Conservative radio host Steve Deace explains what?s next for the Gingrich campaign if the presidential candidate loses Florida to Mitt Romney.
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By Andrew Joseph
One year after the Federal Communications Commission approved its merger with NBCUniversal, Comcast is starting a legal regulatory group to make sure the conditions of the agreement are met and to offer legal advice that accounts for the business interests of both Comcast Cable and NBCUniversal.?The group will be led by Lynn Charytan, Comcast's vice president of legal regulatory affairs. She joined Comcast in 2010 after working as chair of the communications, privacy and Internet law practice group at WilmerHale.Source: http://influencealley.nationaljournal.com/2012/01/comcast-establishes-legal-regu.php
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AIKEN, S.C. ? A 26-year-old man was arrested Saturday after police say he killed his girlfriend in Georgia, and then fatally shot a South Carolina police officer responding to a report of suspicious activity, authorities said.
Police in South Carolina said Joshua Tremaine Jones faces charges of murder and possession of a firearm during the commission of a crime in the death of Aiken police Master Cpl. Sandra Rogers.
The South Carolina law Enforcement Division said officers were responding Saturday morning to a report of suspicious activity involving two cars, and that Rogers was shot after stopping one of the vehicles.
Jones was arrested hours later at a residence in Batesburg.
Saturday evening, a visibly moved Aiken Public Safety director Charles Barranco told reporters that Rogers had died at an area hospital. The Aiken native had spent a nearly 28-year career with the department; she was 49.
In neighboring Georgia, The Augusta Chronicle reported that Jones also faces murder charges in the death of his girlfriend, 21-year-old Cayce Vice. Police found her body in her apartment Saturday morning after she didn't show up for work at a Five Guys restaurant and coworkers became concerned; she had been shot in the head.
Richmond County sheriff's Capt. Scott Peebles told the newspaper ( http://bit.ly/yO5JS7) that the agency had obtained warrants for Jones for murder and possession of a firearm by a convicted felon. Peebles confirmed that Vice had sworn out a complaint against Jones for assault earlier this month.
A phone message left late Saturday for the Richmond County Sheriff's Office was not immediately returned.
James Jones, the suspect's father, told reporters that his son had past run-ins with the law and "was going through some mental problems." Jones said his son had run away from home and moved in with Vice. He said his son is from North Augusta and briefly lived in Atlanta.
Jones said that when he returned from work Friday, his son had taken his blue BMW without permission and left. Jones said he and his other son drove around searching but couldn't locate him.
Jones said his heart goes out to the victim' families, and that he's devastated as a father.
"I just went straight to God and said, `I cannot believe this.' After all that I have taught him, I just never thought that my family would have to deal with something like this," Jones said.
The Aiken public safety department issued a statement Saturday evening praising Rogers as "an invaluable street cop who exemplified the model of a Public Safety Officer," according to WLTX-TV in Columbia, S.C.
"Master Corporal Rogers was a highly skilled investigator and senior patrol officer on her shift," the statement said. "Please keep the Rogers family and Aiken Public Safety in your prayers as once again we deal with this tragic loss."
Last month, hundreds of people gathered to mourn another Aiken police officer killed in the line of duty. Officer Scotty Richardson, 33, died in the early hours of Dec. 21 after being shot in the head during a traffic stop at an apartment complex the night before. Aiken is a city of 30,000 that's located about 20 miles northwest of Augusta.
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JACKSONVILLE, Fla.?These are boom times for hecklers. Republican members of Congress have scaled back public town hall meetings, chastened by the screams that embarrassed the old Democratic Congress. Powerful Democrats, meanwhile, get ?mic-checked? by Occupy protesters. And three of the four remaining Republican presidential candidates?Mitt Romney, Rick Santorum, and Newt Gingrich?are constantly on alert for hecklers. (Nobody seems to heckle Ron Paul; perhaps it?s unconstitutional.)
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In a Thursday, Jan. 26, 2012 photo, Eugene police officers Judd Warden, right, and Dennis Doe inventory items resembling police gear that were confiscated from an apartment in Eugene. Danial Scott Alloway, 39, an Oregon National Guard reservist, was arrested on a charge of masquerading a police officer. Police anticipate more charges against Alloway, who allegedly posed as a Eugene police officer for at least a year, making traffic stops and volunteering at a youth center. (AP Photo/The Register-Guard, Brian Davies)
In a Thursday, Jan. 26, 2012 photo, Eugene police officers Judd Warden, right, and Dennis Doe inventory items resembling police gear that were confiscated from an apartment in Eugene. Danial Scott Alloway, 39, an Oregon National Guard reservist, was arrested on a charge of masquerading a police officer. Police anticipate more charges against Alloway, who allegedly posed as a Eugene police officer for at least a year, making traffic stops and volunteering at a youth center. (AP Photo/The Register-Guard, Brian Davies)
Police officers confiscated a cache of police gear, including official-looking badges, from the apartment of Daniel Alloway on Thursday, Jan. 26, 2012. Alloway, an Oregon National Guard reservist who served multiple tours in Iraq, was arrested on a charge of masquerading as a police officer. Police anticipate more charges against Alloway, who allegedly posed as a Eugene police officer for at least a year, making traffic stops and volunteering at a youth center. (AP Photo/The Register-Guard, Brian Davies)
Daniel Scott Alloway, 39, shown in a undated Lane County Jail booking photo, is an Oregon National Guard reservist. He was arrested Thursday, Jan. 26, 2012 in Eugene on a charge of masquerading as a police officer. (AP Photo/Lane /county Jail via The Register-Guard)
PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) ? Eugene Police Officer Dan Baker drove a blue SUV and set off sirens to clear cars in front of him at traffic lights. He pulled over motorists ? though it's unclear if he ever gave out tickets. And when he stopped by a youth shelter as a volunteer, he came in full uniform.
There's just one problem: There has never been an Officer Dan Baker in the Eugene Police Department.
Police in Oregon's second-largest city say the man with the badge was Daniel S. Alloway, and investigators are now trying to piece together at least a year of his alleged exploits while posing under the guise of an officer of the law.
"In one respect, I think he considers himself a public servant," said Eugene police Sgt. Scott McKee. "There's admissions by him, in his own mind, that he was doing a service."
McKee said Alloway acknowledged the impersonations under questioning Thursday night. He was arraigned Friday on one count of criminal impersonation, and police said they expect to file at least two dozen more charges.
