The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com

Monday, October 5, 2009 - 3A

The Michigan Daily - michigandailycom Monday, October 5, 2009 - 3A

NEWS BRIEFS
DETROIT
Activist wants Bing
appointee removed
An activist wants Detroit Mayor
Dave Bing's chief administrative
assistant removed from his posi-
tion due to a state law that bans
anyone who has been convicted
of bribery from accepting a politi-
cal appointment or holding public
office.
Agnes Hitchcock of the Call 'Em
Out Coalition says Charles Beck-
ham isn't eligible to serve due to a
1984 conviction for rigging a City
of Detroit sludge-hauling contract.
Federal investigators said Beckham
took $16,000 in bribes.
Hitchcock sent a letter asking
Michigan Attorney General Mike
Cox to remove Beckham from
Bing's cabinet. The Detroit Free
Press obtained a copy of the letter.
WASHINGTON
Adviser downplays
threat of renewed
al-Qaida haven
A top U.S. commander's public
plea for more troops in Afghanistan
prompted a mild rebuke yesterday
from the White House national
security adviser, as the adminis-
tration heads into a second week
of intensive negotiations over its
evolving Afghan strategy.
Retired Gen. James Jones said
that decisions on how best to stabi-
lize Afghanistan and beat back the
insurgency must extend beyond
troop levels to development and
governance. And the request by
Army Gen. Stanley McChrystal,
the top U.S. commander in Afghan-
istan, for up to 40,000 more troops
is just one of three key elements
advisers must consider as they meet
this week to plot the way ahead.
He added that it is "better for
military advice to come up through
the chain of command," rather
than off a public stage, referring
to McChrystal's speech in London
last week making a case for more
troops. But Jones also beat back
suggestions that the open campaign
could jeopardize the general's job.
McChrystal "is in it for the long
haul," Jones said. "I don't think this
is an issue."
HARTFORD, Conn.
Waves of new fund
cuts imperil U.S.
nursing homes
The nation's nursing homes are
perilously close to laying off work-
ers, cutting services - possibly
even closing - because of a perfect
storm wallop from the recession
and deep federal and state gov-
ernment spending cuts, industry
experts say.
A Medicare rate adjustment that
cuts an estimated $16 billion in
nursinghome funding over the next
10 years was enacted at week's end
by the federal Centers for Medicare
and Medicaid Services - on top of
state-level cuts or flat-funding that
already had the industry reeling.
And Congress is debating slash-

ingbillions more in Medicare fund-
ing as part of health care reform.
Add it all up, and the nursing
home industry is headed for a cri-
sis, industry officials say.
"We can foresee the possibility
f nursing homes having to close
* 4mir doors," said David Hebert, a
senior vice president at the Ameri-
con Health Care Association. "I
certainly foresee that we'll have to
.lt staff go."
WRIGHTWOOD, Calif.
'ires char wildland
in Calif., Ariz.
A wind-fanned wildfire that
charred some 51/2 square-miles of
the San Gabriel Mountains contin-
ued to rage yesterday as firefighters
worked to prevent flames from ad-
vancing toward a mountain resort
community.
The 3,500-acre Sheep fire, driv-
en by wind gusts of up to 40 mph,
destroyed three homes and was 10
percent surrounded.
Between 4,000 to 6,000 resi-
dents were ordered to evacuate,
said Robin Prince, public informa-
tion officer for the San Bernardino
SNational Forest.
"The winds are quite a problem,"
Prince said.
Firefighters were making astand
in the mountain resort community
of Wrightwood, which contains
a nix of full-time residences and
r vacation homes, spreading fire re-
tardant gel to structures to protect
,them from advancing flames.
- Compiled from
Daily wire reports

In lecture, Krugman
talks trade, downturn

White House
sees progress
in Iran talks

New York Times
columnist spoke on
campus Friday
By OLIVIA CARRINO
For the Daily
Nobel Prize-winning econo-
mist Paul Krugman offered cau-
tious optimism - or silver-lined
pessimism, depending on your
point of view - to the crowd that
filled Hill Auditorium from the
orchestra to the mezzanine Friday
afternoon.
"The apocalypse has been post-
poned, but it's been a pretty shock-
ing crisis and we are nowhere near
being out of the woods," he said.
Krugman, an op-ed colum-
nist for The New York Times and
professor of economics and inter-
national affairs at Princeton Uni-
versity, spoke as part of the 2009
Citigroup Foundation Lecture
series.
The lecture was in honor of
the career of Alan Deardorff, the
associate dean of the Ford School
of Public Policy and a professor of
international economics and pub-
lic policy.
Krugman primarily talked
about what led to the globalization
boom and the effects of interna-
tional trade on world economies,
as well as the current global eco-
nomic crisis.
"Today's world is extraordi-
narily complex with enormous
volumes of trade," he said, adding
that what makes today's global
economy different are "these com-
plex supply chains where things
are in many stages of production."
He credited the growth of glo-
balization and the emergence
of complex supply chains to
advancements in technology, the
utilization of "differences in com-
petence" and advantages of scale

