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Friday, March 21, 2008

It's ALL Good!

I keep hearing that phrase in reference to a wide variety of situations. Lately I’ve been thinking that perhaps this flood of information in the form of glossy print advertising, telling us the secret to good health, extended years of life, energetic old age, etc. is ALL good information. After all, “they” all claim that there has been a ton of research or at least they provide page after page of testimonials from the thousands who have turned their lives around using a certain exercise product, nutritional supplement, aromatic candle, or mind-altering CD. How are we to know just what is good and what is not? How are we to decide which new product is the one we have been needing to resolve our nagging health concerns, or help us avoid future health concerns? We are clearly suffering from information overload, especially those of us who are part of the baby boomer generation who have eased into that stage of our lives when we finally start paying attention to our health. Oh, we now understand that we should have been paying attention to it a few decades ago, but we cannot turn back the clock. Well, some marketers are now telling us we can even do that if we just sink a chunk of change into their latest gadget or gimmick. With so much information coming at us how is it that I can say that it’s all good? I say it’s good because at least it is causing a few of us to pay attention, and to start asking questions. It’s stimulating some of us to take charge of our own health, instead of leaving it all to chance. But let’s say that you agree with me that there are certain nutrients that you probably should be concerned about, and that there are those that might help you with certain health issues. How can you decide what to take and what to avoid? If we invested in all the wonderful nutrients and herbs and vitamins we read about, we would probably create a few new problems to deal with. For one, we would be broke. So what should we do? Here’s my humble opinion. I am not a medical professional. I cannot, and do not, give medical advice. So what I am about to say is worth every penny you are paying for it.
First, do your own research. Second, ask your doctor or nutritionist. Third, work on only the one or two most important health concerns you have at a time. It is amazing how often resolving one major issue leads to a cessation or noticeable reduction of other problems. To illustrate, here’s a scenario that has been repeated countless times.
Ada Z goes to the doctor because she is tired all the time, she has no energy, her back hurts, her ankles ache, she gets headaches in the afternoon, she is a little lightheaded when she gets up each morning, she get indigestion all the time, her head is stopped up constantly. The list of complaints goes on and on. Ada Z (A to Z) has a very good doctor who takes the necessary time to actually do a good workup on Ada. He orders a few simple tests, and gives Ada a call when he has all the information he needs to help her. Ada visits the doctor and after hearing his recommendations, pays for the visit and leaves, silently vowing to find another doctor. Why? Well, Ada is upset and disappointed that after spending money for the office visits and getting all that lab work done, all this very good doctor did was tell Ada that she needs to lose about 30 pounds and drink more water. Ada is indignant. She knows that she is a little heavy, but that’s what happens as you get older, right? And besides, he didn’t even give her a prescription!
Sadly, that is the reaction of far too many people in similar situations. Sadder still is the fact that some doctors succumb to the pressure put upon them by patients and pharmaceutical companies to write prescriptions. Patients demand drugs, and not just ANY drugs. They want the one they saw on TV this morning. Drug companies have invented illnesses and given them names so they can sell some new concoction and do what they are all in the business for – make money for their shareholders. But this very good doctor knows that Ada is chronically dehydrated, and this causes many of her body systems to function at less than peak efficiency. In addition to that, Ada is putting a lot more strain on her back and her ankles, and soon her knees and hips, because of the “little bit of extra weight” she is carrying around. A drug to put her to sleep, a drug to clear her nasal passages and sinuses, a drug to ease the joint pain, a drug to relax the muscles, a drug for vertigo for her light headed mornings, a drug for her indigestion, a little something for those headaches, and Ada would have left the doctor’s office feeling like she was already on the road to recovery. But she would have still been overweight and under-hydrated. And all those symptoms would have simply returned as soon as she ran out of the drugs, and maybe they would be even worse on the next go ‘round.
So here is my opinion, my non-medical advice. Be honest with yourself. Do some research for yourself. Find and learn to appreciate and listen to a good doctor who is not so quick on the draw with that prescription pad. And last, either be determined to do what you need to do to maintain good health or correct the problems you can correct, or learn to endure those things you cannot or will not address. Along the way, there may be an occasion for some properly prescribed medication. Strep throat comes to mind. Otherwise, quit being satisfied with treating symptoms instead of getting to the root cause of your problems and seriously attacking those. Ada could probably manage to drink another few glasses of water each day without any major disruption to her life. She could probably park a few rows further away from the grocery store, maybe walk up a flight to get to her office and avoid the elevator, and maybe skip a bowl of ice cream or two along the way. But that would mean that she had to make her health her responsibility.

Wednesday, March 19, 2008

Why are gas prices so high?

