February 28, 2009
SINGAPORE: "Don't make abandoning parents in old folks homes a trend"
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SINGAPORE / Channel News Asia / February 28, 2009
By Valarie Tan
Singapore's Senior Minister Goh Chok Tong has called on Singaporeans not to make abandoning elderly parents in old folks' homes a trend.
This comes after Health Minister Khaw Boon Wan suggested in Parliament recently that cost-conscious Singaporeans could consider staying in nursing homes in Johor where it is cheaper. The comment drew strong response from some quarters.
Mr Goh's message to Singaporeans is to honour the elderly, not just out of respect, but also because of what he calls the "silver tsunami".
SM Goh said: "In twenty years' time, it is estimated that our median age would go up to about 50. Just imagine, you walk into any housing estate and one in two persons you come across will be over 50 years old."
Besides encouraging seniors to stay active by working as long as they can and companies to move away from a fixed retirement age, Mr Goh said younger Singaporeans must also do their part.
"Many MPs have come across sad stories of children throwing their aged parents out of their homes because they are viewed as a burden. Though not widespread, there are also instances of children abandoning their parents in old folks' homes. These are isolated cases but we must ensure they do not become a trend," added Mr Goh.
SM Goh also honoured some 20 elder devotees on Saturday who contributed generously to the Sri Lankaramaya Temple. - CNA/vm
AUSTRALIA: Is benefit paid to single, aged pensioners enough?
.
HAWTHORN, Victoria / AustralianPolicyOnLine / February 28, 2009
POVERTY
Old, poor and single
Will an extra $30 a week lift all single pensioners out of poverty? A NATSEM study suggests not, writes ROBERT TANTON
Photo: Andrew Jeffrey
RECENTLY there has been extended debate about whether the age pension is sufficiently high to allow older Australians to attain an acceptable standard of living. This has been partly driven by lobby groups for seniors, and partly by the federal government’s review of pensions. The underlying question is whether the benefit paid to single aged pensioners is enough for them to live on.
Recent research has found a substantial proportion of older Australians living in poverty (23.9 per cent), but the poverty rate for single older people – at 46.5 per cent in 2008–09 – is the highest of any group. Many of these are living on government benefits (about 73 per cent of them), with little or no ability to supplement their income through part time work. This means it is imperative to ensure that the benefit provided to single aged pensioners provides an adequate standard of living.
At present, single aged pensioners receive about 60 per cent of the couple aged pension. This rate is lower than the average across all OECD countries, which is 63 per cent of the couple rate. It is also lower than a poverty line set at half the median Australian income. Recently, advocacy groups in Australia have suggested that an aged singles pension of 66 per cent of the couple rate is a target that Australia should be aiming for.
But how many pensioners will remain in poverty if the single age pension was increased to 66 per cent of the couple? What effect will this change have on the proportion of pensioners in poverty?
Recent research by NATSEM at the University of Canberra models what would happen to poverty rates for single aged pensioners if the pension was increased to 66 per cent of the couple pension; and how much this would cost the Commonwealth government. This is then extended to look at the effect for small areas in Australia.
The policy option modelled was to increase the single aged pension to 66 per cent of the couple aged pension. This would add about $30 per week to a single aged pension. The total cost to the government would be about $1.3 billion. This policy change would reduce the poverty rate for single aged pensioners from 46.5 per cent to 36.5 per cent. The benefit paid is still just below the poverty line, but by about four per cent rather than the 14 per cent gap before the change.
Extending this analysis to small areas in Australia, we found that many of the areas that experienced below average decreases in poverty rates fall on the edges of Australia’s capital cities, in areas like Hornsby in New South Wales and Manningham in Melbourne, and that many rural areas experience above average decreases in poverty (Bourke in NSW and Cook in North Queensland). But many remote areas in Australia have high poverty rates among lone older people allied with below average decreases in poverty rates (Longreach in Queensland and Deniliquin in New South Wales) following the policy change. This suggests that single aged persons living in such areas are more likely to be wholly dependent upon the age pension, with no or few private resources of their own to supplement their government pension.
Overall, the main message from this report was that increasing the single age pension to 66 per cent of the couple age pension was not enough to bring the single age pension above a poverty line calculated as half median disposable income. While it reduced the poverty rate for older single people, nearly 37 percent were still in poverty. What it comes down to is how well we as a society treat our aged, and what is a reasonable amount to live on. •
Robert Tanton is Principal Research Fellow at NATSEM, University of Canberra and co-author of the report Old, Single and Poor: Using Microsimulation and Microdata to Analyse Poverty and the Impact of Policy Change Among Older Australians.
Email: robert.tanton@natsem.canberra.edu.au
Source: AustralianPolicyOnline
Photo: Andrew Jeffrey
RECENTLY there has been extended debate about whether the age pension is sufficiently high to allow older Australians to attain an acceptable standard of living. This has been partly driven by lobby groups for seniors, and partly by the federal government’s review of pensions. The underlying question is whether the benefit paid to single aged pensioners is enough for them to live on.
Recent research has found a substantial proportion of older Australians living in poverty (23.9 per cent), but the poverty rate for single older people – at 46.5 per cent in 2008–09 – is the highest of any group. Many of these are living on government benefits (about 73 per cent of them), with little or no ability to supplement their income through part time work. This means it is imperative to ensure that the benefit provided to single aged pensioners provides an adequate standard of living.
At present, single aged pensioners receive about 60 per cent of the couple aged pension. This rate is lower than the average across all OECD countries, which is 63 per cent of the couple rate. It is also lower than a poverty line set at half the median Australian income. Recently, advocacy groups in Australia have suggested that an aged singles pension of 66 per cent of the couple rate is a target that Australia should be aiming for.
But how many pensioners will remain in poverty if the single age pension was increased to 66 per cent of the couple? What effect will this change have on the proportion of pensioners in poverty?
Recent research by NATSEM at the University of Canberra models what would happen to poverty rates for single aged pensioners if the pension was increased to 66 per cent of the couple pension; and how much this would cost the Commonwealth government. This is then extended to look at the effect for small areas in Australia.
The policy option modelled was to increase the single aged pension to 66 per cent of the couple aged pension. This would add about $30 per week to a single aged pension. The total cost to the government would be about $1.3 billion. This policy change would reduce the poverty rate for single aged pensioners from 46.5 per cent to 36.5 per cent. The benefit paid is still just below the poverty line, but by about four per cent rather than the 14 per cent gap before the change.
Extending this analysis to small areas in Australia, we found that many of the areas that experienced below average decreases in poverty rates fall on the edges of Australia’s capital cities, in areas like Hornsby in New South Wales and Manningham in Melbourne, and that many rural areas experience above average decreases in poverty (Bourke in NSW and Cook in North Queensland). But many remote areas in Australia have high poverty rates among lone older people allied with below average decreases in poverty rates (Longreach in Queensland and Deniliquin in New South Wales) following the policy change. This suggests that single aged persons living in such areas are more likely to be wholly dependent upon the age pension, with no or few private resources of their own to supplement their government pension.
Overall, the main message from this report was that increasing the single age pension to 66 per cent of the couple age pension was not enough to bring the single age pension above a poverty line calculated as half median disposable income. While it reduced the poverty rate for older single people, nearly 37 percent were still in poverty. What it comes down to is how well we as a society treat our aged, and what is a reasonable amount to live on. •
Robert Tanton is Principal Research Fellow at NATSEM, University of Canberra and co-author of the report Old, Single and Poor: Using Microsimulation and Microdata to Analyse Poverty and the Impact of Policy Change Among Older Australians.
Email: robert.tanton@natsem.canberra.edu.au
Source: AustralianPolicyOnline
WORLD: The paradox of thrift - What Are We To Do
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PENANG, Malaysia / The Malaysia Star / February 28, 2009
By DR.TAN SRI LIN SEE-YAN
Dr Tan Sri Lin See-Yan, 70, a former banker, is a Harvard educated economist who now spends time promoting public interest.
The year 2008 was a disaster for savers. We are taught from young that we should always save. Indeed, it’s a virtue. Stock markets the world over have since plummeted, with the value of investments having fallen by about 50%. The prices of bonds and commercial property have also plunged. Those who diversified to commodities, hedge funds and private equity fared no better. Even those who only saved with banks had to worry about the safety of these institutions, including the brand banks (so much so that governments in many countries have had to step in to guarantee bank deposits). Worse, the value of most people’s main item of wealth – their home – has fallen sharply. This is my 8th recession – I have not seen anything quite like this.
The savers pain can be ascertained from pooled portfolio investments: American mutual funds were reported to have lost US$2.4 trillion in the first 10 months of 2008. The value of US pension funds dropped by US$2 trillion during the 18 months prior to October 2008. This was before Black October 2008 when the Dow virtually collapsed. From its high in October ’07, the Dow took only 503 days to fall 50%, a full 320 days faster than the Nikkei took to fall 50% after the Japanese bubble bust. The Bank of England estimated that close to US$3 trillion was lost in credit-related instruments which dragged down the financial system in the first place. All these losses are just a portion of what was lost worldwide.
Of course, a good deal of these losses fell on many who were able to cope, especially the wealthy. But many others were not so lucky – the elderly and retired, those on pension schemes, fixed income savers, those about to retire, and those with mortgages now higher than the diminished value of their homes. Latest reports indicated that house prices in the US fell 18.5% in ’08, the biggest fall in 21 years. They were told that saving pays in the long-run; most also borrowed on the premise that their house value can only go up. They now wonder why they even bothered. Although not as bad, the overall situation in Asia (including Malaysia) runs along similar lines. Furthermore, interest rates have fallen so very sharply that interest income (which for many are taxed) can no longer support savers in deposits and bonds.
According to Lord Keynes, the root cause of downturns, especially recessions, is insufficient aggregate demand. The rationale is clear. When total demand for goods and services falls, business sales decline. In turn, lower sales lead to cut-backs in production and eventually, workers are laid off. Falling profits and rising unemployment further depress demand, causing a “feed-back loop” very much like what we are seeing now, certainly in the US and Europe. The situation will only reverse when definite action is taken to raise total demand. Very much like Newton’s law at work: objects in a state of motion will remain in motion, unless an external force is applied to stop it. According to Nobel laureate F. Hayek, a contemporary of Lord Keynes, Keynes was “guided by one central idea ... that general employment was always positively correlated with the aggregate demand for consumer goods.” He argued that government should intervene to maintain aggregate demand and full employment, the objective being to smoothen out the business cycle. In recessions, he asserted that governments should borrow and spend.
Output of goods and services in any economy comes from four sources: consumption, investment, government purchases and exports/imports. Any rise in demand can only come from any of these sources (or some combination thereof). In a downturn, strong forces are at work to keep such spending down. Since the US recession started in December 2007, these forces have moved (and spread) so very rapidly that the world as a whole is now in recession. We know that consumers’ confidence in the US, Europe and Japan as well as in Russia and Brazil is now at record lows. When it comes to discretionary spending, whether buying a new house, car or high definition TV, a wait-and-see attitude has set in. From the perspective of the economy as a whole, a recession or downturn is not the best time to save more.
Keynes talks of a paradox of thrift. When households and businesses save more, they are consuming less so that aggregate demand falls which eventually leads to lower national income. This in turn works to deepen the downturn in the short-term. So, saving more now – contrary to a recent Malaysian bank survey’s report that Malaysians are not saving enough – is not a good idea. Malaysians are already among the world’s high savers. In 2007, gross national savings accounted for 39% of GNP and expected at 38% or thereabouts in 2008. In contrast, American savings turned negative for one quarter in ’05 and have since been estimated at about 1% of disposal income in ’08. The British and Japanese saved about 2½% and squirrel-like Germany, 11%.
Most economists (including myself) would regard saving more now undesirable. In the context of a global recession, governments would rather people consume more. This is easier said than done. That is unlikely to happen without a hard “push” when most households are uncertain about the future outlook (regarding jobs). The tendency (especially in Asia and now, even in the US) is to save more, even though their recent experience at holding on to their wealth is far from encouraging. Keynes once remarked: “Whenever you save five shillings, you put a man out of work for the day”.
Hence, governments are keen to “stimulate” and do their darnest to get consumers and businesses sustain their spending power.
It is said that recession could well be the “penance for past profligacy”. Yet high savings and low private debt have not protected Germany and Japan from recession. Indeed, prudence has not spared them. The trouble is that they had thrived (and accumulated surpluses) on the back of the persistent spending of others especially the US and Europe. When these nations started to cut back because of recession, Japan and Germany suffered badly as a consequence. Japan’s exports fell by 45.7% this January, the sharpest fall in more than 40 years. Germany, Europe’s largest economy, posted a sharp GDP contraction in late ’08 as crucial exports collapsed.
The lesson: both these persistent surplus nations had become too reliant on exports and investments to drive their prosperity. When foreign orders contracted sharply, they went into a tailspin. Technically, both Japan and Germany should still have immense capacity to drive domestic demand. Unfortunately, their instinct for saving hardens in a recession.
Japan’s “lost decade” of the 1990s offers valuable lessons in managing the risk of deflation. Indeed, it provides an insight into how thrift can take hold of consumption with disastrous impact. As its economy weakened, consumers are not ready to spend more as they see their wealth shrink and begin to worry more about jobs.
Firms can also become big savers in uncertain times. For Japan, inflows of capital strengthened the yen, squeezed profits on exports and made businesses more reluctant to invest. Between 2001 and 2007, per capita consumer spending was reported to have risen by a mere 0.2%. With recession spreading globally, Japan’s economy is now on a free fall as domestic consumption can no longer be relied upon to pick up the slack. Part of this reflects widespread distrust of the Japanese pension and banking systems. Its aging population is not helping consumption either. Fears of a second lost decade now permeate Japanese society.
Global recovery requires a fundamental shift in attitudes worldwide to facilitate multilateral adjustment: “shopaholic” deficit nations (notably US) will need to save a bit more, while surplus nations (especially Japan, although Germany and China appears to be starting to spend more) need definitive and massive efforts at stimulating aggregate demand in a very effective way.
Japan, Germany and China need to change their mindsets that demand has to come from somewhere else (traditionally US), when their own domestic economies should be the locomotive. This would require changing the basic parameters of each of the country’s comfort zone.
Copyright © 1995-2009 Star Publications (M) Bhd
About the author
Dr. Tan Sri Dato' Lin See-Yan
PSM, DPMP, DSAP, JMN, JSM, AMN,
BA, BA(Hons), MPA(Finance), MA(Econs), PhD(Econs), C.Stat,
FRSS, FIBM, FMII(Hon), FMIM, FMEA
Honorary Ph.D in Economics, Universiti Utara Malaysia
Eisenhower Fellow
E-mail: drlin@time.net.my
Dr Tan Sri Lin See-Yan, 70, a former banker, is a Harvard educated economist who now spends time promoting public interest.
The year 2008 was a disaster for savers. We are taught from young that we should always save. Indeed, it’s a virtue. Stock markets the world over have since plummeted, with the value of investments having fallen by about 50%. The prices of bonds and commercial property have also plunged. Those who diversified to commodities, hedge funds and private equity fared no better. Even those who only saved with banks had to worry about the safety of these institutions, including the brand banks (so much so that governments in many countries have had to step in to guarantee bank deposits). Worse, the value of most people’s main item of wealth – their home – has fallen sharply. This is my 8th recession – I have not seen anything quite like this.
The savers pain can be ascertained from pooled portfolio investments: American mutual funds were reported to have lost US$2.4 trillion in the first 10 months of 2008. The value of US pension funds dropped by US$2 trillion during the 18 months prior to October 2008. This was before Black October 2008 when the Dow virtually collapsed. From its high in October ’07, the Dow took only 503 days to fall 50%, a full 320 days faster than the Nikkei took to fall 50% after the Japanese bubble bust. The Bank of England estimated that close to US$3 trillion was lost in credit-related instruments which dragged down the financial system in the first place. All these losses are just a portion of what was lost worldwide.
Of course, a good deal of these losses fell on many who were able to cope, especially the wealthy. But many others were not so lucky – the elderly and retired, those on pension schemes, fixed income savers, those about to retire, and those with mortgages now higher than the diminished value of their homes. Latest reports indicated that house prices in the US fell 18.5% in ’08, the biggest fall in 21 years. They were told that saving pays in the long-run; most also borrowed on the premise that their house value can only go up. They now wonder why they even bothered. Although not as bad, the overall situation in Asia (including Malaysia) runs along similar lines. Furthermore, interest rates have fallen so very sharply that interest income (which for many are taxed) can no longer support savers in deposits and bonds.
