In Vermont, Frustrations Mount Over Affordable Care Act

Abstract: BURLINGTON, Vt. — Just a few years ago, lawmakers in this left-leaning state viewed President Obama’s Affordable Care Act as little more than a pit stop on the road to a far more ambitious goal: single-payer, universal health care for all residents. Then things unraveled. The online insurance marketplace that Vermont built to enroll people in private coverage under the law had extensive technical failures. The problems soured public and legislative enthusiasm for sweeping health care changes just as Gov. Peter Shumlin needed to build support for his complex single-payer plan. Finally, Mr. Shumlin, a Democrat, shelved the plan in December, citing the high cost to taxpayers. He called the decision “the greatest disappointment of my political life.” As the United States Supreme Court prepares to rule in a case that could gut a major element of the Affordable Care Act — federal subsidies for low- and middle-income people — Vermont should have little to worry about. Only states that use the federally run insurance marketplace stand to lose subsidies if the court rules against the Obama administration, and Vermont is among the 14 states that fully run their own. But even though its residents’ subsidies appear safe for now, Vermont stands as a cautionary tale. Despite an eventual cost of up to $200 million in federal funds, its online marketplace, or exchange, is still not fully functional, while disgust with the system is running deep among residents and lawmakers alike. Meanwhile, the hopes for a single-payer system, once tantalizingly close, may be lost for years. Under such a system, the government operates one health insurance plan for all residents, covering their medical costs instead of having private insurers do it. “It’s just been a spectacular crash, really,” said State Representative Chris Pearson, a member of Vermont’s Progressive Party. “We’ve gone from this vision of being the first state to achieve universal health care, to limping along and struggling to comply with the Affordable Care Act.” Image Gov. Peter Shumlin announced in December that he was shelving a plan to create the nation’s first single-payer health care system. Credit Glenn Russell/The Burlington Free Press, via Associated Press The bitterness stems partly from the fact that Vermont had some of the biggest elements of the Affordable Care Act in place long before it took effect. Health insurance companies here already could not refuse to cover people, or charge them more, if they had pre-existing medical conditions. The state also already had more generous Medicaid eligibility rules than most, and programs that helped lower-income people pay for private insurance, which made it less expensive for many than the new exchange plans. To many Vermonters, the new federal law complicated a state system that had already provided good coverage and muddied the route to an even better model. “This law, by preserving the private insurance system and treating health care as a commodity, made us do things that Vermont otherwise wouldn’t have done,” said James Haslam, the executive director of the Vermont Workers Center, a grass-roots group that has made universal, government-financed health care its central cause. To strengthen support for such a system, the workers center is dispatching volunteers like Alissa Carberry, 24, to talk about their disappointment with the Affordable Care Act and why the state should not give up on its single-payer dream. Ms. Carberry, a child care worker with Type 1 diabetes who earns $30,000 a year, said the insurance that her employer provided last year, from Vermont Health Connect, had a $1,900 deductible. Even after she met the deductible, she said, she still had to pay 40 percent of the cost of supplies like an insulin pump. She dropped the plan this year and switched to her partner’s insurance, which is less expensive but still onerous. “Let’s continue to work for something better,” Ms. Carberry said. Under the single-payer law that the Vermont Legislature passed in 2011, the state was to seek a waiver in 2017 to trade its insurance exchange for the government-run system. Most of its 625,000 residents would be eligible for a uniform package of benefits under that system, which would be financed with a mix of state and federal funds. The Health Care Supreme Court Case: Who Would Be Affected? A look at the major issues at stake in King v. Burwell and the results of the ruling. But Mr. Shumlin and his advisers concluded the plan would require “enormous” new taxes, including an 11.5 percent payroll tax on all Vermont businesses and a sliding-scale income tax of up to 9.5 percent. In all, he said when he announced that he was shelving it, the plan would require about $2.5 billion in additional revenue in its first year, in a state that raises only about $2.7 billion in taxes annually. Many Vermont health care advocates say support for the governor’s plan was also seriously eroded by dysfunction in the state online insurance marketplace. Problems with that exchange had “hurt, there’s no doubt,” public confidence in the effort to achieve single-payer universal coverage, Mr. Haslam said. Other state-based exchanges have experienced as much or more turmoil: Oregon and Nevada essentially shut down their marketplaces last year, requiring residents who want subsidized insurance to enroll instead through the federal marketplace, HealthCare.gov . Hawaii is also planning to switch to the federal exchange this fall, at least temporarily, after running out of money. Massachusetts was forced to rebuild its exchange last year after it failed to function, and has spent more than $250 million, mostly in federal funds, on it so far. A number of state-based exchanges, after receiving a total of nearly $5 billion in federal establishment grants, are also encountering financial problems because they now must cover their own costs. But Vermont, with its initial view of the Affordable Care Act as a bridge to a single-payer system, is in a singularly unhappy position. “There’s a backlash against all things health care reform because Vermont Health Connect has been such a bad experience,” said Trinka Kerr, the chief health care advocate at Vermont Legal Aid, which gets several hundred calls a month from people who have encountered problems with the exchange, including billing errors and even delayed access to care. “Sometimes they’ll say, ‘I’ll just go without insurance,’ and we try to convince them that’s not a good plan. They don’t like the way this is working and want to go back to the old way.” Image Trinka Kerr, chief health care advocate at Vermont Legal Aid, a Burlington-based group that fields hundreds of calls per month from people having trouble with the state’s insurances exchange. Credit Jacob Hannah for The New York Times Rob Muessel, a self-employed security consultant from Shelburne, is one of those people. He said he spent hours on the phone with Vermont Health Connect representatives over the past year, trying to resolve problems. Most recently, when his daughter got a job with benefits in March, he called the marketplace to get her taken off his plan. Six weeks passed before he got a call back from an exchange employee, who had to spend more than two hours helping him redo his entire application for what should have been a simple fix. “That just blew my mind,” said Mr. Muessel, 61. “I think it’s time to pull the plug, because it may just be an unending money pit.” In a blistering report released in April, Douglas Hoffer, the state auditor, detailed a number of unresolved problems with Vermont Health Connect and said it would be “prudent” to develop a plan for “an alternative model for running an exchange.” Mr. Shumlin had set a deadline of May 31 for Optum, the second vendor hired to fix a problem that has prevented thousands of Vermonters from easily changing basic information in their account, such as if they have a baby, get married or move. Workers have had to process such changes by hand, costing the state extra money and creating a backlog of 10,000 change requests. On Monday, Mr. Shumlin announced that Optum had fixed the problem, allowing such changes to be made in a matter of minutes, although customers will not be able to do so without assistance until later this year. Optum has a second deadline, in October, to automate the process by which exchange plans are renewed from year to year. In an interview, Lawrence Miller, the state’s chief of health care reform, said the state was analyzing the costs of various alternatives, including switching to the federal marketplace, should the exchange still be broken in the fall. Mr. Miller said he would prefer Vermont to be “tucked away in a fully state-operated marketplace until we see exactly how the Supreme Court rules” in the subsidies case. A great deal of uncertainty remains about whether people would be able to keep their subsidies if the state started relying on the federal marketplace. Mr. Miller added that Vermont intends to remain a leader in health care reform, particularly with a plan to replace the traditional system of paying health care providers for each procedure with one that pays them based on outcomes, including under Medicaid and Medicare as well as private coverage. Pointing out that Vermont’s was not the only state-based exchange to still be struggling, he added, “I talk to my colleagues elsewhere and, good God, this just wasn’t set up for success.”

Vermont
Peter Shumlin
Health Insurance
Obamacare,Affordable Care Act


Chipotle Plans to Expand Burrito Giveaway Campaign

Abstract: Chipotle has plans to expand its burrito giveaway, part of its campaign to persuade people that its food is safe. After an E. coli outbreak and other health scares sent sales plunging, the chain made plans to give away more than 20 million burritos via coupons or mobile offers. “It was kind of eerie — and we’d hear this from customers,” who would walk by a once-busy restaurant and see “now there’s no line whatsoever,” said John R. Hartung, Chipotle’s chief financial officer. He said it was important to let the chain’s 2,000 restaurants “look like Chipotle again.” Heading into summer, Chipotle said it would consider “buy one, get one” offers or more targeted mobile offers in regions of the country where a recovery in sales is lagging. The strategy has its costs. The company said Tuesday it expected to report a loss of $1 a share or more for the January-to-March quarter, its first loss since going public in 2006.

