia Americana: Republican Party possibly by George H. Mayer, University of South Florida, Grolier Incorporated

Corruption within the ruling Republican party of 1920s USA was rampant.

From 1962 to 2001, there was a net gain of 369,000 non-defense government employees overall. 84% of these were added during Republican administrations, with only 16% coming in during Democratic Administrations.

-- Just for the Record Part II; P.L.A. - A Journal of Politics, Law and Autism by Dwight Meredith; October 24, 2002; citing table 17-1 found at http://w3.access.gpo.gov/usbudget/fy2003/pdf/hist.pdf

In late 2002, with negligible prior debate, the US Congress created the largest new bureaucracy to be formed in the federal government since the days of WWII. And this bureaucracy's primary purpose? Frightening widescale surveillance of innocent US citizens.

-- Just for the Record Part IV; P.L.A. - A Journal of Politics, Law and Autism by Dwight Meredith; October 27, 2002; citing ftp://ftp.bls.gov/pub/special.requests/lf/aat1.txt

From 1962 to 2001, the average growth rate in GDP (Gross Domestic Product) during years for which Republican presidents submitted budgets was 2.94%. The average rate for years when Democratic presidents submitted budgets was 3.92%.

-- Just for the Record Part III; P.L.A. - A Journal of Politics, Law and Autism by Dwight Meredith; October 27, 2002; citing http://www.bea.gov/bea/dn/nipaweb/TableViewFixed.asp?SelectedTable=1&FirstYear=2001&LastYear=2002&Freq=Qtr

"the economy needs to be growing by more than 3 percent -- and possibly well above -- for jobs to be added"

-- For Bush, Time to Mend Economy Is Running Out By Dana Milbank; April 5, 2003; Page A01; Washington Post

As of mid-2003, it appears economic growth of more than 3.5% may be required to reduce US unemployment.

-- What Postwar Pickup? By Rich Miller, Michael Arndt, Faith Keenan, and Christine Tierney; Businessweek; MAY 9, 2003

"The men in charge talk about growth, but actually they like stagnation. Do they really want full employment and strong labor unions and rising wages? I doubt it. Stagnation helps to justify more tax cuts. Their goal is plain: that financial wealth should be freed of tax."

-- James K. Galbraith, senior scholar at the Levy Economics Institute, speaking before the Take Back America conference in Washington, D.C. on June 5 (apparently 2003)

-- Drowning, First-Class Style; Jun 09 2003; http://www.tompaine.com/

"The president's backers want a stagnant job market -- it keeps the help from getting uppity."

-- Jamie Galbraith; Salon magazine

-- It's about money Follow the greenbacks to learn where seemingly haphazard Bush policy comes from by Molly Ivins; 01.20.04; workingforchange.com

"...77 percent of Americans go to work even when they are sick...26 percent are afraid they'll lose their job and 18 percent figure it's best to save the sick days for the kids."

-- New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer

-- NY's Attorney General accuses Bush administration of handcuffing enforcement By DEVLIN BARRETT; Newsday/Associated Press; February 27, 2003

-- Bush Signs Bill Prohibiting Higher Local Minimum Wages The Associated Press/click10.com; June 5, 2003

-- Senate GOP Blocks Minimum Wage Hike (washingtonpost.com) By Helen Dewar; July 12, 2003; Page A04

-- Bush Limits Raises for Federal Workers

One disadvantage of US workers compared to Europeans is that fewer US workers are unionized; thus it's much more difficult for US workers than Europeans to successully negotiate higher pay or better working conditions or improved benefits from their employers.

The risks to an overworked population include making more mistakes both on and off the job, which creates often injurious or even fatal errors across-the-board, from mistakes in filling prescriptions to repairing the brakes of automobiles, to piloting commercial airliners-- and even during the routine daily commutes between home and work.

-- The Overworked Individualist: Portrait Of The American Worker; interview of Deborah Figart, Professor of Economics with Richard Stockton College, by Sharon Basco; Feb 24 2003

"Few other industrialized countries have as little vacation time as America, where there aren't even legal guarantees of vacation time"

-- Are You Suffering from Vacation Deprivation? By Catherine Valenti; ABC News; June 25, 2003

"...Europeans still enjoy free health care for all, cradle to grave; free education through university level; comparatively generous retirement for their elderly; an average of five weeks paid annual vacation, more sick leave, parental leave, and a shorter work week with comparable wages for their workers...Social spending in Europe runs some 50 percent above that in the United States. Environmental, food safety and labor laws are the envy of activists in the U.S."

-- The Ups and Downs of European Politics by Steven Hill; AlterNet; December 21, 2002

The more time spent working of course, the less time available for leisure. The less leisure time you have, the greater your risk of contracting Alzheimer's. So according to the citations immediately above and below, it would appear Americans would suffer a significantly greater risk of Alzheimer's than Europeans.