According to Lord Keynes, the root cause of downturns, especially recessions, is insufficient aggregate demand. The rationale is clear. When total demand for goods and services falls, business sales decline. In turn, lower sales lead to cut-backs in production and eventually, workers are laid off. Falling profits and rising unemployment further depress demand, causing a “feed-back loop” very much like what we are seeing now, certainly in the US and Europe. The situation will only reverse when definite action is taken to raise total demand. Very much like Newton’s law at work: objects in a state of motion will remain in motion, unless an external force is applied to stop it. According to Nobel laureate F. Hayek, a contemporary of Lord Keynes, Keynes was “guided by one central idea ... that general employment was always positively correlated with the aggregate demand for consumer goods.” He argued that government should intervene to maintain aggregate demand and full employment, the objective being to smoothen out the business cycle. In recessions, he asserted that governments should borrow and spend.
Output of goods and services in any economy comes from four sources: consumption, investment, government purchases and exports/imports. Any rise in demand can only come from any of these sources (or some combination thereof). In a downturn, strong forces are at work to keep such spending down. Since the US recession started in December 2007, these forces have moved (and spread) so very rapidly that the world as a whole is now in recession. We know that consumers’ confidence in the US, Europe and Japan as well as in Russia and Brazil is now at record lows. When it comes to discretionary spending, whether buying a new house, car or high definition TV, a wait-and-see attitude has set in. From the perspective of the economy as a whole, a recession or downturn is not the best time to save more.
Keynes talks of a paradox of thrift. When households and businesses save more, they are consuming less so that aggregate demand falls which eventually leads to lower national income. This in turn works to deepen the downturn in the short-term. So, saving more now – contrary to a recent Malaysian bank survey’s report that Malaysians are not saving enough – is not a good idea. Malaysians are already among the world’s high savers. In 2007, gross national savings accounted for 39% of GNP and expected at 38% or thereabouts in 2008. In contrast, American savings turned negative for one quarter in ’05 and have since been estimated at about 1% of disposal income in ’08. The British and Japanese saved about 2½% and squirrel-like Germany, 11%.
Most economists (including myself) would regard saving more now undesirable. In the context of a global recession, governments would rather people consume more. This is easier said than done. That is unlikely to happen without a hard “push” when most households are uncertain about the future outlook (regarding jobs). The tendency (especially in Asia and now, even in the US) is to save more, even though their recent experience at holding on to their wealth is far from encouraging. Keynes once remarked: “Whenever you save five shillings, you put a man out of work for the day”.
Hence, governments are keen to “stimulate” and do their darnest to get consumers and businesses sustain their spending power.
It is said that recession could well be the “penance for past profligacy”. Yet high savings and low private debt have not protected Germany and Japan from recession. Indeed, prudence has not spared them. The trouble is that they had thrived (and accumulated surpluses) on the back of the persistent spending of others especially the US and Europe. When these nations started to cut back because of recession, Japan and Germany suffered badly as a consequence. Japan’s exports fell by 45.7% this January, the sharpest fall in more than 40 years. Germany, Europe’s largest economy, posted a sharp GDP contraction in late ’08 as crucial exports collapsed.
The lesson: both these persistent surplus nations had become too reliant on exports and investments to drive their prosperity. When foreign orders contracted sharply, they went into a tailspin. Technically, both Japan and Germany should still have immense capacity to drive domestic demand. Unfortunately, their instinct for saving hardens in a recession.
Japan’s “lost decade” of the 1990s offers valuable lessons in managing the risk of deflation. Indeed, it provides an insight into how thrift can take hold of consumption with disastrous impact. As its economy weakened, consumers are not ready to spend more as they see their wealth shrink and begin to worry more about jobs.
Firms can also become big savers in uncertain times. For Japan, inflows of capital strengthened the yen, squeezed profits on exports and made businesses more reluctant to invest. Between 2001 and 2007, per capita consumer spending was reported to have risen by a mere 0.2%. With recession spreading globally, Japan’s economy is now on a free fall as domestic consumption can no longer be relied upon to pick up the slack. Part of this reflects widespread distrust of the Japanese pension and banking systems. Its aging population is not helping consumption either. Fears of a second lost decade now permeate Japanese society.
Global recovery requires a fundamental shift in attitudes worldwide to facilitate multilateral adjustment: “shopaholic” deficit nations (notably US) will need to save a bit more, while surplus nations (especially Japan, although Germany and China appears to be starting to spend more) need definitive and massive efforts at stimulating aggregate demand in a very effective way.
Japan, Germany and China need to change their mindsets that demand has to come from somewhere else (traditionally US), when their own domestic economies should be the locomotive. This would require changing the basic parameters of each of the country’s comfort zone.
Copyright © 1995-2009 Star Publications (M) Bhd
About the author
Dr. Tan Sri Dato' Lin See-Yan
PSM, DPMP, DSAP, JMN, JSM, AMN,
BA, BA(Hons), MPA(Finance), MA(Econs), PhD(Econs), C.Stat,
FRSS, FIBM, FMII(Hon), FMIM, FMEA
Honorary Ph.D in Economics, Universiti Utara Malaysia
Eisenhower Fellow
E-mail: drlin@time.net.my
CANADA: Vitamins, nip of brandy cited as key to longevity of Athens native, 110
.
BROCKVILLE, Ontario / The Recorder and Times / February 28, 2009
By Deanna Clark, Staff Writer
Athens-area native Margaret Cousins is joining an elite group today - she's turning 110.
Though no longer living in this area, Cousins (nee Besley) is still going strong and has her nephew Arnold Besley, of Tincap, keeping track of all her letters and photographs dating back to her birth in Glen Elbe on February 27, 1899.
"I had my hair done," an able sounding Cousins said in a telephone interview with The Recorder and Times earlier this week while preparing for her milestone birthday.
Family and staff at the Nipissing Manor Nursing Home Centre where Cousins now lives arranged a birthday party with a cake big enough to feed every resident and guests this afternoon.
Margaret Cousins, 110, still enjoys a brandy before bed. She is with her daughter Gerry Mellis. Courtesy: Jennifer Hamilton-McCharles,
The North Bay Nugget.
"I'm pretty good," Cousins said in a clear voice before extending an invitation to attend her bash. One special guest will be Cousins' daughter, Geraldine, who is 84.
"I wish you could come," she said.
"Not too many people can still talk on the phone at that age," nephew Arnold Besley said after hanging up the phone from his home near Tincap.
"She's in her third century. I like to say that," Besley says of his aunt. He and his wife Diane talk to Cousins a few times a month but cannot attend the party due to Arnold's health.
"I have been hesitant to tell people how I have an aunt so old because people just think you're stretching it," he said. According to Cousins, the secret to her longevity is vitamins and brandy.
"She's always taken vitamins and she still takes vitamins. And she always has a nip of brandy every night," Besley said.
"She's very broad-minded. Whatever is going on in the world, she takes an interest," adds Diane Besley.
"She's just very attuned and very clear minded. She lived in her own home until she was 100."
Hesitant to boast out loud is one thing, but Besley is proud to be the keeper of his aunt's many letters and photographs, many depicting her childhood growing up in Athens.
Cousins was the oldest of Jane and John Besley's five children. She had three sisters and one brother, Arnold Besley's father Alexander, a lifelong resident of Athens who died in 1971.
Cousins has also outlived her sisters Marion, who died at age 97, Bertha who passed away at age 85, and Cora, who lived to be 93.
"When we lived on the farm at Elbe (1905-06), it was always a treat to go to grandma's house on Hard Island," Cousins says in some of her accounts of the area recorded by her nephew.
"Dad used to take the milk to the cheese factory, as did all the farmers. The one at Elbe was located just west of the house beside Glen Elbe school on the same side of the road."
Often her father would give her a ride to school while delivering cheese.
"One day when I wasn't with him he met one of the first automobiles to appear in the area. It (the car) spooked the horse and dad was thrown from the wagon while the horse ran away and the milk cans rolled into the field," Cousins recounted to her nephew.
The family lived together in the Athens area until the death of their mother, a devout Quaker, in 1912. After their mother's tragic passing, Cousins, who was 12, and her siblings were split up and sent to the homes of relatives in both Canada and the U.S. Cousins went to stay with an uncle and his family in Hammond, N.Y., where she graduated from high school.
Cousins moved back to Canada to begin her first job and resided in Hamilton before meeting her husband, Hubert Cousins, a decorated First World War veteran.
The couple married on March 25, 1924 and moved to Fort Erie. After her husband's death, Cousins continued to reside there until she was 100, at which point she took the first plane trip of her life - she flew to North Bay to be close to her daughter.
The Besleys say their aunt now has vision problems and cannot watch television. Her hearing is going, too, but she still tries to listen to CBC radio. What she can still do quite handily, though, is pick up a phone and welcome one and all to her party.
© 2009 Sun Media
Margaret Cousins, 110, still enjoys a brandy before bed. She is with her daughter Gerry Mellis. Courtesy: Jennifer Hamilton-McCharles,
The North Bay Nugget.
"I'm pretty good," Cousins said in a clear voice before extending an invitation to attend her bash. One special guest will be Cousins' daughter, Geraldine, who is 84.
"I wish you could come," she said.
"Not too many people can still talk on the phone at that age," nephew Arnold Besley said after hanging up the phone from his home near Tincap.
"She's in her third century. I like to say that," Besley says of his aunt. He and his wife Diane talk to Cousins a few times a month but cannot attend the party due to Arnold's health.
"I have been hesitant to tell people how I have an aunt so old because people just think you're stretching it," he said. According to Cousins, the secret to her longevity is vitamins and brandy.
"She's always taken vitamins and she still takes vitamins. And she always has a nip of brandy every night," Besley said.
"She's very broad-minded. Whatever is going on in the world, she takes an interest," adds Diane Besley.
"She's just very attuned and very clear minded. She lived in her own home until she was 100."
Hesitant to boast out loud is one thing, but Besley is proud to be the keeper of his aunt's many letters and photographs, many depicting her childhood growing up in Athens.
Cousins was the oldest of Jane and John Besley's five children. She had three sisters and one brother, Arnold Besley's father Alexander, a lifelong resident of Athens who died in 1971.
Cousins has also outlived her sisters Marion, who died at age 97, Bertha who passed away at age 85, and Cora, who lived to be 93.
"When we lived on the farm at Elbe (1905-06), it was always a treat to go to grandma's house on Hard Island," Cousins says in some of her accounts of the area recorded by her nephew.
"Dad used to take the milk to the cheese factory, as did all the farmers. The one at Elbe was located just west of the house beside Glen Elbe school on the same side of the road."
Often her father would give her a ride to school while delivering cheese.
"One day when I wasn't with him he met one of the first automobiles to appear in the area. It (the car) spooked the horse and dad was thrown from the wagon while the horse ran away and the milk cans rolled into the field," Cousins recounted to her nephew.
The family lived together in the Athens area until the death of their mother, a devout Quaker, in 1912. After their mother's tragic passing, Cousins, who was 12, and her siblings were split up and sent to the homes of relatives in both Canada and the U.S. Cousins went to stay with an uncle and his family in Hammond, N.Y., where she graduated from high school.
Cousins moved back to Canada to begin her first job and resided in Hamilton before meeting her husband, Hubert Cousins, a decorated First World War veteran.
The couple married on March 25, 1924 and moved to Fort Erie. After her husband's death, Cousins continued to reside there until she was 100, at which point she took the first plane trip of her life - she flew to North Bay to be close to her daughter.
The Besleys say their aunt now has vision problems and cannot watch television. Her hearing is going, too, but she still tries to listen to CBC radio. What she can still do quite handily, though, is pick up a phone and welcome one and all to her party.
© 2009 Sun Media
U.K.: Milk could help prevent Alzheimer's Disease
.
LONDON, England / Telegraph / Health News / February 28, 2009
Drinking two glasses of milk every day could help protect against memory loss and Alzheimer's disease in old age, according to research.
By Richard Gray, Science Correspondent
Milk could help prevent Alzheimer's Disease
Photo: Andrew Crowley
Scientists working at the University of Oxford have discovered that milk is one of the best sources of a key vitamin thought to reduce the neurological damage to the brain that can lead to forms of dementia.
Elderly patients with low levels of the vitamin, known as B12, suffer twice as much shrinkage of the brain as those with higher levels of the substance in their bodies, the researchers found.
They now hope that increasing the intake of vitamin B12 among the elderly could help to slow cognitive decline. They are conducting a clinical trial that aims to show that it may be possible to treat memory problems in the elderly with vitamin supplements.
They also believe it may be possible to protect people against devastating degenerative conditions such as Alzheimer's disease, which affects 150,000 new patients every year in the UK, by improving their dietary intake of the vitamin.
Professor David Smith, from the Oxford Project to Investigate Memory and Ageing, said drinking just two glasses of milk a day would be enough to increase levels of vitamin B12 to an adequate level.
He said: "There are 550 people who come down with dementia, mainly Alzheimer's, every day in the UK – it is a major epidemic.
"These patients have had nerve cells that have died, so it is unlikely we are ever going to be able to find ways of repairing that damage or treating them with drugs.
"Instead we have to look at preventing it in the first place. Our study shows that consuming around half a litre of milk or more per day, and it can be skimmed milk, could take someone who has marginal levels of B12 into the safe range. But even drinking just two glasses a day can protect against having low levels."
Vitamin B12 is one of the eight B vitamins and is found mainly in meat, fish and dairy products.
The research, published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, revealed that while meat contained some of the highest levels of the vitamin, it was poorly absorbed by the body when eaten.
Instead Professor Smith, together with colleagues at Oslo University and Bergen University, in Norway, found the highest levels of vitamin B12 absorbed by the body came from milk, despite having lower B12 concentrations than meat.
Around 55 per cent of the vitamin in milk entered the blood stream. Fish provided the second highest source of the vitamin, followed by other dairy products.
Professor Smith said: "In meat, B12 can be tightly bound to protein and this bond has to be broken down by acid in the stomach before the body can use it.
"Older people have lower levels of acid and so it is much harder for them to get B12 from certain foods. In milk, the binding is readily reversible."
Brain scans of patients who have a vitamin B12 deficiency have revealed that they suffer more brain loss, or atrophy, than those with higher intake of the vitamin.
Professor Smith and his team found in a separate study that even elderly patients eating enough vitamin B12 to be considered to have normal concentrations of vitamin B12 were at risk of increased brain atrophy.
He found that those in the lower third of the normal range suffered twice as much brain loss, about one per cent a year, than those who had higher concentrations of the vitamin in their bodies.
It is thought that vitamin B12 is essential for maintaining the sheath that forms around and insulates nerve cells. Without adequate levels of the vitamin, this sheath cannot be kept in a good functional state, leading the cells to malfunction and die.
Previous studies by the group have indicated that chocolate and wine may have a similar effect.
Professor Smith said: "There is a beautiful dose effect with foods that contain high levels of vitamin B12, but the causal relationship with cognitive function is far from clear and we need more work on this.
"We are currently preparing to unmask a two-year trial of 180 people over the age of 70 with memory problems, who were either given Vitamin B12 or a placebo.
"We have been taking volumetric MRI scans to look at whether the vitamin treatment has slowed down the atrophy in the brain.
"We need to do more clinical studies on vitamin B12 before we can start offering advice to help protect against dementia and cognitive decline, but until then prudence would suggest adopting a healthy lifestyle and a diet that is high in vitamin B12."
Alzheimer's disease has recently been thrown into the spotlight after author Terry Pratchett, 60, announced in 2007 that he has been diagnosed with a rare form of the disease called posterior cortical atrophy.
He has since donated more than $1 million (£690,000) to the Alzheimer's Research Trust and become a high profile campaigner for Alzheimer's research. Around 700,000 people in the UK live with dementia.
Rebecca Wood, chief executive of the Alzheimer's Research Trust, welcomed the latest research but said it was vital more research into Alzheimer's disease received funding.
She said: "With vitamin B12 deficiency a common problem among elderly people in the UK, and further links between this deficiency and dementia, these findings will be of particular interest close to home and could encourage us to move dairy products higher up on the shopping list
© Copyright of Telegraph Media Group Limited 2009
Milk could help prevent Alzheimer's Disease
Photo: Andrew Crowley
Scientists working at the University of Oxford have discovered that milk is one of the best sources of a key vitamin thought to reduce the neurological damage to the brain that can lead to forms of dementia.
