America's Health: How do states compare?

A report called "America’s Health Starts With Healthy Children: How Do States Compare?" is getting quite a lot of play in the consumer press. The study was issued by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and can be found here. A few of the study's finding relate to the effect of income on health. Here is an excerpt from the "key findings" subsection:


Nationally, and in every state, the percent of children with less than optimal health varied with family income. Compared with higher-income children (in families with incomes at or above 400% of the Federal Poverty Level), children in poor families (below 100% of the Federal Poverty Level) were more likely—over six times as likely, in some states—to be in less than optimal health. Differences were not confined to comparisons between the top and bottom groups. With few exceptions, children in middle-income families (200-399% of the Federal Poverty Level) also appear more likely—over twice as likely, in some states—than children in higher-income families to be in less than optimal health.

Fears spread

No one seems to be able to calm the world markets, and the train wreck continued in Asia last night. It seems there is not much more the Fed can do, so one hopes the the medicine starts to work soon. Some headlines from the Web this morning.


Nikkei dives 9.4 percent From Reuters

"The deteriorating outlook for the economy and the deepening financial crisis are pushing fear to its limit," said Mitsushige Akino, chief fund manager at Ichiyoshi Investment Management.

"Investors want to dump shares as their willingness to take risks has shrunk, but no one wants to buy even if stocks are valued cheaply."

The yen climbed to a six-month high against the tumbling U.S. dollar, as investors stampeded away from stocks and risky positions.

Central banks cut rates to contain crisis From Reuters

The Fed said it was cutting its key federal funds rate by 50 basis points to 1.5 percent. China, the European Central Bank (ECB) and central banks in Britain, Canada, Sweden and Switzerland also cut rates in the coordinated response which analysts had been demanding.

Fed announces plan to buy corporate debt From WLNS

The Federal Reserve announced plans to buy up some coporate paper, that's debt, by creating a commercial paper funding facility.

What does that translate too? Look it this way, The fed would normally do this with corporate paper and debt that is collateralized. Meaning, secured, like your house or car. Well, not anymore. Now, the fed will try to increase liquidity in the funding markets by offering a back-stop to debt that is unsecured and they will do it by collecting up front fee's for the service

Funds flight from corporate paper forced Fed move From Bloomberg

The Federal Reserve's decision today to buy U.S. commercial paper came after money market mutual funds fled the market, cutting off a vital source of short-term corporate financing and pushing the economy toward a recession.

Money-market funds, the biggest buyers of commercial paper, reduced holdings of the highest-rated debt by $200.3 billion, or 29 percent, in the final two weeks of September, according to data compiled by IMoneyNet Inc. of Westborough, Massachusetts. Managers unloaded the debt to meet a surge in investor redemptions and to shift assets to Treasuries, which can be sold more quickly if withdrawals persist.

Lloyd Day leaving?

One Washington source indicated to me Tuesday that Lloyd Day, Administrator of the USDA's Agricultural Marketing Service, will be leaving USDA within the next few weeks, and that Dave Shipman is slated to serve as acting Administrator. Not sure where Day is headed, but the source indicated he may have landed a job in the biotech industry, No announcement from USDA as of yet, Jimmie Turner of AMS told me in an email yesterday..

We are coming into the season where political appointees will be leaving their posts in advance of the new Administration, so there will be much speculation - most of it wrong, no doubt - about new appointees at USDA, from the Secretary position to the undersecretary to administrators and so on.

It could be a tough job environment for outgoing political appointees,particularly if the Dems win the White House and both houses of Congress.

Developing....

Prison farming

While rightly criticized by some as not even a band aid to the real need for immigration reform, the use of minimum security inmate in farming operations is taking root in several states. Here is a video about New Jersey inmates and a dairy farm.

Prison farming

TK: Other recent coverage of the issue:
Facing illegal immigrant crackdown, farms look to inmate labor

Fielding convicts

Prison labor edit stirs debate

Debate scorecard

I watched the second presidential debate last night at the local health club. Coming in with a bias for McCain, I looked for points in the debate that favored him on my personal "scorecard" and it went about I as expected.

Coincidentally, the debate was held at Belmont University's Curb Center in Nashville, the very facility where my son works as a graduate assistant at the university. He was working off site the last couple of days as preparations for the debate moved into high gear.

I thought John McCain moved around in the format with ease, striding over close to Obama's personal space and then walking right up to the participants in the town hall meeting. Obama's hand gestures seemed more appropriate for a lectern than the cozy town hall meeting.

McCain emphasized that he has a record of bipartisanship, while he punched away with the message that Obama has never taken on leaders of his own party on any major issue.

"I have a clear record of bipartisanship. The situation today cries out for bipartisanship. Sen. Obama has never taken on his leaders of his party on a single issue. And we need to reform."

McCain's "new idea" - a "hail mary" gambit to attract undecided voters? - unveiled at the debate would have the Secretary of the Treasury buy up bad home loan mortgages and renegotiate the paper with the new and reduced value of those homes.

As to the question of whether the economy gets worse before it gets better, neither relished predicting doom and gloom.

Obama:
No, I am confident about the American economy. But we are going to have to have some leadership from Washington that not only sets out much better regulations for the financial system.

The problem is we still have a archaic, 20th-century regulatory system for 21st-century financial markets. We're going to have to coordinate with other countries to make sure that whatever actions we take work.

But most importantly, we're going to have to help ordinary families be able to stay in their homes, make sure that they can pay their bills, deal with critical issues like health care and energy, and we're going to have to change the culture in Washington so that lobbyists and special interests aren't driving the process and your voices aren't being drowned out.

McCain:
I think it depends on what we do. I think if we act effectively, if we stabilize the housing market -- which I believe we can, if we go out and buy up these bad loans, so that people can have a new mortgage at the new value of their home -- I think if we get rid of the cronyism and special interest influence in Washington so we can act more effectively.

My friend, I'd like you to see the letter that a group of senators and I wrote warning exactly of this crisis. Sen. Obama's name was not on that letter.

The point is -- the point is that we can fix our economy. Americans' workers are the best in the world. They're the fundamental aspect of America's economy.

They're the most innovative. They're the best -- they're most -- have best -- we're the best exporters. We're the best importers. They're most effective. They are the best workers in the world.

And we've got to give them a chance. They've got -- we've got to give them a chance to do their best again. And they are the innocent bystanders here in what is the biggest financial crisis and challenge of our time. We can do it.

There were more tussles over competing economic plans, the use of force in parts of the world to quell civil unrest and prevent genocide where America has little or no strategic interest, energy policy and entitlement reform. Here is the transcript of the second presidential debate. No matter who wins the election, it seems extremely likely the next president and the next Congress will face the winter of our discontent. America needs you, Ronald Reagan.