Hungry in the world's richest country:

Hunger and homelessness are reaching all-time highs in cities under the pressure of a crisis that's still hitting hard. THE NUMBER of Americans vulnerable to hunger grew sharply in 2009 to nearly 50 million--or about one in every six men, women and children in the U.S. The Agriculture Department's official figures show that the number of people suffering "food insecurity" last year jumped by more than onethird in just 12 months, reaching the highest level since the government began reporting this statistic a decade and a half ago. About one-third of the 49 million people threatened with hunger were part of households that had what researchers call "very low food security"--meaning that one or more members of the household skipped meals, ate reduced portions or otherwise didn't get enough to eat at some point in the year. one in four children live with the threat of hunger. Among the over 10 million households headed by a single mother, more than one in three reported some form of food insecurity.

Of Recession and Bailouts :

Despite complaints of right-wing blowhards about the bankruptcy and government takeover of auto giant GM, it's autoworkers, their families and communities who are getting screwed. THE BANKRUPTCY and government takeover of General Motors marks the end of an era in which U.S. capitalism could claim to offer an "American dream" of rising standards of living for working people--and highlights a grim future for workers under American capitalism. From AIG to GM, American capitalists' short-term obsession with profits and their religious faith in the free market contributed mightily to an epic collapse. Even before the auto industry's crash, the current recession had already shattered the lives of millions of working people in the U.S.

How the great AIG heist was pulled off :

the rise and fall of insurance giant AIG--from the part it played in the mid-decade Wall Street financial boom, to its new incarnation as a government-backed conduit for transferring bailout money to the big banks. 1

THE EPICENTER of popular anger is the bonuses at AIG--checks totaling $165 million that were distributed in March to the very same executives who presided over the company's disastrous collapse, prompting the government bailout last year. But the bonus scandal is only the tip of the iceberg at AIG. "Seen by themselves, the payments are huge,

The financial meltdown and the housing bust put an end to that, wiping out tens of billions of dollars in household wealth. Now comes rising unemployment, reductions in wages and benefits, and deep cuts in public spending on education and health care. The bankruptcy of GM--and Chrysler before it--will only accelerate those trends. The social crisis today can still be gauged with broad statistics like unemployment, numbers of people receiving food stamps and other measures. Yet the visual effects of that crisis are not so straightforward. In our Great Recession of today, there may be no photos of desperately poor families, skinny and wanting for food. There may not yet be pictures of breadlines stretching for blocks. Instead, these horrific outbursts of violence will be the iconic moments of today's Great Recession. The photos and videos of the aftermath of these rampages will be the images by which future generations remember these awful times. What we are discovering is that the desperation haunting the poor and the working class is often silent and invisible to the outside world. This is especially true because of our society's blame-thevictim mentality and its lack of accessible mental health services. But all too quickly, that silence and invisibility morph into the opposite: violent outbursts in which people's pent-up frustration and rage rush forth as if from a bursting dam. The banksters plot their next robbery, as the Goldman Sachs and other Wall Street firms are looking forward to a bonus orgy for executives this year--supposedly for a job well done.

As long as the social crisis continues, we will see more of these incidents. It is important that the crisis not be understood in a purely economic sense.

The biggest swindle of all:

Bernie Madoff's $50 billion fraud had a lot in common with the everyday workings of capitalism, In December, Madoff was arrested by the FBI (after his two sons squealed on him) for ripping off investors to the tune of $50 billion or so--one of the biggest heists in the history of the financial world. The great American jobs wipeout continues with no end in sight, as the financial meltdown continues and the entire world economy unravels.

Will Obama's housing plan provide relief? , this is the question

that lingers in everyones mind. But the fact is that the admnistration's $275 billion program to deal with foreclosures is a departure from the do-nothing Bush approach--but it falls short of what's needed. On the other hand the Obamaadministration is proposing a new phase in the Wall Street bailout that would transfer yet more billions into the pockets of rich financiers.

How the other 0.000003 percent lives

An examination of the 10 richest Americans reveals a rogue's gallery of serial polluters, budget-slashers, CIA contractors, union-busters and right-wing nuts.

From crash to recovery?

The U.S. economy is apparently growing again, but the problems that led to last year's financial panic remain--and workers' suffering is getting worse.