-- Leisure Activity May Lower Alzheimer Risk: Study By Merritt McKinney; Reuters Health/Yahoo!; December 24, 2001; citing Neurology 2001;57:2236-2242

The average European spends 30% less time at work than an American.

It appears the percentage of Americans who must work to live is growing, while the same percentage among Europeans is shrinking.

-- Euro-Sluggishness By David Ignatius; washingtonpost.com; July 8, 2003; Page A17

Europeans enjoy far more leisure time and 'quality time' with friends and family than Americans, as over past decades Americans' average work hours rose while that of Europeans fell. Atop this, Europeans also live longer than Americans.

-- No Rest for the Productive By Lewis Braham; Businessweek; JULY 9, 2003

"Some of the countries that have the strongest labor protections in Old Europe, such as Austria, Sweden, and Norway also have the lowest unemployment rates."

"At least by the measure of job creation, "Old Europe" beats George W. Bush’s America."

-- George W. Bush's America vs. "Old Europe" on Jobs By Dean Baker and Simone Baribeau; April 16, 2003

Truth be known, it may often be more hazardous to be a private sector employee than a military recruit, in terms of the risk of sickness, injury, or death due to your job.

-- Guardian | Work is three times as deadly as war, says UN by Andrew Osborn; May 2, 2002; The Guardian; Guardian Newspapers Limited

-- Abusive supervisors may get employees to meet deadlines at expense of company's 'bottom line'; EurekAlert; 22-Dec-2002; Contact: David Partenheimer; dpartenheimer@apa.org; 202-336-5706; American Psychological Association

-- Workplace bullies cost employers money

The more control people feel they have over their own lives, or the more confidence they have in their ability to perform their jobs, the stronger their immune systems seem to be.

-- How people perceive personal control when coping with demanding jobs can make them more vulnerable to colds and the flu; 29 APRIL 2001; EurekAlert!; US Contact: Pam Willenz pwillenz@apa.org 202-336-5707 American Psychological Association

-- Sense of Control at Work Affects HealthBy Jamie Cohen; ABC News; found on or about 12-12-03

"...the world's most productive firms almost never lay off workers..."

-- Poor leadership leads to layoffs by Jason Jennings; Yahoo! News; Nov 22, 2002

-- All in a Day’s Work Layoffs, Cost Cuts Lead to Overworked, Dissatisfied Workers, Say Experts By Catherine Valenti; ABC News; found on or about 12-12-03

-- Demoralised workers hurt bottom line Demoralised workers hurt bottom line By electricnews.net Posted: 12/02/2003

-- Stress at work increases the chance of acute common infections; EurekAlert; 24-Jan-2003; Contact: Michel Philippens; philippens@nwo.nl; 31-703-440-784; Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research

-- Job loss can lead to downward spiral of depression and poor health; EurekAlert; 6-Oct-2002; Contact: Pam Willenz; pwillenz@apa.org; 202-336-5707; American Psychological Association

-- 'historical evidence that wage increases lead to greater productivity and need not squeeze business profits'

-- How & Why People Join Unions

-- Employers are slow to adopt family-friendly and employee-friendly policies; EurekAlert; 21-Nov-2002; Contact: Lesley Lilley; lesley.lilley@esrc.ac.uk; 179-341-3119; Economic & Social Research Council

Working late night/early morning shifts (also commonly known as the third shift, or the graveyard shift) seems to stress the heart and perhaps other bodily systems-- especially for people who must often switch shifts, or cycle through different work schedules. Such work schedules appear to increase the risk of illness and accidents for such workers.

-- Graveyard Shift May Cause Heart Disease -- Study By Maggie Fox, Reuters/Yahoo! Top Stories Headlines, October 16, 2000

-- Diabetes tied to altering of the heart's circadian clock; EurekAlert; 22-Apr-2002; Contact: Donna Krupa; 703-967-2751; American Physiological Society

-- AIR POLLUTION LINKED TO INCREASED MEDICAL CARE AND COSTS FOR ELDERLY; Nov. 12, 2002; hbns.org; Center for the Advancement of Health Contact: Ira R. Allen Director of Public Affairs 202.387.2829 press@cfah.org

The major causes of cancer (well over 50%) stem from exposure to harmful elements of the environment-- not from genetic causes.

-- Nurture Not Nature Main Cause of Cancer - Report By Gene Emery, Reuters/Yahoo! Top Stories, July 13, 2000

-- Two-thirds of U.S. population has increased cancer risk due to pollution

-- Association between increased risk of stillbirths and abnormalities with proximity to incinerators; eurekalert.org; 28-May-2003; Contact: Emma Dickinson; pressoffice@bma.org.uk; 44-207-383-6529; BMJ Specialty Journals

Pollution doesn't have to get inside you to hurt you. It can also damage the Earth's biosphere, thereby allowing in stronger radiation from the Sun, to make skin cancers harder to avoid.