Alloway was assigned a public defender and didn't enter a plea Friday. The Public Defender Services of Lane County did not immediately return a call seeking comment.
Authorities fear the victims of Alloway's alleged transgressions could go beyond the department's reputation. McKee said Alloway's uniform, badge, handcuffs and radio could have easily convinced anyone, including the 15- to 20-year-old boys at the youth shelter, that he had the power to arrest and charge them.
"People get automatic credential with the public," McKee said. "Somebody could use that to isolate a person, a 16-year-old, and that is dangerous."
Alloway, 39, was no stranger to being an authority figure. He is an active-duty member of the Oregon Army National Guard's Alpha Company, 2-162 Infantry Battalion, headquartered in Cottage Grove, Ore.
He was deployed three times to Iraq, in 2004, 2007 and 2009, serving a year tour each time. An Oregon Military Department spokesman said Alloway received service awards for each tour.
He also works a day job as a security guard. That job may have given him access to authentic-looking badges and a utility belt that included a Taser, handgun, pepper spray, radio and handcuffs, said Eugene police spokeswoman Melinda McLaughlin.
Police said they started receiving information from people in the community that something about "Officer Baker" wasn't right. That led to Alloway's arrest Thursday afternoon, which was not without drama.
No one answered the door when local police and Federal Protective Service officers arrived at Alloway's Eugene apartment. They later said they heard a gun being loaded from behind a locked door, but when they broke out a window, Alloway was missing.
He was on a county bus and out of cellphone range but returned calls from the police and was arrested a short while later in downtown Eugene.
Inside the apartment, McKee said police found several shoulder patches from various law enforcement agencies, framed like artwork.
One complication to the investigation was pure happenstance. Baker is a common name for Willamette Valley police officers: One family featured two Eugene police officers and one longtime Springfield officer.
___
Nigel Duara can be reached at http://www.twitter.com/nigelduara .
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BOISE, Idaho ? Boise State came close Wednesday night to making its first big mark in the Mountain West Conference.
After mounting a second-half rally and taking No. 12 UNLV to overtime, the Broncos ultimately ran out of steam, were outscored 13-8 in the extra period and watched the Rebels walk out of Taco Bell Arena with a 77-72 victory.
"We'll let them mourn for a day, but then we've got to bounce back," said coach Leon Rice, whose team has lost five straight and is still looking for its first victory in the new conference. "I don't know if it was a moral victory. What it was was a heck of a basketball game."
After trailing for most of the first half, Boise State (10-9, 0-4) fought back in the second half and overcame a five-point deficit in the final 2:13 of regulation.
But the Broncos didn't save enough for overtime, and a UNLV offense led by Mike Moser and Oscar Bellfield proved to be too much.
Bellfield hit a 3-pointer, putting the Rebels (19-3, 3-1) up 70-65 with 2:03 left, and Moser sank a pair of free throws in the final minute to seal UNLV's third straight victory. Moser had 18 points and a season-high 21 rebounds despite playing through an illness that caused him to vomit twice before the game.
Derrick Marks led the Broncos with 21 points and Thomas Bropleh added 17 points and 13 rebounds, his first double-double of the season.
Making his second start of the season, Marks, a freshman, played his finest game. He was 7-of-13 shooting, had six rebounds and four assists and found a way to make big plays when his team needed them most.
"I feel bad that we lost," Marks said. "But I'm just proud of my team, how we fought for 40 minutes and in overtime."
Rice said there is plenty his team can take from such a tough loss. The Rebels are the highest-ranked team to play at Boise State since No. 9 Washington State visited in 2007.
"What I think we've shown is we can compete in stretches. The stretches are getting longer," Rice said.
In the second half, Boise State briefly grabbed the lead when Bropleh hit a 3-pointer and was fouled. He followed by hitting the free throw to give the Broncos a 33-31 edge with 17:50 left.
Then Moser took over, hitting three 3-pointers over the next 3 minutes, the last one putting the Rebels up 43-39. Kendall Wallace hit a 3 on the next Rebels possession and Bellfield followed moments later with a fast-break layup to put UNLV in front 48-39 with 12:51 to go.
Yet the Broncos, bolstered by a rowdy crowd, refused to quit. A stingy defense and an offense sparked by Tre' Nichols helped Boise State outscore the Rebels 13-6 over the next 5 minutes. Nichols scored nine points during a 5-minute span and his 3-pointer with 5:55 left put the Broncos up 56-55.
"We knew that tonight would be a tremendous challenge," UNLV coach Dave Rice said. "We're still learning how to play well when it's a big game for the other team. And this was a big game for Boise State."
Bellfield hit a 3-pointer with 4:39 left to put the Rebels up 63-59 and Brice Massamba hit one of two free throws on the following possession to give the Rebels a 64-59 lead.
Boise State responded when Anthony Drmic hit a 3-pointer, and Marks sank both free throws with 59 seconds left to tie the game at 64. Both teams had shots in the final minute, but the Rebels failed to get a clean look and Moser swooped in to deflect Bropleh's last-second 3 before the buzzer.
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WEDNESDAY, Jan. 25 (HealthDay News) -- A new preliminary report suggests that the active ingredient in Viagra, sildenafil, could reduce the size of large growths that can disfigure the bodies of children.
The findings could point to yet another use for the medicine, which was first developed as a heart medication until researchers noticed that it helped impotent men have erections. This time, researchers stumbled upon an alternate use while using a Viagra-like drug to treat a rare condition that causes high blood pressure in the arteries that lead to the lungs.
There are caveats: The treatment is very expensive, the research is only in its early stages, and the medication may not be a cure. Still, the research raises the prospect that "we could treat some of these little kids who have little or no hope," said report co-author Dr. Alfred Lane, a professor of dermatology and pediatrics at Stanford University School of Medicine.
The growths in question are known as severe lymphatic malformations. They appear in children, including babies, and create disfiguring growths of fluid and vessels.
The growths can be as big as a volleyball or a basketball, Lane said. They seem to appear when the lymphatic system, a component of the body's immune system, becomes clogged, although the exact cause isn't clear, he said.
In some cases, the growths can be dangerous, such as when they pose a risk of blocking an airway pressuring a nearby organ.
Surgery to remove the growth is one option, although it may not be possible, he said. For some children, "there's not a whole lot you can do about it."