A decade of losses for worker families, Even before the

recession, U.S. workers were losing ground rapidly--and if current trends continue, the future looks more difficult than ever. While millions of workers are struggling to get by on inadequate unemployment benefits, millions more are cut off completely as joblessness rises, Wall Street has come up with a new investment scheme involving life insurance that is essentially a bet people will die "on time" or earlier than expected. With record unemployment levels, bosses often try to use the unemployed as a reserve army of labor, which drives wages down

and curbs the ability of workers to fight back for fear of being easily replaced. However, as long as workers are divided and unorganized, bosses will continue to use the economic crisis as an excuse to pocket more of what we produce. THE GREAT American jobs wipeout continues with no end in sight, as the financial meltdown continues and the entire world economy unravels. A host of major U.S. corporations, including Home Depot, Caterpillar and Sprint, announced big jobs cuts this week--75,000 in one day alone.

This mass loss of jobs--or full-time jobs with benefits--is causing a cascade of social problems. "Losing your job is a much worse disaster for Americans than it is for people in Europe or Canada," Gary Burtless, a former economist at the U.S. Department of Labor, told Canada's Globe and Mail newspaper. "Unlike most of the Western world, when we lose our jobs in the United States, most of us lose our health insurance." The payday loan industry has mushroomed by preying on workers whose shrinking real wages fail to cover rent and put food on the table. THE RELIEF you feel at the gas pump and the grocery store could soon give way to even greater economic pain caused by falling prices. It may seem hard to believe that deflation is worse than inflation, especially so soon after working people endured gas prices of upwards of $4 a gallon, plus skyrocketing costs for staple foods. But the drop in key consumer prices of 1 percent in October has led to a panic about possible price deflation. While the price drop may not seem like much, it's the biggest such fall in 61 years, back when the economy was cooling down after high inflation in the Second World War. The epicenter of the crisis remains the U.S. financial system, where "zombie" banks--that is, insolvent ones like Citigroup--continue to swallow hundreds of billions in government funds, even as they are unable or unwilling to make new loans themselves.

Today's economic crisis makes unionization all the more urgent as workers face layoffs, wage cuts and attempts to eliminate health insurance and other benefits.

Can Marxism explain the financial crash?

YES it will repair the economic meltdown from a socialist perspective. While mainstream economists and policymakers are reeling, Marxists have been vindicated in their prediction that a host of problems in the system--overproduction, declining rates of profit, class inequality and speculative bubbles--would inevitably produce a serious global recession. Therefore, the capitalist state and corporations themselves turned to policies that encouraged workers to meet their needs based on credit. Consumers thus have relied on credit cards, car loans and, most importantly, home equity loans to maintain their standard of living. As a result, the financialization of the economy has led to unprecedented consumer debt. The bulk of investment and trade occurs between the advanced capitalist countries and a handful of other capitalist nations that make up the G-20 Much of the rest of the world, especially subSaharan Africa, is simply left out. Most importantly, the "positive economic indicators" that are used as evidence for recovery totally ignore the fact that things continue to deteriorate drastically for workers--skyrocketing unemployment, rising homelessness, deep wage cuts, loss of benefits and more. A more convincing explanation for boom-and-bust cycle of the system can be found in the classical Marxist tradition. Marx's analysis of capitalism offers a superior account of both the real expansion of the system throughout the 20th century as well as its periodic crises.

Is a real recovery in sight?

Whether the statistics show continued recession or a weak recovery, there's one economic fact no one can dispute--things are a lot worse for U.S. workers. Just when it seemed impossible for Wall Street--still counting the trillions in taxpayer dollars it received in a government bailout to save

it from collapse--to sink any lower, greed came to the rescue with the development of a grim new market. As Karl Marx and Frederick Engels wrote in the Communist Manifesto, "The need of a constantly expanding market for its products chases the bourgeoisie over the whole surface of the globe. It must nestle everywhere, settle everywhere, establish connections everywhere." Now, the financial crisis has driven capitalists to the nursing and retirement homes, and to the bedsides of the sick and dying. WITH THE home mortgage crisis dragging along, consumer borrowing still lagging, and crises looming in other sectors like commercial real estate, Wall Street is desperate for a new product to kick-start securities markets. It appears as though the savior may be riding in on a pale horse. Buying shares is essentially a bet--that the people whose insurance policies on which the securities are based will die "on time" or earlier than expected.