-- Many young Americans risk skin cancer from annual sunburns; EurekAlert; 16-Jul-2002; Contact: Mary Kay Sones; msones@cdc.gov; 770-488-6416; Center for the Advancement of Health

Pollution doesn't even have to exist in the environment during your own lifetime to damage you-- you could end up sick or injured due to the pollution your forebears endured.

-- Air Pollution Damages Across Generations - Study By Maggie Fox, Yahoo! News/Reuters; Dec 09, 2002

-- Toxins in 20% of U.S. Food Supply By SId Kirchheimer; WebMD Medical News; Reviewed By Brunilda Nazario, MD; October 14, 2002; my.webmd.com

-- Pollution 'damages intelligence' By Alex Kirby, 22 April, 2000, BBC News Sci/Tech

"mercury could be slightly reducing the mental performance of millions of people worldwide"

-- Even safe mercury levels harm brain; EurekAlert! 11-Jun-2003; Contact: Claire Bowles; claire.bowles@rbi.co.uk; 44-207-331-2751; New Scientist

-- Mercury in rain surpasses safe level by BRUCE HENDERSON; Charlotte Observer; May. 30, 2003

Between the 1950s and 2000, something happened to make today's young adults and children more anxiety-ridden than they were in previous generations. During the 1980s average children possessed a higher level of anxiety than child psychiatric patients of thirty years before.

It is thought that child anxieties reflect those of society overall. If this is true, then social stresses on adults are growing. It appears that people increasingly distrust those around them, too.

Many of our young seem to feel less safe and less connected to others than previous generations.

This mounting anxiety is apparently contributing to rising rates of substance abuse and depression among the younger population.

-- Children's Anxiety at All-Time High By Suzanne Rostler, Reuters Health/Yahoo! Health Headlines, December 15, 2000, citing the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 2000;79:1007-1021

-- Muffling the Left by Chisun Lee; villagevoice.com; August 6 - 12, 2003

-- Report: Bush Administration is Targeting Progressive Non-Profits; August 6, 2003; msmagazine.com

-- Rotten, Old-Fashioned Corruption at the FCC By Molly Ivins, AlterNet; May 29, 2003

-- The Faint, Fading Voice of the Left By Thane Peterson; Businessweek; MAY 20, 2003

-- The "Enronization" of America By Thane Peterson; Businessweek; JUNE 10, 2003

-- I WANT THE PRESIDENT TO CERTIFY THE GOVT'S BOOKS By JOHN CRUDELE

"According to some estimates we cannot track $2.3 trillion in transactions"

-- US Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld

"We know it's gone. But we don't know what they spent it on...they have to cover it up...that's where the corruption comes in. They have to cover up the fact that they can't do the job."

-- Jim Minnery, Defense Finance and Accounting Service

"[the defense budget] numbers are pie in the sky. The books are cooked routinely year after year"

-- Department of Defense Analyst Franklin C. Spinney

"With good financial oversight we could find $48 billion in loose change in [the Pentagon building]"

-- Retired Vice Admiral Jack Shanahan

-- The War On Waste (possibly by Vince Gonzales); CBSNews.com; Jan. 29, 2002

"the federal government is keeping its books much like Enron did, and all of us will end up paying for it"

-- Sheila Weinberg, the Institute for Truth in Accounting

-- Low-Income Taxpayers: New Meat for the Right (washingtonpost.com) By E. J. Dionne Jr.; November 26, 2002; Page A29

-- New Tax Plan May Bring Shift In Burden Poor Could Pay A Bigger Share By Jonathan Weisman; Washington Post; December 16, 2002; Page A03

-- Bush camp studying whether wealthy bear too much of tax load; Seattle Times

-- Meme Watch: Bushies Take the Bait The tax-the-poor movement picks up steam By Timothy Noah; Dec. 16, 2002; slate.msn.com

-- The war on the poor Bush's compassionate conservatism borders on loan-sharking by E.J. Dionne, Jr.; 02.07.03; workingforchange.com

-- Bush seeks stiffer aid rules for poor

-- Bush Seeks to Recast Federal Ties to the Poor States Would Gain Control Over Services; Funds for Some Programs Would Be Cut (washingtonpost.com) By Amy Goldstein and Jonathan Weisman; February 9, 2003; Page A01

-- Government regulations contribute to medical debt of uninsured and underinsured; EurekAlert!; 4-Jun-2003; Contact: Mary Mahon; mm@cmwf.org; 212-606-3853

-- Dividend Plan Called Threat to Affordable Housing (washingtonpost.com) By Sandra Fleishman; February 11, 2003; Page A04

The US government now appears it will be mired in budget deficits at least through 2005, if not longer, according to a National Press Club speech by President Bush's budget director, Mitch Daniels.

