Important news from Ellen

Oct 17 2011 ∞

Ailing and overweight Americans cost billions in productivity


“The high percentages of full-time U.S. workers who have less than ideal health are a significant drain on productivity for U.S. businesses,” the report said.The $153 billion in annual lost productivity costs linked to unhealthy or overweight workers in the United States is more than four times the cost found in Britain, the study said.The sharp difference is the result of fewer unhealthy workers in Britain. Only about 14 percent of full-time U.S. workers are of “normal” weight and have no chronic illnesses, compared with 20 percent in Britain, the study said.Gallup based its study on surveys of 109,875 full-time workers — those who work at least 30 hours per week — between January 2 and October 2. The survey had a margin of error of up to plus or minus 1.7 percentage points.Under the survey, the Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index used respondents’ self-reports of their height and weight to calculate body mass index (BMI) scores. BMI values of 30 or higher were classified as “obese,” 25 to 29.9 were “overweight,” and 18.5 to 24.9 were “normal weight”.In addition to weight, chronic health conditions included having ever been diagnosed with a heart attack, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, cancer, diabetes, asthma, or depression; and recurring physical pain in the neck or back or knee or leg in the last 12 months.Gallup calculated unhealthy days using answers to a question about how many days in the past month respondents found poor health kept them from doing their usual activities.Full-time workers who were not overweight and suffered no chronic health conditions averaged 0.34 unhealthy days each month, or about four days per year, with a tiny rise for workers who were overweight with no chronic conditions.At the other end of the scale, overweight workers with three or more chronic health conditions reported an average of about 42 unhealthy days per year, about the same as non-overweight workers with similar health woes.Poll results indicated that respondents missed an actual day of work for roughly every three unhealthy days.The survey showed that over 30 percent of workers were overweight and had one or two chronic health problems, while nearly 18 percent were overweight and had three or more chronic health issues.Including presenteeism, when employees go to work but are less productive because of poor health or well-being, would increase the estimate of lost productivity, the study said.Including part-time employees would also add to the estimate of costs in lost productivity.”Other research that has examined a broader array of factors using a somewhat different list of chronic conditions places the economic effect of lost productivity at $1.1 trillion per year,” the study said.

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Oct 14 2011 ∞

In Michigan, Obama defends auto bailout and touts trade


By Caren BohanORION TOWNSHIP, Mich., Oct 14 (Reuters) - With support from the South Korean president, President Barack Obama sought on Friday to reassure U.S. auto workers that a new trade pact between the two countries would not cost Americans jobs.Visiting a General Motors assembly plant in Michigan, Obama said the trade deal signed this week would support at least 70,000 jobs and bolster the U.S. economy.South Korean President Lee Myung-bak, sporting a Detroit Tigers baseball cap, got a standing ovation from auto workers when he offered a “promise” that the accord that some labor leaders have been wary of would not harm U.S. employment.”Rather, it will create more jobs for you and your families and it is going to protect your jobs. And this is the pledge that I give you today,” he said through a translator.Before addressing the crowd on the factory floor, Obama and Lee toured the plant, which was at risk of closing before the White House’s auto industry bailout.They sat in the front seats of a new red Chevrolet Sonic, a sub-compact car made with some parts shipped to the United States from South Korea, which Obama said showed the benefits of close ties with the Asian economy as well as the U.S. car sector’s comeback from its financial crisis.In an apparent jab at Mitt Romney, a leading contender for the 2012 Republican presidential nomination, Obama credited the industry’s current strength to his own intervention.”There were a lot of politicians who said it wasn’t worth the time and it wasn’t worth the money. In fact, there are some politicians who still say that. Well, they should come and tell that to the workers here,” the Democratic president said.U.S. taxpayers extended $50 billion to GM and more than $12 billion to Chrysler in bailout and bankruptcy financing in 2009.’THE INVESTMENT PAID OFF‘“Today I can stand here and say that the investment paid off. The hundreds of thousands of jobs that have been saved made it worth it. An American auto industry that is more profitable and competitive than it has been in years made it worth it,” Obama said. “The taxpayers are being repaid.”The entire bailout included loans and working capital for manufacturers, suppliers and financing businesses that underwrite consumer auto purchases.The Treasury Department long ago conceded it would likely write off a portion of the bailout. Its latest estimates show the government will recover more than 80 percent of the money.Romney, a former Massachusetts governor who grew up in Detroit, has said that GM and Chrysler could have been saved without the injection of government funds, drawing criticism from the United Auto Workers union and others.His 2008 op-ed in the New York Times titled “Let Detroit Go Bankrupt” has haunted him on the campaign trail but reflects a sentiment among many Republicans that Obama spent money too readily when he took office, driving up U.S. deficits and swelling the national debt.Michigan is likely to be a closely contested state in the November 2012 presidential election.

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+ ∞

Solyndra investor promoted panels to the Navy-WSJ


* Navy abandoned contract when Solyndra filed for bankruptcyWASHINGTON, Oct 13 (Reuters) - One of the largest private investors in failed solar firm Solyndra recommended the company’s panels for a U.S. Navy contract at a time when the company was struggling with cash flow, the Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday.Kevin Kopczynski, a principal of RockPort Capital who is on a venture capital advisory panel to the Pentagon, promoted Solyndra for a program designed to look for new energy technologies, the newspaper reported.Kopczynski said he disclosed his firm’s $47.5 million stake in Solyndra but did not disclose that the company was in financial trouble because he said it was not required.”The Navy put out a request for solar technologies with certain attributes. Solyndra and the others I recommended fit the various technology requests,” Kopczynski told the newspaper.Neither Kopczynski nor RockPort could be immediately reached for comment.Solyndra received a $535 million government loan guarantee. It was raided by the FBI after it filed for bankruptcy.Republicans in the House of Representatives are investigating whether politics played a role in that decision, and whether the Energy Department broke the law by agreeing to restructure Solyndra’s debt earlier this year.A hearing set for Friday will examine the restructuring, and will feature testimony from the Treasury Department.The navy chose Solyndra for a pilot program that would have paid the company about $400,000, the newspaper said. “However, given how that played out, with their bankruptcy, we never pursued that as a contract,” said Thomas Hicks, the Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Navy for Energy.Hicks told the newspaper that he did not know RockPort was an investor in Solyndra, and said the program did not look at the finances of firms recommended by its venture capital advisers.RockPort is Solyndra’s fourth-largest investor with a 7.5 percent stake, the newspaper said. David Prend, RockPort’s managing general partner, is a Solyndra board member.

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