Elderly patients with low levels of the vitamin, known as B12, suffer twice as much shrinkage of the brain as those with higher levels of the substance in their bodies, the researchers found.
They now hope that increasing the intake of vitamin B12 among the elderly could help to slow cognitive decline. They are conducting a clinical trial that aims to show that it may be possible to treat memory problems in the elderly with vitamin supplements.
They also believe it may be possible to protect people against devastating degenerative conditions such as Alzheimer's disease, which affects 150,000 new patients every year in the UK, by improving their dietary intake of the vitamin.
Professor David Smith, from the Oxford Project to Investigate Memory and Ageing, said drinking just two glasses of milk a day would be enough to increase levels of vitamin B12 to an adequate level.
He said: "There are 550 people who come down with dementia, mainly Alzheimer's, every day in the UK – it is a major epidemic.
"These patients have had nerve cells that have died, so it is unlikely we are ever going to be able to find ways of repairing that damage or treating them with drugs.
"Instead we have to look at preventing it in the first place. Our study shows that consuming around half a litre of milk or more per day, and it can be skimmed milk, could take someone who has marginal levels of B12 into the safe range. But even drinking just two glasses a day can protect against having low levels."
Vitamin B12 is one of the eight B vitamins and is found mainly in meat, fish and dairy products.
The research, published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, revealed that while meat contained some of the highest levels of the vitamin, it was poorly absorbed by the body when eaten.
Instead Professor Smith, together with colleagues at Oslo University and Bergen University, in Norway, found the highest levels of vitamin B12 absorbed by the body came from milk, despite having lower B12 concentrations than meat.
Around 55 per cent of the vitamin in milk entered the blood stream. Fish provided the second highest source of the vitamin, followed by other dairy products.
Professor Smith said: "In meat, B12 can be tightly bound to protein and this bond has to be broken down by acid in the stomach before the body can use it.
"Older people have lower levels of acid and so it is much harder for them to get B12 from certain foods. In milk, the binding is readily reversible."
Brain scans of patients who have a vitamin B12 deficiency have revealed that they suffer more brain loss, or atrophy, than those with higher intake of the vitamin.
Professor Smith and his team found in a separate study that even elderly patients eating enough vitamin B12 to be considered to have normal concentrations of vitamin B12 were at risk of increased brain atrophy.
He found that those in the lower third of the normal range suffered twice as much brain loss, about one per cent a year, than those who had higher concentrations of the vitamin in their bodies.
It is thought that vitamin B12 is essential for maintaining the sheath that forms around and insulates nerve cells. Without adequate levels of the vitamin, this sheath cannot be kept in a good functional state, leading the cells to malfunction and die.
Previous studies by the group have indicated that chocolate and wine may have a similar effect.
Professor Smith said: "There is a beautiful dose effect with foods that contain high levels of vitamin B12, but the causal relationship with cognitive function is far from clear and we need more work on this.
"We are currently preparing to unmask a two-year trial of 180 people over the age of 70 with memory problems, who were either given Vitamin B12 or a placebo.
"We have been taking volumetric MRI scans to look at whether the vitamin treatment has slowed down the atrophy in the brain.
"We need to do more clinical studies on vitamin B12 before we can start offering advice to help protect against dementia and cognitive decline, but until then prudence would suggest adopting a healthy lifestyle and a diet that is high in vitamin B12."
Alzheimer's disease has recently been thrown into the spotlight after author Terry Pratchett, 60, announced in 2007 that he has been diagnosed with a rare form of the disease called posterior cortical atrophy.
He has since donated more than $1 million (£690,000) to the Alzheimer's Research Trust and become a high profile campaigner for Alzheimer's research. Around 700,000 people in the UK live with dementia.
Rebecca Wood, chief executive of the Alzheimer's Research Trust, welcomed the latest research but said it was vital more research into Alzheimer's disease received funding.
She said: "With vitamin B12 deficiency a common problem among elderly people in the UK, and further links between this deficiency and dementia, these findings will be of particular interest close to home and could encourage us to move dairy products higher up on the shopping list
© Copyright of Telegraph Media Group Limited 2009
GERMANY: "Parliament of clowns" laughs off financial crisis
BERLIN, Germany / Reuters / February 28, 2009
Clowns from across the world met in Germany Friday to pitch laughter as a way to survive the economic crisis. Organisers of the "Parliament of Clowns," performing in a theatre in the eastern city of Dresden, hope to prop up people's spirits, saying the health benefits of laughter are proven.
"Fear can be laughed away, even in economically tough times," said clown Antoschka, who spent two decades with the Moscow State Circus and launched the event under the slogan "Clowns of the World Unite."
One performer scheduled to join the red nose and face paint troupe is U.S. physician and professional clown Patch Adams, whose belief in the healing power of laughter reached a global audience when actor Robin Williams portrayed him in a movie. The clowns say their two-hour show will remind people there are alternative ways to respond to bad news after a U.S. study showed anger posed health risks.
"When a balloon bursts, you can either cry or laugh. We clowns are laughing," Antoschka said.
Swiss clown Olli Hauenstein had some advice for the troubled financial sector. "Don't lose courage and happiness in life just because you have been foolish before," he told German radio station Deutschlandfunk. The clowns plan to meet twice a year and have set up a foundation to finance projects to bring laughter to children.
(Reporting by Franziska Scheven)
(c) Reuters 2009.
Clowns from across the world met in Germany Friday to pitch laughter as a way to survive the economic crisis. Organisers of the "Parliament of Clowns," performing in a theatre in the eastern city of Dresden, hope to prop up people's spirits, saying the health benefits of laughter are proven. "Fear can be laughed away, even in economically tough times," said clown Antoschka, who spent two decades with the Moscow State Circus and launched the event under the slogan "Clowns of the World Unite."
One performer scheduled to join the red nose and face paint troupe is U.S. physician and professional clown Patch Adams, whose belief in the healing power of laughter reached a global audience when actor Robin Williams portrayed him in a movie. The clowns say their two-hour show will remind people there are alternative ways to respond to bad news after a U.S. study showed anger posed health risks.
"When a balloon bursts, you can either cry or laugh. We clowns are laughing," Antoschka said.
Swiss clown Olli Hauenstein had some advice for the troubled financial sector. "Don't lose courage and happiness in life just because you have been foolish before," he told German radio station Deutschlandfunk. The clowns plan to meet twice a year and have set up a foundation to finance projects to bring laughter to children.
(Reporting by Franziska Scheven)
(c) Reuters 2009.
February 27, 2009
GERMANY: Sacked for stealing €1.30 – how Barbara, 50, split Germany
.
BERLIN, Germany / The Independent, London, UK / February 27, 2009
Case of supermarket cashier ignites election debate over capitalism
By Tony Paterson in Berlin
A supermarket cashier sacked for allegedly stealing €1.30 (£1.16) from her employer after more than 30 years' service is at the centre of a heated political row about the excesses of capitalism that threaten to spill into Germany's general election.
Barbara Emme, 50, worked at a Berlin branch of the Kaisers supermarket chain for 31 years. AFP/Getty
Barbara Emme, 50, worked for 31 years as a cashier at a branch of the giant Kaisers supermarket chain in Berlin. But on Tuesday a labour court upheld her employer's decision to sack her for the suspected theft of €1.30 worth of bottle deposits.
Yesterday, in what appeared to be the opening salvo in his party's general election campaign, Wolfgang Thierse, a veteran Social Democrat politician and the parliamentary Speaker, seized upon the court's decision and condemned it as " antisocial" and as an example of "barbaric" capitalism.
"It is cases like these that destroy people's confidence in democracy," Mr Thierse said. "The court could have decided otherwise and taken into account that she had worked herself to the bone for 31 years for the company."
Horst Seehofer, the leader of the Bavarian conservatives, a sister party to Chancellor Angela Merkel's ruling Christian Democrats, used the case to respond to public anger about the role of banks in the financial crisis. "I don't understand how a cashier can be fired because of €1.30, while managers who lose billions of euros are allowed to keep their jobs," he said. The Left party said the court's decision was dominated by an "uncharitable attitude" and that it has "completely ignored the existential needs of an employee". Mrs Emme's case has also become a cause célèbre for the trade unions.
The outcry has been accompanied by headlines in the popular press taking the banks to task. The front page of the mass-circulation Bild newspaper proclaimed, "This is how the banks rip off low-income earners", and attacked banks for their interest policies. There were even suggestions that Mrs Emme's case could start to dominate German politics in the way that "Joe the Plumber", an ordinary Ohio voter, served as a touchstone in the 2008 US presidential election.
Ms Merkel, asked about the court's decision, dismissed speculation that the September election could be dominated by public hostility towards big business and the banks. "I think Germany is in a strong position and will emerge stronger from the crisis than when the country went into it," she said.
Lawyers for Kaisers told the court Mrs Emme had been given the chance to come clean, after she was turned in by a colleague. They said she could have been given her job back. Instead she had blamed others for cashing in the bottle deposits and accused the company of victimising her for her trade union activities.
Kaisers admitted it had no proof that she stole the cash. But a company spokesman said they had lost confidence in her trustworthiness. Mrs Emme has pledged to take her case to the European Court of Human Rights if necessary. A poll by Bild showed that 69 per cent of people thought that the court's ruling was unjust.
Copyright 2008 Independent News and Media Limited
Case of supermarket cashier ignites election debate over capitalism
By Tony Paterson in Berlin
A supermarket cashier sacked for allegedly stealing €1.30 (£1.16) from her employer after more than 30 years' service is at the centre of a heated political row about the excesses of capitalism that threaten to spill into Germany's general election.
Barbara Emme, 50, worked at a Berlin branch of the Kaisers supermarket chain for 31 years. AFP/Getty
Barbara Emme, 50, worked for 31 years as a cashier at a branch of the giant Kaisers supermarket chain in Berlin. But on Tuesday a labour court upheld her employer's decision to sack her for the suspected theft of €1.30 worth of bottle deposits.
Yesterday, in what appeared to be the opening salvo in his party's general election campaign, Wolfgang Thierse, a veteran Social Democrat politician and the parliamentary Speaker, seized upon the court's decision and condemned it as " antisocial" and as an example of "barbaric" capitalism.
"It is cases like these that destroy people's confidence in democracy," Mr Thierse said. "The court could have decided otherwise and taken into account that she had worked herself to the bone for 31 years for the company."
Horst Seehofer, the leader of the Bavarian conservatives, a sister party to Chancellor Angela Merkel's ruling Christian Democrats, used the case to respond to public anger about the role of banks in the financial crisis. "I don't understand how a cashier can be fired because of €1.30, while managers who lose billions of euros are allowed to keep their jobs," he said. The Left party said the court's decision was dominated by an "uncharitable attitude" and that it has "completely ignored the existential needs of an employee". Mrs Emme's case has also become a cause célèbre for the trade unions.
The outcry has been accompanied by headlines in the popular press taking the banks to task. The front page of the mass-circulation Bild newspaper proclaimed, "This is how the banks rip off low-income earners", and attacked banks for their interest policies. There were even suggestions that Mrs Emme's case could start to dominate German politics in the way that "Joe the Plumber", an ordinary Ohio voter, served as a touchstone in the 2008 US presidential election.
Ms Merkel, asked about the court's decision, dismissed speculation that the September election could be dominated by public hostility towards big business and the banks. "I think Germany is in a strong position and will emerge stronger from the crisis than when the country went into it," she said.
Lawyers for Kaisers told the court Mrs Emme had been given the chance to come clean, after she was turned in by a colleague. They said she could have been given her job back. Instead she had blamed others for cashing in the bottle deposits and accused the company of victimising her for her trade union activities.
Kaisers admitted it had no proof that she stole the cash. But a company spokesman said they had lost confidence in her trustworthiness. Mrs Emme has pledged to take her case to the European Court of Human Rights if necessary. A poll by Bild showed that 69 per cent of people thought that the court's ruling was unjust.
Copyright 2008 Independent News and Media Limited
USA: Elder abuse continues to cause monetary ruin and even terror
.
AMADOR County, California / Ledger-Dispatch / February 27, 2009
By Scott Thomas Anderson - Raheem Hosseini
A member of AARP helps a local senior with his taxes. The Commission on Aging supports senior programs like the tax assistance one as a means of preventing fraud and other abuses. Photo: Scott Thomas Anderson
Retirement is usually referred to as "the golden years." For victims of elder abuse, however, it can be a much darker period in life, one marked by monetary ruin and even terror. With authorities in Amador County investigating roughly 23 cases of elder abuse a year, law enforcement and senior advocates alike are speaking out on the need to be aware of what's happening in the elderly community.
The threat to seniors has two major aspects to it, explained Amador County Sheriff Martin Ryan - physical abuse and financial infiltration. The looting of assets and bank accounts by individuals posing as trusted caregivers has become a serious concern, in particular.
"Our seniors are such an integral part of our community here in Amador," Ryan observed, "and unfortunately there's a certain amount of that population that gets targeted by con artists. Sometimes it's an unscrupulous family member, but more often it's an outside source. The people who commit these types of crimes are usually individuals who make their living off their ability to take advantage of others."
One such individual was Andrea Consolo, who wormed her way into the life of a 63-year-old conservatee suffering from Alzheimer's. Consolo sold the victim's home and used the proceeds to buy a residence in South Carolina. In August 2006, she was sentenced to five years of probation and eventually ordered to pay $506,535 in restitution. A similar case was that of Willie Norton, who fraudulently transferred two properties belonging to his 75-year-old sister into his own name. Norton was sentenced to 16 months in state prison in December 2007.
A large number of local seniors suffered when Kathleen Thueson embezzled more than $100,000 from her own property management business in 2003 to support a gambling addiction. Of her 70 victims, most were elderly. Thueson did 120 days in jail and was ordered to pay more than $133,000 in restitution.
While crimes of a financial nature may constitute the majority of elder abuse cases, horror stories of physical abuse also occur. In April 2002, Stephen Cantando was sentenced to two years in state prison for criminal neglect of his 76-year-old mother, who withered away during a six-month period in which she lost a quarter of her body weight and developed infected bedsores that ultimately killed her. During this time, Cantando had been receiving money from the Department of Social Services to care for his Alzheimer's-stricken mother.
In October 2007, David Jackson pled guilty to murder in the second degree, after law enforcement looked into the death of a 73-year-old Ione man at an assisted care facility. The Ione Police Department initially received a report of a possible suicide, but Jackson, a fellow resident at the facility and acquaintance of the victim's, admitted to the crime.
The case of Mary Cantando - no relation to Stephen Cantando - who was arrested for stabbing a 66-year-old man in the head with a hunting knife, was still before Amador Superior Court at the end of last year.
"From a law enforcement perspective, we take these crimes against our seniors - whether physical or financial in nature - very seriously," Ryan said.
Because seniors are Amador County's largest demographic, law enforcement recently experienced a scare when it looked like the Vertical Prosecution Block Grant Program might be lost to the state's budget crisis. The program has kicked in between $116,000 and $130,000 for a part-time investigator and part-time prosecutor assigned by the District Attorney's Office to delve into crimes that affect the elderly.
According to District Attorney Todd Riebe, holding onto the county's experts for crimes against seniors is paramount. "These are the only dedicated elder abuse investigators in the county," Riebe said. "It's pretty critical once you develop the (personnel) expertise, especially given the dynamics in the county."
While vigilant cops and special investigators can help bring those who abuse the elderly to justice, experts say prevention requires a partnership between senior advocates, law enforcement and the general public. Laurie Webb, executive director of the Amador Senior Center and member of the Commission on Aging, believes stopping elderly abuse lies in keeping seniors engaged in the community.
"One of the key things that gets seniors in trouble is becoming isolated from the outside world," Webb explained. "It's when they don't have numerous people that they can trust and turn to that they often fall victim to individuals perpetrating fraud against them and, in some cases, harming them."
Knowing this, the Commission on Aging launched a subcommittee called the Isolated Seniors Task Force.
"The task force is reaching out to seniors who find themselves on the margins and letting them know they are not alone," Webb said. "We're establishing connections and making sure they know they have people to help so they don't feel so vulnerable."
Webb credited the sheriff's office for working closely with the task force and having a sergeant involved in the group's regular meetings. In return, the task force is helping Ryan promote a new program for which the elderly can sign up. It provides the sheriff's office with knowledge of where hidden residence keys are located so officers can gain quick access when conducting welfare checks.
"It takes some cooperation between a lot of groups and agencies to work on keeping our seniors safe," Ryan acknowledged. "But I think everyone knows how important it is to look out for them."
