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...These panel members and other psychologists and sociologists have long noted that an increase in personal wealth above a certain income (about $12,000 a year per person, in some studies) has only a small effect on life satisfaction. Far more important is a person's relative position in society - how big your house is compared with your neighbor's, as opposed to its absolute size. According to these studies, even if everyone's income rose at a uniform rate - a rising tide lifting all boats - the growth would not make anyone significantly happier, at least not in the long...
...Still, the federal Agency for Toxic Substances & Disease Registry (ATSDR) said in 2003 it found no negative effect on health from the Navy's decades on Vieques. Much of the scientific community howled at that verdict, given that independent studies of hair, vegetation and other local specimens indicate island residents have been exposed to excessive levels of lead, mercury, cadmium and aluminum. "The [ATSDR] conclusion seemed borderline criminal," says former Vieques mayor Radames Tirado, a plaintiff in the Sanchez suit who says at least 13 of his relatives there today have cancer. Says Arturo Massol, a biologist at the University...
...Obama Administration earlier this year, cut name-brand-drug costs 50% for Medicare Part D recipients stuck in the "doughnut hole," the gap in prescription-drug coverage that exists once seniors' drug costs for the year exceed a certain amount ($2,700 in 2009). This provision would go into effect in 2010 and is expected to cost drugmakers $80 billion over 10 years. (Part D beneficiaries who get low-income subsidies, are enrolled in a retiree drug plan or earn more than $85,000 would not be eligible for the discount...
...Diane Ravitch, a pre-eminent education historian at New York University, says Duncan's RTT initiative is in effect an extension of the Bush-era reforms. "This whole fund is being used to lure or bribe or implore or compel states and school districts to do things that we don't actually know are going to make things better," says Ravitch, who is critical of the accountability movement's emphasis on standardized testing. "My biggest problem with Duncan and Obama on education is that they are giving Bush a third term in education." Duncan counters that he is merely breaking...
...What They're Hoarding in Europe: Before the European Union's ban on incandescent lightbulbs went into effect on Sept. 1, consumers across Europe raided stores to stockpile the familiar bulbs. Under the new rules, retailers can continue to sell what they have in stock but won't be able to buy or import more. The policy forces shoppers to switch to environmentally friendly compact fluorescent lamps, which use 80% less electricity. But fans of the traditional lights argue that the new bulbs don't glow as warmly--and that they cost more than twice as much...