Burrito
Chipotle Mexican Grill
Food Safety
E Coli


Week 10 N.F.L. Matchups

Abstract: Chiefs (5-3) at Bills (5-3) 1 p.m. Sunday Line: Chiefs by 2 ½ Alex Smith was given much of the credit for Kansas City’s 9-0 start last season, although the Chiefs’ defense was the key to the surge. When injuries mounted and the defense began to falter, Smith shouldered much of the blame. Such is the life of an N.F.L. quarterback. This season, Kyle Orton, who took over as Buffalo’s quarterback after a 2-2 start, is in a similar situation. He has played well and stabilized an inconsistent offense, but he has received a disproportionate amount of credit for the Bills’ success given how well their defense has performed. A strong front seven, led by Mario Williams and Marcell Dareus, has helped Buffalo collect 28 sacks, second in the N.F.L. behind Minnesota, which has 30. That pressure has enabled the Bills to gain a share of the league lead with 12 interceptions, including four by cornerback Leodis McKelvin, who had three in his three previous seasons combined. Buffalo is not among the top teams in the N.F.L. in terms of yards allowed or scoring, but its play has caught the attention of opposing coaches. “You can argue that this is one of the best, if not the best, defenses in the N.F.L.,” Chiefs Coach Andy Reid said of the Bills. Kansas City has an unconventional offense, which has resulted in 11 touchdown passes for Smith even though he has not completed a scoring pass to a wide receiver. After an uncharacteristic three-interception performance in Week 1, Smith has had one interception in 211 passes over seven games. Maintaining such efficiency against a tough defense in the cold at Ralph Wilson Stadium could be too much to ask. Image Kyle Orton (18) took over as Buffalo’s quarterback after a 2-2 start. Credit David Seelig/Associated Press Pick: Bills Dolphins (5-3) at Lions (6-2) 1 p.m. Sunday Line: Lions by 3 Miami, coming off a 37-0 win over San Diego, appears to be one of the most well-rounded teams in the league. Having endured a trumped-up quarterback controversy before a Week 4 win over Oakland, Ryan Tannehill has continued to progress as a player and a leader, and the Dolphins’ running game has survived the loss of Knowshon Moreno. On defense, Miami is adept at stopping the pass and the run, allowing just 18.9 points a game. But the Dolphins will probably lose some momentum against the equally balanced Lions. Detroit has played well on both sides of the ball and is welcoming back Calvin Johnson, the league’s most dominant wide receiver. During Johnson’s three-game absence, Golden Tate had an increased role, and if he can draw attention away from Johnson, that could mean trouble for the Lions’ opponents. Pick: Lions 49ers (4-4) at Saints (4-4) 1 p.m. Sunday Line: Saints by 5 ½ San Francisco has had some built-in excuses because it has been without two of its top defenders: NaVorro Bowman, who injured his knee during last season’s N.F.C. championship game, and Aldon Smith, who was suspended for off-field problems. The situation grew even worse when Patrick Willis, the defense’s heart and soul, missed the last two games. Smith and Willis are expected to play Sunday, and it is time for the 49ers to stop making excuses and start winning big games if they want to get back into the N.F.C. playoff picture. Pick: 49ers Cowboys (6-3) at Jaguars (1-8) 1 p.m. Sunday in London Line: Cowboys by 7 Dallas fancies itself as America’s team. With the N.F.L. doing everything it can to expand its reach, Jacksonville could point to the game it plays each season at Wembley Stadium in London and argue that it is Britain’s team. Unfortunately for Britain, the Jaguars are not very good. Despite the lowly opponent, Cowboys quarterback Tony Romo made the trip to London for this game with two small fractures in his back, which is a strong indication that Dallas is eager to get back on track after losing consecutive games. Led by Romo, Dez Bryant and DeMarco Murray, the Cowboys looked unbeatable, but Romo’s injury and the team’s desire to reduce Murray’s workload have raised doubts as to whether Dallas is a true contender. A win over the Jaguars would hardly quiet the Cowboys’ detractors, but it would be welcome. Pick: Cowboys Rams (3-5) at Cardinals (7-1) 4:25 p.m. Sunday Line: Cardinals by 7 Arizona, whose stadium will host the Super Bowl this season, has the league’s best record. Although it is early, the Cardinals and their coaches have begun to acknowledge that they have a chance to become the first team to play in a Super Bowl at home. But Coach Bruce Arians said that he was focusing on the regular-season games ahead and that his team had the right attitude to succeed. “I don’t see any cockiness in our football team,” Arians said. “I see a true belief we’re going to win every week.” With a win over the Rams, the Cardinals would be off to their best start since 1948. Pick: Cardinals Bears (3-5) at Packers (5-3) 8:30 p.m. Sunday Line: Packers by 7 ½ Green Bay Coach Mike McCarthy, who recently signed a contract extension, owes a great deal of his success to playing Chicago more than once every season. Since the 2010 season, McCarthy’s teams are 8-2 against the Bears, including the Packers’ win in the 2010 N.F.C. championship game. More important, the Green Bay defense, which is inconsistent at best, always seems to have its best games against Jay Cutler, who has thrown 19 interceptions in 10 regular-season games against the Packers. Image Detroit has played well on both sides of the ball and is welcoming back Calvin Johnson, the league’s most dominant wide receiver. Credit Carlos Osorio/Associated Press Pick: Packers Giants (3-5) at Seahawks (5-3) 4:25 p.m. Sunday Line: Seahawks by 9 ½ Seattle, one of the league’s biggest disappointments given preseason expectations, has not been all that bad. With a large group of injured players expected to return, and Marshawn Lynch coming off his best game in weeks, the Seahawks could help lift the tense atmosphere surrounding them with a home win over the Giants. Pick: Seahawks Broncos (6-2) at Raiders (0-8) 4:05 p.m. Sunday Line: Broncos by 12 Denver is coming off one of its most humiliating losses since it signed Peyton Manning, and Oakland has shown clear improvement despite 14 consecutive losses dating to last season. Still, Las Vegas made the Broncos double-digit favorites on the road for a reason, and the Raiders appear to be headed for an 0-9 start. That would keep them on pace with the 1962 Oakland team, which was 0-13 before winning its final game. Pick: Broncos Titans (2-6) at Ravens (5-4) 1 p.m. Sunday Line: Ravens by 10 As Ben Roethlisberger proved repeatedly in Week 9, Baltimore’s defense is susceptible to big plays. That tendency could be even more pronounced because the Ravens’ secondary has been devastated by injuries, forcing Danny Gorrer, who joined the team Tuesday, into the starting lineup. Gorrer is familiar with Baltimore’s defensive schemes, having played with the Ravens in 2011 and having been part of a similar system with the Lions this season. But adjusting to a new team in five days is a lot to ask. Fortunately for Baltimore, Tennessee has benched quarterback Jake Locker in favor of the rookie Zach Mettenberger, who put up good statistics in Week 8 against Houston, although much of his production came during garbage time in a 30-16 defeat. With the Ravens looking to prove that their last game was an anomaly, they are unlikely to let up against Mettenberger. Pick: Ravens Steelers (6-3) at Jets (1-8) 1 p.m. Sunday Line: Steelers by 6 In 2014, Jets quarterbacks have thrown eight touchdown passes. In 2013, they threw 13. In 2012, they threw 14. Ben Roethlisberger, Pittsburgh’s two-time Super Bowl-winning quarterback, has thrown 12 in his last two games, an N.F.L. record. This game will be an opportunity for the Jets, who have found no solution to their offensive woes, to see what life is like with a franchise quarterback. Pick: Steelers Falcons (2-6) at Buccaneers (1-7) 1 p.m. Sunday Line: Falcons by 3 Atlanta is 0-4 on the road, and Tampa Bay is 0-4 at home. The good news is that one of those streaks will end. The bad news is that someone will have to watch this game, if only to keep score. Pick: Falcons Panthers (3-5-1) at Eagles (6-2) 8:30 p.m. Monday Line: Eagles by 6 ½ Philadelphia lost quarterback Nick Foles to a fractured collarbone at a bad time — the Eagles are in first place in the N.F.C. East. But Foles’s absence will at least answer some questions raised by his inconsistent play this season. Expected to be out six weeks, Foles, who had a breakout 2013 season, will be replaced by Mark Sanchez. If Sanchez plays well, the Eagles have a chance to stay in first. If Sanchez struggles, Foles will be off the hook. Any talk of a quarterback controversy will have to wait. Carolina will not be a good measuring stick. The Panthers, who had a top defense last season, are in disarray, allowing 26.2 points a game. No matter who is behind center for Philadelphia, Carolina seems unlikely to put up much of a fight. Eagles running back LeSean McCoy could be set for a big game. Pick: Eagles

Bills
Kyle Orton
Andy Reid
Football
Kansas City Chiefs


Defending Carotid Stenting (1 Letter)

Abstract: To the Editor: “ Can You Do Too Much to Prevent a Stroke? ” (Personal Health, Oct. 16) quotes doctors who attack, without redress, the motives and expertise of interventional cardiologists who invented and championed carotid stenting techniques. Carotid artery stenting is recognized by Medicare as a safe and effective treatment for some patients with symptomatic carotid blockages. Randomized clinical trials in patients without symptoms must be completed before conclusions are made. Until then, doctors who perform carotid stenting should not be criticized for working to expand stroke treatments to patients who might otherwise have limited options. J. Jeffrey Marshall, M.D. Washington The writer is president, Society for Cardiovascular Angiography and Interventions.


Jerry Manuel’s Priority Is to Improve the Mets’ Pitching Staff

Abstract: MIAMI — At this hectic juncture on the baseball calendar, Manager Jerry Manuel is reminded why he would never want to switch jobs with his general manager, Omar Minaya. “My position changes too much,” Manuel said. “That’s why you have a general manager. If a manager had to do it all the time, he would have people shuffling in and out of here every day.” The natural leap is to wonder what moves Manuel would have made after the Mets ’ 7-3 loss Monday to the Florida Marlins, in which John Maine left with a shoulder injury and the bullpen gave up six runs. Maine’s magnetic resonance imaging test revealed a mild strain of his rotator cuff. He was listed as day to day and was to join the team in Houston on Thursday. It would be impulsive to base decisions solely on Monday’s game. But the relievers’ shabby performance and the uncertain status of Maine and Pedro Martínez reinforced that the Mets might be looking harder at improving their pitching staff than adding a corner outfielder before Thursday’s 4 p.m. nonwaiver trade deadline. The bullpen has pitched in 10 games since the All-Star break and has not given up a run four times. But it has allowed at least three in five other instances, and Manuel called losses like Monday’s “demoralizing to your troops.” Topping Manuel’s wish list is a reliever who is adept at retiring right-handed and left-handed batters. Those pitchers, like Huston Street of Oakland, are rare — and costly — and the Mets are so far unwilling to deal the top prospects that may be necessary to strike a deal. The Mets need a “crossover guy,” as Manuel calls them, more than they could benefit from a specialist. Manuel likes matching up Pedro Feliciano against left-handed hitters and Joe Smith against right-handed hitters. Scott Schoeneweis has filled that dual role in the past, but right-handed hitters are batting .324 against him with five hits in their last nine at-bats. Duaner Sánchez’s recent struggles have forced Manuel to temporarily ease him out of the eighth-inning role. “Because we’ve had good starting pitching, we’ve been able to mix and match,” Manuel said. “But the danger in that is you get to mixing and matching, but I might need you to do a little bit more than that at some point and you’re not comfortable with that and things go by the wayside.” Even before he knew the extent of Maine’s injury, Manuel suggested that he planned to take advantage of two coming days off to skip Maine at least once through the rotation. “These types of things, you never know and we’re going to be very cautious, there’s no doubt about it,” Manuel said. “If there’s anything, anything, I’m sure we’ll be more cautious at this stage.” But finding a starting pitcher on the trade market does not appear a priority for the Mets. If they decided to pursue one, an option could be Cleveland’s Paul Byrd, who pitched seven and two-thirds shutout innings Monday night. But they may be just as likely to promote from within. Their top pitching prospect, Jon Niese, who has advanced to Class AAA New Orleans, could receive a look. For bullpen help, the Mets could also look within, with Eddie Kunz, a right-handed reliever and the team’s top draft pick last season, on the horizon. The Mets are optimistic that Martínez can rebound from his sore groin muscle and his inactivity after the death of his father. But in limited exposure this season, Martínez has failed to consistently demonstrate control of his pitches. He threw 45 pitches in a bullpen session before Tuesday’s game and said he would be ready to start Friday night in Houston, his first start since July 12. “I’m hoping — that’s all I can do,” Martínez said. “I’m going to work as hard as I can between the time now and the start, but at the same time, all I can do is try out there and make improvements during the game and during the practice sessions. I’m not going to predict anything, but I’m hoping my experience will help me deal with the rest of the stuff now that I feel healthy.” The Mets were hoping to have a better idea Tuesday of outfielder Ryan Church’s status as they deliberate whether to pursue Seattle’s Raúl Ibáñez. Church was scheduled to take batting practice and run sprints, but rainy weather limited him to the indoor batting cage. It was his first session since July 13. Church said he hoped to hit on the field Wednesday so that he could begin a rehabilitation assignment for Class A St. Lucie on Thursday. “I think it’s one of those things where I wait and see tomorrow,” he said. “You start using muscles you haven’t been using in the last two months, and just see how you move your head.”