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Scott Thomas Anderson
A member of AARP helps a local senior with his taxes. The Commission on Aging supports senior programs like the tax assistance one as a means of preventing fraud and other abuses. Photo: Scott Thomas Anderson
Retirement is usually referred to as "the golden years." For victims of elder abuse, however, it can be a much darker period in life, one marked by monetary ruin and even terror. With authorities in Amador County investigating roughly 23 cases of elder abuse a year, law enforcement and senior advocates alike are speaking out on the need to be aware of what's happening in the elderly community.
The threat to seniors has two major aspects to it, explained Amador County Sheriff Martin Ryan - physical abuse and financial infiltration. The looting of assets and bank accounts by individuals posing as trusted caregivers has become a serious concern, in particular.
"Our seniors are such an integral part of our community here in Amador," Ryan observed, "and unfortunately there's a certain amount of that population that gets targeted by con artists. Sometimes it's an unscrupulous family member, but more often it's an outside source. The people who commit these types of crimes are usually individuals who make their living off their ability to take advantage of others."
One such individual was Andrea Consolo, who wormed her way into the life of a 63-year-old conservatee suffering from Alzheimer's. Consolo sold the victim's home and used the proceeds to buy a residence in South Carolina. In August 2006, she was sentenced to five years of probation and eventually ordered to pay $506,535 in restitution. A similar case was that of Willie Norton, who fraudulently transferred two properties belonging to his 75-year-old sister into his own name. Norton was sentenced to 16 months in state prison in December 2007.
A large number of local seniors suffered when Kathleen Thueson embezzled more than $100,000 from her own property management business in 2003 to support a gambling addiction. Of her 70 victims, most were elderly. Thueson did 120 days in jail and was ordered to pay more than $133,000 in restitution.
While crimes of a financial nature may constitute the majority of elder abuse cases, horror stories of physical abuse also occur. In April 2002, Stephen Cantando was sentenced to two years in state prison for criminal neglect of his 76-year-old mother, who withered away during a six-month period in which she lost a quarter of her body weight and developed infected bedsores that ultimately killed her. During this time, Cantando had been receiving money from the Department of Social Services to care for his Alzheimer's-stricken mother.
In October 2007, David Jackson pled guilty to murder in the second degree, after law enforcement looked into the death of a 73-year-old Ione man at an assisted care facility. The Ione Police Department initially received a report of a possible suicide, but Jackson, a fellow resident at the facility and acquaintance of the victim's, admitted to the crime.
The case of Mary Cantando - no relation to Stephen Cantando - who was arrested for stabbing a 66-year-old man in the head with a hunting knife, was still before Amador Superior Court at the end of last year.
"From a law enforcement perspective, we take these crimes against our seniors - whether physical or financial in nature - very seriously," Ryan said.
Because seniors are Amador County's largest demographic, law enforcement recently experienced a scare when it looked like the Vertical Prosecution Block Grant Program might be lost to the state's budget crisis. The program has kicked in between $116,000 and $130,000 for a part-time investigator and part-time prosecutor assigned by the District Attorney's Office to delve into crimes that affect the elderly.
According to District Attorney Todd Riebe, holding onto the county's experts for crimes against seniors is paramount. "These are the only dedicated elder abuse investigators in the county," Riebe said. "It's pretty critical once you develop the (personnel) expertise, especially given the dynamics in the county."
While vigilant cops and special investigators can help bring those who abuse the elderly to justice, experts say prevention requires a partnership between senior advocates, law enforcement and the general public. Laurie Webb, executive director of the Amador Senior Center and member of the Commission on Aging, believes stopping elderly abuse lies in keeping seniors engaged in the community.
"One of the key things that gets seniors in trouble is becoming isolated from the outside world," Webb explained. "It's when they don't have numerous people that they can trust and turn to that they often fall victim to individuals perpetrating fraud against them and, in some cases, harming them."
Knowing this, the Commission on Aging launched a subcommittee called the Isolated Seniors Task Force.
"The task force is reaching out to seniors who find themselves on the margins and letting them know they are not alone," Webb said. "We're establishing connections and making sure they know they have people to help so they don't feel so vulnerable."
Webb credited the sheriff's office for working closely with the task force and having a sergeant involved in the group's regular meetings. In return, the task force is helping Ryan promote a new program for which the elderly can sign up. It provides the sheriff's office with knowledge of where hidden residence keys are located so officers can gain quick access when conducting welfare checks.
"It takes some cooperation between a lot of groups and agencies to work on keeping our seniors safe," Ryan acknowledged. "But I think everyone knows how important it is to look out for them."
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Scott Thomas Anderson
INDIA: Lonely death for a trailblazer
.
Eminent journalist Amita Malik was described as the 'first lady of Indian media.' Photo: OUTLOOK India.
Amita Malik, the doyenne — often the stormy petrel — of Indian journalism, died in New Delhi, on Friday, February 20. She was suffering from leukaemia and was admitted to Kailash Hospital in south Delhi two weeks ago.
Born in Guwahati in 1921, her broadcasting career began when she joined All India Radio (AIR) as a casual staff in Lucknow in 1944 and moved to Delhi as a permanent employee in 1946. She wrote over the years on film and television in the Statesman, The Times of India, the Indian Express and, in the last years of her life, for the Pioneer.
Click to read Obituary in OUTLOOK India , February 20, 2009
-----------------------------------------
MUMBAI, Maharashtra / Daily News & Analysis - DNA / Opinion / February 27, 2009
By Madhu Jain
It was little over a month ago that I saw Amita Malik painfully walking up the few steps to the lounge at the India International Centre, Delhi's watering hole for the culturati. She let out a long sigh, greeting me with a feeble smile and said: 'I don't know how long I can do this.' This doyenne of women journalists -- one whose scathing pen had those on its receiving end trembling and often in tears -- could barely speak. Her shoulders showed signs of resignation: it was not a happy shrug, even though her 87 years did not sit too badly on her.
Yet, her indomitable spirit peeped through in her luminescent, orangey-bronze lipstick and dangling earrings. I remember during my apprenticeship days in the early '70s at The Statesman (Delhi), where she was the Queen Bee, she would always be pulling me up for being "shabbily dressed" and under-accessorised.
We used to tremble when she, the paper's film critic, breezed in and out of the office letting drop little nuggets about the legendary greats of cinema. Bergman, Ray, Brando, Dutt -- she knew them all well, and then some. Cannes, Venice, Karlovery.... the names of the international film festivals that were her playing fields had the ring of magic about them.
I am not turning this column into an obit for the feisty, sharp-tongued grande dame of journalism who blazed the trail for the women journalists who followed, bulldozing en route many obstacles. She made the careers paths for many of us that much easier. Newspapers like The Statesman were virtually No Woman's Land.
Amita Malik's sad and almost-solitary death was preceded by a few years in a state of homelessness, under roofs not her own and gradually forgotten by those who once feared her, toasted her, loved her, even hated her.
Her death triggered thoughts about how easily disposable the elderly and the old have become in our jhat-phat times. There's even a radio channel predominantly dedicated to the phat-a-phat generation. We live in an era when history is not too much more than fifteen minutes in the past.
Yesterday is so, well, yesterday. And, we live so obliviously in the now. Andy Warhol, you were so right. Andy who, you say?
My lament is not just the passing of one richly lived life in relative obscurity. It is also for the many "senior citizens" languishing forgotten, by family and friends. Lotika Sarkar, 86, former head of the Law Faculty of Delhi University and said to be India's first woman to graduate from Cambridge University was suddenly in the news for the wrong reasons.
A champion of women's rights, she has had, at this stage in life, to fight for her own rights -- for her own home that she had allegedly signed away to a police official. Ironically, many people thought that she was no longer alive.
It is sad enough that many of our once-vibrant stalwarts fade away quietly, in some far corner of cities too far or too difficult for the occupied and employed to get to. Worse is the fact that their stories and memories disappear with them. They are our living archives, whom we so blissfully ignore. The testimonies of "senior citizens" take on even greater importance in India where the tradition of keeping papers and records is not prevalent. A historian's nightmare is overzealous spring cleaning: often old books, notes, diaries, documents, letters, household accounts and photographs are thrown away or end up with the raddi-wallah.
Some years ago while working on a biography of the Kapoor film dynasty (Prithviraj Kapoor, Raj Kapoor etc down) I hit a wall when I tried to find any family papers -- or even letters. Very little survived into the present.
The generation currently on its way to a fade-out is the one that witnessed the independence and painful partition of the country. So, hurry historians before they take their stories with them.
As for the late Amita didi, as she liked to be addressed, I can still picture her driving like the very devil in the hills, on the road going up to Shimla -- long after many her age had turned in their driving licences.
©2009 Diligent Media Corporation Ltd.
Eminent journalist Amita Malik was described as the 'first lady of Indian media.' Photo: OUTLOOK India.
Amita Malik, the doyenne — often the stormy petrel — of Indian journalism, died in New Delhi, on Friday, February 20. She was suffering from leukaemia and was admitted to Kailash Hospital in south Delhi two weeks ago.
Born in Guwahati in 1921, her broadcasting career began when she joined All India Radio (AIR) as a casual staff in Lucknow in 1944 and moved to Delhi as a permanent employee in 1946. She wrote over the years on film and television in the Statesman, The Times of India, the Indian Express and, in the last years of her life, for the Pioneer.
Click to read Obituary in OUTLOOK India , February 20, 2009
-----------------------------------------
MUMBAI, Maharashtra / Daily News & Analysis - DNA / Opinion / February 27, 2009
By Madhu Jain
It was little over a month ago that I saw Amita Malik painfully walking up the few steps to the lounge at the India International Centre, Delhi's watering hole for the culturati. She let out a long sigh, greeting me with a feeble smile and said: 'I don't know how long I can do this.' This doyenne of women journalists -- one whose scathing pen had those on its receiving end trembling and often in tears -- could barely speak. Her shoulders showed signs of resignation: it was not a happy shrug, even though her 87 years did not sit too badly on her.
Yet, her indomitable spirit peeped through in her luminescent, orangey-bronze lipstick and dangling earrings. I remember during my apprenticeship days in the early '70s at The Statesman (Delhi), where she was the Queen Bee, she would always be pulling me up for being "shabbily dressed" and under-accessorised.
We used to tremble when she, the paper's film critic, breezed in and out of the office letting drop little nuggets about the legendary greats of cinema. Bergman, Ray, Brando, Dutt -- she knew them all well, and then some. Cannes, Venice, Karlovery.... the names of the international film festivals that were her playing fields had the ring of magic about them.
I am not turning this column into an obit for the feisty, sharp-tongued grande dame of journalism who blazed the trail for the women journalists who followed, bulldozing en route many obstacles. She made the careers paths for many of us that much easier. Newspapers like The Statesman were virtually No Woman's Land.
Amita Malik's sad and almost-solitary death was preceded by a few years in a state of homelessness, under roofs not her own and gradually forgotten by those who once feared her, toasted her, loved her, even hated her.
Her death triggered thoughts about how easily disposable the elderly and the old have become in our jhat-phat times. There's even a radio channel predominantly dedicated to the phat-a-phat generation. We live in an era when history is not too much more than fifteen minutes in the past.
Yesterday is so, well, yesterday. And, we live so obliviously in the now. Andy Warhol, you were so right. Andy who, you say?
My lament is not just the passing of one richly lived life in relative obscurity. It is also for the many "senior citizens" languishing forgotten, by family and friends. Lotika Sarkar, 86, former head of the Law Faculty of Delhi University and said to be India's first woman to graduate from Cambridge University was suddenly in the news for the wrong reasons.
A champion of women's rights, she has had, at this stage in life, to fight for her own rights -- for her own home that she had allegedly signed away to a police official. Ironically, many people thought that she was no longer alive.
It is sad enough that many of our once-vibrant stalwarts fade away quietly, in some far corner of cities too far or too difficult for the occupied and employed to get to. Worse is the fact that their stories and memories disappear with them. They are our living archives, whom we so blissfully ignore. The testimonies of "senior citizens" take on even greater importance in India where the tradition of keeping papers and records is not prevalent. A historian's nightmare is overzealous spring cleaning: often old books, notes, diaries, documents, letters, household accounts and photographs are thrown away or end up with the raddi-wallah.
Some years ago while working on a biography of the Kapoor film dynasty (Prithviraj Kapoor, Raj Kapoor etc down) I hit a wall when I tried to find any family papers -- or even letters. Very little survived into the present.
The generation currently on its way to a fade-out is the one that witnessed the independence and painful partition of the country. So, hurry historians before they take their stories with them.
As for the late Amita didi, as she liked to be addressed, I can still picture her driving like the very devil in the hills, on the road going up to Shimla -- long after many her age had turned in their driving licences.
©2009 Diligent Media Corporation Ltd.
SINGAPORE: Never too old for knee surgery
.
DOWNEY, California / The Downey Patriot Weekly / February 27, 2009
Knee replacement surgery can improve the quality of life even for very elderly patients, according to a study presented yesterday at the 2009 Annual Meeting of the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons (AAOS).
The study found that patients in their 80s can benefit both physically and socially from knee replacement surgery, also called total knee arthroplasty (TKA), once thought too risky for the very elderly.
“As patients are living longer, there is an upward trend in the demand for quality of life among the elderly population,” said Edsel Arandia, M.D., lead author of the study and an orthopedic surgeon at Philippine Orthopaedic Center and a Fellow at Singapore General Hospital.
“As patients age, debilitating diseases like arthritis of the knee begin to develop. We conducted this study to determine the viability of TKA in octogenarians and to learn whether their quality of life improves after TKA.”
Dr. Arandia and his team reviewed data from 128 patients older than 80 years of age who underwent knee replacement surgeries at Singapore General Hospital between October 1998 and December 2006.
The results were measured using two quality-of-life scales, the SF-36 and the Oxford Knee Score, which assign scores to elements of physical and emotional health, such as: physical pain, social functioning, vitality and physical functioning.
2008 The Downey Patriot Inc
USA: Funny Faces of Senior Citizens Playing Wii
.
NEW YORK, NY / AOL Switched / February 27, 2009
By Warren Riddle
The Internet provides a seemingly endless supply of comic mayhem featuring teens and young adults partaking in video game hilarity. While the clips and photos aid in getting through the doldrums of the day, keen observers may have noticed a dearth of material featuring senior citizens. Not anymore.
The good people over at leveloneboss.com have compiled a gallery of silver foxes celebrating the Wii skills of the AARP crowd. Rife with Photoshop and caption possibilities, the gallery seems to demonstrate the inherent rejuvenating power of video games. Hopefully though, they'll stay away from the violent titles so we won't have to worry about menacing gangs of unruly senior citizens plaguing the streets. For some funny videos from the younger set, check out our gallery after the break. [from: Level One Boss]
Related Stories
* Senior Citizens Going Nuts for Nintendo Wii
* Study Shows Video Games Make Senior Citizens' Brains Sharper
* AARP Offers Video Game Training for Senior Citizens
Source: Switched.com
The Internet provides a seemingly endless supply of comic mayhem featuring teens and young adults partaking in video game hilarity. While the clips and photos aid in getting through the doldrums of the day, keen observers may have noticed a dearth of material featuring senior citizens. Not anymore.
The good people over at leveloneboss.com have compiled a gallery of silver foxes celebrating the Wii skills of the AARP crowd. Rife with Photoshop and caption possibilities, the gallery seems to demonstrate the inherent rejuvenating power of video games. Hopefully though, they'll stay away from the violent titles so we won't have to worry about menacing gangs of unruly senior citizens plaguing the streets. For some funny videos from the younger set, check out our gallery after the break. [from: Level One Boss]
Related Stories
* Senior Citizens Going Nuts for Nintendo Wii
* Study Shows Video Games Make Senior Citizens' Brains Sharper
* AARP Offers Video Game Training for Senior Citizens
Source: Switched.com
U.K.: Wendy Richard was in the nation's heart for five decades
.
LONDON, England / The Times / February 27, 2009
Patrick Foster, Media Correspondent and Jenny Booth
Wendy Richard appeared in EastEnders for 21 years. Ian West/PA
Wendy Richard, who secured a place in the nation’s hearts with her television roles over five decades, died yesterday five months after announcing that the cancer she had overcome twice had become terminal. She was 65.
Richard died in the Harley Street Clinic in London with her fourth husband, John Burns, by her side. She married him on October 10 last year soon after announcing that her breast cancer had spread to her kidneys and bones.
