Physicians on the Roll

No one is denying that docs are being greased by drug manufacturers more than anyone else to sell their particular drugs to patients, that is to prescribe particular drugs. It seems that there is no harm done, because there are similar drugs with similar healing capability that are approved by the FDA, which is the key here. The rest is going to be the art of doing business where drug manufacturers spend a lot of money on doctors and it is part of their marketing campaign and advertising expense. But the question is, do doctors report whatever they get in a form of money from drug manufacturers as income? Or are they being bribed to show a preferential treatment? How about if they give out to unknowing patients drugs that are not approved by FDA and charge them for it, especially when they practice medicine privately. Therefore, this will be a much dangerous practice when compared with prescribing an approved drug whose effect on the patients is more or less the same.

The Top Performing Hybrids

The list of the best cars both for the environment and for drivers' wallet had been compiled and at the top of the list are Toyota’s Prius and Honda’s Civic Hybrid. There are small cars that are using gas only that have shown impressive results simply because they are small and economize gas. The score was based on the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency that has an air pollution score and a greenhouse gas score that have a rating from 0-10 and according to the finding there are no new cars that make it to the 10th score and the highest was 9.5. Cars that made it on the top list include 2007 Camry Hybrid and 2007 Ford Focus. Price-wise the Focus only costs $13,000 compared to the other cars where the average price was $20,000 and there are not hybrid cars that cost more than $35,000 except a few luxury hybrids like Lexus, which is new around and costs $55,000. The score works in such a way that those that score 10 emit no pollutants. And accordingly, a car scoring 9 would emit .02 grams of nitrogen oxide and 2.1 grams of carbon monoxide a mile.

College Loan is like Peeling Onion

The similarity is due to what the New York Attorney General found out while investigating what is taking place between the student loan companies and those in charge of the lending process in the various colleges across the country, and the more they look into it, the involvement is getting deeper embracing many individuals from the lending establishments and the various schools. The complicated relationship is not only giving a given number of lenders a preferential treatment by recommending them as the preferred lenders for the students, but the financial aid directors in colleges across the country hold a significant amount of shares in the lending companies that they are recommending to the students. Furthermore, there is a bonus system where those that lured more student borrowers are found to be participants that are also found to be beneficial for both the officers and the schools.

Investigating the $85 billion student loan industry underwent after a lender complained to the Attorney General that many lenders are locked out of the lending process since there is an arrangement between a few lenders and the various schools that have interlocked interest. Till date as much as six schools that included University of Pennsylvania and New York University had agreed to refund students up to $3.27 million for incurring cost that was inflated by revenue sharing agreements. The investigation has continued and it is difficult to say how many of the schools are involved in the preferential treatment of lenders and being benefited through the process, but the possibility there is more involvement.

Is Craiglist in Trouble?

It is not clear yet since the list is talking about subpoena to release the name of the source who put an ad inviting everyone to take what they want from a home that is located in Tacoma, Wash. The owner of the house who is a female was devastated when neighbors told her what happened and it was too late to do anything since people have vandalized and have ransacked everything, including doors, windows, light fixtures, the kitchen sink etc. It is an amazing story and one of a kind; however, its legal implication is not clear at this moment. The home’s being insured is a possibility, which would mean the owner is entitled for compensation under the vandalism clause and that could only happen when how it happened becomes clear. Craiglist should disclose the source of the ad if it can, and the possibility that it cannot is there too. Insurance companies as usual are entitled to be suspicious.