Senate Initiates Inquiry Into Spikes of Drug Prices

Abstract: WASHINGTON — A Senate committee has started an investigation into the large drug price increases by Turing Pharmaceuticals and three other companies, responding to public concern about escalating prices for critical medicines. The Senate’s Special Committee on Aging requested documents and information on Wednesday from Turing, Valeant Pharmaceuticals and two other drug makers already under scrutiny for recent price spikes. Notably, the senators called for a face-to-face meeting with the chief of Turing, Martin Shkreli, “as soon as it is practicable.” A former hedge fund manager, Mr. Shkreli has become the public face of the pricing controversy, after his company raised the price of the anti-infection drug Daraprim by more than 5,000 percent. The drug, which Turing acquired in August, is used in the United States to treat toxoplasmosis, a parasitic infection that can be particularly dangerous for pregnant women and patients with H.I.V. Turing said in an email: “We are reviewing the committee’s request and, as we have and continue to do with similar congressional inquiries, we look forward to having an open and honest dialogue about drug pricing.” Separately, Democrats in the House of Representatives called on their Republican colleagues to summon the Turing and Valeant chiefs to a congressional hearing and issue subpoenas to collect documents from their companies. Both firms have refused to turn over documents requested by Democrats on the House oversight committee. Valeant is already under investigation by several members of Congress for its general business strategy, which involves buying smaller drug developers and then significantly raising the prices of their medicines. Both Turing and Valeant have also received multiple subpoenas from federal prosecutors seeking information about drug pricing and other policies. Senators Susan Collins, Republican of Maine, and Claire McCaskill, Democrat of Missouri, said a hearing on the issue was tentatively scheduled for Dec. 9. Ms. Collins is chairwoman of the aging committee, and Ms. McCaskill is its ranking Democrat. “We need to get to the bottom of why we’re seeing huge spikes in drug prices that seemingly have no relationship to research and development costs,” Ms. McCaskill said in a statement. She added that some of the increases resemble “little more than price gouging.” The committee also sent letters to Retrophin of San Diego and Rodelis Therapeutics of Alpharetta, Ga. The lawmakers questioned Retrophin about its decision to raise the price of a kidney drug, Thiola, from $1.50 a tablet to $30. Company shares tumbled more than 13 percent on Wednesday to $18.90. The letter to Rodelis questioned the company’s price increase on a tuberculosis drug by more than 2,000 percent to $10,800 a bottle. Over all, prescription drug prices have been on the rise for years. From 2008 through 2014, average prices for the most widely used brand-name drugs jumped 128 percent, according to the prescription benefit manager Express Scripts Holding. In 2014, Express Scripts estimated that total prescription drug spending in the United States increased 13 percent. Reasons include increasing research costs, insufficient competition and drug shortages. Shares of Valeant Pharmaceuticals fell 6 percent to $91.98. The company’s stock has lost more than 60 percent of its value since August because of controversy about its drug-pricing schemes and ties to the specialty pharmacy Philidor Rx Services. Philidor said last week it would shut down after Valeant and several major customers stopped dealing with the company.

Senate
Price
Turing Pharmaceuticals
Pharmaceuticals
Congress
Valeant Pharmaceuticals International


4/20: A Holiday for Fans of Liberalized Marijuana Laws

Abstract: Despite a buzz-killing backdrop of federal raids and local crackdowns, marijuana fans celebrated their high holiday on Friday in all the traditional ways: smoking, speaking out and — no doubt — snacking. Known as 4/20, the annual April 20th pot party has been celebrated for decades at lazy, hazy rock shows, pungent backyard barbecues and untold numbers of air freshener-challenged dorm rooms. But this year, 4/20 comes at a time both pleasant and paranoia-inducing in the pro-marijuana movement, a good-news, bad-news mindbender that mirrors some people’s experience of being on the drug. On one hand, see, sometimes it seems as if the American people want to embrace marijuana, with some polls suggesting a growing acceptance of the drug’s use — medically and otherwise — and voters in Colorado and Washington scheduled to vote on legalization in the fall. All of which could be really cool, supporters say. Unless, of course, it’s not. Antidrug groups have lambasted 4/20 as a gateway event to illegal drug use, and several declared Friday as a day to “Take Back 4/20,” which has its roots in a foggy 1970s ritual involving a group of Northern California teenagers who liked to smoke marijuana at 4:20 p.m. Opponents have also lately been cheered by an increased enforcement effort by federal officials, who still view marijuana as illegal despite more than a dozen states allowing medical use of the drug. Nowhere has that pushback been stronger than in Oakland, Calif., where federal drug agents recently raided Oaksterdam University, a cannabis industry training school that had been at the forefront of failed ballot effort in 2010 to legalize in California. Earlier this week, its founder, Richard Lee, announced his retirement, and officials say they are “on life support.” Still, on Friday, many there were also on something else. “Today is like being Irish on St. Patrick’s Day ,” said Wade O’Connor, an activist and Oaksterdam alumnus who took ample tokes from a blown-glass pipe in the school’s student union. At the University of Colorado , Boulder, which boasts one of the largest pro-marijuana celebrations in the country, school officials decided to close the campus to outsiders for the day, amid concerns that 4/20 crowds — which have numbered in the thousands in the past — would get disruptive. “We’ve had complaints from people with respiratory issues, pregnant women, students who are simply trying to get to class, faculty who are trying to teach,” said Bronson Hilliard, a university spokesman. Going one step further, officials also decided to coat the Norlin Quad on Friday, where 4/20 gatherings have unfolded in the past, with a fish-based fertilizer, resulting in a briny stench. All of which had seemingly had a deterrent effect on students like Tom Ronat, though a handful were arrested for crossing roped-off areas. “It just seems way too extreme,” Mr. Ronat said. Like all holidays, 4/20 has taken on a distinctly commercial feel in some quarters. Concerts by pot-friendly musicians like Willie Nelson and the group Cypress Hill were planned for April 20, as was the opening of a documentary on Bob Marley, considered a patron saint of cannabis aficionados. At Harborside Health Center in Oakland, a popular marijuana dispensary, salespeople were offering deals on ounces of the drug, as well as free mugs and T-shirts for buyers. Others had brought their own costumes. Steve DeAngelo, the dispensary’s founder and executive director, said he dressed as a sailor for the holiday because “we’re sailing through troubled waters,” adding that recent federal raids had transformed “a day of celebration into a day of resistance.” For all that bummed-out rhetoric, Stephen Gutwillig, the deputy executive director of the Drug Policy Alliance , which lobbies for more liberal drug laws, said they would eventually carry the day, especially as younger voters make their voices heard. “That’s what’s taking more and more people into the streets every 4/20,” he said. Which is just fine by David Evans, a special adviser to the Drug Free America Foundation , which opposes legalization. “If a bunch of dopers want to sit around getting high, that’s fine,” Mr. Evans said. “It only makes our case that that is what it’s all about.” That said, groups in favor of legalization seem to have made strides over the years in distancing themselves from the movement’s sometimes grungy past. In Richmond, Va., for example, about 300 people came to the city’s Monroe Park for a rally organized by a local chapter of Students for Sensible Drug Policy . And while there was a fair share of sandals and shorts, the event also attracted people like Kirby Myers, a contractor for the Federal Aviation Administration and one of many gray-haired attendees. He drove about 95 miles from his home in Springfield, Va., because he believes “the drug war is a misguided program and an inappropriate use of taxpayers’ money.” But would he partake? Oh no. “I’m a beer drinker,” he said.