Her agent Kevin Francis said: “She was incredibly brave and retained her sense of humour right to the end.”
Click to read more
Luminaries from the creative world paid tribute to Richard...
Copyright 2009 Times Newspapers Ltd.
Wendy Richard appeared in EastEnders for 21 years. Ian West/PA
Wendy Richard, who secured a place in the nation’s hearts with her television roles over five decades, died yesterday five months after announcing that the cancer she had overcome twice had become terminal. She was 65.
Richard died in the Harley Street Clinic in London with her fourth husband, John Burns, by her side. She married him on October 10 last year soon after announcing that her breast cancer had spread to her kidneys and bones.
Her agent Kevin Francis said: “She was incredibly brave and retained her sense of humour right to the end.”
Click to read more
Luminaries from the creative world paid tribute to Richard...
Copyright 2009 Times Newspapers Ltd.
JAMAICA: Upbeat billionaire says best deals abound during recession
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KINGSTON, Jamaica / The Jamaica Gleaner / February 27, 2009
'I'm greedy in crisis' - Lee Chin
By Huntley Medley, Contributing Editor - Business
Billionaire Michael Lee Chin is looking around for businesses to buy, saying now is the best time to snatch up deals.
"I am the product of a rolling series of crises," declares the Jamaican who has made his home and fortune in Canada.
Lee Chin is positive that he and AIC Limited, his Canada-based mutual fund outfit that has propelled him to fame and fortune, will successfully ride the tide of the global recession and emerge stronger by the time business bounces back.
At the same time, Lee Chin, who says he is in acquisition mode, is not predicting any major challenges for his several Jamaican and Caribbean business businesses even as he is postponing some planned new development spending, looking for a big payday from global government-backed infrastructure bonds, and urging Jamaican investors to be sharp to excellent investment opportunities he says now abound.
The 57-year-old businessman, investment adviser and money manager is convinced that emotional behaviour and not rational thinking is what drives some investors to a doom and gloom outlook in times of a global economic downturn.
"You get the best deals in a recession when prices are depressed," he advises.
"In Jamaica institutional investors like pension funds should be fully invested in stocks, which are downgraded. The Caribbean is a wonderful place to invest at this time. You can buy great businesses inexpensively."
The man who ranks 677th in Forbes Magazine list of billionaires with a net worth of US$1.8 billion, is an apologetic disciple of US investor and the world's richest man, Warren Buffett.
Summarising his own investment outlook, Lee Chin says he is a convert to Buffett's well known greed and caution quote: "I am greedy when others are fearful and fearful when others are greedy," he tells the Financial Gleaner.
Lee Chin also has a word of advice for persons he says who have been complaining that many of Jamaica's prime assets were sold off to foreigners in the aftermath of the financial sector meltdown of the 1990s. "We have an opportunity to buy back some of those assets now that they are cheap. We need to have confidence in our country," he strikes a pragmatic yet patriotic chord without expanding.
Lee Chin's optimism comes despite a major fall-off in funds under management by AIC, whose business is investing people's money for the highest possible yields.
Unassailable position
From a seemingly unassailable position of nesting some C$14 billion in funds under management (FUMs) at its peak in around 2001, AIC now manages only C$3.3 billion.
In an interview with the Financial Gleaner, the businessman concedes, like his international investments point man, Robert Almeida has, that many investors pulled their funds in the 1980s and 1990s when AIC refused to follow other mutual funds which were chasing popular technology and commodities stocks.
AIC's position was that equities were experiencing a short term bubble that would soon dissipate, leaving investors empty handed.
The exodus of investors helped to drive the precipitous fall in AIC FUMs by more than C$10 billion in eight years.
The dotcom and commodities bubbles did not take long to burst, and to make matters worse for those who failed to get out before tech stocks and commodities bottomed out, now there is a recession with tentacles spread around the globe.
AIC redemptions, the executive chairman says, are now down to a trickle and the international economic downturn, if anything, is stimulating the shrewdness and investment savvy of the businessman, who never loses sight of the prize.
Combing the globe
One understands then why Michael Lee Chin is combing the globe, and more so his Caribbean backyard, hunting for opportunities.
Trinidad is now the life of the party, where the cash woes of the CL Financial Group have thrown up what Lee Chin describes as "fantastic opportunities."
Armed with an available US$150 in his Caribbean equity fund and the backing of heavyweight partners like the US government's Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC), the European Investment Bank, the Export Development Corporation of Canada, the Caribbean Development Bank and US telecoms giant, Verizon, Lee Chin is upbeat about the prospects there, succumbing to an uncharacteristic moment of understatement: "We are looking to see how best we can participate there."
Lee Chin outlines the philosophy, which remains at the core of his strategic business outlook: "Wealth is created by doing five things: opening a few high quality businesses; making sure you really understand the businesses you invest in; investing in strong, long term growth industries; keeping a keen eye on rate of return, especially when you are using people's money; and holding for the long term."
In the long run, a good reputation is worth more than fleeting gains, the prolific international investor says.
"Every business has to do three things well," he admonishes, "build the best possible reputation, differentiate itself in the marketplace, and really do a good job addressing customers' needs."
Investment ideology
With this guiding investment ideology and a track record of profitable Caribbean acquisitions, Lee Chin is of the view that his and AIC's reputation will hold them in good stead for the climb back to the top of the pile as being among the most profitable and asset-rich global funds managers. "How do you create the best possible reputation? State clearly what you stand for, be transparent, be consistent, and walk the talk."
It is this steadfastness to his investment framework through thick and thin, more than anything else, which the Portland-born Michael Lee credits for his success to date.
He adds he would have thought them mad, if, in 1977 aged 26, when he left Jamaica for Canada, persons had told him he would rise to amass his personal fortune or built a global investment empire, including significant holding in the Caribbean.
Lee Chin waxes sentimental when he recalls how in 1983 the first of his "rolling series of crises" arose. With stocks nose-diving up to 50 per cent, he borrowed half a million Canadian dollars to buy into the small money management company, MacKenzie's Financial Corporation at a dollar per stock.
Four years later, when the market had recovered, he sold his stocks for c$7 each and was able to repay his C$500,000 loan, and pocket several million dollars.
Again in 1999, he faced a major challenge when Canada's leading newspaper, The Globe and Mail, ran a story pointing to the mass exodus of investors fleeing his Advantage fund to line up for other funds, which were promoting the dotcoms.
The story predicted that Lee Chin's business would fold from a drying up of funds. His response was to invest C$100 million (including c$50 million of his own money) into one stock, Mackenzie's - which he had invested in 16 years earlier - at a share price of C$15.
When the stock price doubled a year later, he sold out to the Investors Group, the first company he worked for in Canada in 1977 and reaped a cool C$200 million from which he was able to pick up Jamaica's National Commercial Bank (NCB) off the FINSAC auction block with a C$80 million downpayment.
Basket of investments
Among the US$1.2 billion Caribbean holdings in his basket of investments, Lee Chin speaks most feelingly about NCB, in which his private investment company, Portland Holdings, bought a 75 per cent stake from the Jamaican government in March 2002 for J$6 billion - which converted to less than US$130 million at the time.
NCB is now worth more than US$800 million and reported J$8.7 billion in net profits for 2008.
Columbus Communications, which trades as Flow, is another of his success stories. Having bought it in 2004 for US$80 million, the consortium of the telecoms firms that spent US$450 in the 1990s to run a fibre optic cable from Florida to link 22 countries in the Caribbean and Central America, Lee Chin now values this investment at close to US$1 billion.
Advantage General Insurance Company, the former United General, which he bought from Neville Blythe at the same time he took over the CVM Communications Group, is billed by its chairman, as "the most efficient insurance company in the Caribbean."
Lee Chin says from a position losing US$5 million annually when he took it over, Advantage posted US$8 million in profits last year.
Having in the past alluded to real estate development investment plans in Jamaica and elsewhere in the Caribbean, to spur health tourism and capitalise on an expected flood of wealthy elderly foreigners craving sunshine and good retirement care, Michael Lee Chin now says those plans are on hold. "It is difficult to start new ventures.
The opportunities that exist now are in the area of buying existing businesses, so those are now medium term plans."
However, he is forging ahead to catch and ride another wave of profits expected to flow from the recession.
This is in the area of investment in infrastructure. So, he is teaming up with Brookfield Assets Management, the Toronto, Canada-based global funds manager, which specialises in infrastructure, property and power assets, and has US$95 billion in funds under management.
Lee Chin points out that with a big chunk of the recently approved US$787 billion American stimulus package being devoted to infrastructure spending, and other countries - developed and developing - also spending big on infrastructure as a recession busting move to kick-start their ailing economies, significant profits will flow to investors who bankroll these initiatives.
An inventory of planned insfrastructure spends worldwide shows some US$180 billion in the US; a planned US$8 billion worth of additional lending for energy, climate change and infrastructure by the the European Investment Bank; €17 billion in Germany; €4 billion by the French government; Britain's £3 billion for capital spending on transportation, schools, social housing, and energy efficiency initiatives; as well as significant sums committed in Spain, Italy, Sweden, Switzerland, China, some 15 other Asia-Pacific countries, and elsewhere including the the Middle East and Latin America.
Other partnerships are being forged too, Lee Chin says, with a keen eye on entities whose corporate philosophy is in keeping with AIC's.
Third Avenue, the New York-based investment advisory team, another top ranked money management outfit, has been subcontracted to handle some of the AIC business.
Lee Chin continues to firmly cut a survival and developmental path for his companies, pointing out that despite having surrendered the reigns of day-to-day management of his mutual fund business, he has never given up responsibility for strategic direction.
huntley.medley@gleanerjm.com
© Copyright 1997-2009 Gleaner Company Ltd.
Billionaire Michael Lee Chin is looking around for businesses to buy, saying now is the best time to snatch up deals.
"I am the product of a rolling series of crises," declares the Jamaican who has made his home and fortune in Canada.
Lee Chin is positive that he and AIC Limited, his Canada-based mutual fund outfit that has propelled him to fame and fortune, will successfully ride the tide of the global recession and emerge stronger by the time business bounces back.
At the same time, Lee Chin, who says he is in acquisition mode, is not predicting any major challenges for his several Jamaican and Caribbean business businesses even as he is postponing some planned new development spending, looking for a big payday from global government-backed infrastructure bonds, and urging Jamaican investors to be sharp to excellent investment opportunities he says now abound.
The 57-year-old businessman, investment adviser and money manager is convinced that emotional behaviour and not rational thinking is what drives some investors to a doom and gloom outlook in times of a global economic downturn.
"You get the best deals in a recession when prices are depressed," he advises.
"In Jamaica institutional investors like pension funds should be fully invested in stocks, which are downgraded. The Caribbean is a wonderful place to invest at this time. You can buy great businesses inexpensively."
The man who ranks 677th in Forbes Magazine list of billionaires with a net worth of US$1.8 billion, is an apologetic disciple of US investor and the world's richest man, Warren Buffett.
Summarising his own investment outlook, Lee Chin says he is a convert to Buffett's well known greed and caution quote: "I am greedy when others are fearful and fearful when others are greedy," he tells the Financial Gleaner.
Lee Chin also has a word of advice for persons he says who have been complaining that many of Jamaica's prime assets were sold off to foreigners in the aftermath of the financial sector meltdown of the 1990s. "We have an opportunity to buy back some of those assets now that they are cheap. We need to have confidence in our country," he strikes a pragmatic yet patriotic chord without expanding.
Lee Chin's optimism comes despite a major fall-off in funds under management by AIC, whose business is investing people's money for the highest possible yields.
Unassailable position
From a seemingly unassailable position of nesting some C$14 billion in funds under management (FUMs) at its peak in around 2001, AIC now manages only C$3.3 billion.
In an interview with the Financial Gleaner, the businessman concedes, like his international investments point man, Robert Almeida has, that many investors pulled their funds in the 1980s and 1990s when AIC refused to follow other mutual funds which were chasing popular technology and commodities stocks.
AIC's position was that equities were experiencing a short term bubble that would soon dissipate, leaving investors empty handed.
The exodus of investors helped to drive the precipitous fall in AIC FUMs by more than C$10 billion in eight years.
The dotcom and commodities bubbles did not take long to burst, and to make matters worse for those who failed to get out before tech stocks and commodities bottomed out, now there is a recession with tentacles spread around the globe.
AIC redemptions, the executive chairman says, are now down to a trickle and the international economic downturn, if anything, is stimulating the shrewdness and investment savvy of the businessman, who never loses sight of the prize.
Combing the globe
One understands then why Michael Lee Chin is combing the globe, and more so his Caribbean backyard, hunting for opportunities.
Trinidad is now the life of the party, where the cash woes of the CL Financial Group have thrown up what Lee Chin describes as "fantastic opportunities."
Armed with an available US$150 in his Caribbean equity fund and the backing of heavyweight partners like the US government's Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC), the European Investment Bank, the Export Development Corporation of Canada, the Caribbean Development Bank and US telecoms giant, Verizon, Lee Chin is upbeat about the prospects there, succumbing to an uncharacteristic moment of understatement: "We are looking to see how best we can participate there."
Lee Chin outlines the philosophy, which remains at the core of his strategic business outlook: "Wealth is created by doing five things: opening a few high quality businesses; making sure you really understand the businesses you invest in; investing in strong, long term growth industries; keeping a keen eye on rate of return, especially when you are using people's money; and holding for the long term."
In the long run, a good reputation is worth more than fleeting gains, the prolific international investor says.
"Every business has to do three things well," he admonishes, "build the best possible reputation, differentiate itself in the marketplace, and really do a good job addressing customers' needs."
Investment ideology
With this guiding investment ideology and a track record of profitable Caribbean acquisitions, Lee Chin is of the view that his and AIC's reputation will hold them in good stead for the climb back to the top of the pile as being among the most profitable and asset-rich global funds managers. "How do you create the best possible reputation? State clearly what you stand for, be transparent, be consistent, and walk the talk."
It is this steadfastness to his investment framework through thick and thin, more than anything else, which the Portland-born Michael Lee credits for his success to date.
He adds he would have thought them mad, if, in 1977 aged 26, when he left Jamaica for Canada, persons had told him he would rise to amass his personal fortune or built a global investment empire, including significant holding in the Caribbean.
Lee Chin waxes sentimental when he recalls how in 1983 the first of his "rolling series of crises" arose. With stocks nose-diving up to 50 per cent, he borrowed half a million Canadian dollars to buy into the small money management company, MacKenzie's Financial Corporation at a dollar per stock.
Four years later, when the market had recovered, he sold his stocks for c$7 each and was able to repay his C$500,000 loan, and pocket several million dollars.
Again in 1999, he faced a major challenge when Canada's leading newspaper, The Globe and Mail, ran a story pointing to the mass exodus of investors fleeing his Advantage fund to line up for other funds, which were promoting the dotcoms.
The story predicted that Lee Chin's business would fold from a drying up of funds. His response was to invest C$100 million (including c$50 million of his own money) into one stock, Mackenzie's - which he had invested in 16 years earlier - at a share price of C$15.
When the stock price doubled a year later, he sold out to the Investors Group, the first company he worked for in Canada in 1977 and reaped a cool C$200 million from which he was able to pick up Jamaica's National Commercial Bank (NCB) off the FINSAC auction block with a C$80 million downpayment.
Basket of investments
Among the US$1.2 billion Caribbean holdings in his basket of investments, Lee Chin speaks most feelingly about NCB, in which his private investment company, Portland Holdings, bought a 75 per cent stake from the Jamaican government in March 2002 for J$6 billion - which converted to less than US$130 million at the time.
NCB is now worth more than US$800 million and reported J$8.7 billion in net profits for 2008.
Columbus Communications, which trades as Flow, is another of his success stories. Having bought it in 2004 for US$80 million, the consortium of the telecoms firms that spent US$450 in the 1990s to run a fibre optic cable from Florida to link 22 countries in the Caribbean and Central America, Lee Chin now values this investment at close to US$1 billion.
Advantage General Insurance Company, the former United General, which he bought from Neville Blythe at the same time he took over the CVM Communications Group, is billed by its chairman, as "the most efficient insurance company in the Caribbean."
Lee Chin says from a position losing US$5 million annually when he took it over, Advantage posted US$8 million in profits last year.
Having in the past alluded to real estate development investment plans in Jamaica and elsewhere in the Caribbean, to spur health tourism and capitalise on an expected flood of wealthy elderly foreigners craving sunshine and good retirement care, Michael Lee Chin now says those plans are on hold. "It is difficult to start new ventures.