Daniels says the deficits should be handled by cutting the budgets of social programs, and forcing annual Congressional votes (and opportunities for more cuts) even for the continuing operation of programs like Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid.

-- Media War Horses Aim for the Front Lines By Howard Kurtz; Washington Post; November 30, 2001

No other nation on Earth was known to have more people in prison in 1999 than the USA; USAmerica was spending $39 billion a year to maintain its prison population at the time.

50% of the prison population was black, although blacks made up only about 13% of the total American population then.

In 1999 the USA was jailing its population at a rate only matched or exceeded by states which used to be a part of the Soviet Union (Russia was jailing faster than the US, while Belarus and Ukraine trailed the US). Singapore was the next fastest after the Ukraine (however, the number of prisoners and rate of incarceration in places like China was unknown).

-- College Further From Poor's Grasp, Study Shows by Stuart Silverstein citing May 2, 2002 Los Angeles Times

-- Is medical school only for the rich?; EurekAlert; 15-Apr-2002; Contact: Irfan Dhalla; irfan.dhalla@utoronto.ca; 613-731-8610 x1703; Canadian Medical Association Journal

-- College less affordable as tuitions increase By Mary Beth Marklein, USA TODAY; 2/10/2003

Financial inequality between the top 20% and bottom 20% of American society stands at 50% worse than that in countries like France, Germany, and Japan. Fully 38% of all US wealth is in the possession of only 1% of its population.

The primary road to upward mobility in the US is via education. But by the end of the 20th century this path was all but slamming shut for the lowest income Americans, as they were hit with a double whammy: huge increases in college costs took place even as effective government subsidies for the lowest income students were deeply slashed. Among the results were changes such as age 18-24 students from the top 25% income families enjoying ten times the chance of obtaining a degree in 1994 as students from the lowest 25% income group. Back in 1979 the richer student only had a 4 to 1 advantage over the poorer one. So educational opportunity-- and along with it job opportunity-- appears to be fast disappearing in America. Ergo, the USA may no longer be the land of opportunity it once was.

-- Log cabin to White House? Not any more by Will Hutton; April 28, 2002; The Observer; Guardian Newspapers Limited

As of 1998 the wealthiest 10% of Americans owned a whopping 85% of all stock and bond investments, in terms of cash value.

-- The Politics of Portfolios: Bush Bets on an Investor Class By RICHARD W. STEVENSON; Yahoo! News/The New York Times; Jan 07, 2003

-- Libraries Across U.S. Are Scaling Back

"State schools face rigorous tests without the money to pass them"

-- Bush makes poor pay for military might and tax cuts by Julian Borger; May 26, 2003; The Guardian

-- The Crunch for Schools (washingtonpost.com); January 2, 2003; Page A18

-- Schools, Facing Tight Budgets, Leave Gifted Programs Behind; 2004/03/02; nytimes.com

-- Schools Sell Blood, Day Care, Dr. Pepper By Dean Schabner; ABC News; found on or about December 12, 2003

"Some teachers are offering extra credit to kids who are willing to bring toilet paper and tissue for the understocked restrooms."

-- Around The Weird: Bizarre News Briefs; 2004-03-10 - Wireless Flash Weird News; ncbuy.com

-- Of Course Colleges Chase the Money By Mark Hyman; Businessweek; JULY 3, 2003

-- System takes from poor schools and gives to the rich, study shows FROM: Steven Goldsmith; May 27, 2003; 206-543-2580; sgolds@u.washington.edu

-- College Seniors No More Knowledgeable Than 1950s High School Grads -- 12-18-2002

-- United States a nation of financial illiterates - The Register-Guard, Eugene, Oregon, USA

-- Tech companies say affirmative action is needed By Sarah Lubman; Mercury News; Feb. 14, 2003

-- Tech companies endorse affirmative action By Sarah Lubman; Mercury News; Feb. 13, 2003

-- Why Diversity Is Good Business By Roger O. Crockett; Businessweek; JANUARY 17, 2003

-- What's good for the military Former generals file brief in favor of affirmative action by Susan Estrich; Creators Syndicate; 04.02.03; workingforchange.com

-- Colour still marks US job market; BBC; 15 January, 2003

"Discrimination in the workplace is still a common worldwide problem but it is becoming more insidious and taking on new forms such as bias based on HIV/Aids or religion..."

-- ILO spotlights new workplace discrimination; 12 May 2003

-- Racial profiling a waste of time, many experts say

-- Small Business Stats; November 26, 2002; beyondcorporate.com

"...American families live just one illness or accident away from complete financial collapse..."