Healthcare and the Pharma Industry :

The pharmaceutical and health-care industry have historically been relatively immune to economic turndowns, because illness doesn't take a vacation. Yet, with the ongoing recession, financial support will be reduced. Therefore, like in other industries, it is expected that the most affected by the reduced availability in funding will be the early stage biotech and pharmaceutical companies who need funding. But is there more to come? Nonetheless, it is important to remember that although the recession has yield great merges and acquisitions by the bigger biotech/pharma companies, the biotech and pharmaceutical industry is also very affected by the economic slowdown, and many of them are cutting jobs and closing factories. The belief of pharmaceutical and the health-care industry immunity to economic turndown is now on hold, and so is the hope for new medicine breakthrough. For the pharmaceutical sector, 2009 was a year when Indian manufacturing capabilities took centre stage. For the first time, global pharmaceutical giants like Pfizer and GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) came shopping for Indian manufacturers. 6

2008 was a year remembered for Daiichi's Ranbaxy acquisition. But 2009 will be remembered for a deal starkly different in structure. GSK partnered with Hyderabad-based Dr Reddy's to develop and market generics and formulations. Analysts say its a win-win for both. While GSK gets high-class manufacturing at one fifth the cost, DRL enhances its reach in markets like Africa and Latin America without having to spend a penny on infrastructure. Its not just GSK. Pfizer struck two in-licensing deals this year with Aurobindo Pharma and Claris. Both deals are supply agreements, which enable the Indian companies to reach far-flung markets through Pfizer's network. Never before has Indian manufacturing gained more prominence. That's not to undermine acquisitions that have taken place this year. PRIOR to the completion of its merger with Wyeth in October 2009, Pfizer Inc - the world's largest research-based biomedical and pharmaceutical company - announced the disposal of one of its drug products facilities in Latina, Italy, which completed in February last year. As the dynamics of the industry changed so consolidation in the pharmaceutical sector continued apace in 2009. In addition to the $64 billion merger of Wyeth and Pfizer, Schering Plough joined forces with Merck & Co and Abbott Laboratories announced the purchase of the pharmaceutical business of Belgiums Solvay. Although media attention has focused on such mega deals, the bulk of mergers and acquisition activity involves smaller local organisations such as Quantum Specials and Specials Laboratory. This is unlikely be the end for merger-mania in the pharma sector. One of the ways all pharma companies can get short to mediumterm benefit is through a merger. There are economies of scale they can gain by combining their sales forces and marketing teams, and there are also benefits from merging their research and development pipelines. Large pharmaceutical companies will particularly be on the lookout for targets that can help replenish their drug development pipelines. In addition, the mega deals seen in 2009 could lead to further global manufacturing and R&D plant divestitures as these large

pharmaceutical companies look to streamline their merged entities in a bid to realise synergies. Sanofis Aventis aquired Shanta Biotech for a whopping USD 781 million dollars. Recently, Chennai-based Orchid Chemical sold its injectable business to Hospira for USD 400 million, at four times its sales. For Orchid Chemicals, it was need of the hour. The company wanted to wipe its debt of Rs 1,400 crore. Another company in a similar plight this year was Wockhardt. It filed for corporate debt restructuring at a time when its debt was Rs 3,400 crore. It sold its animal health business to Abbott for USD 130 million and 10 hospitals to Fortis Healthcare for Rs 910 crore. 2010 may be a year when inbound deals will be aplenty as blockbuster drugs in the developed markets come close to patent expiry. In spite of all the efforts of the pharmaceutical industry, the health of Americans has failed to improve for the fourth consecutive year. The 2009edition of an annual study, "Americas Health Rankings," developed by a partnership between the United Health Foundation, the American Public Health Association, and Partnership for Prevention found that key factors contributing to this stagnation include unprecedented levels of obesity, an increasing number of uninsured people, and the persistence of risky health behaviors, particularly tobacco use. During the 1990s, the Americas Health Rankings studies found that health improved at an average rate of 1.5% per year. But improvements against national health measurements have remained flat for the last four years. Significant reductions in the prevalence of smoking have not occurred since the early 1990s and have virtually stalled in the last four years. According to the Centers for Disease Control, the adverse health effects from smoking account for an estimated one out of every five deaths each year in the United States. The prevalence of obesity has more than doubled in the last 19 years. One in four Americans is considered obese, putting them at increased risk for health issues such as heart disease, stroke, high blood pressure, type 2 diabetes, and cancer (endometrial, breast, colon, and gallbladder). Nearly 46 million Americans are uninsured, leaving them without adequate medical care for chronic conditions or preventive treatment that would help reduce future illnesses.