Well, once again, the same tired e-mail is circulating telling us how we can supposedly force the gas stations to lower their prices at the pump. Ridiculous!!! Think about it. why would gas prices be any different than any other commodity? If there is plenty of...milk, and you don't like the price at store A, you drive to store B, check the price and, if it is lower, you buy your milk there. Now, if enough people discover that store B can save them money on milk, store A might possibly be forced to either lower their price on milk to compete, or settle for selling less milk, right? Simple theory. Fundamental example of a free market economy. Now, it is unlikely that one person switching stores would have any impact at all, but this person tells all his or her friends where to buy cheap milk, and together, they all spread the word, so that soon, store B is having trouble keeping up with the demand. To slow the demand, and perhaps to take advantage of the increased flow of customers, store B raises their price on milk. Meanwhile, store A realizes that they have lost business, and to some extent, they lower their milk price. Now both stores are selling some milk, and customers are happy. That is what happens when there is plentiful supply and sufficient demand. But let's look for just a minute at the gas situation. We have, on a global scale, finally crossed the line between a supply driven gas price to a demand driven price structure. Why? That's very simple. We now have more demand than supply. With China soon moving from a few million vehicles to hundreds of millions, that demand is not likely to drop, is it? Here is a whole new demand source for a constantly dwindling supply of fossil fuel, and the supply that remains is increasingly more difficult, and expensive, to get to. So, boycott whatever company you want to for however long you like, the supply won't grow a bit, and the demand will still have grown tremendously. You may SHIFT the demand from one company to another, but you won't shrink that demand. So it is well past time to quit sending this silly e-mail around the world, and focus instead on how to shift a significant part of the demand to some other fuel source, like hydrogen, solar power, etc. We have now produced something over a trillion barrels of oil so far, and some "experts" believe that there is still about 2 trillion more barrels in the earth...somewhere. Much of it might be under very deep water, and we're exploiting that already. Much of it is in oil shale, and technology is making that more practical to get too. But if you believe anything about the oil crisis, believe this. IT WILL NOT BE ENOUGH.

Now, that is just my opinion, based on all that I've read on the subject, and on what I recall of a very well researched lecture I saw on TV several months ago in the wee hours. I'd be happy to hear your opinion, or to try to field your questions. I'm no expert, so your input can only help.

Monday, March 10, 2008

Not in a recession yet, but this may be worse than you think

Interesting information. At present, with the decline in housing values at around 8.4% nationally, 13.5% of homeowners now owe more than their homes are worth. But this is happening with only with an 8.4% fall in the housing market. What happens with a 15% or 30% fall? Goldman-Sachs, now praised for avoiding the pitfalls of sub-prime lending, projects that this won't bottom out until we reach 15% or even 30%. First American Finance (NYSE:FAF) calculated the effect on homeowners if housing prices started falling, using data from December 2006 (and they certainly have started falling, haven't they?) Brace yourself! These numbers can be shocking. Already at 8.4%, what would happen if the prices drop to 15%? At that po8int about 21% of homeowners would be "upside down" in their mortgages. And to satisfy those who believe it could continue to a 30% decline in home prices - that would leave 39% of homeowners owing more than their homes are worth. Now, you may think that this will not affect you because you have built a lot of equity in your home. Or perhaps your mortgage is paid off. Good for you! Maybe you don't have a Adjustable Rate Mortgage. Good for you again!! But, you will still be hit with the effects of this crunch in one way or another. You see, what frankly scares a lot of lenders at this point is that it might become more attractive, and even financially less damaging, for some of these folks caught up in the squeeze to simply walk away from their mortgages. When and if this happens is large numbers, credit of any kind for anyone will become far more difficult to obtain, and prices of everything could go thru the roof. In addition, the impact on your home value, when so many homes are being seized in foreclosures, may shock you and alter your own financial planning significantly. It has already become far less attractive for many people to own a home. In fact, the new reality maybe that home ownership is not going to be the American dream that it once was. So watch the news, keep your powder dry, and stay flexible. None of us will escape the effects of this trend, recession or not. That's my opinion. What's yours?

Tuesday, March 4, 2008

Treatment without diagnosis is malpractice

This is not a political blog and it will not turn into one. But perhaps you would like to know a bit more about this recession we keep hearing about and reading about in the media. We have not been in a recession ...yet. Technically, Bush was correct, though many people don't want to believe that for one reason or another. A recession can only be properly identified after two consecutive quarters when there has been a decline in the GDP. Jul-Sept the economy grew at a 4.6% pace. That slowed to a .4% increase in the Oct-Dec quarter, but still it was an increase, not a decrease. Based on other economic indicators, there are difficult economic times upon us, but not a recession. If we find in mid to late April that the first quarter was a negative, then we still can't declare a recession until a second consecutive quarter of decline. That's the accurate answer to the question that the media seems to have already answered, perhaps driving the nail deeper before the fact rather than being content to simply report what has occurred. Typical. I did a little research in the wee hours of the morning. Warren Buffet says we are in a recession. He's wrong. Sometime in July we might find that the first two quarters of 2008 were the beginning of a recession, but before then it's just hype and hysteria. It's like telling someone they have terminal cancer before any lab results have come back. You will certainly get their attention, just as all this media talk about recession has. But let's not create the news. Do you agree?