NPR reported yesterday that the popularly reported stories about a shortage in bullets used by police departments are partly wrong. Yes, there is a mild blip in deliveries to police departments, but NPR says the "shortage," such as it is, is not due to the Iraq war, as is often reported.
NPR says the real cause of the "shortage" is the rising price of copper. Ammo prices have spiked, so government agencies and civilians, fearing a price rise, have been buying larger than normal quantities of bullets. That, NPR says, is causing a temporary supply-and-demand issue.
As Al's Morning Meeting readers pointed out a couple weeks ago, the military uses very few of the same bullets as civilians.
Concierge Health Care Movement
The Houston Chronicle explains how some doctors are charging big bucks for special attention:
It is known as concierge medicine, a revolt against what many doctors
consider the McDonaldsization of contemporary health care. The premise
is simple: Fees collected from patients allow the doctors to slash
their caseloads and spend more time on those who remain. It also allows
them to increase their income.
The story continues:
"Concierge care is like a country club for the rich," U.S. Rep. Pete
Stark, D-Calif., said at a 2004 congressional hearing into the
practice. "The danger is that if a large number of doctors choose to
open up these types of practices, the health-care system will become
even more inequitable than it is today."
Three years later, the number of concierge doctors still is small --
probably about 300, an amount a federal study found too tiny to worry
about yet -- but the movement is slowly building momentum. Initially
concentrated on the coasts, it has infiltrated a majority of states.
The movement's origins are often traced
to Seattle, where the former team doctor of the NBA Supersonics and a
partner set up a different kind of practice in 1996: treating 50
families for a fee of $20,000 per family per year.
For that price and less -- most high-end models cost $5,000 to
$10,000 annually -- patients are treated in surroundings often described
as spa-like. Amenities include luxury robes, shower facilities,
personal toiletries, cable television and Internet access.
Most concierge practices are decidedly less expensive, say, $1,200
to $2,000 a year, and the caseloads more like 300 to 600 (down from
1,500 to 5,000). The point, doctors claim, is not pampering, but
personalized, preventive medicine — the kind of medicine that requires
real relationships with patients, freedom to conduct appropriate tests,
lengthy appointment times.
Business First reports:
A new study says U.S. chief executives at large companies made as
much money in one day last year than average workers were paid over the
entire year.
The report, "Executive Excess 2007: The Staggering Social Cost of U.S.
Business Leadership," [PDF] compiled by the Institute for Policy Studies and
United for a Fair Economy, said the private equity boom "has pushed the
pay ceiling for American business leaders further into the economic
stratosphere."
The American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations' Web site tracks CEO pay.
'Microfinance' Loans to Change the World
I have learned a lot from Dateline NBC's John Larson over the years, but I didn't expect to learn how to save the world from him. Recently John, who has taught with us at Poynter many times, told a story online about a group called Kiva.org. (
Click here to watch John's video.) The group finds people around the world who need small loans to start or improve their businesses. The loans, as little as $25, are coupled with other small loans from people just like you. This is not a handout -- it is a real loan, and the borrowers from Kiva almost never default.
This MSNBC.com blog says:
I went to the site and picked a few small businesses to support,
including two medical clinics in Kenya, a blacksmith in Ecuador, a
flower store in Cameroon, a grocery in Ivory Coast and a grocery in
Paraguay (five of the six entrepreneurs are women). Within 24 hours, I
had already received a note that the grocer in Paraguay had received
the loan.
Here is a video from The New York Times, in which
a journalist actually traveled to Afghanistan to meet a baker who needed a few hundred dollars to improve his small bakery business.
The Wall Street Journal explains how micro-finance loans and social networking Web sites can make a big difference.
Click here for a list of some of the more popular online sites that especially seek out young people as donors.
Based on John's story, I "invested" in a
pharmacist in Azerbaijan who wants to buy some eyeglasses to sell. Right now, people in his village have nowhere to buy glasses. I also "invested" in a
man who lives in South America. He is in the bottled water business and needs to buy more big plastic water bottles.
Al's Morning Multimedia: Winning Examples From RTNDA Awards
The Radio-Television News Directors Association (RTNDA) is now putting the
2007 national Edward R. Murrow Award winning stories online. This is a great learning tool for newsrooms and educators.
Are September 11th Memorials Still Important?A New York Times column asks if 9/11 memorial services are still needed six years later.
This Web site urges people to pledge to do a good deed on Sept. 11. So far, more than 166,000 people have signed up.
What I Learned in DenmarkYou may have seen coverage
over the weekend of the unrest in Copenhagen. I was in Denmark
teaching all last week and learned a lot about its remarkable culture.
- The sales tax is 25 percent, but it's lower for food, books and cultural
activities.
- The government pushed a campaign that urges Danes to eat six servings
of fruit a day. They are the best fruit eaters I have ever seen. They also ride bikes, walk and run in impressive numbers.
- When one
goes to the grocery, one deposits a coin in a rack to obtain a shopping
cart, sort of like the luggage carts you would see in American
airports. You get the coin back when you return the cart, so you don't
see shopping carts all over store parking lots.
- Denmark's journalists get one paid week of training
a year by national contract. Many Danish journalists graduate from the Danish School of Journalism, which
has about 1,100 full-time students.
- You also hear a lot of talk about Greenland these
days. Denmark is very interested in finding what are suspected to be large oil and gas reserves around Greenland. The Danes would like to find a way to show that a ridge that the
Russians are trying to claim really extends from Greenland. This would allow Denmark to stake a claim.
- Also last week, there was an unusual story of a bunch of bikini-clad women who were trying to celebrate the anniversary of "The Little Mermaid." The demonstration, however, was interrupted by a bunch of guys dressed up as
sharks. I asked my friends what the heck it was all about, and they
shrugged their shoulders, saying, "It's a Danish thing."
We are always looking for your great ideas. Send Al a few sentences and hot links.
Editor's
Note: Al's Morning Meeting is a compendium of ideas, edited story
excerpts and other materials from a variety of Web sites, as well as
original concepts and analysis. When the information comes directly
from another source, it will be attributed and a link will be provided
whenever possible. The column is fact-checked, but depends on the
accuracy and integrity of the original sources cited. Errors and
inaccuracies found will be corrected.
Al, The military has a dedicated ammo factory located in...
