news


Words of Mao Tse Tung still echo today


By Tom Watkins Mao Tse Tung, the revolu-


tionary leader and founder of modern China, said, “A revo- lution is not a tea party.”


As a country and a state,


we are about to find out just how right he was.


With the Tea Party and


other conservatives riding tall in the saddle after the Nov. 2 elections, a nearly $14 trillion (and rising) national debt and the Presidential Debt Reduction Commis- sion scheduled to release its formal recommendations Dec. 1…well, welcome to the revolution!


As President Obama re-


marked in announcing this 18-member bipartisan com- mission, tasked to make the tough recommendations to get the country’s massive deficit under control, “For far too long, Washington has avoided the tough choices necessary to solve our fiscal problems.”


He is absolutely right.


Yet, any “plan” needs to have a 14-vote super majority on the commission to send the recommendations to Con- gress for action.


Imagine, our $14 trillion


national debt is a $47,000 hammer hanging over every man, woman and child in America. It is past time for America to get its fiscal house in order.


There are only three ways


to balance a budget: increase revenues, decrease expendi- tures or do a combination of the two. So any meaningful debt-reduction reform would have to include doing away with wasteful tax breaks along with spending cuts and “revenue


enhancements,”


aka tax increases. Yet, like any spending


reductions or tax increases, eliminating tax breaks will prove tricky. Four of the most expensive tax giveaways are also the most cherished and guarded: charitable giving, exclusion of the cost of employer-provided health insurance, deduction for home mortgage interest and deduction of state and local taxes.


Our nation has a funda-


mental disconnect with this reality. Under Republican and Democratic administra- tions, we have attempted to have our cake while eating it many times over. We have cut taxes while increasing spending — not to mention attempting to fight two wars at the same time. The reality of this dysfunctional fiscal policy is coming home to roost.


At the state and national


levels, everyone wants to go to heaven, but no one wants to die. Now the reality has set in that it means cutting your favorite program or raising taxes to pay for it.


Our elected leaders at the


federal, state and local levels have been making promises we cannot afford to keep.


Before the ink is dry on


the commission’s report, the left will be calling for more revenue and the right will be predictable in calling for more cuts. Ironically, given the magnitude of the prob- lem, both are likely to get their wish.


The commission, if it


has any backbone, will have to address the third rail of American politics: raising revenue and/or cutting ben- efits for Medicare and Social Security.


So, will we cut Granny’s


Social Security and/or Medi- care benefits or raise taxes and cut tax breaks and close loopholes? There are no easy choices or silver bullets.


Transportation


THE MICHIGAN CHRONICLE


November 24-30, 2010


Page A-5


Progesterone’s effect in children suffering from traumatic brain injury is focus of national study


Hormone shown to have safe and protective effect in two studies of adults with traumatic brain injuries


By Margarita B. Wagerson A University of Michigan researcher


has received a two-year, $600,000 grant to plan a randomized controlled study of progesterone for the treatment of trau- matic brain injury in children.


A multi-center study on the use of pro-


gesterone for the traumatic brain injury in adults is currently under way in the Neu- rological Emergencies Treatment Trials Network but the study excludes children.


Previous single-center human studies Tom Watkins The co-chairs of the Debt


Reduction Commission — Erskine Bowles, president of the University of North Car- olina system and a former White House chief of staff under President Bill Clinton, and Alan K. Simpson, former Republican Senate leader from Wyoming — recently re- leased a draft of their report. The draft recommendations call for deep cuts in domes- tic and military spending starting in 2012 and an over- haul of the tax code to raise revenue. Those changes and others would erase nearly $4 trillion from projected defi- cits through 2020.


Under the draft plan,


higher levels of income would be subject to payroll taxes to ensure Social Security’s solvency for at least the next 75 years. Further, it would reduce Social Security ben- efits to most future retirees — low-income people would get a higher benefit.


Given the results of the


recent national elections, many predict that the ability to garner a 14-vote super- majority of the commission to agree to formally advance these proposals by Dec. 1 is rather slim. Yet the commis- sion may have already done a great service by highlighting, as the co-chairs said in pre- senting the draft recommen- dations, “The problem is real — the solution is painful.”


The report calls for a


strategy of two-thirds cuts and one-third new revenues to address the rising nation- al debt. This once again chal- lenges the conservative and Tea Party contention that the problem can be solved by spending cuts alone.


Hopefully, the Debt Re-


duction Commission will pull together the necessary votes to meet its Dec. 1 dead- line and stimulate action by Congress on the recommen- dations.


As the draft illustrates,


none of the alternatives will be pleasant, because all require sacrifice from the American people.


If we are going to stop


denying reality, it will re- quire real and revolutionary change. The same can be said for the state and local units of governments.


The first step in problem


solving is problem identifica- tion — America and Michi- gan both have major fiscal problems. The sooner we acknowledge our problems and begin to take action, the sooner we can begin the long difficult journey to fiscal re- covery.