"Our collective national failure to successfully address the determinants of health over the past several years is tragically documented in this years report," says Reed Tuckson, M.D., United Health Foundation board member and executive VP and chief of medical affairs, UnitedHealth Group. "Without action in these severe economic times, the harsh findings of this report will only be worse next year for our nation, states, communities, families, and individuals. This is a time for urgent and focused action. Our nations and our childrens health are too important to do otherwise." The United States falls behind 27 other countries in average healthy life expectancy, with an average of 69 years, while Japan leads all countries with an average of 75 years. The United States also has the worst mortality rate from treatable conditions when compared with 18 other industrialized countries, and has fallen four spots in the last five years. Results from a UNICEF study found the United States is second to last among 21 developed nations for child well-being, as the result of high infant mortality rates, a high percentage of low-birth-weight infants, and an average rate of immunizations. In addition, the United States is last in healthcare system performance when compared with Australia, Canada, Germany, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom. Despite spending twice as much as these countries on a per-capita basis, the United States is last on dimensions of access, patient safety, efficiency, and equity.

Scenario of Medical Reps Abroad:

Pharma sales reps can't win these days. In the office, they're worried about their managers handing out pink slips. Out in the field, they're worried about docs shutting doors in their faces--or never opening them at all. A handful of surveys and studies are quantifying these trends. To wit: Drugmakers have cut their sales forces to 92,000 from 102,000 in 2007, and the number is expected to continue its freefall to 75,000 by 2012, according to ZS Associates. The reason: Pharma will save $3.6 billion in the process. Meanwhile, drugmakers have seen their ROI on their sales forces drop precipitously. For every 100 reps who visit a medical practice, 37 get products into the sample cabinet and only 20 talk to a doc face-to-

face, TNS Healthcare has found. Profit per rep visit dropped by 23 percent over 2004-2005. Now, more than a third of med schools require reps to have an appointment before calling on physicians or residents, and about one in four docs works in a practice that refuses to admit reps. Of the 75 percent who do see reps, about 40 percent require appointments--a figure that leapt by 23 percent over the last half of 2008. So not only are doors closing--but they're closing at an increasing pace.

AstraZeneca sales force gets buyout offer

AstraZeneca is offering buyouts to its entire sales force. Yep, you read that right. Pharmalot reports that the U.K.-based drugmaker asked its reps to "self-identify" whether they'd prefer to leave the company with a severance package or stick around. Presumably the company is counting on some portion of its sales force to exit. The question is, how many? The voluntary buyout offer comes almost one year after a round of sales layoffs in AstraZeneca's European operation. Some 1,400 reps were cut at that time, and scuttlebutt around the company said the sales force would shrink even more. Obviously, the rumors were correct. The planned cuts will be part of an overall revamp of the sales operations, which includes combining various sales teams. Fewer teams equals fewer reps. "AstraZeneca is making changes to our sales force, which will be managed first by looking at vacancies and offering field sales employees the opportunity to self-identify whether they are interested in leaving the company," a spokesman told Pharmalot. "We will know the full scope of the changes in the coming weeks." We don't know about you, but we detect the hint of a potential layoff in that statement, if too few reps choose to take their severance and run. But only time will tell.

More docs tell pharma reps to keep out

It's a tough environment out there for pharma sales reps. Working in fear of the next layoff, reps are also finding more and more doors closed in their faces. We've followed plenty of these developments-10

the university hospitals banning reps altogether, the licensing requirement in the District of Columbia, the thicket of new rules on handouts whether they're drug samples or logo pens. Now, individual doctors' offices and group practices are getting harder to penetrate, too. According to a new report from the market research firm SK&A (and outlined by In Vivo), the percentage of doctors who require pharma reps to make an appointment to visit their offices leapt by 22 percent in just 6 months last year. Between June and December, that fraction grew to 38.5 percent from 31.4 percent. Over the same time period, the percentage of docs who won't see reps at all, period, grew to 23.6 percent from 22.3 percent. To drill down a bit: Among GPs, some 40 percent require appointments, up from 33 percent six months previous. Among specialists, the percentage jumped even more, to 36.6 percent from 28.3 percent. And specialty practices are more likely to bar reps completely. SK&A speculates that doctors are busier these days, under pressure to see more patients, and often affiliated with larger organizations that increasingly are imposing systemwide rules for pharma interactions. That must be why more than half of health-system docs require appointments and 35 percent post keep-out signs.