The opportunities that exist now are in the area of buying existing businesses, so those are now medium term plans."
However, he is forging ahead to catch and ride another wave of profits expected to flow from the recession.
This is in the area of investment in infrastructure. So, he is teaming up with Brookfield Assets Management, the Toronto, Canada-based global funds manager, which specialises in infrastructure, property and power assets, and has US$95 billion in funds under management.
Lee Chin points out that with a big chunk of the recently approved US$787 billion American stimulus package being devoted to infrastructure spending, and other countries - developed and developing - also spending big on infrastructure as a recession busting move to kick-start their ailing economies, significant profits will flow to investors who bankroll these initiatives.
An inventory of planned insfrastructure spends worldwide shows some US$180 billion in the US; a planned US$8 billion worth of additional lending for energy, climate change and infrastructure by the the European Investment Bank; €17 billion in Germany; €4 billion by the French government; Britain's £3 billion for capital spending on transportation, schools, social housing, and energy efficiency initiatives; as well as significant sums committed in Spain, Italy, Sweden, Switzerland, China, some 15 other Asia-Pacific countries, and elsewhere including the the Middle East and Latin America.
Other partnerships are being forged too, Lee Chin says, with a keen eye on entities whose corporate philosophy is in keeping with AIC's.
Third Avenue, the New York-based investment advisory team, another top ranked money management outfit, has been subcontracted to handle some of the AIC business.
Lee Chin continues to firmly cut a survival and developmental path for his companies, pointing out that despite having surrendered the reigns of day-to-day management of his mutual fund business, he has never given up responsibility for strategic direction.
huntley.medley@gleanerjm.com
© Copyright 1997-2009 Gleaner Company Ltd.
CHINA: Lucky Hair Cut on 2nd Day of 2nd Month of Lunar Calendar
THURSDAY, Feb 26 was 2nd day of the 2nd
month of the Lunar calendar - considered a
lucky day to have a hair cut. Shave and haircut,
four bits! A street barber cuts an elderly man's
hair in his plastic-walled stand in Changchun,
China. A haircut and a shave for about 50 cents.
SUDAN: Just like us they are born and die - Death of Novelist Tayeb Salih
.
Tayeb Salih, one of the best known Arabic novelists of the 20th century, died on Wednesday in London, aged 80. The London GUARDIAN Photograph: Ashraf Shazly/AFP/Getty Images
ABU DHABI, United Arab Emirates / The National / February 27, 2009
The Sudanese novelist Tayeb Salih, who died last week in London, used literature to rebuke both colonial powers and their liberated subjects. Laila Lalami considers the enduring power of his masterpiece.
Mourners stand over Tayeb Salih’s coffin during his funeral in Khartoum on February 20. AFP
In 1966, when Tayeb Salih’s novel Season of Migration to the North was published in Beirut, most Arab and African nations had already achieved independence from European colonial rule. The Sudan, where Salih was born and raised, had been under home rule for a decade; the Congo, once the personal estate of King Leopold II, had won its freedom six years before; and Algeria, whose war of liberation cost the lives of one million people, had recently declared its independence. The mood in the newly established nations was defiant, passionate, full of hope. Ahmed Sékou Touré told Charles de Gaulle that, “There is no dignity without liberty. We prefer liberty in poverty to wealth in slavery.” In his first state speech, Kwame Nkrumah declared, “We are going to demonstrate to the world, to the other nations, that we are prepared to lay our own foundation.” Patrice Lumumba promised his countrymen, “We are going to begin a new struggle, a sublime struggle, which will lead our country to peace, prosperity, and greatness.”
Not long after independence, Sékou Touré turned into a brutal dictator: in the course of his 26-year reign, thousands of Guineans were jailed in concentration camps. Nkrumah, too, started to stifle dissent in Ghana and was later overthrown in a military coup. As for Lumumba, he had no time to govern: barely three months after his election, he was assassinated by Congolese rivals, who were working in collusion with Belgian and American intelligence services.
Salih chronicles this bitter start to the postcolonial age. In Season of Migration to the North, a local community representative – a man of limited formal education, but long practical experience – explains how independence movements, though necessary and rightful, would at first lead to a succession of rulers who would treat their people no differently than the colonisers:
“[The British] sowed hatred in the hearts of the people for us, their kinsmen, and love for the colonisers, the intruders. Mark these words of mine, my son. Has not the country become independent? Have we not become free men in our own country? Be sure, though, that they will direct our affairs from afar. This is because they have left behind them people who think as they do.”
So precise is Salih’s assessment of both the colonial and the postcolonial condition, and so perceptive is his discussion of racial relationships under and after empire, that the novel continues to be widely read, discussed and studied today, more than forty years after its publication. But what makes Season of Migration to the North such an enduring book is its literary accomplishment: Salih’s masterful use of time, his depiction of place, his prose style, his seamless use of oral literary forms. Reading the text in Arabic, it is easy to see why a group of leading Arab critics joined together in 1976 to declare him “the genius of the Arabic novel.”
Salih was born in 1929 in Ed-Debba, a village on the banks of the Nile, in the northern province of the Sudan. His parents, Muhammad and Aisha, were local farmers. Salih went to the primary school in his village, but transferred to Port Sudan for junior high and to Omdurman for high school. At the University of Khartoum, he studied natural sciences, though he appears to have left without graduating. For a while he worked as a schoolteacher, but in 1953, at the age of 24, he decided to move to Great Britain. He completed a degree in international relations at the University of London and worked for the BBC Arabic Service, where he eventually became director of the drama section. A few years later, he relocated to Qatar to serve as director-general for the Ministry of Information. He moved once again, this time to Paris, to work for Unesco and serve as its representative in Qatar and Jordan. Finally he returned to London, where he lived until his death last week.
Salih’s first two books – a collection of stories and a novella, The Wedding of Zein – were published in the early 1960s. But it was Season of Migration to the North that would make his reputation. First serialised in the Lebanese magazine Hiwar in 1966, it was published in book form in 1967. Denys Johnson-Davies worked closely with Salih on the text, translating portions into English soon after the author finished writing them. Heinemann published the novel in its African Writers Series in 1969, and it has been in print in various English-language editions ever since.
Another novel would follow, Bandarshah. This was conceived as a trilogy, the first two volumes of which (Dau al-Beit and Meryoud) were published in 1971 and 1976. Salih said in interviews that he continued to work on the third volume, but it has never appeared in print. He did, however, write regular columns on literature, culture and politics for the London-based Arabic magazine Al Majallah, and those have been collected in nine volumes, published as Mukhtarat in 2004.
Season of Migration to the North begins with the return of an unnamed Sudanese man to his village on the banks of the Nile, after seven years spent studying poetry in Britain. At a gathering of family and friends, he notices a stranger, a middle-aged man who has remained silent while everyone else has been asking questions about life in distant Europe. The stranger turns out to be a certain Mustafa Sa‘eed, who moved to the village from the capital of Khartoum. Intrigued by the presence of a city man in an ancestral town, the narrator wants to know more, but Sa‘eed is reluctant to talk about himself. One night, after a few drinks, Sa‘eed begins to recite poetry in English. The narrator is shocked, not having expected that anyone in the village beside him would know any English poetry. Relentlessly, he asks Sa‘eed about his life, until Sa‘eed gives in.
And so begins the story within the story, also told in the first person: Sa‘eed is born in Khartoum at the turn of the century and loses his father at a young age. Without telling his mother, he enrols in a local grade school run by English missionaries. The headmaster, taking note of Sa‘eed’s natural talents, recommends that he continue on to high school. Sa‘eed journeys by train (by himself) to Cairo, where he lives with friends of the schoolmaster. After high school, he leaves Cairo behind, this time travelling to London, where he studies economics. He befriends many white women, of different backgrounds and levels of education, and uses their stereotypical expectations of him – they see in him “tropical climes, cruel sun, purple horizons” – to seduce them. Finally, he meets Jean Morris.
Unlike the other women, Morris doesn’t give in to Sa‘eed so easily. He pursues her until she agrees to marry him, but their union ends in tragedy; he murders her, in what appears to be a bizarre act of erotic fulfilment. After serving his sentence, he returns to the Sudan, moves to the village of Wad Hamid, and marries a local woman, to whom he is, by all accounts, a perfect husband. He fathers two children and leads a quiet life. The story doesn’t quite satisfy the narrator, and the mystery that surrounds Mustafa Sa‘eed only grows when he disappears, leaving behind a will in which he names the narrator as his trustee, begging him to spare the two children “the pangs of wanderlust”.
The narrator moves to Khartoum, where he becomes a civil servant, slowly rising through the postcolonial hierarchy. He wants to forget about Mustafa Sa‘eed, but on a visit to the village, he finds out that Sa‘eed’s widow is being pressured to marry an elderly womaniser. Now the narrator is confronted with his responsibility as trustee, a position he neither sought nor desired. His unwillingness – or inability – to act leads to yet another tragedy.
The two main characters in the book, the unnamed narrator and Mustafa Sa‘eed, travel between north and south; they move between eastern and western traditions; they speak English and Arabic; they live, at one point or another, in a village and in a city; they are foreign men in a white world, or foreign-educated men in a black world. And the story itself presents a duality for the reader: it is an oral story, as indicated by its beautiful first line: “It was, gentlemen, after a long absence – seven years to be exact, during which time I was studying in Europe – that I returned to my people.” But it is told in a European literary form, the novel.
Season of Migration to the North was not the first book in which a writer of colour decided to “write back” to the Empire, of course. Ngugi wa Thiong’o’s The River Between (1965), Camara Laye’s Le Regard du Roi (1954), and Aimé Césaire’s Une Tempête (1969), for instance, can all be seen as attempts to subvert European colonial discourse. But Season of Migration to the North is unique among these books in that it is written in the author’s native language, rather than the colonial one. Indeed, Salih stands out among African writers of his generation for his insistence on using Arabic in spite of having lived the majority of his life outside the Sudan. (“It’s a matter of principle,” he once told an interviewer.)
Salih, however, took a different approach from that of Arab writers belonging to the Nahda – the literary renaissance movement that came into being in Egypt starting in the late 19th century, which was still influential at the time Salih was writing. Proponents of the Nahda were usually men who had gone on their own migrations to the north and returned to Egypt determined to emulate European civilisation. But their views tended to be quite schizophrenic, in that they advocated material modernity (scientific, technological and artistic) within the moral framework of Islamic traditions.
This kind of rosy conciliation between modernity and tradition, a hallmark of Nahda-era novels, is absent from Season of Migration to the North. The narrator initially thinks that his seven-year migration is a mere parenthesis, and that life can resume its course for him, but he soon discovers that he has been permanently changed. His doctorate in poetry has not prepared him for the tasks he has to take up in a newly independent country, and he is reduced to having to follow along, while the leaders of the ruling party – to which he belongs – drive the country to ruin.
The abundant literary references in Season of Migration to the North might give the impression that Salih simply set out to respond to stories – both eastern and western – about the “Other.” But the novel can also be read independently of these references, and Season is at its most powerful as a modern Arab-African story: two men who migrate north in pursuit of knowledge and return home to find that, in the intervening years, their country has changed just as much as they have.
Although it was written at the time of the collapse of European colonialism in Africa, Season of Migration to the North remains highly relevant today. One of the persistent metaphors in the novel is that of colonialism as a disease – it spreads from one people to the next and from one continent to the next, leaving behind it a steady trail of violence and destruction. At Mustafa Sa‘eed’s trial, the defence lawyer argues : “These girls were not killed by Mustafa Sa‘eed but by the germ of a deadly disease that assailed them a thousand years ago.” The mention of the Roman invasion of Britain might give the reader pause, but this image is expanded upon throughout the novel, its effect growing and becoming clearer with each mention.
Indeed, many years after the trial, while recounting the event to the narrator, Sa’eed adds: “[The British] imported to [the Sudanese] the germ of the greatest European violence, as seen on the Somme and at Verdun, the like of which the world has never previously known, the germ of a deadly disease that struck them more than a thousand years ago.” Still later, when the narrator discusses the prospects of independent Sudan with a local councilman, he is told: “Everyone who is educated today [in the Sudan] wants to sit at a comfortable desk under a fan and live in an air-conditioned house surrounded by a garden coming and going in an American car as wide as the street. If we do not tear out this disease by the roots we shall have with us a bourgeoisie that is in no way connected to the reality of our life, which is more dangerous to the future of Africa than imperialism itself.” In this way, Salih draws a direct line from the Roman Empire to the German Empire, from European colonialism to Africa’s postcolonial disappointment. Our great tragedy is that we continue to be entirely heedless of the warnings of history.
Laila Lalami’s introduction to a new edition of Season of Migration of the North, from which this article is adapted, will be published by New York Review Classics in April.
Click to read Obituary
Cairo-based Denys Johnson-Davies reflects on the life of the great novelist, his colleague and friend Tayeb Salih (1929 – 2009).
© Copyright of Abu Dhabi Media Company FZLLC
Tayeb Salih, one of the best known Arabic novelists of the 20th century, died on Wednesday in London, aged 80. The London GUARDIAN Photograph: Ashraf Shazly/AFP/Getty Images
ABU DHABI, United Arab Emirates / The National / February 27, 2009
The Sudanese novelist Tayeb Salih, who died last week in London, used literature to rebuke both colonial powers and their liberated subjects. Laila Lalami considers the enduring power of his masterpiece.
Mourners stand over Tayeb Salih’s coffin during his funeral in Khartoum on February 20. AFP
In 1966, when Tayeb Salih’s novel Season of Migration to the North was published in Beirut, most Arab and African nations had already achieved independence from European colonial rule. The Sudan, where Salih was born and raised, had been under home rule for a decade; the Congo, once the personal estate of King Leopold II, had won its freedom six years before; and Algeria, whose war of liberation cost the lives of one million people, had recently declared its independence. The mood in the newly established nations was defiant, passionate, full of hope. Ahmed Sékou Touré told Charles de Gaulle that, “There is no dignity without liberty. We prefer liberty in poverty to wealth in slavery.” In his first state speech, Kwame Nkrumah declared, “We are going to demonstrate to the world, to the other nations, that we are prepared to lay our own foundation.” Patrice Lumumba promised his countrymen, “We are going to begin a new struggle, a sublime struggle, which will lead our country to peace, prosperity, and greatness.”
Not long after independence, Sékou Touré turned into a brutal dictator: in the course of his 26-year reign, thousands of Guineans were jailed in concentration camps. Nkrumah, too, started to stifle dissent in Ghana and was later overthrown in a military coup. As for Lumumba, he had no time to govern: barely three months after his election, he was assassinated by Congolese rivals, who were working in collusion with Belgian and American intelligence services.
Salih chronicles this bitter start to the postcolonial age. In Season of Migration to the North, a local community representative – a man of limited formal education, but long practical experience – explains how independence movements, though necessary and rightful, would at first lead to a succession of rulers who would treat their people no differently than the colonisers:
“[The British] sowed hatred in the hearts of the people for us, their kinsmen, and love for the colonisers, the intruders. Mark these words of mine, my son. Has not the country become independent? Have we not become free men in our own country? Be sure, though, that they will direct our affairs from afar. This is because they have left behind them people who think as they do.”
So precise is Salih’s assessment of both the colonial and the postcolonial condition, and so perceptive is his discussion of racial relationships under and after empire, that the novel continues to be widely read, discussed and studied today, more than forty years after its publication. But what makes Season of Migration to the North such an enduring book is its literary accomplishment: Salih’s masterful use of time, his depiction of place, his prose style, his seamless use of oral literary forms. Reading the text in Arabic, it is easy to see why a group of leading Arab critics joined together in 1976 to declare him “the genius of the Arabic novel.”
Salih was born in 1929 in Ed-Debba, a village on the banks of the Nile, in the northern province of the Sudan. His parents, Muhammad and Aisha, were local farmers. Salih went to the primary school in his village, but transferred to Port Sudan for junior high and to Omdurman for high school. At the University of Khartoum, he studied natural sciences, though he appears to have left without graduating. For a while he worked as a schoolteacher, but in 1953, at the age of 24, he decided to move to Great Britain. He completed a degree in international relations at the University of London and worked for the BBC Arabic Service, where he eventually became director of the drama section. A few years later, he relocated to Qatar to serve as director-general for the Ministry of Information. He moved once again, this time to Paris, to work for Unesco and serve as its representative in Qatar and Jordan. Finally he returned to London, where he lived until his death last week.
