Should the Pharmaceutical industry be for profit? The orthodoxy is profit motives new drug discoveries, research and without it most drugs would never be discovered. But is the dogma from the profit church true?

Despite prescription drugs having a market growth rate of ~4.5% per year and total US sales of $286 billion, global $745 Billion, in 2007, the press was all aghast at the market decline and blamed it all on the lack of new products.

I wonder if you look at medicine as a product? Well, in the current state of affairs life saving compounds are.

This is a first review the Democratic Policy Platform Draft in terms of trade, economic and labor reforms, focus on US workers. I'll let you click on the original and decide for yourselves.

What I see is a lot of problem description and a whole lot of vague rhetoric that implies more of the same. We know more of the same is not dramatic policy change in favor of US national economic interests or US workers interests.

Parsing through the pages and pages of rhetoric which describe various problems, I managed to pull out a few hints of actual policy agenda and frankly it's not good.

It's Friday Night! Party Time!

Time to relax, put your feet up on the couch, lay back, and watch some detailed videos on economic policy!

This week's star is Senator Byron Dorgan. Now I happen to really like Dorgan. He has that Midwest sensibility and more importantly, a MBA, a background in corporate taxes and economics and is chair of the Democratic Policy Committee.

One of the things Dorgan is known for is incredible floor speeches with large graphs and images. Believe me, with him on the floor other Senators have no excuse to claim they didn't know a bill or policy was hurting US workers. You can't ignore Dorgan.

Here he says there is no real representation in Congress for the American Worker:

When is our Congress going to kick those lobbyists to the curb and do the right thing? Don't hold your breath! The Joint Economic Committee held a hearing on July 23, entitled, How Much More Can American Families Be Squeezed By Stagnant Wages, Skyrocketing Household Costs, And Falling Home Prices?

Now from the title, one might wonder if the question is poised to Wall Street wondering just how much money is left to pilfer from the pockets of the middle class. Still, there is always good information and rhetoric in these hearings.