in variousdeveloping economies.
These factors, he said, led to a
phenomenon he called "fragmen-
tation of production."
"Is it a good thing or is it a bad
thing? The answer, of course, is
yes," he said, causing laughter
from the audience.
Globalization is good, he said,
because it allows countries to spe-
cialize.
"We have countries concentrat-
ing on the things they do really,
really well," he said.
"We've got the whole world
producing more efficiently, which
means world wealth has gone up."
On the negative side, he said,
"There are many dislocations and
many distributional effects."
"The most obvious - and one
that we worry about a lot - is that
lower formal education workers
in advanced countries are almost
certainly hurt by the inequality,"
he said. "It is wider to some extent
because of globalization."
"If you take a global citizen
view," he said, "those losses are
less dramatic than the huge
gains."
Krugman said globalization
exacerbated the effects of the
global recession because world
leaders were limited in their
capacity to respond to it with
coordinated policies.
"We createdthisglobaleconomy
without creating the institutions
we need to manage it," he said.
"We are to a certain extent hold-
ing the world economy together by
Scotch Tape and chewing gum."
"As a citizen of the world I am
quite horrified about what we are
going through," he continued.
"Little less frightening than it was
six months ago, but I'm still in awe
of the prospects."
He added: "It's a great time to
study, unfortunately nyt to live
through."1
After the lecture, audience

members had mixed reactions.
First-year MBA student Steuart
Botchford said he found the lec-
ture to be thought-provoking.
"I thought it was really inter-
esting to hear sort of a perspective
on the world that takes globaliza-
tion not necessarily as the be-all
to end-all for saving the world,"
Botchford said. "He really has a
very nuanced perspective of the
way the world works and how
some things which always seem
good may end up not being so good
and some things which seem bad
may actually end up being good."
LSA senior Jacob Mirowitz was
less impressed.
"To be honest, I was a little dis-
appointed just because I read his
articles every once in a while and
he provides a pretty good over-
view of what's going on in the
economy and what the problems
are with the current economic cri-
sis," he said. "Today, focusing on
just international trade was alittle
bit boring and it was a little like
sitting in an econ lecture that you
really don't want tobe in."
Dieter Burrell, summer pro-
gram assistant director for the
Inter-University Consortium
for Political and Social Research
at the University, agreed with
Mirowitz.
"He seemed more nervous and
I thought it would be more about
contemporary issues," he said.
Scott Kassner, assistant direc-
tor for the LSA Honors Program,
praised Krugman.
"I think Paul Krugman is bril-
liant and is particularly adept at
taking very complex ideas and
expressing them in a way that the
general listener, the general read-
er can understand," Kassner said.
"He is by no means an optimist,
but at least you leave listening to
him having a sense that there are
very smart people who are think-
ing about these issues."

Inspectors to visit
Iran's uranium
enrichment site
on Oct. 25
WASHINGTON (AP) - The
White House said yesterday it sees
signs of progress in confronting
Iran's nuclear program while mem-
bers of Congress endorsed authoriz-
ing tougher U.S. economic penalties
against the Tehran government.
International inspectors are to
visit Iran's newly disclosed uranium
enrichment site on Oct. 25. That
announcement yesterday capped a
furious week of diplomacy, includ-
ing Thursday's session in Geneva
where Iran and six world powers
resumed nuclear talks.
"The fact that Iran came to the
table and seemingly showed some
degree of cooperation, I think, is
a good thing," said James Jones,.
President Barack Obama's national
security adviser.
"But this is not going to be an
open-ended process. We want to
be satisfied. We, the world commu-
nity, want to be satisfied within a
short period of time," Jones added.
"So it's not going to be extended
discussions that we're going to have
before we draw our conclusions to
what their real intent is. But for
now, I think things are moving in
the right direction."
Suspicions about Iran's nuclear
intentions have risen steadily along
with fears - and some evidence
- that Tehran wants to build an
atomic bomb and is using what it
calls is a civilian nuclear energy
program as cover. The Iranians are
under three sets of U.N. penalties
for refusing to stop enriching ura-
nium, a key first step toward build-
ing a bomb.
"Our whole approach is predi-
cated on an urgent need to pre-