Marijuana
University of Colorado
Drug Policy Alliance
Oakland (Calif)
Boulder (Colo)
Drug Abuse and Traffic


America Is Waiting for the Economic Ripple Effect

Abstract: What does the American economy need to get back on its feet? What would help tremendously is fewer roommates. As an investment theme, “household formation” may sound like jargon. In fact, it is a crucial factor in how the economy will perform in the coming year. The measure basically calculates how many healthy cells there are in the American real estate body. When foreigners move in and buy houses, or the children move out and into apartments, the number of households increases. That, in turn, creates an economic ripple effect. A small rise in household formation has a beneficial effect on large sectors of the economy, and with it on earnings and the stock market more broadly. Sales of new homes and the materials needed to build or refurbish them increase. Homeowners buy General Electric appliances, plasma TVs from Best Buy and Sherwin-Williams paint. Cable operators like Comcast sign up new customers, and utilities turn on more lights. Allstate writes additional homeowner policies. The trouble is, despite robust demographic numbers, the figure has been growing sluggishly of late. The government estimates that fewer than 400,000 households were formed in each of the last two years ending in March. The average should be around 1.4 million annually, based on precrisis behavior. Indeed, it’s a big reason for the continued overcapacity in the housing market. Fewer than 800,000 new housing units were built in 2009, and the number should be roughly the same this year. That’s the slowest pace by far in four decades. The glut should largely be history given such a glacial pace of construction. Yet rental and homeowner vacancies remain at elevated levels. So why is household formation down? Difficult economic times have forced people to save money — and the biggest cost to cut is habitation. People are more likely to shack up and share apartments, while homeowners add renters to help with the mortgage. The footprints in the data are easily spotted. The percentage of 25- to 34-year-olds living at home is at a three-decade high, according to the Census Bureau. Even divorce rates are down. Arguing, it seems, is cheaper than two mortgages. Hard times also mean America isn’t as attractive a destination for job seekers. The number of legal immigrants fell in 2009. Moreover, illegal immigration appears to have fallen sharply, based on border interdictions. Some of these changes should unwind over time. Checking accounts fill, mortgages amortize and 30-somethings realize how hard it is to meet mates when living at home. Eventually, people strike out or decide having a tenant isn’t worth the trouble. Moreover, real estate prices have fallen by about a third from their peak in most cities, according to the Case-Shiller index. This makes it easier to afford rent or a down payment. Rental vacancies peaked last fall, and home vacancies in late 2008. Yet higher rates of employment and more certainty over jobs would be a greater spur as they are strongly linked to household formation. People are reluctant to move out or buy a home if they aren’t working, or think mass firings are imminent. And therein lays the chicken-and-egg problem. Construction is typically one of the first sectors to recover from a recession . The continuing property glut means employment is about two million below its 2006 peak, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Since it hasn’t revived, America is attracting fewer immigrants and people aren’t forming households. Of course, some social and economic changes can be persistent. Japan has yet to recover from its real estate bust. But if demographics are destiny, then America should have a different one. In Japan, the number of people in their 20s — the prime years for forming a home — has fallen sharply and continues to shrink. There’s a bulge of Americans in this age group. So household formation will rise; it just may take a while. When people do feel a bit more comfortable with their debt levels and jobs, it should provide an immediate stimulus to consumption. And the effect will feed on itself. Immigrants will arrive, and more people will move out. For investors, the sooner the number of roommates decreases, the better. ROBERT CYRAN

Economic Conditions and Trends
Housing and Real Estate
Labor and Jobs


World Cup 2014: Nigeria and Iran Play to Tournament’s First Draw

Abstract: CURITIBA, Brazil — Nigeria and Iran delivered the first draw of the World Cup on Monday as they ground out a scrappy 0-0 stalemate in their opening match in Group F. The draw at the Arena da Baixada in the southern Brazilian city of Curitiba followed 12 mostly high-scoring and attacking games. After a first half in which Nigeria failed to capitalize on its dominance, chances were few and far between in the second. Nigeria showed tenacity early in the game. Much of its attacking thrust came down the left with Emmanuel Emenike and Victor Moses combining to cause problems for defensive-minded Iran. Nigeria came closest to scoring in the seventh minute when an Ahmed Musa goal was disallowed after John Obi Mikel was judged to have fouled Iran goalkeeper Alireza Haghighi. Iran grew more confident as the game progressed and came close to scoring in the 34th minute when a Reza Ghoochannejhad header required a sharp save from Nigeria goalkeeper Vincent Enyeama. In the second half, both sides were guilty of sloppy passages of play, to the growing annoyance of the mainly Brazilian crowd. Players from both teams snatched at chances, and neither goalkeeper was troubled despite some frantic late pressure in the final minutes. Both teams must now look to beat Bosnia and Herzegovina, a tournament newcomer, in a group that most expect to be won by Argentina. Lionel Messi scored one of the tournament’s best goals in Argentina’s 2-1 victory over the Bosnians on Sunday. The result will be a disappointment for Nigeria, the current Africa Cup of Nations champion. After a long slump, the team had been showing signs of some of the flair and power that had marked the country’s soccer in the 1990s. For Iran, the result was greeted with relief by its noisy fans. The draw meant that both teams’ winless streaks continued. Neither has won a match at the World Cup since 1998, in France.


Twitter Blocks Germans’ Access to Neo-Nazis’ Account

Abstract: BERLIN — Twitter waded into potentially perilous territory on Thursday when it blocked users in Germany from access to the account of a neo-Nazi group that is banned by the government here. The move was the first time that Twitter acted on a policy known as “country-withheld content,” announced in January, in which it will block an account at the request of a government. But the company cracked open the gates to a complex new era in which it will increasingly have to referee legal challenges to the deluge of posts that has made the site so popular. The company said the goal was to balance freedom of expression with compliance with local laws. “Never want to withhold content; good to have tools to do it narrowly & transparently,” Alexander Macgillivray, the company’s chief lawyer, wrote on Twitter. A German spokesman for the company confirmed in an e-mail that it was the first time the policy had been used, although Twitter does not as a matter of policy announce government requests to block an account. In a “ transparency report ” issued earlier this year, the company said it had received six such requests but had not, for reasons it did not specify, acted upon them. Uwe Schünemann, the interior minister for the state of Lower Saxony, where the neo-Nazi group is based, applauded the decision to block the Twitter feed, calling it in a statement “an important step.” Twitter neither shut down the group’s account nor deleted the group’s posts. It blocked them for users only in Germany, who see a message that reads “Blocked” and “This account has been withheld in Germany,” along with a link to more information about the policy. The decision to block the German feed was a relatively easy one, given that the group is banned and that the use of Nazi symbols and slogans can be criminally prosecuted. The more difficult question is how broadly and under what rules the policy will be applied by a company with users around the world. Twitter employees are not combing through the hundreds of millions of messages posted each day searching for offensive material, but are responding only to government requests, beholden to free-expression laws in the countries in which it operates. That makes the company potentially subject to manipulation by authoritarian governments, rights advocates say. “Where it really will be dangerous is in repressive regimes where Twitter is a very important means of communication between political dissenters, and where laws are interpreted by people who would interpret them in a politically biased fashion,” said Svetlana Mintcheva, the director of programs at the National Coalition Against Censorship in New York. “What, for instance, if the president of Belarus decides to suppress the tweets of a theater company which is critical of him?” Authoritarian governments may wish to stifle the voices of dissidents just as ardently as German officials hope to silence the extreme right. In some countries, religious leaders may seek to prohibit messages they deem to be blasphemous. Twitter is far from alone in negotiating these rules. Both Facebook and YouTube , owned by Google , complied with requests from German officials to take down content associated with the neo-Nazi group, a spokesman for the Interior Ministry in Lower Saxony said. Facebook and Google have long scoured content for keywords that suggest illegal material. Last month, Google blocked access in some countries to a video on YouTube that mocked the Prophet Muhammad and touched off violent protests. The company has a policy of removing what it deems to be hate speech. Twitter was sharply criticized over the summer after it suspended the account of a British journalist who wrote harshly about the Olympic broadcasts of NBC , a corporate sponsor. Twitter reinstated the account and apologized. The episode highlighted the tensions that Twitter faces as it tries to make money without alienating fans, who see the site as a public commons. Twitter’s decision on the neo-Nazi group generated little controversy in Germany. In part because of its Nazi past, Germany has a different approach to free speech than that of the United States , where the First Amendment provides broad protections. People with expertise in far-right groups in Germany often point out that their Web sites are hosted on servers in the United States. The authorities in Lower Saxony banned the neo-Nazi group, Besseres Hannover, or Better Hanover , last month. Mr. Schünemann, the interior minister, said members of the group used “Pied Piper methods” to lure young people into their orbit, including distributing a right-wing magazine outside schools. They harassed, threatened and even attacked migrants, and were suspected of sending right-wing messages to a government official of Turkish background. On the day the group was banned, Sept. 25, the police searched 27 locations, confiscating computers, cellphones, two handguns, a machete and a flag with a swastika on it. On the same day, the police sent a letter to Twitter requesting that it shut down the group’s account, under the name @hannoverticker. As part of an effort at transparency, the company posted the German request online. Twitter users outside Germany can still view the group’s more than 1,000 posts, many of which are about government suppression and the influence of financial institutions like Goldman Sachs . Many of the messages include links to the group’s blog, which has been shut down. Not everyone was pleased with Twitter’s decision. “Anyone with a little knowledge can get around it with a proxy server,” said Stephan Porada, who writes about the Internet for the German online magazine Netzwelt . Mr. Porada said that he was against the spread of neo-Nazi propaganda but that he was concerned that the blocking of users and messages could grow. Jillian C. York , the director for international freedom of expression at the Electronic Frontier Foundation, a civil liberties group, said: “It’s not a great thing, but it’s a way of minimizing censorship. It’s better for Twitter if they can keep countries happy without having to take the whole thing down.” Blocking the neo-Nazi group, though, may have only brought it more attention. Besseres Hannover had posted no new messages after it was banned, but on Thursday someone from the group returned to Twitter and wrote in English, “Look at this regime: They gossip viciously about china and russia but noone about them! freedom for #germany!” The feed also gained more than 200 followers over the course of the day.