"...It was very unlikely 30 years ago that an ordinary family could run up a half-million dollar medical bill, yet today that can happen in a matter of weeks in a major medical centre"

-- Professor Elizabeth Warren; Harvard Law School; one of the authors of a recent study into the causes of personal bankruptcy in America

-- US Study: Medical Bills Main Culprit In Bankruptcies by Araminta Wordsworth; www.commondreams.org; October 09, 2002; originally published by the National Post in Canada, April 27, 2000

-- Pharmaceuticals are more precious than gold By MICHAEL WOODS; Toledo Blade; December 23, 2002

Compared to other countries, Americans are charged too much for just about everything health or medical-related. For example, we typically pay twice as much as other nations do for the same exact drugs. We pay our doctors twice on average what other OECD nations do too. We also pay lots more in administrative costs than most other OECD countries, wherever they use universal health systems compared to our private health care insurance system.

-- Health Insurance Premiums; OUTSTANDING STORIES OF THE WEEK; Economic Reporting Review By Dean Baker; July 15, 2002

US healthcare is burdened with the worst overhead costs of all the industrialized nations. Canada's system has only 1% overhead compared with America's 14%.

The American system also pays nurse's aides so little they often cannot afford healthcare themselves, while paying top executives of health industry companies up to $54 million each in annual salaries in 2000.

-- Consider universal healthcare By WARREN GOLDSTEIN; Jun. 18, 2003; The Miami Herald

"The big question is why are Americans paying twice as much as Canadians for the same drugs?"

-- Senator Debbie Stabenow of Michigan

-- Access To Canadian Prescriptions May EndBy Jackie Judd; ABC News; March 13, 2003

-- Pills, Profit and the Public Health with Peter Jennings; ABC News Internet Ventures; Bitter Medicine: Pills, Profit and the Public Health aired on ABC, May 29, 2002 at 10 PM ET

-- Health Care in a 'Death Cycle' (washingtonpost.com) By David S. Broder; April 17, 2002; Page A15

"Americans are raising the white flag as never before..."

-- Breaking Records--For Bankruptcies By Andy Serwer; FORTUNE STREET LIFE found on or about 7-14-2002

"Ninety percent of personal bankruptcies are caused by the loss of a job, high medical bills or divorce"

"this legislation would make it more likely that debtors will lose their homes, their cars, and a chance at a fresh start with a clean slate"

-- Meanwhile In Congress...The House Passes Anti-Consumer Bankruptcy Bill apparently by Adam J. Goldberg; tompaine.com; Mar 21 2003

"...over 99% of the country's employers are small businesses and that they employ more than half of the private workforce"

-- Small Business Stats Posted by janet; beyond corporate; November 26, 2002

-- Physical, mental health illnesses hinder low-income families' economic security; eurekalert.org; 17-Aug-2002; Contact: Vicki Fong; vyf1@psu.edu; 814-865-9481; Penn State

"Senator Charles E. Grassley, Republican of Iowa, who requested the study, said the scams had spread because of the soaring costs of health care and the growing number of uninsured."

-- Inquiry Finds Sharp Increase in Health Insurance Schemes By ROBERT PEAR; March 3, 2004; nytimes.com

"These scam artists are preying on citizens who are desperate for cheaper health care premiums,"

-- Senator Charles E. Grassley, Iowa Republican, chairman of the Finance Committee

-- Inquiry Finds Sharp Increase in Health Insurance Schemes By ROBERT PEAR; March 3, 2004; nytimes.com

"Tens of thousands of employers and hundreds of thousands of individuals have paid premiums for essentially nonexistent coverage...These unauthorized or bogus entities covered at least 15,000 employers and more than 200,000 policyholders...They left at least $252 million in unpaid medical claims..."

-- Kathryn G. Allen, the General Accounting Office health insurance studies director

-- Inquiry Finds Sharp Increase in Health Insurance Schemes By ROBERT PEAR; March 3, 2004; nytimes.com

-- A Plague of Health-Insurance Scams By Brian Grow; Businessweek; AUGUST 9, 2002

-- Health insurance scams leave thousands with large medical debts and no coverage; eurekalert.org; 28-Aug-2003; Contact: Mary Mahon; mm@cmwf.org; 212-606-3853; Commonwealth Fund

In places where matters of health security seem uncertain and unreliable, people are more vulnerable to costly health-related scams, plus will often experiment with even the riskiest of remedies (and so possibly worsen their conditions, or even die).

-- Fatally wounded by Isabel Hilton; May 22, 2003; The Guardian

"...the United States wastes more money on health bureaucracy than it would cost to provide health care to the tens of millions of uninsured Americans"

-- Yahoo! News - Bureaucratic Waste Dogs U.S. Health Care, Study Says

Compared to other countries, Americans are charged too much for just about everything health or medical-related. For example, we typically pay twice as much as other nations do for the same exact drugs. We pay our doctors twice on average what other OECD nations do too. We also pay lots more in administrative costs than most other OECD countries, wherever they use universal health systems compared to our private health care insurance system.

