All Posts Tagged With: "current economic situation"


Pfizer to offer free medications

Jennifer McClelland | RSS | Thu, May 14 2009 | 1 Comment

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Pfizer will begin offering prescription drugs to unemployed people for reduced costs or free. The company will provide 70 of its most popular drugs in the program. The program is targeted at people who have not only lost their job, but also their health insurance.

Right now, there is a huge push in the government circling around health care costs. There are a lot of health care issues, including the high cost to families who are not covered through their jobs or schools.

With the current economic situation, Pfizer is banking on the fact that everyone knows someone who has lost their job or is going without the prescriptions they need because of lack of health insurance and prescription drug coverage.

Pfizer’s plan is likely to gain market share by gaining brand loyalty. Often, people are more welcoming to a company who is doing good things while times are tough.

The 70 drugs that Pfizer will be offering include diabetes drugs as well as some of the company’s top money makers. Lipitor, Celebrex, Lyrica and even Viagra will be covered in the plan. Other types of drugs that are covered are popular drugs like antibiotics, antidepressants, antifungal medications, heart medications, contraceptives and some cheaper generic versions of the drugs.

Pfizer did have a program that ran fun 2004 to 2008 that helped 5.1 million consumers get 51 million Pfizer prescriptions at a reduced cost, or sometimes even for free. The company estimates that they saved families $4.8 billion.

It is nice to see a big pharmaceutical company trying to help out where they see fit. Even though they stand to benefit greatly by implementing this program, it is still going to be very helpful to many families who may be going without the drugs they need to help control some of their illnesses.

I actually don’t have prescription drug coverage, and today I had to make a trip to the doctor following my gallbladder removal surgery and some pain I am having. The doctor prescribed me some sort of drug that helps get rid of bile, but I was unable to buy it today. I am trying another method before I spend the money on the prescription. I hate that I have to decide whether to pay my cell phone bill or have a drug that alleviate my pain symptoms. I actually commend Pfizer for their attempt to start this program.

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The Pitch – Does the falling median home price scare you?

Jennifer McClelland | RSS | Tue, May 12 2009 | 0 Comments

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Does the falling median home price scare you?

Question:

The median home price in the United States seems to keep falling even when news about the economy is picking up. Does this news scare you at all and when do you think the median home price will stop falling?

Answer:
First, I don’t think the news scares me too badly only because the value will eventually go up. The price of homes (at least in my area) will go back up to where they were a year ago in the near future.

This gets me to the second point. I think that a home is one of the most sound investments a person can make. Owning a home is usually the cornerstone of wealth building in America. Many people are proud of the homes they own and in the near future (I would guess in the next two years) people will start seeing their homes as a sound investment again and the real estate market will perk up.

The housing prices in the area where I live (a small college town south of Memphis, TN) haven’t fallen as much as they have in other parts of the country. I am grateful that the prices haven’t fallen so much, but at the same time I know that the housing market has to pick up a bit in order for my house to be able to sell for a price I’m comfortable with so that we can move to an area where my husband and I are able to make more money. A college town may not be the best place to find work when you’ve graduated with a business degree in marketing.

However, looking at the current economic situation and the news that Ben Bernanke keeps coming out with, I think that the housing market will begin to pick up shortly after the economy starts posting growth versus contracting. The contractions are slowing down as well as the rise of unemployment, but until growth is seen, the median price of homes will likely continue to fall.


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The Pitch – What Started The Financial Crisis?

Chris McClelland | RSS | Fri, Mar 27 2009 | 1 Comment



Given the current economic situation that the United States is in, consider and discuss the following.

Question:

Many consider that the government’s failure to act on and help prevent the collapse of Bear Stearns as the starting point of the current financial crisis. In your opinion was the government correct in letting this happen and what should have been done differently. More importantly do you consider this to be the starting factor of the current economic meltdown?

Answer:

The government’s decision to let Bear Sterns fail was not only a warning to financial firms but to buyers and sellers of mortgage backed securities in general. While at the time it was perceived as the right thing to do, because the government was not fully aware how connected the large financial firms had become, it unknowingly led to a sell off in the credit markets.

While I personally believe that Bear Stearns as well as other institutions should be allowed to fail, I personally would not have let the firm collapse. Warning or not, their where several indicators pointing to the possible collapse of the credit market due to a fail in the housing market largely because of the enormous amount of credit default swaps that had occurred between large financial institutions.



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Powell Officially Endorses Obama

Jennifer McClelland | RSS | Sun, Oct 19 2008 | 0 Comments

Former secretary of state and chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Colin Powell gave his official endorsement for Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama. Powell, a Republican, says that he doesn’t like the way Republican presidential nominee John McCain is running his campaign and that the country needs a "generational change." He also went on to say that he still respects and is friends with Senator McCain.

Powell also stated that Senator Obama would be a better choice because of how he’s handling the current economic situation versus McCain. He stated that McCain has been unsure about what to do with the economic problems and everyday it seemed as if he was changing his mind about how to "fix" the problem.

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