Salih’s first two books – a collection of stories and a novella, The Wedding of Zein – were published in the early 1960s. But it was Season of Migration to the North that would make his reputation. First serialised in the Lebanese magazine Hiwar in 1966, it was published in book form in 1967. Denys Johnson-Davies worked closely with Salih on the text, translating portions into English soon after the author finished writing them. Heinemann published the novel in its African Writers Series in 1969, and it has been in print in various English-language editions ever since.
Another novel would follow, Bandarshah. This was conceived as a trilogy, the first two volumes of which (Dau al-Beit and Meryoud) were published in 1971 and 1976. Salih said in interviews that he continued to work on the third volume, but it has never appeared in print. He did, however, write regular columns on literature, culture and politics for the London-based Arabic magazine Al Majallah, and those have been collected in nine volumes, published as Mukhtarat in 2004.
Season of Migration to the North begins with the return of an unnamed Sudanese man to his village on the banks of the Nile, after seven years spent studying poetry in Britain. At a gathering of family and friends, he notices a stranger, a middle-aged man who has remained silent while everyone else has been asking questions about life in distant Europe. The stranger turns out to be a certain Mustafa Sa‘eed, who moved to the village from the capital of Khartoum. Intrigued by the presence of a city man in an ancestral town, the narrator wants to know more, but Sa‘eed is reluctant to talk about himself. One night, after a few drinks, Sa‘eed begins to recite poetry in English. The narrator is shocked, not having expected that anyone in the village beside him would know any English poetry. Relentlessly, he asks Sa‘eed about his life, until Sa‘eed gives in.
And so begins the story within the story, also told in the first person: Sa‘eed is born in Khartoum at the turn of the century and loses his father at a young age. Without telling his mother, he enrols in a local grade school run by English missionaries. The headmaster, taking note of Sa‘eed’s natural talents, recommends that he continue on to high school. Sa‘eed journeys by train (by himself) to Cairo, where he lives with friends of the schoolmaster. After high school, he leaves Cairo behind, this time travelling to London, where he studies economics. He befriends many white women, of different backgrounds and levels of education, and uses their stereotypical expectations of him – they see in him “tropical climes, cruel sun, purple horizons” – to seduce them. Finally, he meets Jean Morris.
Unlike the other women, Morris doesn’t give in to Sa‘eed so easily. He pursues her until she agrees to marry him, but their union ends in tragedy; he murders her, in what appears to be a bizarre act of erotic fulfilment. After serving his sentence, he returns to the Sudan, moves to the village of Wad Hamid, and marries a local woman, to whom he is, by all accounts, a perfect husband. He fathers two children and leads a quiet life. The story doesn’t quite satisfy the narrator, and the mystery that surrounds Mustafa Sa‘eed only grows when he disappears, leaving behind a will in which he names the narrator as his trustee, begging him to spare the two children “the pangs of wanderlust”.
The narrator moves to Khartoum, where he becomes a civil servant, slowly rising through the postcolonial hierarchy. He wants to forget about Mustafa Sa‘eed, but on a visit to the village, he finds out that Sa‘eed’s widow is being pressured to marry an elderly womaniser. Now the narrator is confronted with his responsibility as trustee, a position he neither sought nor desired. His unwillingness – or inability – to act leads to yet another tragedy.
The two main characters in the book, the unnamed narrator and Mustafa Sa‘eed, travel between north and south; they move between eastern and western traditions; they speak English and Arabic; they live, at one point or another, in a village and in a city; they are foreign men in a white world, or foreign-educated men in a black world. And the story itself presents a duality for the reader: it is an oral story, as indicated by its beautiful first line: “It was, gentlemen, after a long absence – seven years to be exact, during which time I was studying in Europe – that I returned to my people.” But it is told in a European literary form, the novel.
Season of Migration to the North was not the first book in which a writer of colour decided to “write back” to the Empire, of course. Ngugi wa Thiong’o’s The River Between (1965), Camara Laye’s Le Regard du Roi (1954), and Aimé Césaire’s Une Tempête (1969), for instance, can all be seen as attempts to subvert European colonial discourse. But Season of Migration to the North is unique among these books in that it is written in the author’s native language, rather than the colonial one. Indeed, Salih stands out among African writers of his generation for his insistence on using Arabic in spite of having lived the majority of his life outside the Sudan. (“It’s a matter of principle,” he once told an interviewer.)
Salih, however, took a different approach from that of Arab writers belonging to the Nahda – the literary renaissance movement that came into being in Egypt starting in the late 19th century, which was still influential at the time Salih was writing. Proponents of the Nahda were usually men who had gone on their own migrations to the north and returned to Egypt determined to emulate European civilisation. But their views tended to be quite schizophrenic, in that they advocated material modernity (scientific, technological and artistic) within the moral framework of Islamic traditions.
This kind of rosy conciliation between modernity and tradition, a hallmark of Nahda-era novels, is absent from Season of Migration to the North. The narrator initially thinks that his seven-year migration is a mere parenthesis, and that life can resume its course for him, but he soon discovers that he has been permanently changed. His doctorate in poetry has not prepared him for the tasks he has to take up in a newly independent country, and he is reduced to having to follow along, while the leaders of the ruling party – to which he belongs – drive the country to ruin.
The abundant literary references in Season of Migration to the North might give the impression that Salih simply set out to respond to stories – both eastern and western – about the “Other.” But the novel can also be read independently of these references, and Season is at its most powerful as a modern Arab-African story: two men who migrate north in pursuit of knowledge and return home to find that, in the intervening years, their country has changed just as much as they have.
Although it was written at the time of the collapse of European colonialism in Africa, Season of Migration to the North remains highly relevant today. One of the persistent metaphors in the novel is that of colonialism as a disease – it spreads from one people to the next and from one continent to the next, leaving behind it a steady trail of violence and destruction. At Mustafa Sa‘eed’s trial, the defence lawyer argues : “These girls were not killed by Mustafa Sa‘eed but by the germ of a deadly disease that assailed them a thousand years ago.” The mention of the Roman invasion of Britain might give the reader pause, but this image is expanded upon throughout the novel, its effect growing and becoming clearer with each mention.
Indeed, many years after the trial, while recounting the event to the narrator, Sa’eed adds: “[The British] imported to [the Sudanese] the germ of the greatest European violence, as seen on the Somme and at Verdun, the like of which the world has never previously known, the germ of a deadly disease that struck them more than a thousand years ago.” Still later, when the narrator discusses the prospects of independent Sudan with a local councilman, he is told: “Everyone who is educated today [in the Sudan] wants to sit at a comfortable desk under a fan and live in an air-conditioned house surrounded by a garden coming and going in an American car as wide as the street. If we do not tear out this disease by the roots we shall have with us a bourgeoisie that is in no way connected to the reality of our life, which is more dangerous to the future of Africa than imperialism itself.” In this way, Salih draws a direct line from the Roman Empire to the German Empire, from European colonialism to Africa’s postcolonial disappointment. Our great tragedy is that we continue to be entirely heedless of the warnings of history.
Laila Lalami’s introduction to a new edition of Season of Migration of the North, from which this article is adapted, will be published by New York Review Classics in April.
Click to read Obituary
Cairo-based Denys Johnson-Davies reflects on the life of the great novelist, his colleague and friend Tayeb Salih (1929 – 2009).
© Copyright of Abu Dhabi Media Company FZLLC
WORLD: Migrants' families feel money pinch
.
WASHINGTON, DC / USA Today / February 27, 2009
By Paul Wiseman, USA TODAY
When Renato Canlapan lost his job at a Taiwanese fiberglass plant last month, he didn't even have enough money for the bus fare home.
That was a blow not just to him, but to family members back in his native Philippines — where he sent a good portion of the $500 he earned every month. The cash supported siblings, parents, grandparents, uncle, aunts and cousins.
Without his help, Canlapan says, they must "minimize the money they spend on food."
Canlapan's story illustrates one of the less-explored consequences of the global financial crisis: For every migrant worker who loses his job or gets a pay cut in wealthy cities such as Dubai, Singapore and Los Angeles, there are often family members and friends thousands of miles away who suffer as well.
The money migrants send back to their countries — called remittances — could fall as much as 5.7% this year, according to the World Bank. That would break years of double-digit growth.
The resulting economic chill could have negative consequences for political stability and security in many poorer countries, including the Philippines, where the government is fighting Muslim separatists and communist guerrillas.
"The impact on poor people can be disproportionately high," says the World Bank's Dilip Ratha, a specialist in the economics of migration. "Remittances are used for food or clothing or helping the elderly."
It's often impossible for families in developing countries to replace the money that remittances provided. For example, Canlapan is back in his village, 80 miles north of Manila, looking for work in a place where $80 a month is a good salary.
The International Crisis Group, a think-tank, warned this month of rising political instability in Tajikistan, where remittances (mostly from migrants to Russia) are officially equal to nearly 46% of economic output, the highest figure in the world.
Money sent home by Mexican migrants abroad, primarily those living in the USA, fell 3.6% last year — undermining the economy as the government battles drug gangs. A weakening economy poses a security threat to Pakistan also, where the Taliban insurgency is gaining strength.
The globalization of the economy in the past two decades means Filipino families warily watch economic developments in the Middle East. Two million Filipinos work in the region — as maids in Saudi Arabia, drivers in Qatar and hotel clerks in the United Arab Emirates, among other jobs. That's why the plunge in oil prices and the collapse of Dubai's real estate market threaten living standards in faraway Manila.
"The biggest predictor of how Filipino labor migrants will fare in the global slowdown hinges on how well the economies in the Middle East respond to the crisis," says Dovelyn Rannveig Agunias, associate policy analyst at the Migration Policy Institute in Washington.
Ratha sees some cause for hope. Even in tough times, he says, wealthy, oil-producing countries such as Saudi Arabia and Kuwait are unlikely to replace migrant gardeners and day laborers with recruits from their pampered local citizenries. "The people there have deep pockets," he says. During the late 1980s, migration to Saudi Arabia rose steadily in the face of plummeting oil prices.
Migrants will sacrifice to send steady amounts home, even if they take pay cuts and must trim their own expenses: "They try to absorb the income shocks themselves," Ratha says. "Every dollar they earn in a country like the United States or (the United Kingdom) or Hong Kong is a lot of money at home."
Copyright 2009 USA TODAY
U.K.: Never too old for air traffic control
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LONDON, England / Management Today / Finance / February 27, 2009
Air traffic controllers discover that even public safety concerns can't trump age discrimination laws...
NATS, the body in charge of the UK’s air traffic control system, has been found guilty of age discrimination after refusing to hire a 50-year-old man. Nats had attempted to argue that it was only trying to provide a safe service for the public – but not surprisingly, the tribunal ruled that its policy of not hiring anyone under the age of 35, on the grounds that people get steadily worse at the job thereafter, wasn’t really in keeping with anti-ageism rules. Fancy that.
In some ways, you can see where Nats is coming from. Air traffic control is one of those professions where you really want people to be on top of their game, given that the alternative is big lumps of aeroplane crashing into each other in the skies above our airports. People want to be confident that their air traffic controllers won’t make mistakes – so if Nats says that people under 35 perform better in the role, we’re sure there’ll be plenty of nervous fliers willing to take them at their word. On the other hand, quite how they expected to get away with this is beyond us. Unless we’re missing something, Nats appears to have argued that this guy was wrong for the job because he was less physically able, less likely to pay back his training costs, and less safe, solely because of his age. Breaches of the age discrimination law don’t get much more blatant than that.
Anyway, the tribunal was having none of it, ruling that their policy was ‘irrational’, ‘confused’ and ‘arbitrary’. Which is fair enough – quite why an extremely healthy 36-year-old with perfect vision should be less suitable for the job than an extremely short-sighted and unhealthy 34 year-old is a bit hard to see. The tribunal also warned that this culture of ageism could be hard to eradicate, and this is an important point: when the people at the top are setting policies like this, everyone in the organisation is taught to think that discriminating on the grounds of age is acceptable. That won’t suddenly change overnight.
Nats will presumably now have to bring in some kind of standard aptitude test (like that of the RAF) to make sure that all applicants are screened equally. Chances are that they’ll probably still end up hiring 98% of the same people they would have done before, after expending considerable amounts of time and money on a new set-up. Still, the lesson of this little episode is that there’s no good excuse for age discrimination these days; even dark warnings of planes falling out of the sky won’t legitimise bending the rules. So companies need to make sure they shape up – both in terms of policy and practice...
Copyright© Management Today 2007
Air traffic controllers discover that even public safety concerns can't trump age discrimination laws...
NATS, the body in charge of the UK’s air traffic control system, has been found guilty of age discrimination after refusing to hire a 50-year-old man. Nats had attempted to argue that it was only trying to provide a safe service for the public – but not surprisingly, the tribunal ruled that its policy of not hiring anyone under the age of 35, on the grounds that people get steadily worse at the job thereafter, wasn’t really in keeping with anti-ageism rules. Fancy that.
In some ways, you can see where Nats is coming from. Air traffic control is one of those professions where you really want people to be on top of their game, given that the alternative is big lumps of aeroplane crashing into each other in the skies above our airports. People want to be confident that their air traffic controllers won’t make mistakes – so if Nats says that people under 35 perform better in the role, we’re sure there’ll be plenty of nervous fliers willing to take them at their word. On the other hand, quite how they expected to get away with this is beyond us. Unless we’re missing something, Nats appears to have argued that this guy was wrong for the job because he was less physically able, less likely to pay back his training costs, and less safe, solely because of his age. Breaches of the age discrimination law don’t get much more blatant than that.
Anyway, the tribunal was having none of it, ruling that their policy was ‘irrational’, ‘confused’ and ‘arbitrary’. Which is fair enough – quite why an extremely healthy 36-year-old with perfect vision should be less suitable for the job than an extremely short-sighted and unhealthy 34 year-old is a bit hard to see. The tribunal also warned that this culture of ageism could be hard to eradicate, and this is an important point: when the people at the top are setting policies like this, everyone in the organisation is taught to think that discriminating on the grounds of age is acceptable. That won’t suddenly change overnight.
Nats will presumably now have to bring in some kind of standard aptitude test (like that of the RAF) to make sure that all applicants are screened equally. Chances are that they’ll probably still end up hiring 98% of the same people they would have done before, after expending considerable amounts of time and money on a new set-up. Still, the lesson of this little episode is that there’s no good excuse for age discrimination these days; even dark warnings of planes falling out of the sky won’t legitimise bending the rules. So companies need to make sure they shape up – both in terms of policy and practice...
Copyright© Management Today 2007
U.K.: Nurse admits manslaughter after Alzheimer's victim dies of broken neck
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LONDON, England / Telegraph / February 27, 2009
An Alzheimer's victim died of a broken neck at a care home after she was "manhandled" by a nurse.
By Paul Stokes
Nchokhoa Mtetwa, aged 61 Photo: Ben Lack Photography
Elsie Skelton, 86, who also suffered from Parkinson's Disease, was found in her bed on her front with her face in the pillow, while nurse Thakane Mtetwa was leaning over her. Mrs Skelton had been left at night in the sole care of Mtetwa, 62, at the privately-run Layden Court, in Maltby, near Rotherham, South Yorkshire.
Mrs Skelton died from "compression of the neck", had two fractured vertebrae as well as cuts and bruises to her face, Sheffield Crown Court heard.
Mtetwa, a South African national, tried to cover up her actions by lying to prevent a police investigation and failed to call emergency help immediately after the death.
She told a young fellow care worker: "We will tell them she went while we were washing her otherwise they will be on our backs for the rest of our days."
Mtetwa stood trial for murder last year but a jury failed to reach a verdict and a re-trial was due this week before the Crown accepted her guilty plea to manslaughter on the grounds of "gross negligence".
She admitted the death was due to her "manhandling" Mrs Skelton in October 2007.
The family of Mrs Skelton, who weighed little over six stones and required round the clock nursing, criticised the leniency of the suspended jail term.
Passing a 12 month prison sentence, Mr Justice Wilkie said he was suspending it because Mtetwa had served the equivalent of four months in custody after her arrest, had been tagged and subject to a curfew at a bail hostel for several months.
He told her: "Elsie Skelton was an elderly, infirm lady. It was your duty to care for her gently and with compassion but by your gross negligence you betrayed that trust."
Mtetwa, a registered nurse with 40 years' experience, of Wickersely, Rotherham, was described a devout Christian with five children.
She arrived in Britain on a temporary visa in November 2005 to work at the home which had 14 residents in single rooms when Mrs Skelton, who had Parkinson's and Alzheimer's Disease, died.