-- Health Insurance Premiums; OUTSTANDING STORIES OF THE WEEK; Economic Reporting Review By Dean Baker; July 15, 2002

-- Pills, Profit and the Public Health with Peter Jennings; ABC News Internet Ventures; Bitter Medicine: Pills, Profit and the Public Health aired on ABC, May 29, 2002 at 10 PM ET

-- Health Care in a 'Death Cycle' (washingtonpost.com) By David S. Broder; April 17, 2002; Page A15

Ironically, as of 2002, Americans already paid enough in taxes to get the universal health care virtually all other developed nations already possess. But we've let our politicians and big business simply pocket huge chunks of it rather than provide us with the services we've paid for.

"We pay the world's highest health care taxes, but much of the money is squandered. The wealthy get tax breaks, and HMOs and drug companies pocket billions in profits at the taxpayers' expense."

-- Dr. Steffie Woolhandler, an associate professor of medicine at Harvard

"...politicians claim we can't afford universal coverage. Every other developed nation has national health insurance. We already pay for it, but we don't get it."

-- Dr. David Himmelstein, of Physicians for a National Health Program.

"Other nations provide comprehensive health care to everyone without spending any more than the amount that we already pay in taxes to fund health care. But in the United States, we keep in place flawed policies that prevent tens of millions from having any health care coverage at all."

"We have an abundance of data to show that we can provide truly comprehensive health care benefits for absolutely everyone and actually reduce our total health care costs by adopting a program of universal health insurance."

-- Dr. Don McCanne, president of Physicians for a National Health Program

-- Harvard Medical School study concludes: 'We pay for national health insurance but don't get it' by Frances M. Beal; July 17, 2002; San Francisco Bay View

Of all the industrialized nations only the USA doesn't provide its citizens with universal healthcare access-- which may be one reason the life expectancy of US citizens trails behind that of at least 16 other countries worldwide. For these reasons the US healthcare system has been labeled by some as a global embarrassment and one of the worst cases of national neglect or error in the modern world.

-- "Call to make health care a Constitutional right" Yahoo! News Health Headlines/Reuters Health; April 23, 1999

-- Republicans Have Huge Edge in Campaign Cash (washingtonpost.com) By Thomas B. Edsall and David VonDrehle; February 14, 2003; Page A01

-- Bush Raises More Money Than All 9 Challengers (washingtonpost.com) By Dan Balz and Thomas B. Edsall; July 16, 2003; Page A01

-- Over The Sea, Then Under The Knife Patients worldwide are heading to hospitals in Asia for affordable, high-quality surgery By Frederik Balfour, Manjeet Kripalani, Kerry Capell and Laura Cohn; FEBRUARY 16, 2004; businessweek.com

The world's healthiest people are the Japanese, while France appears to possess the best health care system overall. The United States spends more per person on health care every year than any of the other 190 countries in the study, yet ranks only 37th in terms of health care quality, and 24th in the World Health Organization's Disability Adjusted Life Expectancy.

The World Health Organization studied health care quality and cost in 191 countries worldwide, announcing their conclusions around mid-2000 AD. Among them were these items of note:

WHO's study focused primarily upon the cost-effectiveness of each nation's health care, compared to all others. Important factors included the health of a country's native population relative to others, the treatment of the nation's minorities and poor, and how well a country's public health system does at preventing sickness in the first place.

The people of Japan were judged to be the most healthy population overall, living on average 4.5 years more in good health during their lifespan than Americans. Japan spends an average of $1,759 per person in health care.

France was judged to possess the best health care system overall, with Italy coming in second. The French live on average three more years in good health than Americans. France spends an annual average of $2,125 per person on health care.

Japan, Singapore, and Spain ranked among the top ten best health care systems in the world.

Britain and Canada, which offer a free national health service and a widely acclaimed system respectively, came in 18th and 30th on the scorecard.

The United States came in 37th in ranking, despite spending more per person on health care every year than any of the other 190 countries in the study ($3,724).

-- Controversial study finds France has world's best health-care system By LAURAN NEERGAARD, Associated Press, June 20, 2000, http://www.nandotimes.com

"...U.S. citizens pay $3,925 per person for health care each year, far more than the $2,500 spent for each person in Switzerland, the second most expensive country..."