That's where sildenafil may help.
Researchers used a form of the medication called Revatio to treat a baby girl who suffered from pulmonary hypertension, the condition that causes high blood pressure in certain arteries. The investigators found that the medication had another effect: it reduced the size of a lymphatic growth.
The child, who was severely ill, died. But researchers were curious about the effects of the drug, and they tried it on two other children. Their growths shrunk and became softer after 12 weeks.
The parents of the children decided to continue giving the drug to their kids; it's not clear how they're doing now, but Lane will see one of the patients soon.
The drug may not eliminate a growth, "but if it can reduce it to the size that they can remove it, that would be good," Lane said.
Revatio costs $800 to $1,000 a month, Lane said, although the Pfizer drug company is donating the drug for research purposes. While the dose is low, potential side effects include dizziness, eye problems, nosebleeds and nausea, Lane said.
Researchers don't know how the drug works to reduce the size of the growths, Lane noted, although one possibility is that it makes it easier for the lymph system to drain fluid.
A new study of the treatment is underway.
Dr. Richard Smith, a pediatric otolaryngologist who's familiar with the report, said it offers an "exciting and serendipitous finding." But it must still be validated to prove that it truly holds promise, said Smith, vice chair of the University of Iowa's department of otolaryngology -- head and neck surgery.
The report appears in the Jan. 26 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine.
More information
Children's Hospital Boston has details about lymphatic malformations.
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Next weekend is like the Super Bowl of commercials. Well, actually, next weekend is the Super Bowl (the real one), which is also much like a Super Bowl... for companies... with regards to their commercials. Maybe I should try a different analogy. Either way, next weekend is big for most companies and Samsung is getting started early with its latest "Apple fanbois are silly for waiting outside" campaign.Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/4DWcWQcFBQ0/
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Excerpts from some government documents that contain several warnings ? widely ignored ? about New Delhi's vulnerability to a major earthquake:
GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF INDIA, 1960:
In the seismic map of India, Delhi has been shown to fall in a zone liable to moderate damage. A number of minor shocks frequently recorded by the Meteorological Observatory at Delhi suggest that a regional strain exists somewhere around Delhi. Accordingly the following suggestions are put forth:
? Seismic factor of 0.1 g should be provided in the construction of all multistoried and costly buildings and that of 0.059 g for other buildings in the Delhi area.
? As far as possible the buildings be located ether on solid rock or quite far away from it. The construction of smaller buildings should be as compact as possible.
___
DELHI DISASTER MANAGEMENT AUTHORITY, currently available on its website:
Delhi is located in zone IV which has fairly high seismicity where the general occurrence of earthquakes is of 5-6 magnitude, a few of magnitude 6-7 and occasionally of 7-8 magnitude. Delhi thus lies among the high-risk areas ...
Earthquake disaster in Delhi has the potential to go well beyond the statistics of deaths and injuries. Such a disaster in the country's capital, which also happens to be a major commercial and industrial center, will have huge economic and political implications which will affect the entire country and not just the population of Delhi. This adds an extra dimension to the earthquakes problem for Delhi.
___
NATIONAL DISASTER MANAGEMENT GUIDELINES - MANAGEMENT OF EARTHQUAKES, 2007:
The occurrence of several devastating earthquakes in areas (of India) hitherto considered safe from earthquakes indicates that the built environment in the country is extremely fragile and our ability to prepare ourselves and effectively respond to earthquakes is inadequate.
All these major earthquakes established that the casualties were caused primarily due to the collapse of buildings. However, similar high intensity earthquakes in the United States, Japan, etc., do not lead to such enormous loss of lives, as the structures in these countries are built with structural mitigation measures and earthquake-resistant features. This emphasizes the need for strict compliance of town planning bylaws and earthquake-resistant building codes in India.
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The spiral-to-the-bottom and inequality we are suffering is not an inevitable result of globalization, it is what happens when we don't hold cheaters and exploiters accountable and stop them. This is not just about Wall Street, it is the story of what has happened to our wages and benefits, jobs, factories, companies, industries, economy and democracy in the last 30-or-so years.
Cheaters, Fraudsters and Exploiters
If cheaters and exploiters are not held accountable and fraudsters are not prosecuted, then the advantages this brings them forces honest players out. We're all waiting to see if there is a deal in the works that lets big banksters off the hook for mortgage fraud and other (uninvestigated) crimes, making their shareholders pay fines for them instead. But that story of the 1%'s fraud and cheating and the consequences to the 99% are not what I am writing about here. This post is about how letting 1%er cheaters, fraudsters and exploiters off the hook has hurt America's manufacturing and trade.
Apple Can't Make It Here
Recent news stories about Apple hilight how we allowed our thriving, high-paying manufacturing sector to erode, with the result that our middle class is in decline. Apple used to proudly make their computers in the United States, but now everything is made in Asia. The NY Times' Charles Duhigg and Keith Bradsher, in How the U.S. Lost Out on iPhone Work describe how China's massive government subsidies and exploitation of workers mean "Those jobs aren't coming back."
The Entire Supply Chain Is Over There
China has done what it needs to do to bring factories, which bring supply chains, which bring industries. The NYT story describes what it means to have an entire supply chain located where the factories are,
When an Apple team visited, the Chinese plant's owners were already constructing a new wing. "This is in case you give us the contract," the manager said, according to a former Apple executive. The Chinese government had agreed to underwrite costs for numerous industries, and those subsidies had trickled down to the glass-cutting factory. It had a warehouse filled with glass samples available to Apple, free of charge. The owners made engineers available at almost no cost. They had built on-site dormitories so employees would be available 24 hours a day.The Chinese plant got the job.
"The entire supply chain is in China now," said another former high-ranking Apple executive. "You need a thousand rubber gaskets? That's the factory next door. You need a million screws? That factory is a block away. You need that screw made a little bit different? It will take three hours."
Subsidies are often a violation of trade rules. Even so, as the article says, "The Chinese government had agreed to underwrite costs for numerous industries, and those subsidies had trickled down to the glass-cutting factory." So, of course, "the Chinese plant got the job." Meanwhile, our own country has resisted having an "industrial policy" to keep our industries and foster new ones. This is finally changing, but good efforts like "Buy American" and President Obama's green energy policies are fought tooth-and-nail.