Sales force cuts have only just begun

The Wall Street Journal is finally "officializing" what you pharma sales reps have known for some time: the drug sales world is positively scary. We all know the many drugmakers that have slashed their sales forces in recent months---Merck, ScheringPlough, GlaxoSmithKline, Wyeth, Sanofi-Aventis, and now (reportedly) a big-time axing over at Pfizer. And we expect that trend to continue rather than reverse. According to the WSJ, the size of the drug industry's U.S. sales force has declined by 10 percent to about 92,000 from a peak of 102,000 in 2005. ZS Associates, a sales strategy consulting firm, predicts another drop--this time of 20 percent--to as low as 70,000 by 2015. Not encouraging numbers. And it's still less encouraging to hear, for instance, that Merck ran a pilot program last year under which 11

regions cut sales staff by up to one-quarter and continued to deliver results similar to those in other, uncut regions. This year, that program may go national. Eli Lilly is rolling out some pilot programs of its own, designed to "improve sales-force productivity," and we all know what that means. Those pilots are destined for nationwide expansion, too. We've been hearing rumblings of a big cut in Pfizer's sales force, and now those rumors are hitting the news: Company brass is considering lopping off one-third of its reps and district managers. That's a grand total of 2,400 potential cuts. Earlier this week, the company announced plans to lay off 800 researchers. GSK to cut 1,800 U.S. pharma reps GlaxoSmithKline will be paring away its U.S. sales force, with plans to cut the pharma rep ranks by 1,800. It looks as if about 1,000 will lose their jobs and another 800 will be reassigned in a major sales reorganization that will add weight to the vaccine side and subtract from pharma.

Sanofi to shed up to 650 reps

As you know, Sanofi has already thinned the rep ranks in Europe by about 800. Now, it's going for a "single-digit percentage" reduction in its U.S. sales force, or up to 650 positions. (We know you're math whizzes and have already figured out that Sanofi currently counts 6,500 U.S. reps.)

Schering to axe 1,000 reps

Schering-Plough plans to axe 1,000 reps, or 20 percent of its sales force. a framework of payroll cuts that would save $1.5 billion by 2012. The layoffs would amount to 10 percent of Schering's 55,000strong workforce--half the percentage now slashed from the sales ranks.

Analyst: Contract sales reps rule

Pharma recruiter RSA concurs--not surprisingly, because they place interim staff--saying that as economic conditions worsen, companies will be looking at ways to "switch headcounts 'on and off.'" Of course,

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when head count varies, costs vary, too, helping drugmakers maintain margins on drugs that aren't maintaining sales. Some companies are already doing this; for instance, Merck inked a deal with InVentiv Health for marketing Cozaar and Hyzaar--right after it laid off 1,200 sales reps. The most sensible outsourcing approach, to Ryan's mind, is to use contract sales forces to manage "mature brands" and in-house staff for launches and newer meds.

AstraZeneca adds 7,400 to layoff toll

AstraZeneca aims to save almost $3 billion a year by that time, with most of the savings coming by 2010. So rather than the 7,600 jobs initially slated for extinction, 15,000 is the new goal. No details yet on just where those cuts might focus, though with pharma running fullbore on sales-and-marketing layoffs, we're betting on a good chunk of reps lost among those vanished jobs.

Johnson & Johnson to cut up to 8,000 jobs

Eli Lilly & Co. will shed about 5,500 jobs, or 14 percent of its workforce, and cut $1 billion in costs as the drugmaker braces to lose patent protection on its top-selling Zyprexa antipsychotic.

Kaiser to cut 1,200 jobs in Northern California

Merck & Co. (MRK) has laid off about 750 U.S. sales representatives so far this year as part of a previously announced cost-cutting program designed to offset sluggish sales growth.