"The American health care system is at once the most expensive and the most inadequate system in the developed world, and it is uniquely complicated"

-- The New England Journal of Medicine, 1999

-- "Journal Calls U.S. Health Care Expensive, Inadequate" By Gene Emery, 1-7-99, Reuters Limited/Yahoo; US Health System Most Expensive in World, citing The New England Journal of Medicine January 7, 1999;340:48, 70-76; and other sources like NEJM -- The American Health Care System Revisited -- A New Series; Journal Calls U.S. Health Care Expensive, Inadequate; and US Has Most Expensive Health System

By one measure, the total healthcare monies spent in the US annually per person around 2000 amounted to $4,187. By contrast, Costa Rica spent only $226. The US also enjoyed twice as many doctors per person as Costa Rica. Some results of this vast resource disparity include higher life expectancies at birth for Costa Rican men than US men-- with expectancies for women just a bit less in Costa Rica than the US. Why? Perhaps because basic healthcare services focused on prevention are available to most Costa Ricans, and the Costa Rican economic policies allow most everyone sufficient income for food and housing for themselves and their families. The biggest healthcare difference all the extra money spent in the US seems to bring is the addition of a bit more lifespan via advanced technology to old folks near the end of their lives.

-- The slowing pace of progress By Phillip J. Longman, US News & World Report, found on or about 12-30-2000

Of 191 nations considered, Japan appears to boast the most healthy and long lived population overall.

By the World Health Organization's own Disability Adjusted Life Expectancy (DALE) years of bad health are subtracted from average life expectancy to better measure the length of healthy lifespans per country. By this measure the USA ranked only 24th on the list-- trailing states like Switzerland, Monaco, and Greece.

The lowest life expectancy (under 26) exists in Sierra Leone.

-- Japan Has Longest Healthy Life Expectancy - WHO By Patricia Reaney, Reuters/Yahoo! Top Stories Headlines, June 4, 2000

"...Europe's systems for healthcare are generally more able to support couples seeking fertility treatment than anywhere else in the world..."

-- Europe’s healthcare systems supports trend for quality and quantity in ART; 2-Jul-2003; eurekalert.org; Contact: Emma Mason; wordmason@aol.com; 44-137-656-3090; European Society for Human Reproduction and Embryology

Despite spending lots more on healthcare, Americans don't live as long as the citizens of most other industrialized nations today. One clue as to why may be the presence of universal healthcare in those other nations (like Canada).

-- Ronald Walters, political science professor at the University of Maryland

-- Draft Bill Stirs Debate Over The Military, Race and Equity By Darryl Fears; Washington Post; February 4, 2003; Page A03

-- How the Rich Go to War They Send the Poor to Fight by James Ridgeway; April 3rd, 2003; villagevoice.com

-- Poverty, Military Service Seem to Go Hand-in-Hand by Roy MacGregor; 12-13-03; commondreams.org; previously published April 5, 2003 by the Globe & Mail/Canada

-- We're Looking for a Few Poor Men By Ted Rall, AlterNet; April 14, 2003

-- Working class carries burden of US defense By Michael Conlon of Reuters; 11.04.2003; isn.ethz.ch

"...when Congress authorized the use of force in Iraq, not a single member of the House and only one senator had a son or daughter serving in the enlisted ranks of the armed services. And only three House members have children who are officers."

-- A Lump of Coal From the President By David S. Broder; Washington Post; December 4, 2002; Page A23

"And who's actually fighting the war?

Once again, America's poor. The soldiers who are baking in Iraq's desert sun are not the children of the rich. Only one of all the representatives in the House of Representatives and the Senate has a child fighting in Iraq. America's "volunteer" army in fact depends on a poverty draft of poor whites, Blacks, Latinos, and Asians looking for a way to earn a living and get an education. Federal statistics show that African Americans make up 21 percent of the total armed forces and 29 percent of the U.S. army. They count for only 12 percent of the general population."

-- Gen. John Abizaid, head of U.S. Central Command

-- General Unrest New U.S. Commander Upset by Comments From Troops in Iraq; Martha Raddatz and Erin Hayes contributors; abcnews.go.com; found on or about December 13, 2003

-- Pentagon may punish GIs who spoke out on TV by Robert Collier, July 18, 2003; San Francisco Chronicle

-- Soldiers exposed in 109 chemical tests, Pentagon says

-- Defense tests of chemical weapons may have harmed sailors, subjects By David Goldstein; Knight Ridder Newspapers; Jun. 16, 2002; realcities.com

-- Pentagon had 50 tests of chemical, biological weapons involving military personnel

-- Chemicals used to protect soldiers in 1991 Gulf War can damage testes, animal studies show; eurekalert.org; 8-Jan-2003; Contact: Rebecca Levine; levin005@mc.duke.edu; 919-684-4148; Duke University Medical Center

-- Bush's Retirement Rx Is Bad Medicine By Aaron Bernstein; Businessweek; FEBRUARY 18, 2003

"President George W. Bush's dividend tax cut plan threatens the economy by expanding the national deficit...When combined with the cost of a possible war with Iraq, the plan could force Social Security and Medicare into insolvency..."