Exploited Workers
Another key part of China's advantage is the ability to exploit workers and get away with it -- which lets Apple get away with it, too. And when Apple sees violations, it doesn't stop them.
One former executive described how the company relied upon a Chinese factory to revamp iPhone manufacturing just weeks before the device was due on shelves. Apple had redesigned the iPhone's screen at the last minute, forcing an assembly line overhaul. New screens began arriving at the plant near midnight.A foreman immediately roused 8,000 workers inside the company's dormitories, according to the executive. Each employee was given a biscuit and a cup of tea, guided to a workstation and within half an hour started a 12-hour shift fitting glass screens into beveled frames. Within 96 hours, the plant was producing over 10,000 iPhones a day.
"The speed and flexibility is breathtaking," the executive said. "There's no American plant that can match that."
Later in the story,
The first truckloads of cut glass arrived at Foxconn City in the dead of night, according to the former Apple executive. That's when managers woke thousands of workers, who crawled into their uniforms -- white and black shirts for men, red for women -- and quickly lined up to assemble, by hand, the phones.... The company disputed some details of the former Apple executive's account, and wrote that a midnight shift, such as the one described, was impossible "because we have strict regulations regarding the working hours of our employees based on their designated shifts, and every employee has computerized timecards that would bar them from working at any facility at a time outside of their approved shift." The company said that all shifts began at either 7 a.m. or 7 p.m., and that employees receive at least 12 hours' notice of any schedule changes.
Foxconn employees, in interviews, have challenged those assertions.
Apple Audits Its Suppliers, Finds Many Violations
Earlier this month Apple released a report describing the practices of its suppliers. NY Times: Apple Lists Its Suppliers for 1st Time,
Apple said audits revealed that 93 supplier facilities had records indicating that over half of workers exceeded a 60-hour weekly working limit. Apple said 108 facilities did not pay proper overtime as required by law. In 15 facilities, Apple found foreign contract workers who had paid excessive recruitment fees to labor agencies.And though Apple said it mandated changes at those suppliers, and some showed improvements, in aggregate, many types of lapses remained at general levels that have persisted for years.
William K Black, writing in Apple's Foreign Suppliers Demonstrate Widespread Scamming and Horrific Abuse of Employees at AlterNet, looked at Apple's report. Black writes that the audit of suppliers, "shows that anti-employee control fraud is the norm."
Black says that two things stand out in the report,
First, Apple rarely terminates suppliers for defrauding their employees - even when the frauds endanger the lives and health of the workers and the community - and even where Apple knows that the supplier repeatedly lies to Apple about these fraudulent and lethal practices. Second, it appears unlikely in the extreme that Apple makes criminal referrals on its suppliers even when they commit anti-employee control frauds as a routine practice, even when the frauds endanger the worker's and the public's health, and even when the supplier repeatedly lies to Apple about the frauds. Apple's report, therefore, understates substantially the actual incidence of fraud by the 156 suppliers (accounting for 97% of its payments to suppliers).
As Black wrote, "Apple knows that the supplier repeatedly lies to Apple about these fraudulent and lethal practices" and "...it appears unlikely in the extreme that Apple makes criminal referrals on its suppliers" Apple doesn't stop these violations. They get too much of a competitive advantage out of it.
This Is Fraud
When you buy a product you assume that it is on the shelf at the cost you are asked to pay because laws and regulations were followed and standards were met. So you buy the one that has the right quality at the right price. But what if a product has a low cost as the result of cheating, exploitation and violations of environmental, labor and trade laws? What if there is a lie at the root of the transaction you are engaged in?
China's massive investment in capturing entire industries -- a violation of trade laws -- means that many of the components of the high-tech manufacturing supply chain have migrated out of the US to that country. And China's non-democracy political system means that workers have few, if any rights, and often the rights they have are not enforced. Black says American companies taking advantage of this are engaging in "a form of control fraud (fraud in which the head of a company subverts it for personal gain)."
Anti-employee control frauds most commonly fall into four broad, but not mutually exclusive, categories - illegal work conditions due to violation of safety rules, violation of child labor laws, failure to pay employees' wages and benefits, and frauds based on goods and loans provided by the employer to the employee that lock the employee into quasi-slavery.
Allowing Fraud Drives Legitimate Businesses Out Of Existence
The key point Black makes is that allowing cheating, fraud and exploitation to continue brings them advantages that drive legitimate businesses out,
George Akerlof, in his famous article on markets for "lemons" (largely describing anti-customer control fraud), explained the perverse "Gresham's" dynamic in 1970: "[D]ishonest dealings tend to drive honest dealings out of the market. The cost of dishonesty, therefore, lies not only in the amount by which the purchaser is cheated; the cost also must include the loss incurred from driving legitimate business out of existence."
A Criminogenic Environment
Specifically, what this means to companies that try to compete with companies like Apple,
Anti-employee control fraud creates real economic profits for the firm and can massively increase the controlling officers' wealth. Honest firm normally cannot compete with anti-employee control frauds, so bad ethics drives good ethics out of the markets. Companies like Apple and its counterparts create this criminogenic environment by selecting least-cost - criminal - suppliers who offer components at prices that honest firms cannot match. Effectively, they hang out a sign - only the fraudulent need apply to be suppliers
When we let companies get away with building products in places that violate trade rules, allow environmental degradation, exploit workers, cut corners on safety, use cheap components and ingredients, these companies get cost advantages that force honest companies out of business. This is the story of our economy. This is why our middle class is engaged in a race to the bottom.
Should Companies Like This Exist In The US?
Robwert Cruickshank puts two and two together, in a must-read post, Thinking Differently About Apple and 21st Century Society. He writes,
In the last year or two, it's become increasingly clear that the way Apple makes its products is deeply flawed. Working conditions at the factory which makes most of their products - Foxconn in Shenzhen, China - are so appalling that workers engaged in a rash of suicides in 2010 to ameliorate their own suffering. Earlier this year workers threatened mass suicide over pay and working conditions. And of course, there's the fact that Apple makes these products overseas rather than in the United States, where unemployment remains at some of the highest levels we've seen since the Great Depression.