Clearly, it will not be a tea


party! Tom Watkins is a busi-


ness and education consul- tant in the U.S. And China. He served as state super- intendent of schools, 2001- 2005 and was the president and CEO of the Economic Council of Palm Beach County, Fla., 1996-2001. He can be reached at tdwat- kins@aol.com


Health Plan of Michigan returns to MTM Medical


Management, Inc. (MTM) re- cently announced today the return of


longtime client,


Health Plan of Michigan (HPM). MTM originally began serving the beneficiaries of HPM in 1999 and continued through 2007. Recently, HPM reselected MTM as their trans- portation manager with ser- vices to begin on November 1, 2010. MTM will coordinate non-emergency medical trans- portation (NEMT) for those HPM members who are other- wise unable to get to and from medical appointments and services.


Health Plan of Michigan is


the largest Medicaid HMO in the State of Michigan, provid- ing health care coverage to over 268,000 Medicaid enroll- ees through a contract with the Michigan Department of Community Health (DCH). Currently, HPM operates in 64 of the 68 counties in the lower


Chase Homeownership Centers. We support communities by helping residents stay in them.


have shown promising results in adults. It is also important to research the hor- mone’s effect on the pediatric population for both safety and efficacy, said Rachel Stanley, M.D., M.H.S.A., assistant pro- fessor of Emergency Medicine and Pedi- atrics in the Department of Emergency Medicine.


Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is the lead-


ing cause of death from trauma, and of death in children. Despite the frequency of TBI (more than 1 million annual cases), its impact on the health of children, and decades of research on the topic, no ef- fective treatment exists for children with TBI.


“Many trials of possible therapies for


TBI in children have failed,” Stanley said. “Conducting future multicenter clinical trials of therapies for TBI requires sub- stantial planning and innovative think- ing.”


Recent studies have shown that pro-


gesterone administration is safe in adults and may have a substantial neuro-protec- tive effect when administered to adults with TBI.


A large ongoing multi-center trial of


progesterone for TBI excluded children because administration of “sex steroids” (like progesterone) to children during growth is untested. Given the differences in TBI between chil- dren and adults, there is a need to adequate- ly plan for a study of the safety and effi- cacy of progesterone for children with TBI, Stanley said.


Stanley will lead


the planning for the execution of a multi- centered, national, U- M-led study that will address issues relat- ed to pediatric patient safety in the emergen- cy department, improving care for injured children in rural settings and innovative treatments for traumatic brain injury.


Rachel Stanley, M.D., M.H.S.A


Progesterone is a potent neurosteroid


that is naturally synthesized in the cen- tral nervous system. Animal studies have shown that early administration of pro- gesterone after experimental traumatic brain injury reduces cerebral edema, neuronal loss, and limits behavioral defi- cits in laboratory animals. Progesterone is an ideal candidate for treatment of TBI for several reasons. Progesterone enters the brain rapidly and reaches equilibrium with the plasma within an hour of admin- istration. Progesterone also has a long history of safe use in men and women.


For the children’s study, the project


will be coordinated through the Pediatric Emergency Care Applied Research Net- work (PECARN), the only federally-funded pediatric emergency research network in the U.S. PECARN conducts high-prior-


ity, multi-institutional research on the prevention and management of acute ill- nesses and injuries in children and youth of all ages.


PECARN has completed several large,


multicenter, clinical studies including a prospective observational study of nearly 45,000 children with head injuries at 25 hospitals. This puts PECARN in an ideal po- sition to plan and conduct a future safety and


Traumatic


brain injury statistics:


efficacy


trial of proges- terone for TBI in children.


The plan-


ning project will establish the


inclu-


s i o n / e x c l u- sion criteria and outcomes for a future trial, conduct an


tional


observa- study


• Brain injury is the most frequent cause of dis- ability and death among children in the United States. More than one mil- lion children sustain brain injuries every year and approximately 165,000 require hospitalization.


• Children aged 0 to 4 years, older adolescents aged 15 to 19 years, and adults aged 65 years and older are most likely to sustain a TBI.


at 15 PECARN sites to, de- termine how many sites are necessary for a future trial and timing of arrival of a legal guardian for consent purposes. The end product of this planning project will be a protocol for a large safety and efficacy trial of pro- gesterone for pediatric traumatic brain injury. This project is currently under way with an end date of the fall of 2012.


• Almost half a million (473,947) emergency department visits for TBI are made annually by chil- dren aged 0 to 14 years.


peninsula. “Providing our members


access to high quality health care is always the top prior- ity,” said Raymond Pitera, vice president of Provider Services for HPM. “Contracting with MTM represents one more way of removing barriers for our members. We look forward to working with MTM with a shared commitment to quality services.


“MTM is excited to once


again serve the HPM ben- eficiaries,” Kim Matreci, vice president of Client Services said, “We are thrilled at the opportunity to provide safe, high quality transportation to important medical services for HPM’s members. We will work tirelessly to exceed HPM’s ex- pectations and those of their members, ensuring a smooth and successful transition, as well as continual excellent service.”


Last year, we helped over 900,000 families avoid foreclosure. Today more than ever, our neighborhoods need help to keep residents in their homes. So we’ve set up Chase Homeownership Centers across the country to help customers in distress get mortgage assistance. It’s more than just community support. It’s community preservation.


Find a Homeownership Center near you at Chase.com/myhome © 2010 JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A. Member FDIC


C3262_7.708x14_BW.indd 1


10/28/2010 11:37:29 AM


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32