Customized cancer treatment?

Wouldn't that be fantastic? When I watched my father being treated for cancer it became clear to me that many doctors subscribe to the "more is better" theory, results be damned. As you might expect, many oncologists also receive money for the chemotherapy drugs they prescribe despite the clear appearance of a conflict of interest. Some might say a conflict in ethics as well but this isn't much of a surprise in either the medical or Big Pharma industry.

Fortunately there are still plenty of great people in the medical community who are trying to find a solution to problems other than their bank accounts. Not only is this important in terms of saving lives and quality of life, but it's also damned important to countries who need to improve the quality of care but do so in a more cost effective way.

The days of one-size-fits-all cancer treatment are numbered: A rush of new research is pointing the way to tailor chemotherapy and other care to what's written in your tumor's genes.

Everyone with advanced colon cancer now is supposed to get a genetic test before taking two of the leading treatments. It's a major change adopted by oncologists last month after studies found that those pricey drugs, Erbitux and Vectibix, won't work in 40 percent of patients.

Scientists are furiously testing similar genetically tailored care in breast and lung cancer. It's a flurry of work that reflects a huge problem: Most medications today benefit at best about half of patients but it usually takes trial-and-error to tell.

That means a lot of people suffer side effects for nothing, and it's incredibly costly. When the American Society of Clinical Oncology recommended giving colon cancer patients that $300 test for a gene called KRAS, it estimated the move could save a stunning $600 million a year — by keeping drugs that cost up to $10,000 a month away from patients who won't benefit.

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You go girl

The White House has released a photo essay about the economic stimulus package, and how it came about. The caption to the photo above is a keeper:

Jan. 27, 2009: House Republicans surround the President after the meeting. Many of them were seeking his autograph. Every House Republican eventually voted against the bill.

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Russian billionaires lose billions in crisis

As dramatic as their gains were last year, the losses are even more dramatic. They still have healthy bank accountants though it would be interesting to see how these losses are impacting the rest of the Russian population.

Russia's super-rich are also super-losers in the financial crisis, according to the business magazine Finans, which said Monday the top 10 wealthiest Russians lost about two-thirds of their fortunes over the past year.

The magazine's annual list of Russia's richest shows them suffering breathtaking losses as the country faces its worst financial crisis in a decade. Oleg Deripaska, who had topped Finans' list in the previous two years, fell to eighth place after losing some 85 percent of his wealth -- down to $4.9 billion from $40 billion, Finans estimated.

Mikhail Prokhorov, the playboy metals and banking billionaire who sold his stake in mining company Norilsk Nickel early last year, moved up from seventh place to top the list with a fortune of $14.1 billion, down from $21.5 billion a year ago, the magazine said.

Roman Abramovich, owner of Britain's Chelsea Football Club and a stake in steelmaker Evraz, held on to second place. But his fortune, estimated last year at $23 billion, has shrunk to $13.9 billion.

Russia's stock markets lost 70 percent of their value last year, while the national currency has lost 35 percent since the summer. Aggressive geopolitical rhetoric and worsening corporate governance drove many investors away, while plunging prices for oil and metals underscored the fragility of Russia's eight-year oil-fueled boom.

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UK to ban executive bonuses at banks

The move comes with broad support from both the left and the right as well as most voters. Enough is enough.

The government yesterday publicly hardened its position on bank executive bonuses saying it will be "very, very robust" in clamping down on bonuses for 2008 in banks in which it holds shares. It will only allow modest payments for clerks earning around £20,000 a year.

It came as David Cameron said he would cap all 2008 bonuses at £2,000 for staff in banks owned or partly owned by the government. He also said the government should be willing to sue any bank executive who insisted their contract entitled them to a large bonus for the year.

The government shift, after intense private disagreements within the cabinet, came amidst reports that Lloyds plans to pay out up to £120m in bonuses for 2008 to thousands of staff. Its chief executive, Eric Daniels, came under intense pressure after Friday's shock profits warning caused by the HBOS banking group it rescued four weeks ago. The bank insisted that bonuses were typically £1,000 or less.