Cruickshank asks if companies with this attitude should be allowed to continue to do business? He writes that Apple has,
...a narrow focus on their products and their profits, and disdain wider concerns for the good of society. When an unnamed Apple executive was asked about their role in addressing America's economic problems, their response was revealing:They say Apple's success has benefited the economy by empowering entrepreneurs and creating jobs at companies like cellular providers and businesses shipping Apple products. And, ultimately, they say curing unemployment is not their job."We sell iPhones in over a hundred countries," a current Apple executive said. "We don't have an obligation to solve America's problems. Our only obligation is making the best product possible."
That quote is perhaps the best encapsulation of the pathologies of the modern American corporation. In fact, Apple does have an obligation to solve America's problems. Everyone who lives in this country has that obligation. And corporations have that obligation too. If they don't want to help make things better, then they shouldn't exist.
Then he gets to the wider point,
The notion that companies exist only to generate profit or build a specific few set of products is corrosive. Those profits and products serve the rest of society. And as a part of that society, companies and their executives exist to make that society a better place. If they are engaged in a set of practices that make society worse off, then those actions are indefensible and need to be changed.For the last 30 years, American businesses have been devoted to a single-minded pursuit of maximizing short-term profits. Unsurprisingly, this has had profound ripple effects throughout the rest of society. The economy became focused on those profits, and so with it followed politics, culture, and our values as a civilization.
By now it should be clear to everybody that while this works well for the small elite that has hoarded all these profits - the so-called "1%" - it has utterly failed to provide a happy and fulfilled life for everyone else.
Here I quote Cruickshank quoting Black, who is looking at Apple's report of its suppliers, with "overwork and other forms of employment fraud being rampant."
As William K. Black explains at Alternet, this is a good example of what may be a widespread tolerance for fraud in the global economy:These frauds take place abroad, but they harm employees at home. Mitt Romney explains that Bain had to slash wages and pensions to save firms located in the U.S. who had to meet competition from foreign anti-employee control frauds. The damage from foreign anti-employee control frauds drives the domestic attack on U.S. manufacturing wages. Bad ethics increasingly drive good ethics out of the markets and manufacturing jobs out of the U.S. and into more fraud-friendly nations.
"These Frauds Take Place Abroad But They Harm Employees At Home"
Once again, for emphasis, "these frauds take place abroad, but they harm employees at home."
If we want the downward slide to stop we have to decide to hold the cheaters, exploiters and fraudsters accountable for their actions. At home the efforts by the giant corporations to keep the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) from doing their jobs, enforcing the rules and holding them accountable further show how this is affecting us all. Abroad we have to demand enforcement of labor and trade rules so companies like Apple can not gain advantages that put more ethical and honest companies out of business. We certainly should not be letting products made there have cost advantages here and stiff tariffs can fix that. Letting companies get away with this makes democracy a competitive disadvantage.
We have to get mad and hold the cheaters, fraudsters and exploiters accountable.
This post originally appeared at Campaign for America's Future (CAF) at their Blog for OurFuture. I am a Fellow with CAF.
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Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dave-johnson/to-get-our-economy-back-h_b_1224889.html
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'I'm hoping to make this year just about film, film, film,' 'Woman in Black' star tells MTV News.
By Kara Warner, with reporting by Josh Horowitz
Daniel Radcliffe
While we are still anxiously awaiting the release of "The Woman in Black," Daniel Radcliffe's first big post-"Harry Potter" film, it's never too early to start thinking about what other projects the young superstar will be considering after "Black" opens.
When MTV News caught up with Radcliffe recently, we asked him to give us some clues as to what we might expect from him in the next year, specifically whether he'd officially signed on to a new film following the release of "Black."
"Closer and getting closer every day, but not anything confirmed yet, unfortunately," Radcliffe said of his 2012 working schedule and several film roles he's considering. "Hopefully I'll definitely have three weeks off in February and then shortly after that, I would hopefully be making a film and it would hopefully be over here," he said of his wishes to continue working Stateside, following his run on Broadway in "How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying."
"That would be an entirely new experience for me; I've never filmed in America. I'd really like to do that, with an American crew and have that experience," he said. "I'm hoping to make this year just about film, film, film and then maybe get back onstage maybe in the next two years."
Radcliffe was cagey about exactly which film roles he's considering, but one he did cop to is portraying poet Allen Ginsberg in the independent film independent film "Kill Your Darlings," which is about how Ginsberg and fellow Beat Generation icons Jack Kerouac and Lucien Carr first met.
"It's one of the things that's on the table absolutely. It would be amazing and I'm very, very enthused for that script and that young director," he said of the John Krokidas-helmed project, which is also set to star Elizabeth Olsen, who recently raved about Radcliffe's talent and her excitement to work with him in "Darlings." "It's an independent film, it's welcome to the world of independent film — from one day to the next it could happen or not happen. Until I'm there on the set, I'm not going to say anything about it."
Would Daniel Radcliffe do well in the role of Allen Ginsberg? Tell us what you think in the comments!
Check out everything we've got on "The Woman in Black."
For breaking news, celebrity columns, humor and more — updated around the clock — visit MTVMoviesBlog.com.
Related VideosSource: http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1677749/daniel-radcliffe-kill-your-darlings-allen-ginsberg.jhtml
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Associated Press Sports
updated 9:23 a.m. ET Jan. 23, 2012
MILAN (AP) -AC Milan is waiting to see if it can sign Manchester City striker Carlos Tevez before completing a deal for Catania's Maxi Lopez, according to the club's vice president Adriano Galliani.
Milan has reached a deal with Tevez but City is stalling, preferring to sell the troubled forward outright rather than seeing him move on a loan deal.
On Monday, Galliani tells Italian sports daily Gazzetta there is an agreement with Catania for Lopez and "if Tevez doesn't come, Maxi will. But only one or the other. We're going to wait a few days though."
Tevez has not played for City since he refused to warm up during a Champions League game against Bayern Munich in September.
Inter Milan and Paris Saint-Germain are also interested in signing the Argentina international.
? 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
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More newsManchester City scored a dramatic 3-2 victory over Tottenham on Sunday, leaving Manchester United its only likely rival for the Premier League title.
Getty ImagesClint Dempsey became the first American to score a hat trick in England's Premier League, helping Fulham rally from a halftime deficit to rout Newcastle 5-2 Saturday.
Source: http://nbcsports.msnbc.com/id/45428429/ns/sports-soccer/
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>>> now casey anthony . her whereabouts have been the subject of much speculation since she was acquitted last year. since then, florida residents, as well as the paparazzi, have been on the lookout for her. now, there are new clues as to where she may be hiding. nbc's little yeah luciano has details.
