Daily Archives: 3 July 2009

U.S. Ignores WHO report on cocaine

“In the case of cocaine there is an even more striking precedent for evidence being ignored: the World Health Organisation (WHO) conducted what is probably the largest ever study of global use. In March 1995 they released a briefing kit which summarised their conclusions, with some tantalising bullet points.

‘Health problems from the use of legal substances, particularly alcohol and tobacco, are greater than health problems from cocaine use,’ they said. ‘Cocaine-related problems are widely perceived to be more common and more severe for intensive, high-dosage users and very rare and much less severe for occasional, low-dosage users.’

The full report – which has never been published – was extremely critical of most US policies.” (Read more from effectmodification.blogspot.com)

Captain Morgan Rum got $2.7 Billion Payout from TARP

I will never drink Captain Morgan Rum. I will never drive a GM car.

“In June 2008, U.S. Virgin Islands Governor John deJongh Jr. agreed to give London-based Diageo Plc billions of dollars in tax incentives to move its production of Captain Morgan rum from one U.S. island — Puerto Rico — to another, namely St. Croix.

DeJongh says he had no idea his deal would help make the world’s largest liquor distiller the most unlikely beneficiary of the emergency Troubled Asset Relief Program approved by Congress just four months later.” (Read more from crooksandliars.com)

TARP loses $159 Billion (so far)

This post is dedicated to all my Obama-supporting friends who told me we needed to prevent our financial system from collapsing, too big to fail, what about the children, etc . . .

“Recall the number of times that government officials told taxpayers that we would make money on investments in AIG and the like. Well, so far we’ve lost $159 billion dollars across all our TARP investments. The loss is calculated as the difference in funds committed and allocated to securities and the market value of those securities. That loss represents 36% of the funds committed and actually allocated.

Not that anybody in the media or the financial industry would want you to know that.”