Germany
Censorship
Neo Nazis
Computers and the Internet
Freedom of speech
Fringe Groups


Donald Trump Close to Picking Ben Carson as Housing Secretary

Abstract: WASHINGTON — Ben Carson, the retired neurosurgeon who ran an outsider’s campaign for the Republican presidential nomination and later backed Donald J. Trump, is likely to be chosen as secretary of housing and urban development, according to a person close to the Trump transition, suggesting that the president-elect is seeking diversity in an administration that has started off predominantly white and male. Mr. Carson would be the first African-American member of Mr. Trump’s cabinet — and a familiar face to millions of Americans after a Republican primary campaign in which he briefly soared to the top of the polls. Mr. Trump has begun meeting with a wider array of prospects, either for advice or as potential cabinet picks. He is also considering Harold Ford Jr., an African-American former Democratic representative from Tennessee, for transportation secretary or another post, though that process has not yet become serious, a Trump official said. Interviewed on Tuesday on the Fox News program “Your World With Neil Cavuto,” Mr. Carson said the president-elect had offered him multiple positions in his cabinet. Asked specifically about the housing job, he replied, “I would say that it was one of the offers on the table.” Mr. Carson’s job prospects had gotten somewhat lost in the recent flurry of speculation about key national security positions, as well as his own misgivings about his qualifications. But on Tuesday, Mr. Carson thrust himself back into the spotlight, with an assist from Mr. Trump. “I am seriously considering Dr. Ben Carson as the head of HUD,” Mr. Trump said on Twitter , using the acronym for the Department of Housing and Urban Development. “I’ve gotten to know him well — he’s a greatly talented person who loves people!” In recent days, Mr. Trump has broadened the list of people he is consulting to include Michelle Rhee, a former District of Columbia schools chancellor; Representative Tulsi Gabbard, the Hawaii Democrat who is the first Hindu member of Congress; and Gov. Nikki R. Haley of South Carolina, an Indian-American. Mr. Ford, with whom he has not yet met, is a regular commentator on the MSNBC show “Morning Joe,” whose host, Joe Scarborough, Mr. Trump regularly calls for advice. So far, however, his picks have consisted of five white men: Stephen K. Bannon as chief strategist in the White House, Reince Priebus as chief of staff, Senator Jeff Sessions as attorney general, Lt. Gen. Michael T. Flynn as national security adviser, and Representative Mike Pompeo as director of the C.I.A. Mr. Trump is also rumored to be close to naming Gen. James N. Mattis as secretary of defense. While not as vocal as other supporters like Rudolph W. Giuliani or Gov. Chris Christie of New Jersey, Mr. Carson has been a steadfast backer of Mr. Trump. He went on television to defend him after the release of an “Access Hollywood” tape in which Mr. Trump spoke about groping women. But his last job was as director of pediatric neurosurgery at Johns Hopkins University, and he has little background in housing. In the Fox interview, Mr. Carson cited his childhood in Detroit and his experience treating inner-city patients as qualifications for the job. Trump Tower, the Center of the Political Universe A single day at Trump Tower in Manhattan provides a view of potential cabinet members and staff in the next administration. “I grew up in the inner city,” he said, “and have spent a lot of time there and have dealt with a lot of patients from that area and recognize that we cannot have a strong nation if we have weak inner cities, and we have to get beyond the promises and start really doing something.” “You know, our inner cities are in terrible shape, and they definitely need some real attention,” Mr. Carson continued. “You know, there have been so many promises made over the last several decades, and nothing has been done, so it certainly is something that has been a long-term interest of mine, and I’ll be thinking and praying about it seriously over the holiday.” Mr. Carson’s remarks were a striking reversal from last week, when a friend of his said he had turned down an offer from Mr. Trump to be secretary of health and human services, citing his lack of experience in running a vast federal bureaucracy. “Dr. Carson feels he has no government experience, he’s never run a federal agency,” his friend Armstrong Williams told The Hill newspaper. “The last thing he would want to do was take a position that could cripple the presidency.” The Department of Housing and Urban Development, which was established by President Lyndon B. Johnson in 1965, had 8,416 employees and an annual budget of $32.6 billion as of 2014. On his own Facebook page, Mr. Carson has said he would prefer to remain an outside adviser to Mr. Trump. “My decision not to seek a cabinet position in the Trump administration has nothing to do with the complexity of the job, as is being reported by some news outlets,” Mr. Carson said. “I believe it is vitally important for the Trump administration to have many outspoken friends and advisers who are outside of the Washington bubble.” The relationship between Mr. Carson and Mr. Trump has had its ups and downs. Before the primaries, when Mr. Carson was riding high in the polls, Mr. Trump accused his rival of having a “pathological temper.” He based his accusation on a passage in “Gifted Hands,” Mr. Carson’s autobiography, in which he described having a strong temper and said that when he became angry, “I grabbed the nearest brick, rock or stick to bash someone.” During the debates, however, Mr. Trump generally spared Mr. Carson the cutting remarks he aimed at Jeb Bush and Senator Marco Rubio of Florida. Later, when Mr. Carson endorsed Mr. Trump, he conceded that it was difficult to reconcile the bombastic figure on the trail with what he described as a more thoughtful person behind closed doors. “There’s the one you see on the stage,” Mr. Carson said, “and there’s the one who’s very cerebral, sits there and considers things very carefully.”

Donald Trump
HUD
US Politics
Ben Carson,Benjamin S. Carson
Appointments and Executive Changes


Former Flyers Get Another Shot at Stanley Cup

Abstract: NEWARK — Eight months later, the shock had subsided for Mike Richards. Several questions remained unanswered — chief among them being just why, exactly, the Flyers had felt compelled to trade him, their captain, to Los Angeles last June as the pièce de résistance of Philadelphia’s biggest single-day shake-up since it mortgaged its future for Eric Lindros 20 years ago. But in the interim, Richards had vented plenty and reflected enough to have realized that there are worse things than wearing flip-flops to work in winter. And then, one afternoon in late February, he was summoned to the office of Dean Lombardi, the Kings ’ general manager, who shocked Richards once more: his best friend, the gifted Jeff Carter, jettisoned to Columbus in the same Philadelphia purge that claimed Richards, was going to be his teammate again. “Mike was pretty happy,” the Kings’ captain, Dustin Brown, said, chuckling at the understatement. “Everyone was happy getting a 30-, 40-goal scorer, but you knew just the way he reacted that he was excited.” Far-fetched situations and stunning plot twists are conceived daily across Hollywood, but the Kings’ ascension from eighth-seeded curiosity to Stanley Cup finalist would not have been among them. That Richards and Carter, both 27 and carrying lucrative long-term contracts, would ever reunite seemed as likely as a SoCal snowfall. It is to Los Angeles’s benefit that they did, combining for 8 goals and 12 assists during the Kings’ 12-2 postseason. Playing on the same line, which as natural centers they rarely did as Flyers, Richards and Carter, who has shifted to wing, have rediscovered the harmony they once enjoyed in Philadelphia, which, by the way, was bounced from the playoffs two rounds ago. Richards missed time with a concussion and stumbled to 44 points (18 goals, 26 assists) in the regular season, and Carter was restricted by injuries and finished with 34 points, a career low. “I’m at a happy state,” said Richards, who was referring to his mind-set and not California. He does, though, relish living so close to the Pacific Ocean, in Manhattan Beach. He has a black Labrador retriever named Arnold. A few months back, another roommate joined them — Carter. They rekindled the conversations they shared in Philadelphia about hoisting the Stanley Cup, a dream that existed ever since they were 18, selected 13 spots apart by the Flyers in the first round of the 2003 draft. Anointed as franchise cornerstones, they made their debuts in 2005. They lived near each other, in the Old City section of Philadelphia. They toasted success together, as when Richards was selected captain at 23. They suffered heartbreak together, losing first to Chicago in the 2010 Cup finals, then absorbing the sting of a franchise retooling that did not include them. “We were pretty mad, I’m not going to lie,” said Richards, who added, “I don’t handle change too well.” The deals, completed within 30 minutes of each other last June 23, sent shock waves through the league. Although the trades dropped more than $100 million in salary that helped the Flyers sign goalie Ilya Bryzgalov, the team’s official explanation was that it wanted to get younger. Of the four players Philadelphia eventually acquired in the separate deals, Wayne Simmonds, now 23, is the oldest. But The Philadelphia Daily News later reported that the Flyers were concerned by Richards and Carter’s “longstanding party lifestyle,” an assertion that General Manager Paul Holmgren called “preposterous.” Holmgren was unavailable for comment on Tuesday, a team spokesman said. “There was a lot of attention paid to them, but at the same time they were doing what a normal guy at 24, 25 years old playing in the National Hockey League who’s single will do,” said Kings forward Simon Gagne, who played five seasons in Philadelphia with Carter and Richards. “But I think now at this point, they’re 27 years old and older and more mature and more comfortable on the ice and more comfortable off the ice. It’s good for them.” At media day on Tuesday, Carter and Richards arrived within seconds. As Carter praised Richards for alleviating what could have been a difficult transition, Richards mentioned his buddy, unprompted, within his response to the first question he was posed. He said he was lucky. Not many players get a second chance. He was referring to playing for a Stanley Cup, but he also could have been speaking about the man sitting 10 feet to his left. “We’ve had fun together,” Richards said. “And we’ve always envisioned, I think, winning together, too.”

Stanley Cup
Hockey Ice
Philadelphia Flyers
Los Angeles Kings
Carter Jeff
Richards Mike
New Jersey Devils


Syrian Army Airstrikes Kill at Least 70 People in Aleppo

Abstract: BEIRUT — Syrian Army airstrikes killed at least 70 people, most of them civilians, and wounded scores in attacks on Saturday in the northern province of Aleppo. Activists said that civilian areas, including a packed market in a town held by the Islamic State group, were hit. The deaths occurred in two separate strikes when helicopters dropped explosives-filled barrels. One barrel hit the rebel-held Shaar neighborhood in Aleppo, Syria’s largest city. At least 12 people, most of them from the same family, were killed. They included three children and four women, according to the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. The other attack was far deadlier, hitting a busy market known as Souk al-Hal in the Islamic State-held town of Bab, in Aleppo’s countryside. The Observatory said at least 59 people were killed and dozens wounded, calling it the one of the worst massacres committed by President Bashar al-Assad’s army this year. It said the number of dead would probably rise because many of the wounded were in critical condition. The Local Coordination Committees reported more than 50 people killed and about 70 wounded in the Bab attack. Both groups document violence through a network of activists on the ground in Syria. Bab is controlled by the Islamic State group, which also confirmed the attack in a statement posted on Twitter. It said 50 people were killed in a “devastating massacre” committed by army helicopters. Aleppo, once Syria’s commercial hub, has been divided between government and opposition forces since mid-2012, and fighting there has raged since. The Syrian military has suffered a series of embarrassing setbacks in northern Syria recently as insurgents captured the city of Idlib and almost all of Idlib Province. The Islamic State group has also pushed into central Syria, seizing the ancient city of Palmyra after government forces fled the area.