>> alexis fredrick says she's certain she saw casey anthony .
>> i know it was her.
>> and she's not alone.
>> there was a white car with what appeared to be casey anthony hiding her face. and she took her hand down for a split second.
>> reporter: anthony 's whereabouts have remained a mystery since the 25-year-old was acquitted last summer of murdering her 2-year-old daughter caylee.
>> very excited.
>> reporter: two online diaries that recently surfaced gave no clues as to her locations. but anthony is still serving probation in florida. now, rumors are spreading that she's been lying low at this church in palm city , two hours south of the orlando. if she's in town, residents haven't exactly laid out the welcome mat .
>> get out of martin town. too many kids, nice quiet place and not so quiet since everyone found out she's been here. a lot of chaos.
>> and there's no greater place --
>> reporter: online reports say she's getting refuge and spiritual guidance from a pastor and award winning christian musician .
>> the table in the back with the pastor of the church.
>> reporter: he has never confirmed nor denied that he's helping anthony . on thursday, a member of the anthony team was spotted in front of the church, placing no trespassing signs. gary lyons was hired as a private investigator by anthony 's defense team and has remained a defender of hers. he wouldn't answer any questions.
>> that was casey anthony .
>> reporter: if true the recent sightings wouldn't be the first time residents have reported seeing anthony in the area. last september, nearby port st. lucie, cassandra jennings said she saw anthony in the car next to her.
>> i know it was her because of that face that she has is a face that you never forget.
>> reporter: once the notorious party girl , possibly living the quiet life . for today, nbc news, atlanta.
Source: http://video.today.msnbc.msn.com/today/46090283/
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NEW YORK ? Apple Inc. on Thursday launched its attempt to make the iPad a replacement for a satchel full of textbooks by starting to sell electronic versions of a handful of standard high-school books.
The electronic textbooks, which include "Biology" and "Environmental Science" from Pearson and "Algebra 1" and "Chemistry" from McGraw-Hill, contain videos and other interactive elements.
But it's far from clear that even a company with Apple's clout will be able to reform the primary and high-school textbook market. The printed books are bought by schools, not students, and are reused year after year, which isn't possible with the electronic versions. New books are subject to lengthy state approval processes.
Major textbook publishers have been making electronic versions of their products for years, but until recently, there hasn't been any hardware suitable to display them. PCs are too expensive and cumbersome to be good e-book machines for students. Dedicated e-book readers like the Kindle have small screens and can't display color. IPads and other tablet computers work well, but iPads cost at least $499. Apple didn't reveal any new program to defray the cost of getting the tablet computers into the hands of students.
All this means textbooks have lagged the general adoption of e-books, even when counting college-level works that students buy themselves. Forrester Research said e-books accounted for only 2.8 percent of the $8 billion U.S. textbook market in 2010.
Pearson PLC of Britain and The McGraw-Hill Cos. of New York are two of the three big textbook companies in the U.S. market. The third one, Boston-based Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, also plans to supply books to Apple's store, but none were immediately available.
The new textbooks are legible with a new version of the free iBooks application, which became available Thursday.
The textbooks will cost $15 or less, said Phil Schiller, Apple's head of marketing. He unveiled the books at an event at New York's Guggenheim Museum. Schools will be able to buy the books for its students and issue redemption codes to them, he said.
Albert Greco, a professor of marketing at Fordham University in New York and a former high-school principal, said schools would need to buy iPads for its students if it were to replace printed books.
It wouldn't work to let students who can afford to buy their own iPads use them in class with textbooks they buy themselves, alongside poorer students with printed books.
"The digital divide issue could be very embarrassing. Because if you don't have the iPad, you can't do the quiz, you don't get instant feedback ... that is an invitation for a lawsuit," Greco said. "I would be shocked if any principal or superintendent would let that system go forward."
Greco said hardback high-school textbooks cost an average of about $105, and a freshman might need five of them. However, they last for five years.
That means that even if an iPad were to last for five years in the hands of students, the e-books plus the iPad would cost more than the hardback textbooks.
Apple also released an app for iTunes U, which has been a channel for colleges to release video and audio from lectures, through iTunes. The app will open that channel to K-through-12 schools, and will let teachers present outlines, post notes and communicate with students in other ways.
Greco called the new app "a shot across the bow" of Blackboard Inc., a privately held company that provides similar electronic tools to teachers. It, too, has applications for cellphones and tablets.
Apple also revealed iBook Author, an application for Macs that lets people create electronic textbooks.
According to biographer Walter Isaacson, reforming the textbook market was a pet project of Apple co-founder Steve Jobs, even in the last year of his life. At a dinner in early 2011, Jobs told News Corp. chairman Rupert Murdoch that the paper textbooks could be made obsolete by the iPad. Jobs wanted to circumvent the state certification process for textbook sales by having Apple release textbooks for free on the tablet computer.
Jobs died in October after a long battle with cancer.
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SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) ? U.S. banking regulators have filed suit against the director of a Puerto Rican bank, alleging that reckless lending and improper management led to the April 2010 collapse that cost the deposit insurance fund nearly $1.5 billion.
Officers and directors of R-G Premier Bank failed to adequately supervise the huge increase in commercial lending during the housing boom and bust in the U.S. island territory, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. said in the lawsuit filed Wednesday in federal court in San Juan.
The suit seeks at least $257 million in damages and names 19 bank officials, including founder and CEO Victor Galan Alvarez. The suit also names the spouses of 17 of the directors and officers so that it can go after their assets to recover losses from the failure.
U.S. regulators have filed dozens of similar lawsuits over the past two years to recover losses from bank failures that regulators say resulted from negligence and misconduct. FDIC attorneys have been in settlement talks with many of the executives.
The FDIC says that directors of R-G Premier Bank didn't adequately supervise the chief loan officer, ignored warnings that should have led them to tighten control of their operations and made dozens of loans to developers who were already heavily in debt and were poor credit risks.
"Between November 2004 and December 2008 alone, the bank extended over $350 million in loans that any prudent banker should have known would probably never be repaid," the suit says. "The directors and officers also exacerbated and accelerated these losses by robotically approving virtually any loan request that crossed their desks, even though such loan requests had been processed through the obviously deficient lending structure they had created at the bank."
