By Megan Twohey, Chicago Tribune reporter
The Illinois Department of Public Health declined to investigate 85 percent of the 560 hospital 
Read the complete story by clicking on the following: http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/ct-met-hospital-investigations-20111106,0,601576,full.story
Following is an excerpt from: http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/what-caused-the-financial-crisis-the-big-lie-goes-viral/2011/10/31/gIQAXlSOqM_story_1.html These are causes according to the columnist.
And what about those facts? To be clear, no single issue was the cause. Our economy is a complex and intricate system. What caused the crisis? Look:
●Fed Chair Alan Greenspan dropped rates to 1 percent — levels not seen for half a century — and kept them there for an unprecedentedly long period. This caused a spiral in anything priced in dollars (i.e., oil, gold) or credit (i.e., housing) or liquidity driven (i.e., stocks).
●Low rates meant asset managers could no longer get decent yields from municipal bonds or Treasurys. Instead, they turned to high-yield mortgage-backed securities. Nearly all of them failed to do adequate due diligence before buying them, did not understand these instruments or the risk involved. They violated one of the most important rules of investing: Know what you own.
●Fund managers made this error because they relied on the credit ratings agencies — Moody’s, S&P and Fitch. They had placed an AAA rating on these junk securities, claiming they were as safe as U.S. Treasurys.
4 Derivatives had become a uniquely unregulated financial instrument. They are exempt from all oversight, counter-party disclosure, exchange listing requirements, state insurance supervision and, most important, reserve requirements. This allowed AIG to write $3 trillion in derivatives while reserving precisely zero dollars against future claims.
5 The Securities and Exchange Commission changed the leverage rules for just five Wall Street banks in 2004. The “Bear Stearns exemption” replaced the 1977 net capitalization rule’s 12-to-1 leverage limit. In its place, it allowed unlimited leverage for Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, Merrill Lynch, Lehman Brothers and Bear Stearns. These banks ramped leverage to 20-, 30-, even 40-to-1. Extreme leverage leaves very little room for error.
6Wall Street’s compensation system was skewed toward short-term performance. It gives traders lots of upside and none of the downside. This creates incentives to take excessive risks.
7 The demand for higher-yielding paper led Wall Street to begin bundling mortgages. The highest yielding were subprime mortgages. This market was dominated by non-bank originators exempt from most regulations. The Fed could have supervised them, but Greenspan did not.
8 These mortgage originators’ lend-to-sell-to-securitizers model had them holding mortgages for a very short period. This allowed them to get creative with underwriting standards, abdicating traditional lending metrics such as income, credit rating, debt-service history and loan-to-value.
9 “Innovative” mortgage products were developed to reach more subprime borrowers. These include 2/28 adjustable-rate mortgages, interest-only loans, piggy-bank mortgages (simultaneous underlying mortgage and home-equity lines) and the notorious negative amortization loans (borrower’s indebtedness goes up each month). These mortgages defaulted in vastly disproportionate numbers to traditional 30-year fixed mortgages.
The following story and editorial is taken from the October 4, 2011, Boone County Journal which is available free of cost at a merchant near you or on line at: http://www.boonecountyjournal.com/news/2011/Boone-County-News-11-04-11.pdf#page=1
Click on the photocopy to enlarge:
Following is taken from: http://www.nursinghomesabuseblog.com/illinois-nursing-homes/
Posted by Jonathan Rosenfeldon August 23, 2011
The surveys, conducted in late 2010, and June 2011, highlight several areas in which the home was consistently negligent. Key among them was the failure to distribute medications on time, failure to keep residents properly fed, and failure to develop proper care plans.
Along with noting disturbing trends at Northwoods, the surveys documented several unacceptable incidents, including:
A December 2010 survey carefully noted an incident where a resident sustained a serious head injury as a result of contact with a dangerous headboard. According to the survey, the patient cut her head on an “ornate object with notable sharp edges” on November 24, 2010. The laceration was 1/4-inch deep with a “moderate amount of bleeding.”
As of December 6, 2010 - when the survey was completed - nurses still had yet to move the patient to a safer bed.
Northwoods, according to the Medicare data, has twice as many “health care deficiencies” (19) as the average nursing home in Illinois, which typically has eight. Its percentage of patients with pressure sores (28) is also more than twice the Illinois average of 13 percent.
The health department surveys noted that Northwoods has paid more than $16,000 in civil fees over the past year. An additional financial report says Northwoods presently owes $8,000 for a “Type A” violation “in the area of nursing.” (See that report below in red)
If you have a family member at Northwoods Care Centre who you believe is suffering from mistreatment, we would honor the opportunity to speak with you. As always, our consultations are free of charge and completely confidential.
FACILITY NAME: Northwoods Care Centre
FACILITY ADDRESS: 2250 Pearl Street
Belvidere, Illinois 61008
DOCKET #: NH 11-S0013
NAME OF OWNER OR LICENSEE: Northwoods Care Centre, LP
ADDRESS: 801 Skokie Blvd., Ste. 100
Northbrook, Illinois 60062
On January 31, 2011, sent Notice of Type “A” Violation relating to the area of nursing and Notice of Fine Assessment of $8,000. A hearing has been requested.
By CHELSEA McDOUGALL - cmcdougall@nwherald.com
Created: Friday, October 28, 2011 5:30 a.m. CDT
WOODSTOCK – It appears Woodstock could be the next municipality to jump on the electrical aggregation bandwagon.
Voters could be asked this spring whether the City should seek lower electricity rates on residents’ behalf….
The measure would lock residents into the new energy rate for three years and “wouldn’t shift the rate of power with inflationary pull,” Sager said, meaning residents’ rates wouldn’t go up in a rising electricity market, but they also wouldn’t go down when the market declines.
The council must approve the measure to be placed on the ballot as a city-wide referendum to be voted on in March. To be on the ballot it has to be approved by early January. It is slated to be on the Council’s agenda Nov. 15.
Educating residents about the process will be key to success with the program, Sager said……
Several other local communities also are pursuing aggregation, including McHenry County, Cary, Marengo and Lakewood. Harvard and Fox River Grove already went to referendum and have locked in lower rates.
Twenty-four municipalities served by ComEd have put referendums on the ballot, and 21 of those passed, according to the Illinois Municipal League and a city report.
Click on the following to read the entire story: http://www.nwherald.com/2011/10/27/woodstock-mulls-energy-aggregation-referendum/a1zigjs/?page=2
The following map was published as an advertisement in Friday, October 28, 2011 Boone County Journal.
Click on the photocopy to enlarge.
For other details see these earlier blog postings:
http://boonecountywatchdog.blogspot.com/2011/09/funderburgs-selling-boone-county.html
http://boonecountywatchdog.blogspot.com/2011/09/schraders-auction-of-funderburg-farm.html
The following Letter to the Editor by Jack Wolf appeared in the October 28, 2011 Boone County Journal. The Journal is available free of cost at merchants across the county. It is also available on line at: http://www.boonecountyjournal.com/news/2011/Boone-County-News-10-28-11.pdf#page=2