Daniels and other members of the Lloyds board have been banned from taking bonuses after receiving £17bn of taxpayers' funds to bolster the bank but Daniels has always insisted that staff should be allowed to receive their bonuses, which are typically around 10% of their salary.

The government's bonus clampdown comes as polls suggest Labour may be losing support to the Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats over the issue.

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Dubai is falling apart

Couldn't have happened to nicer people.

[F]aced with crippling debts as a result of their high living and Dubai’s fading fortunes, many expatriates are abandoning their cars at the airport and fleeing home rather than risk jail for defaulting on loans.

Police have found more than 3,000 cars outside Dubai’s international airport in recent months. Most of the cars – four-wheel drives, saloons and “a few” Mercedes – had keys left in the ignition.
...
Those who flee the emirate are known as skips.
...
“There is no way of tracking actual numbers, but the anecdotal evidence is overwhelming. Dubai is emptying out,” said a Western diplomat.

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British economy forecasted to shrink 3.3% in 2009

The problem with this forecast, like most forecasts related to banking these days, is that in only a few months, the forecast has become even worse. It's important to see some level of stability, as boring as that may be, and then beat a forecast. The more "even worse" forecasts and deliverables we see, the longer the recession.

Britain will fall into a deeper economic recession than previously thought, the Confederation of British Industry said on Monday, as tight credit conditions and a global downturn weigh down on companies.

And the weak pound will provide little impetus because the severity of the downturn in Britain's overseas markets will depress demand even as goods become cheaper to import.

The CBI reckons the UK economy will shrink by 3.3 percent this year, almost twice as bad as its last estimate in November for a contraction of 1.7 percent. It estimates the economy will not grow at all in 2010.

Growth in 2011 still sounds like a dream. Read More......

Joe Lieberman, my hero

Not really. And before anyone says "see, Joe Lieberman saved the stimulus package, so you were wrong to always criticize him" - let's review the facts.

1. Lieberman sells out repeatedly
2. As punishment, the Netroots forces Lieberman to loose his primary.
3. Lieberman forced to run as an independent.
4. Lieberman endorses John McCain, sells out again.
5. Netroots pressures Dems to dump Lieberman from caucus.
6. Obama swoops in and promises to save Lieberman if he toes the line (this is speculative, but you know it happened).
7. Lieberman finally toes the line, saves stimulus.

Who gets credit for Lieberman's downfall, and putting Lieberman into a situation where he had to start acting like a real Democrat? The Netroots. Read More......

Did Burris commit perjury to defend Blago?

Good thing the Dems caved and seated Burris. He seems like such a nice man.

I'll leave it to the proper investigative bodies to decide whether Roland Burris committed perjury last month in testimony before the Illinois House impeachment committee. From a strict legal perspective, maybe he didn't.
But I'll tell you straight up, our new U.S. senator proved himself to be a lying little sneak.

The word preposterous comes to my mind to describe Burris' explanation -- and accompanying performance Sunday -- in which he basically says his previous failure to disclose relevant contacts with Rod Blagojevich's inner circle about the Senate vacancy was simply a matter of everyone else's failure to ask him the right questions or give him time to answer.

I was at that hearing, and I have reviewed the transcript. Burris had plenty of opportunity to tell the whole truth and, for whatever reason, failed to do so.

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The dangers of CFLs, and what Obama can do about it

Anybody switching their bulbs to Compact Fluorescents (CFLs)? Good for you - they're a lot more energy efficient, save you money, and help the environment (well, other than the fact that you may have buy a hazmat suit if you break one). The thing is, CFLs may pose another danger. Fire. Lamps and other light sockets in America have a neat little sticker on them telling you the largest bulb you can safely put in them (such as, "Max 60w"). The problem? That tends to be incandescent wattage, not CFL wattage. A 42w incandescent bulb is very weak. A 42w CFL bulb is incredibly strong, and gives off a LOT of heat. I have some lamps I bought from Ikea just a year or two ago. The lamps claim I can put up to a maximum of a 60w bulb in them. Well, I called 1000bulbs.com, a leader in selling light bulbs, and asked them what's the largest CFL I could put in there, SAFELY, in order to use it as a grow light for my orchids. They told me 42w. Specifically, the woman said that perhaps I could put larger, but she wasn't convinced it was safe.