A lawyer for Galan, Mary Gill of Atlanta, Georgia, had no immediate comment but said the CEO may issue a statement later.
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Republican presidential candidate, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, campaigns in Irmo, S.C., Wednesday, Jan. 18, 2012. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)
Republican presidential candidate, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, campaigns in Irmo, S.C., Wednesday, Jan. 18, 2012. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)
Republican presidential candidate, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, carries 7-month-old Leah Locklear as he campaigns in Irmo, S.C., Wednesday, Jan. 18, 2012. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)
Graphics lists average tax rates paid by U.S. taxpayers:
CHARLESTON, S.C. (AP) ? Under duress two days before the pivotal South Carolina primary, Republican front-runner Mitt Romney acknowledges he has part of his millions invested in the Cayman Islands, although his aides say he never used the location as a tax haven.
Neither Romney nor his campaign are providing details, including how much he has invested there, or why, or if any of his money is invested elsewhere outside the United States.
"Gov. and Mrs. Romney's assets are managed on a blind basis. They do not control the investment of these assets," campaign spokeswoman Andrea Saul said in an emailed response to questions Wednesday night. Romney has not personally addressed the issue, although it's likely to come up at a candidates' debate Thursday night.
Scrutiny of Romney's private-sector background couldn't come at a worse time ? just as he is riding high on back-to-back victories in Iowa's caucuses and New Hampshire's primary. He came into South Carolina with anti-Romney conservatives unwilling or unable to coalesce behind a single challenger.
Details about the personal fortune of the multimillionaire former businessman have been a nagging issue for his campaign for more than a week. On Tuesday, Romney disclosed that he pays an effective tax rate of about 15 percent, lower than what he would pay if he earned a regular paycheck like many Americans. He also called "not very much" the amount he earned in speechmaking fees, though it turned out to be $373,327.62 for 12 months in 2010 and early 2011.
Those details followed verbal miscues related to his views of work. Last week in New Hampshire, Romney told an audience he knew what it was like to worry about being "pink-slipped" and losing a job. A day later, he said, "I like being able to fire people who provide services to me" ? a comment about health insurance companies that his rivals used to paint a picture of Romney as a wealthy businessman who is out of touch with ordinary Americans.
Romney hasn't been willing to elaborate on his pledge Tuesday to release his federal tax return in April. His rivals are prodding him to do it immediately, before South Carolina's primary, a potentially decisive turn in the race for the Republican presidential nomination.
At an event in Rock Hill, S.C., Romney kept away from the issue of his taxes, but he criticized Newt Gingrich and other Republicans who "jumped on that bandwagon" of criticizing free enterprise. "My goodness, I listened to Speaker Gingrich the other night talk about the enterprises I've been associated with," he said. "I'm proud of the fact that I worked in the private sector, that I've achieved success."
Romney disclosed for the first time Tuesday that, despite his wealth of hundreds of millions of dollars, he has been paying taxes in the neighborhood of 15 percent, far below the top maximum income tax rate of 35 percent, because his income "comes overwhelmingly from investments made in the past." During 2010 and the first nine months of 2011, the Romney family had at least $9.6 million in income, according to a financial disclosure form submitted in August.
Romney had been consolidating GOP support before Saturday's South Carolina primary, in which a victory could all but seal his nomination. The focus on his wealth is an unwanted distraction for him as he seeks to win votes in a state where the unemployment rate, at 9.9 percent, is among the highest in the nation, and amid rising public concern over income inequality.
President Barack Obama's campaign advisers contend voters are unlikely to back a wealthy Republican with financial-industry ties at a time of lingering economic distress.
The maximum marginal U.S. income tax rate of 35 percent applies ? in theory more than practice ? to households with taxable income of over about $388,500.
Like many wealthy people, the Romneys have been helped by changes in federal tax policy that have placed much lower tax rates on investment income ? from dividends, interest and capital gains from the sale of stocks and other assets ? than on wages and salaries, the source of income for most Americans.
Under the Bush-era tax cuts strongly supported by most Republicans, such investment income, including gains on securities held for a year or longer, is subject to a tax rate of 15 percent.
According to the congressional Joint Committee on Taxation, an average federal tax rate of 15 percent ? including both income and payroll taxes ? would apply to households with taxable incomes of from $75,000 to $100,000.
Obama and his wife paid federal taxes of just over 25 percent of their 2010 income of $1.7 million, mostly from the books he's written.
Texas Gov. Rick Perry and his wife paid roughly 24 percent of their 2010 income of $217,447.
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Ford Motor Co will give bonuses and merit-based raises to salaried workers in the United States and Canada this spring, the first time the No. 2 U.S. automaker has paid out both since the onset of the financial crisis.
The company will offer an average 2.7 percent salary increase that is based largely on individual performance, Ford spokeswoman Marcey Evans said.
The raises will be effective April 1 and bonuses will paid in March, Evans added.
Mark Fields, who runs Ford's operations in North and South America, sent a note last week to 20,000 salaried employees in the United States and Canada confirming that both bonuses and merit pay increases will be offered.
Ford last offered both in 2008, when the U.S. automaker was in the early stages of its turnaround plan "One Ford" under Chief Executive Alan Mulally.
Then in the fall of 2008, investment Lehman Brothers filed for bankruptcy, sending global markets into a tailspin and pushing Ford's crosstown rivals General Motors Co and Chrysler Group LLC to the brink of collapse.
Ford, the only U.S. automaker not to take a federal bailout, paid neither bonuses nor pay increases in 2009.
In 2010, Ford offered only merit-based pay increases to salaried workers. Last year, salaried employees received a only a bonus.
Copyright 2012 Thomson Reuters. Click for restrictions.
Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/46059640/ns/business-autos/
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Editor?s note:?This guest post was written by?Dave Chase, the CEO of?Avado.com, a patient portal & relationship management company that was a?TechCrunch Disrupt finalist. Previously he was a management consultant for Accenture?s healthcare practice and founder of Microsoft?s Health platform business. You can follow him on Twitter@chasedave.
Entrepreneurial epiphanies surface in random places. For Eric Page, it was watching Brad Pitt?s latest movie, Moneyball. The epiphany caused him to shift Amplify Health?s business model from a provider of technology to a heavy user of technology. While there is a wave of disruptive technology in healthtech, as interesting is the wave of disruptive innovation on the care delivery side of healthcare. These companies aren?t technology companies, however technology plays a pivotal role.