King Pharmaceuticals cuts 760 jobs

Glaxos UK rival, AstraZeneca will cut 15,000 staff by 2013, 6,000 more than initially thought, while industry leader Pfizer has acquired US rival Wyeth for $68bn (47bn) as it seeks a different route of consolidation.

More mergers and acquisitions ahead for 2010

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Scenario in US : According to Fitch Ratings (Fitch) predicted that

by 2010, the U.S. health care market outlook is not optimistic, the unemployment rate continued to rise due to population reduction in the level of medical insurance payments will be the main obstacle to affect the market recovery. In addition, due to health system reform, health insurance coverage, as well as changes in the level of public reimbursement of uncertainty will also influence the market for the better. Although the United States have been signs of economic recovery emerged, but is expected in 2010, the American public will continue to maintain a high level of unemployment. The high unemployment rate directly affects the health insurance coverage and the general public's ability to pay for health spending, so Americans will continue to compress routine health expenses, and reduce non-essential care. From a profit perspective, the benefit from the cost of compression, and internal restructuring, the industry before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization profit (EBITDA) is still expected to maintain a stable level. In short, flexible capital spending combined with a stable profit level, will help the industry maintain a stable free cash flow. The U.S. Congress is working on health care reform legislation, the House of Representatives has voted to adopt a health care system reform bill, but the Senate so far on the new version of the medical reform bill has not voted.Therefore, the reform will eventually be what impact the whole industry there is still much uncertainty. At present, the main focus on key issues of reform coverage, the level of the public to pay the competitive environment and industry to carry out several aspects. Far as coverage is concerned, if they can achieve the goal of expanding coverage for industrial development, will be a positive factor, but Fitch also suggested that for the control of total health expenditure, in the coverage at the same time, public health, reduction in the level will be paid inevitable, leading to decline in the level of corporate profits.

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The pressure of public coverage ratio is mainly derived from the decline in Medicare spending, as well as other constraints related to the reform. Which affect the profit margin is the key to the expansion of insurance coverage is sufficient to offset the reduction in gross profit margins, so that profit levels remain relatively stable. Currently, health care reform will be difficult to assess the competitive landscape of the industry as a whole the impact that's certain is that one of the restrictive policy will change the industry's expectations in some areas, resulting in corporate strategy adjustments. The strategic realignment will enable inter-firm mergers and acquisitions to become more active and lead to largescale effects of mergers and acquisitions activity and thus promote more loans, and in the short term to play a stronger leverage effect. U.S. pharmaceutical companies have paid attention to maintain an adequate cash flow. According to statistics of the third quarter of 2009, the U.S. pharmaceutical companies in the previous fiscal year's free cash flow of approximately 46 billion U.S. dollars. However, Fitch's projections, of which about two-thirds of the cash balances are outside the United States and should flow back to the United States. Solvency analysis from the industry in the coming year remain more optimistic level, debt level will be able to reach 5.2 million U.S. dollars, or 93% of the high rate.

The pharmaceutical industry: prospects dim

R & D by pharmaceutical companies against the medical and health system reform, macro-economic environment, recession, a number of patented drugs due and tighter regulatory environment brought about many challenges such as the impact of factors, Fitch predicts 2010 will be the U.S. pharmaceutical industry prospects year. In the United States pharmaceutical companies face the challenges of a number of patents about to expire at the same time, in order to reduce the total cost of drugs, the U.S. health care system prefers to choose generic drugs. In 2010, the pharmaceutical giant is about to 15

expire drugs are: Wyeth's venlafaxine extended release formulations, Merck Cozaar and Hyzaar, Eli Lilly's gemcitabine. However, the joint merger between pharmaceutical giants will help to fill the gaps in drug research and development directory, 2010, the pharmaceutical giant, is expected to increase R & D investment. According to Fitch forecasts that by 2010, the U.S. pharmaceutical sales will remain a small single-digit growth, many of the original study drug makers will face downward pressure on margins. As the industry faces changes in Medicare reimbursement levels of uncertainty and short-term patents expire within a challenge, continue to reduce the cost of management will be conducive to enhance the level of profits. In addition, through merger synergies and restructuring was to increase the profit margin is also an effective measure. Overall, the drug development company's cash flow will remain at relatively stable level. Part of the merger and reorganization of the cash will flow to the enterprise to reduce debt levels. The spirit of the purpose of benefit to shareholders, businesses to maintain or increase through stock dividends and repurchase management of operating cash flow. Medical Devices: stable development 2010, the medical device industry will maintain a more stable development trend.Steady increase in sales and profit levels of firms in obtaining adequate cash flow protection, as a guarantee capital operation, repurchase shares and to carry out mergers and acquisitions. However, in 2010, the industry also faces regulatory environment of uncertainty and the challenges of changing business cycles. Sub-sectors of drug stent market will remain steady, but prices decline, sales growth will remain in the single digits. Introduce new products, and hospital by the impact of bargaining, drug stent showed a downward trend in overall prices.In the new products to market 16