Arrests of 10 Women Praying at Western Wall Add to Tensions Over a Holy Site

Abstract: JERUSALEM — Ten women, including two American rabbis, were detained by the Israeli police on Monday for praying at the Western Wall wearing prayer shawls that are traditionally used by men, in the latest escalation of a conflict over one of Judaism’s holiest sites. Those detained were part of the group Women of the Wall, which has gathered each month for the past 24 years to protest the ultra-Orthodox insistence that only men may pray at the wall wearing traditional garb, a rule that has been backed by the Supreme Court. Micky Rosenfeld, a spokesman for the Israeli police, said the women were not charged with criminal offenses, but were barred from returning to the wall for 15 days. He said the women had been detained “as a result of them wearing the garments that they’re not allowed to wear specifically at that site.” He noted that despite the court ruling, “they decided to go down to that specific area.” The dispute over prayer at the wall, a remnant of the retaining wall that surrounded the ancient Temple Mount, has caused growing tensions in recent months between Jewish leaders in the United States and the Israeli government. Rabbi Shmuel Rabinowitz, the head of the Western Wall Heritage Foundation, which controls the site, said in an interview in November that the wall “is not a site for any kind of protest” and “not a place for the individual, where everyone can do what they want.” Of the women’s group, he said, “You can’t have everyone taking the law into their own hands.” Women of the Wall has filed a lawsuit challenging the ultra-Orthodox dominance of the board that governs the holy site. In December, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu asked Natan Sharansky , the head of the Jewish Agency — a quasi-governmental body that handles immigration and works with the diaspora — to try to resolve the conflict. Video Jodi Rudoren, The Times’s Jerusalem bureau chief, reports on Jewish women fighting Orthodox restrictions on how and where they can pray at the Western Wall in Jerusalem. Mr. Sharansky, speaking Monday to a conference of American Jewish leaders here, said that he had received 10,000 e-mails from Jews outside Israel in the two days after his appointment to tackle the issue , but that there was no simple solution. “When I listen to the very partial presentation, I am fully with them — when I listen to the other side, I have to accept that they also have logic,” said Mr. Sharansky, a former Soviet dissident. “We do have to find a solution in which nobody will feel discriminated against, and at the same time we don’t see the pictures every day of hundreds of people fighting in the most ugly way. “Is it easy? Not,” he continued. “But we Jews chose to be not-easy people, and to live in a not-easy place, and to do not-easy religion.” Mr. Sharansky said he had spoken to the police before the prayer session on Monday, and asked them to make various accommodations for the women, including having female police officers present to handle any arrests. On Monday, the group of about 200 people who came to the wall for the monthly prayer included some of the paratroopers who recaptured the Western Wall from Jordanian control in 1967, and who have their own conflict with the rabbi controlling the site over whether to place a plaque there commemorating that event. The women were allowed to conduct their service on Monday wearing prayer shawls. But on their way out of the area, after many of the activists had already left, 10 women were detained, including Rabbi Robyn Fryer Bodzin of the Israel Center of Conservative Judaism in Flushing, Queens, and Rabbi Debra Cantor of Congregation B’nai Tikvoh-Sholom in Bloomfield, Conn. “It’s just so utterly absurd that there are laws against Jews praying wearing their prayer clothes in Israel,” said Susan Silverman, a Reform rabbi who immigrated to Israel several years ago and was detained along with her 17-year-old daughter. The rabbi is a sister of the American comedian Sarah Silverman. “Two of the rabbis who were there had just come from Kiev, where they had prayed entirely freely as Jews,” Rabbi Silverman said. “They come to Israel, they pray at the wall, and they’re arrested.” Mr. Rosenfeld, the police spokesman, noted that the court decision provides a separate area, known as Robinson’s Arch, for women to pray in any manner they like, and said that as long as the group continued to defy the law by wearing the garments in the prohibited area, its members would be detained, questioned and released. “The High Court’s decision is what it is,” he said. “That has to be respected.”

Jerusalem
Rabbi
Judaism
Women of the Wall
Israel
Women and Girls
Temple Mount,Nobel Sanctuary
Western Wall Jerusalem


Morning Agenda: Wells Fargo, Washington and Wall Street, Pharma Price-Fixing

Abstract: They just keep coming. Wells Fargo, already reeling from a scandal over fake accounts and a settlement over home appraisal overcharges , has been hit with yet more accusations. The latest? Former employees say the bank used termination notices to retaliate against attempts to blow the whistle on its fraudulent activities. These forms, which must be filed with the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority when the broker or financial adviser leaves, can leave a black mark on that person’s career. Three Democratic senators have asked for data on these filings. They said the responses showed that the bank had “ample information about the scope of fraudulent sales practices” long before it reached a settlement with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. They have asked for more details, to determine whether Wells Fargo used unfavorable filings as a weapon against employees. A spokeswoman for Wells Fargo said that the bank had said in congressional hearings that it had “been working for years to stop wrongful sales practices behavior.” Washington Needs Wall Street Before you get swept up in a wave of fury aimed at the financial sector, William D. Cohan wants to assure you of something: Not everyone who works in finance is evil. If anything, the government needs people from Wall Street in its ranks. He points to the accomplishments of Antonio Weiss, the investment banker whose nomination to be under secretary of the Treasury for domestic finance was blocked by Senator Elizabeth Warren. Mr. Weiss went on to be a counselor to Treasury Secretary Jacob J. Lew and has had a leading responsibility in trying to resolve the financial crisis shaking Puerto Rico, as well as trying to make the capital markets operate more smoothly. “What better way to improve the inner workings of the capital markets than by having someone with the authority to regulate them who knows precisely how they work, or how they are manipulated?” Mr. Cohan asks. Pharmaceutical Price-Fixing Inquiry The stocks in makers of generic drugs tumbled on reports that a federal inquiry into price-fixing was wider than previously believed. Bloomberg reported that the Justice Department’s investigation was looking at more than a dozen companies and two dozen drugs. Teva, Mylan, Endo and Impax have said that they have received subpoenas. The government may bring the first cases by the end of the year, Bloomberg said. Although the inquiry started about two years ago, the possibility that it has become a wider-ranging investigation comes as the industry is under pressure over spiraling drug costs . Coming Up • The Labor Department releases its last jobs report before Election Day, with both sides in the presidential race eager to use the figures to push their narrative. We look at how the department keeps its statistics politics-free . Quotation of the Day “The environment in this job is toxic, but they’re trying to create this whole false idea that everything is cheery and bubbly. I think they want us to be not real people.” — Gammy Alvarez, an employee at a Trader Joe’s in Manhattan. Workers at the chain have complained of harsh and arbitrary treatment at the hands of managers, of chronic safety lapses and of an atmosphere of surveillance.

Pharmaceuticals
Banking and Finance
Fraud
Wells Fargo &


No Rest for Stoudemire; No Regrets for Knicks

Abstract: A night earlier, Amar’e Stoudemire seemed to doubt he would play in Saturday’s game, the road-weary Knicks’ second game in two days, and their fourth in five. Yet he was on the court Saturday night against the Atlanta Hawks, wearing his familiar No. 1 jersey and black goggles, ambling up and down the court. Asked before the game whether Stoudemire would have played if the Knicks’ record were, say, 10 games above .500 and not 10 games below, Coach Mike Woodson thought for a moment and said, “Probably not.” He added: “That’s a good question. I don’t know. But if he tells me he can go, I’m not forcing the issue.” It was a telling moment, hinting at the growing desperation for Woodson and his team, which used a strong fourth quarter to nip the Hawks, 111-106, at Madison Square Garden. Without forward Kenyon Martin, who strained an abdominal muscle Friday and could miss several more games, the Knicks were woefully thin in the frontcourt, starting Carmelo Anthony at power forward and moving guard J. R. Smith into the starting lineup. “If he was healthy, tonight might’ve been a no-go for me,” Stoudemire said of Martin. “But when a man’s down, then that’s when another man steps up.” Still, for a second straight night, the Knicks got practically nothing from Smith, who scored 2 points while going 1 of 8 from the field in 24 minutes. He spent most of the final three quarters seated on the bench. On Friday, Smith attempted just one shot in more than 26 minutes, an uncharacteristic performance for a volume shooter like him. It seemed to perturb Woodson, who reiterated Saturday that the Knicks relied on him to score. Smith took five shots in the first quarter against Atlanta, making one, but was otherwise quiet again. The play of Tim Hardaway Jr. (13 points) off the bench helped Smith’s disappearing act become an afterthought. Hardaway gave the Knicks a lift late in the second quarter, scoring 7 straight points to push their lead to 49-41. Image Tim Hardaway Jr. of the Knicks scoring on a fast break against the Hawks. Hardaway finished with 13 points in Saturday’s win. Credit Peter Foley/European Pressphoto Agency The Knicks still could not gain much separation until they opened the third quarter by hitting five of their first six field-goal attempts. The lead grew to 14, 68-54, before the Hawks clawed back, hitting six 3-pointers in the third quarter. Atlanta closed the gap to 4 early in the fourth quarter, but unlike previous games, the Knicks managed to hit shots and get stops when it counted, going on a 15-4 run to deaden the Hawks’ momentum. Anthony scored 15 of his game-high 35 points in the fourth quarter. “That was a big conversation in the huddles — just to close the game out,” Anthony said. “There’s time in the past we’ve let games slip away in the fourth quarter. Tonight we did a great job closing it out.” The Hawks cannot blame the loss on anything aesthetic. The Knicks wore white on Saturday, avoiding a dark-colored uniform flap like the one from the last time the Hawks visited. In that game, the Hawks wore red jerseys while the Knicks wore orange, the result being a confusing clash of colors that made it difficult to discern between players. But with things settled in the uniform department, and some offensive cohesion on display, the Knicks shot 50.6 percent from the floor and forced 27 turnovers, which they converted into 36 points. Speculation remains that the Knicks could trade Metta World Peace, who could not be involved in a transaction until Sunday under N.B.A. bylaws because he was signed as a free agent over the summer. But the win, for the moment, calmed the clouds surrounding Woodson’s tenure with the Knicks, who earned their third victory in their last four home games. Still, the team remains far from where it would like to be. The clearest indication of its standing involved Stoudemire, who finished with 9 points and 5 rebounds in 19 minutes. After the game in Boston, Stoudemire told reporters that he expected to rest Saturday, as is customary for him during a back-to-back following another knee surgery this summer, his third in a one-year period. But he apparently changed his mind, saying after the win over the Hawks: “It was my decision. I knew we’re a few guys down. We needed a lift. I was able to give it a go out there.” Stoudemire, 31, had not played in four games in five days since last season, when he wound up needing a debridement procedure in March that cost him the remainder of the regular season and the first round of the playoffs. When asked essentially what made this situation different from the one the Knicks were in less than a year ago, Woodson could not answer. He said he was well aware of Stoudemire’s delicate medical history. “We’ve taken baby steps to get him to this point,” Woodson said. “We’ve got to be careful.” Care and caution, however, are luxuries that Woodson and the Knicks do not have at their disposal right now.