Previously, Page had been the Founder & President of REM Medical, a clinic for sufferers of sleep apnea. A key part of any sleep clinic?s service is prescribing CPAP machines. The problem is that the percentage of people who actually follow-through is quite low (40%) even though the results can dramatically improve one?s life. A series of behavioral insights, often applied through the use of technology allowed REM Medical to double the industry average adherence to 79%. As healthcare shifts from a ?do more, bill more? model of reimbursement to a value and outcomes-based model, these kinds of results will separate the winners from the losers. Amplify Health?s original vision was to package the behavioral insights in software and sell them to providers.
With the success of his previous company, Page thought it would be easy to sell this vision to healthcare providers. Unfortunately, many healthcare providers are making the same mistakes that newspaper companies made in the late 90?s. That is, they aren?t moving as quickly as circumstances dictate. The problem is that urgency is sometimes only evident in hindsight. This is what led to the Moneyball epiphany.
For those who haven?t seen the movie or read the book, Moneyball tells the story of how Major League Baseball?s Oakland A?s Billy Beane (the team?s General Manager) was faced with a payroll that was one-third the size of their competition. Beane realized he needed to come up with a different way of picking players or he?d lose bidding wars against richer teams. For over 20 years, baseball statistician Bill James had proffered theories of baseball statistics that flew in the face of conventional wisdom on what statistics best represented a player?s value to a team. James was ignored until Billy Beane came along. He applied James? theories with great success regularly fielding playoff teams that had one-third to one-half the payroll of the teams they competed against.
While watching Moneyball, Page had the realization that he had been acting like Bill James evangelizing his theories. Even with a successful track record, he wasn?t getting the traction he desired. Instead, he decided he should become Billy Beane and apply his knowledge to his own company. Rather than monetize via a software licensing model, Amplify Health will be in the onsite clinic segment delivering primary care and managing chronic conditions. [See DIY Health Reform: Employers Solving Healthcare Crisis One Onsite Clinic At A Time for more on onsite clinics.]
Amplify Health isn?t alone in this trend. Other examples include MedLion, One Medical Group, Qliance and White Glove Health [Disclosure: MedLion is a customer of Avado's]. These are healthcare providers who?ve applied technology to enhance their competitive advantage. Traditional healthcare providers should be on notice about these types of disruptive innovators. After all, in the late 90?s the newspaper companies were worried about other media competitors and big players such as Microsoft. What devastated their business models was an array of niche competitors who bit by bit hollowed out chunks of their business. Companies such as Monster.com, eBay, Cars.com, Zillow, Craigslist and many others. Like newspapers that were oligopolies or monopolies, many large health systems haven?t been faced with the level of competition that is emerging. As William Gibson has stated, ?the future is here, it?s just unevenly distributed.?
By definition, the legacy HealthIT vendors have optimized their solutions around the legacy reimbursement and delivery models that have created the hyperinflation in healthcare crushing family, business and government budgets. The exciting aspect of this for the healthtech startup community is entire new categories of software are emerging to support disruptive innovation taking place on the care delivery side. Even more promising is that many providers, payers and pharmaceutical companies have set up innovation groups. I wrote about one earlier ? Healthcare Field of Dreams In Idaho: Health System Opens Innovation Center. An array of new models are being tested at organizations such as Horizon Health Innovations, Catholic Health West, Trinity Health, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Florida, Catholic Health Partners, and many others.
Often what has passed for innovation in healthcare is a clever way to maximize the latest reimbursement code or government incentive. For example, a large swath of providers are chasing after Meaningful Use incentives. Meanwhile, there are others building a sustainable competitive advantage in rethinking delivery models from the ground up. Not long ago, CareMore was acquired for $800 Million by WellPoint because they?d developed a creative new delivery model. VCs are taking notice. For example, Dirk Lammerts, MD is a VC with the Burrill Venture Capital Group who has stated he will avoid investing in businesses dependent on Medicare reimbursement. Rather, he wants true disruptive innovation.
Taking place this week is the Health Innovation Summit being put on by RockHealth. I?m moderating a panel on business models for health-related startups ? panel members include Linda Avey, Ron Gutman and Jennifer Wong. I will speak to some of the aforementioned business models and the accompanying business models for companies that support those entities. Collectively, we?ll discuss models ranging from monetizing mobile apps to how value can be derived as a byproduct of customer use (e.g., PracticeFusion) to media models and more. What creative business models in healthcare should we be aware of? Please add your comments below.
Linda Avey has over 20 years of sales and business development experience in the biopharmaceutical industry in San Francisco, Boston, San Diego, and Washington, D.C. Prior to starting 23andMe, she developed translational research collaborations with academic and pharmaceutical partners for Affymetrix and Perlegen Sciences. Linda also spent time at Spotfire helping scientists understand the power of data visualization and at Applied Biosystems during the early days of the human genome project. The advent of high density genome-wide scanning technologies...
Learn moreRon is HealthTap?s Founder and CEO. He?s responsible for the company?s innovation, vision, and product. Prior to founding HealthTap, Ron was the founder and CEO of Wellsphere, a leading online consumer health 2.0 company that developed the world?s largest community of independent health writers and became one of the largest health sites on the Internet, serving more than 100 million users to date (acquired in early 2009). Prior to creating Wellsphere, as a graduate student at Stanford University, Ron...
Learn moreOne Medical Group is a member-supported primary care medical practice that is redefining modern medical care by leveraging technology and innovative best practices to provide patients with affordable, high-quality care. One Medical offers patients comprehensive primary care services ??? delivered conveniently from modern, professional offices and via online technology. Services include same-day appointments, longer visits that start on time, on-site specialty services including gynecology and dermatology, and an integrative approach that emphasizes prevention and nutrition. With a focus of delivering...
Learn moreQliance Medical Management, Inc. is a ?direct primary care? provider founded in 2006 and provides operating and management services to Qliance Medical Group of Washington PC, which operates clinics under the Qliance® brand. Qliance offers people of all ages and incomes unrestricted access to all types of primary, preventive and chronic illness care for one monthly membership fee, ranging between $49 and $89, depending on age, for its core service level. Qliance does not exclude anyone for pre-existing conditions...
Learn moreSource: http://techcrunch.com/2012/01/17/money-ball-for-medicine-business-models-for-healthcare/
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