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Mike,

I agree to a certain extent with what you say, but there is one thing that I
have to put in my two cents about. The Medicare Prescription Drug Benefit
is a sham and the government did it to themselves for no other reason than
stupidity and greed. By law, Medicare is prevented from negotiating with
the drug companies for bulk discount rates and must pay retail price for the
medications. This is insanity. Ever since the Drug Benefit was enacted,
the pharmaceutical companies raised the prices on the top 20 medications
prescribed to seniors by as much as 3 times the previous amount, and by law
Medicare must pay the price.

Whatever drug company lobbiest got that provision put into the bill when it
was being passed certainly earned his bonus that day. The Drug Benefit had
the potential for producing possibly billions of dollars in savings but not
for the stupidity and greed of our elected officials in DC. Now it's going
to cost us more than it will ever save.

Cheers - Jonathan

"Mike Hunter" <mikehunt2@mailcity.com> wrote in message
news:MhWdnX0k2I0ARgPZUSdV9g@ptd.net...[color=blue]
> Vehicle sales were down by about 1,500,000 in 2005 vis a v 2004, which was
> a record year. It is light truck and SUV sales that are down, not cars
> sales, in general. More importantly US manufactured vehicle retail
> selling prices are down, as much as $5,000 on some light trucks. Lower
> prices, fewer sales and growing costs are having an effect on the
> manufactures.
>
> As the economy, it is certainly not weak. It is the largest economy in
> the history of the country and the federal treasury is taking in more
> money than at any time in our history as a result, particular since the
> recent tax RATE cuts were enacted. The problem is with increased domestic
> spending in time of war. Unlike WWII American are not willing to
> sacrifice to protect their own freedom, they still expect the government
> to provide even more freebees every year, like free prescription drugs.
>
> Unlike my generation, individual responsibility is no longer something
> many Americans care about. It some body else's fault or somebody else
> should pay my bills. The Dims in Congress, for six years, have been
> preventing most every cost cutting bill coming from the Houses, from
> getting through the Senate. The Dims support any bill that spends more
> money so they can take credit on election day for 'supporting the troops
> and helping the working man' knowing they can blame the Republicans for
> deficit spending because many of the uninformed in this country THINK the
> Republicans 'control all three branches.' You hear the Dims doing it
> every day, all the while voting for every spending bill, even for the war
> in Iraq they say they do not support. In the end we all loose.
>
>
> mike hunt
>
>
> "mack" <mackerel@dslextreme.com> wrote in message
> news:129r9oddikiu40@corp.supernews.com...[color=green]
>>
>> "Gosi" <gosinn@gmail.com> wrote in message
>> news:1151181839.874557.177990@i40g2000cwc.googlegroups.com...[color=darkred]
>>> > Recent results from General Motors-the world's largest
>>> manufacturing company-are a case in point. In the second quarter of
>>> this year, despite a weak economy and falling car sales, the company is
>>> losing money.
>>>[/color]
>> "Despite" a weak economy and falling car sales? Don't you mean "Because
>> of"?
>>
>>
>>[/color]
>
>[/color]