Knicks
Atlanta Hawks
Mike Woodson
Carmelo Anthony
Basketball
Amar'e Stoudemire
J R Smith


Big Challenges Ahead for Johnson’s New Chief

Abstract: Johnson & Johnson needs to rethink the way it brings drugs to market, expand its reach into global markets and rebuild consumer confidence by returning recalled brands to pharmacy shelves, the incoming chief executive, Alex Gorsky, said in an interview Wednesday. Mr. Gorsky, who is scheduled to take over formally during Johnson & Johnson’s annual meeting Thursday, did not lay out plans for major changes at the company, which has been troubled in recent years by a succession of product recalls, manufacturing problems and government inquiries. He said he intended to build on the company’s long legacy of success. Still, he said, “I think we’re going to need to be bold, disciplined and decisive about how we go forward.” Essential to the company’s future, he said, was a rethinking how it develops new drugs. “I think the markets are going to demand a higher bar around innovation and really making a difference for patients,” he said. Les Funtleyder, a portfolio manager at Miller Tabak & Company, agreed that Johnson & Johnson’s research and development operation has been sluggish recently, failing to turn out as many profitable drugs and devices as it once did. “It’s more of a question of steering it back to where it was,” said Mr. Funtleyder, whose fund owns the stock. “I’m not sure you need a total redo. You need a course correction.” Mr. Gorsky also sees major opportunities in global markets. Already, 55 percent of Johnson’s sales come from overseas, but the company can do better, Mr. Gorsky said. Developing markets, he said, are growing at three to five times the rate of markets like the United States and Europe. “And as more people move into the middle class, they represent even more of an opportunity,” Mr. Gorsky said. There is no question that Mr. Gorsky, who is replacing William C. Weldon, has his work cut out for him. Consumer confidence in Johnson & Johnson, once one of the most trusted brands, has dipped in recent years as the company recalled dozens of products, including millions of bottles of children’s Tylenol and other medications, as well as artificial hips and other products. Last week, company officials told analysts that efforts to fix the manufacturing problems that had caused the recalls of over-the-counter brands were taking longer than expected, and that some brands might not return to shelves until 2013. Mr. Gorsky said Wednesday that the company has made changes to its supply chain and quality control procedures and that working with a third-party firm as well as the Food and Drug Administration was taking a long time. “We’re learning as we go through this process,” he said. “We believe we’re starting to see the benefits of some of that, but we still realize that there’s work that we have to do.” When the products return to shelves, Mr. Gorsky said he was confident that customers would continue to buy them. He said this has already happened with some returning brands. “The events over the last couple of years have had a negative impact, but we’ve been, I think, encouraged by how resilient our brands and our company reputation has been,” he said. Mr. Gorsky, who is 51, joined Johnson & Johnson as a sales representative in 1988. He ran the company’s pharmaceutical businesses in Europe, Africa and the Middle East, then left in 2004 to head the North American pharmaceuticals business at Novartis. He returned to Johnson & Johnson four years later. Mr. Gorsky won the chief executive job over Sherilyn S. McCoy, who had led the pharmaceuticals and consumer groups, but resigned to become chief executive of Avon this week. Mr. Weldon will remain as chairman. Manufacturing problems are not the only troubles that the company faces. A judge in Alabama fined the company $1.2 billion over accusations that it had hidden and diminished the risks of Risperdal, an antipsychotic drug, and the company is facing similar lawsuits by state attorneys general across the country. The Alabama case is being appealed, and Mr. Gorsky declined to comment on the matter, citing the litigation. He also declined to comment for similar reasons on his role in an artificial hip implant that has failed in thousands of patients, crippling some of them. Mr. Gorsky was head of the device and diagnostics group at the time that critical decisions were being made about the implants. Although some have criticized Johnson & Johnson for hiring an insider to lead the company during a difficult time, Mr. Gorsky said he has a track record of taking decisive, sometimes counterintuitive, action. He described himself as a “realistic optimist” and cited as an example the company’s decision last year to stop making drug-coated heart stents . Recent research has shown that stents were overused and that drugs might be a better alternative to avoiding heart attacks or strokes. At the same time, he said, he chose to expand the company’s orthopedics business by negotiating the deal to acquire Synthes , a medical device maker. Of the decision on the heart stents, “I think that represents the kind of decisiveness that we’re going to need again, even in an area where I think that few would have felt that Johnson & Johnson would do that,” he said. “That’s the realist in me.”

Johnson & Johnson
Implants
Gorsky Alex
Appointments and Executive Changes
Drugs (Pharmaceuticals)
Recalls and Bans of Products


Suit Dropped Over Death in Plane Rescue

Abstract: SAN FRANCISCO — The parents of a teenage girl who was run over and killed by emergency vehicles after an Asiana Airlines crash landing at the San Francisco airport in 2013 have dropped their lawsuit against the city, officials said. The parents’ lawyers formally dismissed the lawsuit Friday in federal court. “The parties have reached a confidential settlement on mutually agreeable terms,” said Gretchen Nelson, a lawyer representing the parents of Ye Meng Yuan, 16. Ms. Nelson declined to say if the family filed other lawsuits against the airline or Boeing, which manufactured the plane. The city attorney’s office said no money was paid to the family to dismiss their lawsuit. “We’re grateful for a dismissal that will spare everyone involved the added heartache and costs of litigation, which we believed from the beginning to be without legal merit,” the city attorney, Dennis Herrera, said. Mr. Herrera said the heroic efforts of San Francisco firefighters and police officers saved hundreds of lives after Asiana Flight 214 clipped a sea wall on approach to San Francisco and burst into flames on the runway on July 6, 2013. Rescuers pulled five passengers from the burning plane. In the end, three teenage girls died and 180 other passengers and crew were injured. Two of the people who died were sitting in the tail section of the plane, which snapped off when it hit the sea wall. Ye Meng Yuan was run over by two rescue vehicles while she lay injured and covered in foam on the runway. The San Mateo County coroner determined the girl’s death was caused by the rescue vehicles. Asiana Flight 214 originated in Seoul and carried 291 passengers and 16 crew members. Federal safety investigators blamed the crash on the pilots, saying they bungled the landing approach by inadvertently deactivating the plane’s key control for air speed, among other errors. But the National Transportation Safety Board also said the complexity of the Boeing 777’s auto-throttle and auto-flight director — two of the plane’s major systems for controlling flight — contributed to the accident. The safety board also faulted materials provided to airlines by Chicago-based Boeing, saying the materials failed to make clear the conditions in which the auto-throttle does not automatically maintain speed. Dozens of other lawsuits involving the airline and the plane’s manufacturer have been filed in the United States, but many foreigners aboard the flight are prevented by international treaty from suing the airline in this country and must pursue their legal claims in Asia and elsewhere. In March, 72 passengers settled their lawsuits for an undisclosed amount. Several more lawsuits are pending.