vent Iran from obtaining a nuclear
weapons capacity," said Susan
Rice, U.S. ambassador to the Unit-
ed Nations.
"Right now we are in a period of
intense negotiations. It's not an infi-
nite period. It's avery finite period,"
she said.
Rice said that in the best outcome,
Iran would not have any nuclear
weapons, no longer pose a threat to
its neighbors or support terrorism,
and treat its people with respect,
allowing them to participate peace-
fully in a democratic process. "That's
the Iranwe hope to see."
Current penalties have failed to
change Tehran's course and have
been watered down through efforts
by Russia and China. Those coun-
tries, along with the U.S., Britain
and France, can block action in the
Security Council.
Rice said the U.S. had three
options: to push sanctions through
the U.N.; work with European allies
to punish Iran; or to take unilateral
action in conjunction with the other
possible courses of action.
Members of Congress are ready
to authorize steps the U.S. can take
against Iran, in addition to possible
U.N. action.
Sen. Bob Casey, D-Pa., said the
U.S. "cannot allow talking and nego-
tiation to replace strong action if we
feel we have to take that step."
Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C.,
said he would like Congress to pass
measures that would "empower
the president and our country to
be tough and to put some actions
behind words. So let's have 'Iran
Week' in the Senate and get some-
thing done."
Lawmakers are talking about
trying to block gas and refined
petroleum exports to Iran, pos-
sibly causing serious disruptions
in the lives of ordinary Iranians.
Others moves could affect Iran's
financial institutions and impose
new trade bans.


MEDICAL SCHOOL
From Page 1A
having more faculty and encourag-
ing more research in the humani-
tarian aspects of medicine, it does
feel a little frustrating at times to
see a lack of opportunity in those
avenues."
"Granted, medical school is not
really focused on policy," he said.
"But I think that given the topical
nature of health reform, I think that
I am not more prepared to talk on
health reform than anyone else and
I am going to be dedicating my life
to medicine."
Owen Darr, a second-year Medi-
cal School student, said he feelsthat
becomingwellversed inhealthcare
policy is a key step on the way to
becoming a good doctor.
"It's something that patients are
concerned with, and hospitals are
concerned with," Darr said. "That
puts us right in the middle."
Darr said he plans on takingelec-
tive courses on health care policy in
the coming semester.
Faculty members at the School of
Public Health, which offers classes
on health care policy, have taken
notice of the lack of opportunities
for medical students to explore
more social dimensions of medi-
cine.

"If you want to treat patients you
might want to know about what
kind of health insurance they have,"
said Richard Lichtenstein, associ-
ate professor of the Department of
Health Management and Policy in
the School of Public Health.
Lichtenstein, who teaches a
course on the U.S. health care sys-
tem, has-found that the traditional
medical school curriculum that
focuses mainly on clinical matters
leads many practicing doctors to
return for additional schooling.
"The last class we had 34 people
and 26 were physicians," said Lich-
tenstein. "People start to develop
this knowledge that they don't
know enough and want to learn
more."
Connections between the Medi-
cal School and the School of Public
Health, which offers courses on
health care policy, have been set
up to provide opportunities for stu-
dents to gain practical knowledge of
how the health care system works,
according to Dr. Paula Lantz, chair
of the Department of Health Man-
agement and Policy at the School of
Public Health.
"There are many opportunities
for medical students, residents and
fellows to get a degree in public
health," Lantz said. "For example,
we have a joint program with the
Medical School through which

someone can get their M.D. and
M.P.H. in five years.
"Given what is required to train
people to be good physicians, there
is not much time left for education
regarding the health care delivery
system, population health issues,
and health policy," Lantz said.
Goel said that medical school
students may benefit from a greater
focus on the doctor-patient rela-
tionship in the school's curriculum.
"There is a significant amount of
material that we have to cover and a
lot of the time I don't feel we spend
enough time on clinical medicine,"
Goel said.
Time constraints aside, many
professors, as well as doctors, still
feel that knowledge of how health
care works is an essential part of
becoming a good doctor.
"Our patients depend on us to
help them navigate the U.S. health
care' system, which can be very
hard to understand," Davis said.
"Teaching medical students about
the health -care system and why
it works the way it does can help
students become doctors who help
their patients more effectively."
He added:"A systematic approach
to teaching medical students and
residents more about the health care
system would enhance medical edu-
cation and better prepare people for
the practice of medicine."

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