The President’s Speech

Did you have a chance to read or watch the President’s speech, posted here yesterday?

I know it’s long and we’re all busy – I felt a special bond with Alec Baldwin when I learned American Airlines was impeding our common work flow – but Robert Reich rightly calls it “the most important economic speech of his presidency” (and presents the highlights with his own very interesting annotations – so that might be another good way to process it).

OVER 50?

I got to go to a high-level medical briefing Tuesday and – to my surprise – came away with an action step. It turns out that a great many more people than you might imagine get “shingles” (also known as herpes zoster) . . . half of all those living to age 85 . . . it is definitely not something you ever want to get, not least because it can do terrible damage to your eyes . . . and there is a vaccine that cuts by half or more the chance you will one day be stricken. If you are over 50, check with your doctor about getting this shot – even if you’ve already had shingles. (Here’s the Center for Disease Controls on this topic.)

SIGA

Shingles come from the chickenpox virus that 90% of us carry around. Epidemic death comes from smallpox, a disease eradicated in 1980, but that our homeland security folks would like to be prepared for just in case. The latest developments in this story will be of interest only to those of us who bought SIGA at higher prices, watched it climb to $16, and then perhaps bought more last week around $2. (Only, it strains the long-time reader’s patience to be told, with money we could truly afford to lose.)