San Francisco
Asiana Airlines
Lawsuits
Plane Crash
Ye Mengyuan


Retailers Post Weak Quarterly Earnings and July Sales

Abstract: Several recent indicators have raised the prospect that the recession might be ending. But American consumers do not seem to be getting the word. Retail spending is still far below that of a year ago in virtually every category, as figures reported Thursday showed. Major clothing chains including Macy’s, Nordstrom, Liz Claiborne and Kohl’s posted earnings declines this week. Even Wal-Mart Stores , the nation’s largest retailer and one of the hardiest survivors of this recession, reported lower sales on Thursday. Taken together, the reports made clear that consumers were likely to continue hoarding their dollars into the usually robust back-to-school shopping season, a crucial time for retailers. The Commerce Department said Thursday that retail sales fell by a seasonally adjusted 0.1 percent in July from a month earlier, far below the 0.7 percent increase economists were expecting. Comparing this July to the same month a year ago, retail sales were down 8.3 percent. Stark as that drop sounds, it is actually a slight improvement from recent months, when sales were down 9 percent or more compared to the same month a year ago. “This is only a little piece of what is a huge seismic shift — a return to savings by American consumers and a shift away from spending,” said Allen Sinai, president of Decision Economics. “Without the consumer, the economy will not have any kind of a typical recovery, and will grow very, very slowly for a long time.” Last month, consumers spent less on furniture, electronics, appliances, books and music, suggesting that they remained wary because of the weak job market. Indeed, Wal-Mart said its shopper surveys were showing exactly that. “More people are concerned about unemployment,” Eduardo Castro-Wright, head of Wal-Mart’s United States operations, told investors on Thursday in an earnings call. Craig R. Johnson, president of Customer Growth Partners, a retailing consulting firm, estimated that discretionary spending had fallen to approximately 2005 levels. “You hate to go into these stores where the clerks outnumber the customers, and unfortunately that’s what we’re seeing,” he said. The robust retailing categories continued to be essentials, like food, and basic items, like bed sheets and cookware. Some 20 months into the recession, millions of consumers are saving money aggressively as they try to shore up their depleted finances and make up some of the wealth they have lost as their home values declined and their stock portfolios dwindled. Economists say high unemployment and stagnant wage growth are likely to keep consumers tethered in the months ahead, even if other corners of the economy begin to recover. “We’re really not through the woods yet,” said Julia Coronado, senior United States economist at BNP Paribas. “The consumer is still very conservative and really isn’t getting out there and spending.” Kohl’s and Wal-Mart, two of the nation’s strongest chains, saw upticks in customer traffic in the second quarter and gained market share as weaker retailers shuttered stores or disappeared altogether. And both companies raised their earnings projections. Yet on Thursday they sounded notes of caution. “In the backdrop, always in the backdrop, is a weak consumer,” Kevin Mansell, president and chief executive of Kohl’s, told investors in a conference call. For the three months ended Aug. 1, Kohl’s earned a profit of $229 million, or 75 cents a share, in contrast to $236 million, or 77 cents a share, a year ago. Sales at stores open at least a year, a measure of retail health, fell 2.3 percent. “What we hope is that at some point things will turn more positive,” Mr. Mansell said in a telephone interview. “Right now they’re turning less bad.” Wal-Mart reported a second-quarter profit that was essentially the same as last year: $3.44 billion, or 88 cents a share, compared to a profit of $3.45 billion, or 87 cents a share, a year ago. For the quarter, sales at United States stores open at least a year fell 1.2 percent, in contrast to a 4.3 percent increase last year. Matthew F. Katz, a managing director in the retailing practice of AlixPartners, a reorganization firm, said the sales decline at the behemoth discount retailer showed how consumers of all strata “have reset their disposable income and spending levels.” One bright spot in Thursday’s government report was automobile sales. Consumers spent 2.4 percent more on motor vehicles and automotive parts last month compared with June as the government’s popular “cash for clunkers” car purchase program got under way. Yet money that flowed into the pockets of car dealers seemed to come at the expense of other businesses. Retail spending excluding sales of cars and car parts fell 0.6 percent. Industry professionals expect consumer spending, which accounts for around 70 percent of the United States economy, to be weak for the rest of the year, maybe longer. That does not bode well for the all-important back-to-school and Christmas shopping seasons, when many retailers do much of their annual business. “Some 65 percent of Americans plan to modify spending beyond just this year,” Mr. Katz said, adding that the new consumer mindset “will have a prolonged and dramatic impact on the retail environment.”

Company Reports
Wal-Mart Stores Inc
Shopping and Retail


International Monetary Fund Says Europe Should Weigh Bond-Buying

Abstract: LUXEMBOURG — The International Monetary Fund on Thursday said that if inflation continued to drag, the euro zone’s central bank could do more to invigorate the economy by buying government bonds and other financial assets. Such a program would in effect emulate the Federal Reserve’s stimulus efforts. The I.M.F., in its annual report on the euro-currency union, also criticized its rules for managing national budgets as complicated and poorly enforced — even as some member nations continue to call for greater leeway. The stimulus recommendation from the I.M.F., which included a presentation Thursday evening by the fund’s managing director, Christine Lagarde, was made here at a meeting of finance ministers from the 18-country euro zone. It aligned the fund with a chorus of economists urging more aggressive action to stimulate the euro zone’s barely growing economy and address its troublingly low levels of inflation. “If inflation remains stubbornly low, the E.C.B. should consider a large-scale asset purchase program, primarily of sovereign assets,” the report said . This “would boost confidence, improve corporate and household balance sheets, and stimulate bank lending,” it said. The fund, in other words, may be calling for the European Central Bank to engage in a stimulus program similar to the Federal Reserve’s so-called quantitative easing in the United States — a big bond-buying program that the Fed is only slowly ending. Asked during a news conference what was meant by “stubbornly low,” Ms. Lagarde said it applied when measures taken to fight weak inflation were “not operative.” Low meant “obviously way below” the 2 percent inflation rate target and “it seems to us we are currently in that zone,” she said. A top official of the European Central Bank, speaking Thursday in Athens, expressed a willingness by the bank to follow Ms. Lagarde’s advice, though perhaps not as quickly as she would like. The central bank is ready to begin large-scale asset purchases if it becomes clear that the euro zone economy faces “a protracted period of low inflation and economic stagnation,” Vítor Constâncio, the vice president of the central bank, said, according to the text of a speech delivered at a conference in Athens. “The E.C.B. stands ready to deploy additional unconventional instruments, should the likelihood of this scenario increase,” Mr. Constâncio said. “The policy response would involve a broad-based asset-purchase program.” Mario Draghi, the central bank’s president, has previously said that asset purchases were an option. Mr. Constâncio’s remarks Thursday were perhaps the most explicit declaration yet of the bank’s willingness to emulate the Fed’s program. He suggested that the central bank could find a way to introduce quantitative easing in the euro zone despite the lack of any pan-European government bond analogous to the United States Treasury securities purchased by the Fed. Some economists have questioned whether, because of the fragmented bond market, it would even be possible to conduct quantitative easing in Europe. “The experience of other countries with such programs testifies that they can be effectively designed,” Mr. Constâncio said. But Mr. Constâncio added that he saw only a “low probability” that an extended period of stagnation and low inflation would occur. And he cautioned that asset purchases by the central bank would be effective only if governments also took steps to improve the performance of their economies. His remarks implied that, in return for stimulus action, the European Central Bank might demand that countries like France pursue economic changes the bank considers long overdue. Another issue at the ministers meeting in Luxembourg was whether the bloc’s budget rules remain so rigid that they actually damage growth. Some governments and leaders are skeptical of the benefits of deficit limits and the push for austerity in recent years. Those leaders are seeking to reopen the issue with the backing of the Socialist group in the newly elected European Parliament. The push for changing European Union policies to do more to promote growth appeared to be gaining traction on Thursday amid suggestions by diplomats and European officials that left-leaning European leaders could meet on Saturday in Paris with President François Hollande of France to discuss the issue, according to a report by Reuters. Those leaders, who could include the Italian prime minister, Matteo Renzi, would be likely to make broader support for anti-austerity policies a precondition of supporting Jean-Claude Juncker to lead the European Commission, when European Union leaders gather for a summit meeting at the end of next week. But that would invite a clash with Britain, which bitterly opposes the appointment of Mr. Juncker, a former prime minister of Luxembourg, on the grounds that he is too supportive of a federalist vision for Europe, and was foisted on leaders by the European Parliament. Arriving at the meeting, Michel Sapin, the French finance minister, said his government was not demanding a change to the rules. Instead, he said, “We first need to find the right rhythm for each of our member states” allowing for “an orderly decrease of the debt situation and a decrease in the deficit that take place in conditions compatible with, and even helpful to, growth.” Pier Carlo Padoan, the Italian minister for the economy and finance, also suggested that his government did not want wholesale changes. But there is “need to put in place all the instruments the E.U. already has to speed up growth and create jobs,” he told reporters in Luxembourg. Suggestions on changing the system earned a frosty reception from Wolfgang Schäuble, the German finance minister. “The current rules offer enough flexibility,” he said. “It’s not necessary to change the rules — but to follow them,” he told reporters. Ms. Lagarde, the I.M.F. head, told the news conference that the current rules need “simplification to ensure there are no differences of interpretation and to put an end to therisk of complexity.” But she acknowledged that was “not something that can be done overnight.” In its report, the fund called for a “simpler framework” based on the goal of reducing debt levels. Under European Union rules, governments in the 28-member bloc must keep their public deficit at no more than 3 percent of gross domestic product. But France is struggling to meet a 2015 deadline to bring its deficit below that level. And Italy, whose deficit came in right at the 3 percent ceiling last year, still faces the task of devising a strategy to prune its huge debt.

Euro
Europe
Government bond
European Central Bank
Quantitative easing
IMF
Banking and Finance


Sales of Existing U.S. Homes Leap Higher

Abstract: Sales of previously owned homes surged in July as buyers stormed back to the market, taking advantage of falling prices, lower interest rates and a tax credit for first-time homeowners, an industry group reported on Friday. Sales of condos and single-family homes each rose for the month, and the overall number of existing home sales rose 7.2 percent in July from June, the National Association of Realtors reported . It was the largest monthly gain since the group began tracking existing home sales in 1999. Moreover, home sales last month were 5 percent higher than in July 2008. Homes were selling at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5.2 million in July, up from a rate of 5 million last year. It was the first year-over-year increase in home sales since November 2005. “I’m a little bit flabbergasted,” said Patrick Newport, an economist at IHS Global Insight. “These are really good numbers.” Some 30 percent of the homes sold in July were distressed properties like short sales or foreclosures, but that is a lower percentage than in previous months, when nearly half of all existing-home sales were estimated to be foreclosures. Over all, economists said, Friday’s numbers offered another signal that the housing market was climbing out of the basement, even as foreclosures and delinquencies creep higher amid rising job losses. Existing home sales — which make up the bulk of home sales — have risen over the last four months after crashing to record-low levels during the collapse of the housing market last year. Sales of new homes rose 11 percent in June from a month earlier and are up since the winter, even though they are sharply lower than in the peak years of the housing boom. And sale prices for single-family homes are starting to stabilize in some of the country’s most distressed markets as bargain-hunters snap up distressed properties and cheap foreclosures. The median sale price of homes nationwide fell to $178,400, and more homes poured onto the market as foreclosures increased and sellers detected a hint of enthusiasm among buyers. Lawrence Yun, chief economist at the Realtors’ association, cheered the latest numbers. “The housing market has decisively turned for the better,” he said in a statement.

Sales
Housing and Real Estate
Subprime Mortgage Crisis