before the pattern of drug stent market will maintain the status quo, according to Fitch forecasts, Abbott's XienceDES, BD's PromusDES in the United States, Europe and Japan accounted for on the market is expected to increase. Pacemaker products sub-industry market sales growth is expected to reach 5%.At present, the use of mild heart failure symptoms in patients with MADIT-CRT has entered the clinical research stage, if the received FDA approval to promote the sale of these products will be a great good. However, pacemaker management products to get a doctor's acceptance is a gradual process, Boston Scientific Corporation (BSX) in patients with mild symptoms of heart failure in clinical research carried out so that it will be the first beneficiary, the future Medtronic (MDT) and St. Jude's (STJ) will also benefit.

Pharma jobs in India: MNCs on a hiring spree in India /Pharma Reps' Worst Fear Is Near: Outsourced to the Internet!
When eDetailing was relatively new in 2003 -- before the dawn of Web 2.0 -- there were about 90,000 pharmaceutical sales reps. In 2007, just when the hype about Web 2.0 began and the physician social networking site Sermo was launched, the number of sales reps peaked at 102,000. Today, there are about 92,000. In 2012, ZS Associates predicts the number will be 75,000 -- the lowest since 1996 when the sales rep expansion was just starting. About 45,000 doctors meet with detailers using online video, and 300,000 physicians say they are open to doing so, said a study from Manhattan Research. This trend is worldwide. Tomorrow, in an exclusive interview with Mark Bard, President Manhattan Research, we will talk about technology adoption and integration trends in physician practices across Asia There seems to be a correlation going on here -- one that sales reps have long feared: as pharma adopts the Internet for reaching physicians, they will start getting rid of sales reps. Those that supported the adoption of eDetailing by the industry used to allay these fears by saying things like "the best eDetailing programs work hand-in-hand with the sales force" and "eDetailing should complement the sales force"

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To be sure, visits by drug reps will not disappear entirely. The hope is that the sales force that survives the layoffs will be "better trained and have a greater depth of clinical and scientific knowledge With Pfizer Inc. dramatically scaling back on its sales force, the drug giant has turned to other promotional methods, nearly doubling its spending on electronic marketing through most of last year.

Health care "reform" profiteers

Opportunist drug and insurance companies are raising their prices and premiums for 2010 to make up for possible health insurance "reform."

A policy that risks women's lives

The Preventative Services Task Force has come out with a way to lower health care costs that could put the lives of thousands of women at risk.

Making money off a pandemic The pharmaceutical industry is

already highly profitable, but this year, it's licking its lips at the prospect of producing vaccines for the swine flu. What does it say about the capitalist system that some of its most profitable companies are happiest when newly evolved and potentially catastrophic viruses emerge to threaten humanity Novartis, one of the main manufacturers and distributors of flu vaccines, is hoping to make a $7 billion windfall profit this year, due largely to the demand around an H1N1 vaccine. The pharmaceutical industry is one of the most profitable industries in the U.S., and this year, all the companies are licking their lips. When the H1N1 pandemic was declared, four of the biggest of these companies--Sanofi-Aventis, GlaxoSmithKline, CSL Limited, and MedImmune--decided to immediately cease production of the seasonal flu vaccine and switch over to the H1N1 vaccine instead. Ironically, the artificial short supply of seasonal flu vaccines, coupled with immense demand by world governments for H1N1 vaccines, has further boosted the profits of these companies. As you learn in any basic economics class, the tighter the supply and the greater the

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demand, the higher will be the price of the commodity, thus ensuring even higher profits. The global vaccine market is expected to double to $35 billion by 2014, but these pharmaceutical companies have much to be happy about right now, in this flu season. They--and the whole for-profit, private health industry in which they are ensconced--need to be thrown on the dustbin of history and replaced by a system in which human need is made the sole guiding factor when it comes to using our vast human and natural resources.