-- Dems attack Bush over economic plan By P. Mitchell Prothero; 2/27/2003; upi.com

-- Bush's bogus Medicare reform By Robert Kuttner, 3/5/2003 [page A23 of the Boston Globe on 3/5/2003]

"...suicide among America's young people has increased 36% since 1970, and triple the rate in 1950..."

-- Economic vs. Social health: it’s not the economy, stupid!; N. 26, July 2002; Rationally Speaking by Massimo Pigliucci; Department of Botany, University of Tennessee

-- Suicide linked to unemployment; BBC; November 6, 1998

From 1962 to 2001 in the USA, the average unemployment rate during years for which Republican presidents submitted budgets was 6.75%. The average rate for years when Democratic presidents submitted budgets was 5.1%.

-- Just for the Record Part IV; P.L.A. - A Journal of Politics, Law and Autism by Dwight Meredith; October 27, 2002; citing ftp://ftp.bls.gov/pub/special.requests/lf/aat1.txt

Either excessive wealth or poverty can lead to a greater tendency towards mental illness related suicide...but the wealthy person is a bit more likely to commit suicide than the poor one, under these conditions. So it would appear an increased redistribution of wealth from rich to poor (or a narrowing of the income gap) would actually help reduce suicide rates among both groups.

However, as American right-wing politics usually tend to widen income gaps and disparities (thereby making the poor poorer and the rich richer), it appears successfully implemented conservative policies likely raise suicide rates among both rich and poor. At least according to the research cited below.

-- Wealth Tied to Suicide Risk in the Mentally Ill; Reuters Health/Yahoo! Health Headlines; February 9 2001; citing British Medical Journal 2001;322:334-335

-- Poor less likely to commit suicide; Agence France-Presse; February 10, 2001; Nando Media/Nando Times; http://www.nandotimes.com

-- Life Of Crime Becoming Viable Career Move For Youths - 2004-03-04; Wireless Flash Weird News; ncbuy.com

-- Rejection massively reduces IQ by Emma Young; 15 March 02; NewScientist.com

-- Being Social Keeps Mind Sharp; abcnews.go.com [this URL has its content regularly changed]

-- Schmoozing is good for the brain, U-M study suggests; EurekAlert; 22-Oct-2002; Contact: Diane Swanbrow; swanbrow@umich.edu; 734-647-9069; University of Michigan

-- Social Exclusion Causes Self-Defeating Behavior

-- Exile groups should not be excluded from political dialogue; EurekAlert; 26-Oct-2002; Contact: Iain Stewart; iain.stewart@esrc.ac.uk; 44-179-341-3032; Economic & Social Research Council

-- Social rejection has a host of behavioral consequences, none of them good

"...a relationship between suicide rates and the level of social integration..."

-- Social Capital and Health, Nutrition and Population; worldbank.org; October 10, 2002

From 1962 to 2001, the average growth rate in GDP (Gross Domestic Product) during years for which Republican presidents submitted budgets was 2.94%. The average rate for years when Democratic presidents submitted budgets was 3.92%.

-- SEGREGATED NEIGHBORHOODS LEAD TO POOR HEALTH

-- PSYCHOLOGICAL, PHYSICAL ABUSE EQUALLY HARMFUL TO HEALTH

-- PERCEPTION OF PUNISHMENT UNDERMINES HIV TREATMENT ADHERENCE

-- Feeling Like a Burden Ups Suicide Risk for Some By Charnicia E. Huggins; Yahoo! News/Reuters Health; September 20, 2002; citing Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology

-- Lonely People Face Higher Risk Of Heart Disease; Science Daily

-- Plutocracy by some other name; thoughts on the eve of the apocalypse; October 20, 2002; citing this New York Times article

-- "The Rich-Poor Gap Grows" by John Allen Paulos, Special to ABCNEWS.com Aug. 1, 1999, ABC News Internet Ventures, http://www.abcnews.go.com/

-- Wage gap widens By ALAN BJERGA; Lori O'Toole Buselt, contributor; Apr. 24, 2002; eagle and wire service sources; http://www.kansas.com

-- Repeal of estate tax to increase tax burden and widen wealth gap; EurekAlert!

The overwhelming majority (90%) of young white male employees in USAmerica are destined to experience a smaller rise in income over their lives than their father's generation did

-- Ninety percent of young white male workers now doing worse than they would have 20 years ago; EurekAlert!; 20-Feb-2002; Contact: Joel Schwarz; joels@u.washington.edu; 206-543-2580; University of Washington

From 1962 to 2001 in the USA, the average inflation rate during years for which Republican presidents submitted budgets was 4.96%. The average rate for years when Democratic presidents submitted budgets was 4.26%.