Now, call me stupid, but most Americans will see "max 60w" and they'll believe "max 60w". With the entire nation being urged to switch to CFL bulbs, someone needs to step in fast and educate people as to whether or not it's safe to use the current maximum wattage stickers for new CFLS. Because from what I hear, it isn't. (Not to mention, a lot of us have lights and fixtures built a little before three years ago - so even if new technology lists what the CFL max is (and I'm not convinced it does), what about all the lights in your home that were bought and built more than a few years ago? They al have the old stickers.)

Now that I'm a homeowner - albeit one who is too upper middle class, and got too much of an education, to get any help at all from the Democrats - I'm dealing with the "maximum wattage" problem. It's a big problem if you're trying to go green. Read More......

Cranky McCain is back and mad at Obama

Seriously, who cares what John McCain thinks?

The Arizona Republican says the $787 billion measure will create what he calls "generational theft" — huge federal deficits for years to come.

McCain, who lost the presidential race to Obama, says the president is backtracking on promises of bipartisanship. McCain is not happy with the process that led to passage of the stimulus bill. He calls it a bad beginning to Obama's presidency.

McCain acknowledges that Republicans excluded Democrats when the GOP held power on Capitol Hill. But he says Obama had promised to work differently.

McCain offers this advice: "Let's start over now and sit down together."

Start where? Let's review: John McCain was one of 36 Republicans to vote for Senator Jim DeMint's amendment to remove ALL spending from the economic recovery package. Krugman, who called the GOP Senators who voted against the stimulus package "the crazy 36" noted that DeMint's amendment:

would have replaced $800 billion of stimulus with $3.1 trillion of non-stimulative tax cuts. These, by the way, are the same people now accusing Obama of engaging in “generational theft.”

Crazy. But, that's John McCain's terminology.

How can Obama negotiate with people who really are that extreme? It was actually the Republicans, including McCain, who excluded themselves from the deliberations because of their adherence to Bush's failed economic philosophy.

And, lest we forget, John McCain never really got the magnitude of the economic crisis, which is one reason that he isn't president. Remember, McCain still thought the fundamentals of our economy were strong on September 15, 2008, the day we learned Lehman Brothers disappeared:

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Monday Morning Open Thread

Good morning.

It's Presidents Day (or Presidents' Day or even President's Day). However one writes it, isn't it refreshing to have a President who makes us proud of the office again? It's been a long time. And, it's been hard to "celebrate" a holiday about presidents, even one that honored truly great Presidents, when the occupant of the office was such a disaster. I think we once again say "Happy Presidents Day" and mean it.

Thread the news.. Read More......

BMW cuts UK workers on one hour notice

Disgraceful. As low as Detroit can be, even they would hesitate to fire people on such short notice.

There was anger today as BMW confirmed that 850 jobs were being cut by ending weekend working at its Mini car plant near Oxford.

The cuts will mostly affect agency workers when they come into force from 2 March when the plant begins operating five days a week, instead of the current seven.

Union sources said workers booed and threw apples and oranges at managers after being told they were losing their jobs.

Agency workers leaving Cowley this morning expressed their fury at being given just one hour's notice of the redundancies.

"It's a disgrace. I feel as though I've been used," said one worker. "We should have been given one month's notice, not one hour."

Axed agency staff were given the grim news in meetings at the factory following weekend speculation that hundreds of jobs were to go.

Almost a third of the Cowley workforce are agency staff and some complained today they would not receive any redundancy pay.

The contract staff, who have few employment rights, were brought in to work alongside full-time employees on the production lines, which built 230,000 vehicles last year.

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