Wall Street swine and the vaccine scandal

The banksters arrogantly jumped to the front of the line for H1N1 vaccine--but the even bigger scandal is the profit-mad behavior of drug companies.

Education becoming a distant DREAM:

THE CONVENTIONAL wisdom is that getting a college education is part of the "American Dream"--and a prerequisite to a good job and successful career. But as the recession deepens, more and more students are finding it difficult or even impossible to pay for school--and higher education is becoming more a preserve of the haves in U.S. society than it has been in several generations.

Fighting to unionize Wal-Mart

If ever there was a workplace that needed a union, it's Wal-Mart, and if ever there was a time for such a union, it's now. Taking on South Carolina's anti-union legacy saw the struggle of sanitation workers in Charleston, S.C., who are fighting to organize a union despite anti-union laws.

Wal-Mart abandons poorest customers:

Look at a store-finder map of the Wal-Marts in Kansas City, Kan., and you'll see they form a ring around the poorest areas. Overall, this selfish, greedy action by Wal-Mart to relocate to an affluent, hightraffic glitzy shopping mecca in the extreme western part of the county/city, where virtually no poor families ever shop, demonstrates its commitment to the continuing exploitation of its workers and the communities of people who depend the most on the low-cost goods it provides.

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Where is the aid in Haiti?

EVIDENCE OF monstrous neglect of the Haitian people is mounting following the catastrophic earthquake on January 12. As life-saving medical supplies, food, water purification chemicals and vehicles pile up at the airport in Port-au-Prince, and as news networks report a massive international effort to deliver emergency aid, people in the shattered city are wondering when they will see help. The staff of the U.S. embassy and U.S. Agency for International Development complex (located a stone's throw from the oceanfront) have fled, and buildings are largely empty, even though the streets in the area are clear. This reflects the desperate conditions in Haiti and the failure of governments like the U.S. to respond.

On Climate Change and a Greener Environment : The Earth is not for sale to business
Before we proceed to discuss on the topic, we need to know certain crude facts of the Real Culprits.

Some 100 people gathered outside the Embassy Suites in the heart of the financial district on January 13 to rally against the Second Annual Carbon Trading Summit, where the world's most powerful institutions and industries discussed new opportunities at profit in the pollution market. The more such companies invest in cleaner alternative methods of production, the more "carbon credits" they acquire, thus allowing them to sell off excess permits, or "carbon credits," to those companies that have exceeded their limits. Basically, it's the invention of a new carbon stock market--the same strategy that brought us subprime mortgages and the "exotic" investment schemes based on them. Despite the cold, the crowd was alive with energy. Many protesters held signs that read, "Capitalism kills the environment," while others chanted, "The Earth is not for sale!" A sense of urgency enveloped the crowd. "Real change in the realities that are destroying the Earth's climate means developing the kind of people's movement that can take the power back from these corporations, With the world population already facing the severe consequences of climate change, including hurricanes, droughts and floods, world leaders continue to provide little to no relief. In addition, they have 20

concocted a plan for climate control that is bound to be a failure, with the exception of lining corporations' pockets. further demonstrated the backward priorities of those in power and of a broader capitalist agenda--not for those who profit but for those who really matter, those who are tired of having their very humanity and environment subjugated under the no-longer-invisible hand of the market.

The people vs. the polluters

The international deal on global warming being cooked up in Copenhagen would punish the worlds poor and reward corporate polluters.

Remembering Seattle during Copenhagen

The mobilization against the WTO in Seattle a decade ago holds powerful lessons for how activists should approach the Copenhagen climate summit.

The victims of killer coal

If you thought smoking cigarettes was bad for your health, try living next to a coal-fired power plant for a while.

Maine says no to Nestl Maine water activists celebrated an

Election Day victory against Nestl's attempts to gain control of water resources in the southern part of the state.

Another town says no to Nestl Citizens of a second town in Maine have voted to keep Nestle from exploiting its groundwater resources for profit. The worlds most toxic nuclear site
The Hanford B nuclear reactor is historic in several ways. For starters, its the most polluted nuclear site on the planet.

Worse than no bill at all New climate legislation relies on freemarket solutions to preserve the environment, but the only thing it will preserve are corporate profits.

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