Mrs Skelton's son Paul said after the hearing: "The sentence which has been given doesn't seem enough for someone's life.
"But we are very pleased that Mtetwa pleaded guilty to manslaughter and justice has been done for Elsie. She was a lovely lady who deserved to die peacefully not like she did."
© Copyright of Telegraph Media Group Limited 2009
Nchokhoa Mtetwa, aged 61 Photo: Ben Lack Photography
Elsie Skelton, 86, who also suffered from Parkinson's Disease, was found in her bed on her front with her face in the pillow, while nurse Thakane Mtetwa was leaning over her. Mrs Skelton had been left at night in the sole care of Mtetwa, 62, at the privately-run Layden Court, in Maltby, near Rotherham, South Yorkshire.
Mrs Skelton died from "compression of the neck", had two fractured vertebrae as well as cuts and bruises to her face, Sheffield Crown Court heard.
Mtetwa, a South African national, tried to cover up her actions by lying to prevent a police investigation and failed to call emergency help immediately after the death.
She told a young fellow care worker: "We will tell them she went while we were washing her otherwise they will be on our backs for the rest of our days."
Mtetwa stood trial for murder last year but a jury failed to reach a verdict and a re-trial was due this week before the Crown accepted her guilty plea to manslaughter on the grounds of "gross negligence".
She admitted the death was due to her "manhandling" Mrs Skelton in October 2007.
The family of Mrs Skelton, who weighed little over six stones and required round the clock nursing, criticised the leniency of the suspended jail term.
Passing a 12 month prison sentence, Mr Justice Wilkie said he was suspending it because Mtetwa had served the equivalent of four months in custody after her arrest, had been tagged and subject to a curfew at a bail hostel for several months.
He told her: "Elsie Skelton was an elderly, infirm lady. It was your duty to care for her gently and with compassion but by your gross negligence you betrayed that trust."
Mtetwa, a registered nurse with 40 years' experience, of Wickersely, Rotherham, was described a devout Christian with five children.
She arrived in Britain on a temporary visa in November 2005 to work at the home which had 14 residents in single rooms when Mrs Skelton, who had Parkinson's and Alzheimer's Disease, died.
Mrs Skelton's son Paul said after the hearing: "The sentence which has been given doesn't seem enough for someone's life.
"But we are very pleased that Mtetwa pleaded guilty to manslaughter and justice has been done for Elsie. She was a lovely lady who deserved to die peacefully not like she did."
© Copyright of Telegraph Media Group Limited 2009
FINLAND: Organised labour angered by government decision on old-age pensions
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HELSINKI, Finland / Helsingin Sanomat / February 27, 2009
Ihalainen says move to raise retirement age is “serious departure from tripartite arrangements”
SAK President Lauri Ihalainen was angry on Wednesday upon hearing that the government had made a decision on raising the minimum age for old-age pensions, without first discussing it with the labour market organisations.
Photo: Hannes Heikura / HS
Lauri Ihalainen, President of the Central Organisation of Finnish Trade Unions (SAK), feels that the government’s decision on Tuesday to raise the minimum age of old-age pensions to 65 is a serious breach of trust.
Organised labour has come out against the increase in the pension age. SAK, the Finnish Confederation of Salaried Employees (STTK), and the Confederation of Unions for Professional and Managerial Staff (AKAVA) also complained about the way in which the government made the decision, which came without the customary consultation with the labour market organisations.
“It is the first time in which the government makes unilateral decisions on such a significant issue of the work pension system and benefits, without listening to us”, Ihalainen says.
To read full report, click here.
Source: Helsingin Sanomat
SAK President Lauri Ihalainen was angry on Wednesday upon hearing that the government had made a decision on raising the minimum age for old-age pensions, without first discussing it with the labour market organisations.
Photo: Hannes Heikura / HS
Lauri Ihalainen, President of the Central Organisation of Finnish Trade Unions (SAK), feels that the government’s decision on Tuesday to raise the minimum age of old-age pensions to 65 is a serious breach of trust.
Organised labour has come out against the increase in the pension age. SAK, the Finnish Confederation of Salaried Employees (STTK), and the Confederation of Unions for Professional and Managerial Staff (AKAVA) also complained about the way in which the government made the decision, which came without the customary consultation with the labour market organisations.
“It is the first time in which the government makes unilateral decisions on such a significant issue of the work pension system and benefits, without listening to us”, Ihalainen says.
To read full report, click here.
Source: Helsingin Sanomat
February 26, 2009
USA: Another door opens for Plaza Hotel's longest-serving doorman
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NEW YORK, NY / CNN / February 26, 2009
From Jason Kessler
New York's iconic Plaza Hotel will lose a figure nearly as synonymous with it as Eloise when its longest-serving doorman retires Thursday after 46 years on the job.
Ed Trinka, whose retirement coincides with his 65th birthday, joined the hotel 1963.
Ed Trinka, whose retirement coincides with his 65th birthday, joined the hotel's staff in 1963 as a teenager. He spent 40 years at the fabled lodging's Fifth Avenue entrance, relocating to its doorway facing Central Park South during the property's renovation and partial conversion to condominiums several years ago.
Now as much a Central Park South fixture as the horse-drawn carriages that line the park's southern perimeter, the gregarious Trinka is known as the "mayor of 59th Street." On a recent afternoon, he seemed to know every other passerby, exchanging a constant stream of hellos with chauffeurs and doormen from adjacent tony apartment buildings and, of course, the Plaza's residents.
Over his more than four decades manning the Plaza's entrance, Trinka has met countless celebrities -- or "all of them," as he puts it. After his first celebrity encounter at the hotel with the Beatles, he's catered to a long procession of big names, including Joe DiMaggio, Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis and Liza Minnelli.
Marla Maples, ex-wife of one-time Plaza owner Donald Trump, would regularly peck Trinka on the cheek when she saw him. Trinka says he has an autographed photo of Richard Nixon -- a token of gratitude from the former president -- hanging on proud display at his home.
Trinka says he has thoroughly enjoyed his lengthy stay at the portal to history and glamour. "I never had a bad day in all the years."
Nonetheless, with all those years at the hotel under his belt, Trinka felt it was time to "bow out gracefully."
As he transitions to retirement, Trinka says he'll miss the front-row view of Central Park and the hotel's clientele -- the "greatest people in the world." He also concedes he'll miss "the women."
The building's inhabitants are not eager for his departure.
"He's a gentleman, refined -- you don't find these people anymore," lamented resident Joan Spain.
Trinka's replacement, Jimmy O'Connell, is keenly aware of the large shoes he'll have to fill, saying he'd be satisfied if he "could be half the doorman" Trinka is.
The hotel will bid farewell to Trinka in characteristically grand fashion on Thursday afternoon. After a champagne send-off in the hotel's landmarked Oak Room, its management will present him with an opportunity to view the Plaza from the vantage point of the countless guests he's greeted over the years: He'll be given a free stay at the hotel.
In addition to a trove of anecdotes about celebrities, Trinka acquired something else during his tenure at the Plaza: a new name.
Years ago, the hotel gave him a nametag that mistakenly read Edward, even though his full name is Edwin. He came to embrace the errant nametag, neglecting to correct people when they called him Edward and even naming his own son Edward.
© 2009 Cable News Network
Ed Trinka, whose retirement coincides with his 65th birthday, joined the hotel 1963.
Ed Trinka, whose retirement coincides with his 65th birthday, joined the hotel's staff in 1963 as a teenager. He spent 40 years at the fabled lodging's Fifth Avenue entrance, relocating to its doorway facing Central Park South during the property's renovation and partial conversion to condominiums several years ago.
Now as much a Central Park South fixture as the horse-drawn carriages that line the park's southern perimeter, the gregarious Trinka is known as the "mayor of 59th Street." On a recent afternoon, he seemed to know every other passerby, exchanging a constant stream of hellos with chauffeurs and doormen from adjacent tony apartment buildings and, of course, the Plaza's residents.
Over his more than four decades manning the Plaza's entrance, Trinka has met countless celebrities -- or "all of them," as he puts it. After his first celebrity encounter at the hotel with the Beatles, he's catered to a long procession of big names, including Joe DiMaggio, Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis and Liza Minnelli.
Marla Maples, ex-wife of one-time Plaza owner Donald Trump, would regularly peck Trinka on the cheek when she saw him. Trinka says he has an autographed photo of Richard Nixon -- a token of gratitude from the former president -- hanging on proud display at his home.
Trinka says he has thoroughly enjoyed his lengthy stay at the portal to history and glamour. "I never had a bad day in all the years."
Nonetheless, with all those years at the hotel under his belt, Trinka felt it was time to "bow out gracefully."
As he transitions to retirement, Trinka says he'll miss the front-row view of Central Park and the hotel's clientele -- the "greatest people in the world." He also concedes he'll miss "the women."
The building's inhabitants are not eager for his departure.
"He's a gentleman, refined -- you don't find these people anymore," lamented resident Joan Spain.
Trinka's replacement, Jimmy O'Connell, is keenly aware of the large shoes he'll have to fill, saying he'd be satisfied if he "could be half the doorman" Trinka is.
The hotel will bid farewell to Trinka in characteristically grand fashion on Thursday afternoon. After a champagne send-off in the hotel's landmarked Oak Room, its management will present him with an opportunity to view the Plaza from the vantage point of the countless guests he's greeted over the years: He'll be given a free stay at the hotel.
In addition to a trove of anecdotes about celebrities, Trinka acquired something else during his tenure at the Plaza: a new name.
Years ago, the hotel gave him a nametag that mistakenly read Edward, even though his full name is Edwin. He came to embrace the errant nametag, neglecting to correct people when they called him Edward and even naming his own son Edward.
© 2009 Cable News Network
USA: American Geriatrics Society Applauds Dr. Mary Wakefield's Appointment
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NEW YORK, NY / American Geriatrics Society / February 26, 2009
American Geriatrics Society has applauded Dr. Mary Wakefield's appointment as Administrator of the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) and looks forward To working with Dr. Wakefield and HRSA to ensure reauthorization and expansion of Key Title VII and VIII Programs, and other initiatives integral to addressing the growing shortage of healthcare providers trained to meet the unique needs of America's aging population, says a press release from AGS.
Retooling for an Aging America: Building the Health Care Workforce, the Institute of Medicine's groundbreaking 2008 report, warns that the nation's healthcare workforce is too small and unprepared to care for the rapidly growing number of older Americans. Healthcare providers trained to meet older people's unique healthcare needs are already in short supply and the population of older Americans is expected to double in the next two decades.
HRSA can play a key role in addressing this critical problem. The HRSA-administered Title VII Geriatrics Health Professions and Title VIII Nursing Workforce Development programs are integral to efforts to do so. Congress, however, last reauthorized Title VII programs in 1998, for five years, leaving the programs without authorization since 2003. Congress has continued to fund the programs, but the reauthorization process would provide an opportunity to expand and refine the programs to address current and projected needs for healthcare providers who are trained to care for older patients, states AGS.
In addition to advocating for reauthorization of and additional funding for the programs, AGS strongly supports the expansion of loan forgiveness programs that would cover the cost of advanced training in elder healthcare for candidates who commit to caring for older adults for a specified period of time.
"The AGS looks forward to working with Dr. Wakefield and others in Washington on loan forgiveness and other essential elder healthcare training initiatives, and to ensure that crucial Title VII and VIII programs are reauthorized, expanded, and funded so we can prepare our healthcare workforce to meet the needs of a graying America," said AGS President John B. Murphy, MD, professor of medicine and family medicine at Brown University's Warren Alpert Medical School, and Chief Physician Officer at Rhode Island Hospital. "Dr. Wakefield's experience and expertise are highly relevant to the provision of care for our older adults and we commend President Obama for appointing her to this important post."
A nurse who most recently directed the Center for Rural Health at the University of North Dakota School of Medicine and Health Sciences, Dr. Wakefield has expertise in rural health care, quality and patient safety, Medicare payment policy, and workforce issues. Among other things she has served as a member of the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission and the Department of Veteran's Affairs' (VA) Special Medical Advisory Group. Roughly 50%, or nearly 6 million, of the VA's active patient population is older than 65, and close to 1 million are older than 85.
Title VII Geriatrics Health Professions Programs include geriatric faculty fellowships for physicians, dentists, and behavioral and mental health professionals; the Geriatric Academic Career Awards (GACA) program; and the nation's Geriatric Education Centers (GECs). Title VIII Nursing Workforce Development Programs support training and continuing education for nurses who care for the elderly and the development and dissemination of curricula concerning geriatric care.
AGS also supports legislation, the "Retooling the Health Care Workforce for an Aging America Act," introduced in the Senate and House last month.
Founded in 1942, the American Geriatrics Society (www.americangeriatrics.org) is a not-for-profit association of geriatrics health care professionals and has an active membership of over 6,500 health care professionals.
Source: The American Geriatrics Society
EUROPE: Daytime sleepiness provides red flag for cardiovascular disease
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NEW YORK, NY / PhysOrg / Medicine & Health / February 26, 2009
Clinicians should be alert to patients reporting "excessive" day time sleepiness (EDS), says the European Society of Cardiology, after a French study found healthy elderly people who regularly report feeling sleepy during the day have a significantly higher risk of dying from cardiovascular disease.
The Three City study, published in Stroke, by the American Heart Association (Thursday, February 26), found that elderly people who reported excessive day time sleepiness have a 49 % relative risk increase of cardiovascular death (from cerebrovascular disease, myocardial infarction and heart failure), compared to those who do not report sleepiness.
"Based on this study asking patients the simple question of whether they feel sleepy during the day, is a useful way of identifying a subgroup of elderly patients at higher risk of cardiovascular disease who require a more thorough follow up," said Professor Guy DeBacker, from the Division of Cardiology at the University of Gent, Belgium, and former chair of the European Society of Cardiology Joint Prevention Committee.
Professor Torben Jorgensen, from the Research Centre for Prevention and Health, Glostrup, Denmark, commented: "The study offers the opportunity to practice prevention by investigating the underlying causes of patient's sleep problems, and then introducing lifestyle changes with the intention of preventing later cardiovascular complications."
The Three City study represents the largest yet investigation exploring the prospective association between EDS and mortality in the community dwelling elderly, and the only study yet to have been conducted in Europe - all the other studies were undertaken in North America. Criticisms of the study include a low responder rate (37%) that could introduce an element of bias, and the fact that it lacked objective measures of day time sleepiness (such as polysomnography readings), instead using self reported patient responses.
"The subjects with EDS were less educated and had a lower income so there were differences between the two groups in "socioeconomic status", which was not accounted for in the multivariate analysis. SES is a strong independent predictive factor for total and for cause specific mortality, and it might be that the difference between the two groups is just the effect of socioeconomic differences," said DeBacker.
Both DeBacker and Jorgensen say the results are "hypothesis generating", and that the data needs to be confirmed in other large scale studies in different populations before any changes should be made to existing guidelines.
"Overall the study population had a particularly low number of cardiovascular deaths, suggesting that the French paradox may be in operation. We need to be asking identical questions to different populations to see if we still get the same effect," said DeBacker.
Jorgensen added that he would like to see future trials where EDS patients were randomised to receive sleep interventions or not, to see if cardiovascular complications might be prevented.
Three-City Study
The Three-City Study led by Jean-Philippe Empana from Inserm, (the French Public Institute on Health and Medical Research) and colleagues followed 9,294 community dwelling people aged over 65 (who did not live in nursing homes or other care facilities). In face to face interview, participants were asked if they had never, rarely, regularly or frequently experienced excessive sleepiness during the day. People diagnosed with dementia at baseline were excluded, providing an overall study population of 8,269 people.
Investigators found even after adjusting for other risk factors,(such as age, gender, body mass index and previous cardiovascular disease), people who experienced excessive day time sleepiness had a 49 % increase in relative risk of cardiovascular death, and a 33 % increase in the relative risk of overall death.
Earlier studies have suggested that atherosclerosis might mediate the association between EDS and cardiovascular death, and that EDS might be associated with sympathetic tone activation.
However, when investigators undertook ultrasound examination of the carotid artery in two-thirds of participants, they found no difference in carotid plaque burden between people with and without EDS. Additionally resting heart rate, a simple marker of increased sympathetic tone activation, was no different among people with or without EDS.
Such data, say the authors, leaves them unclear as to whether sleep complaints are a symptom of underlying cardiovascular disease or whether sleepiness triggers or worsens disease.
"These data may have clinical implications adding to the body evidence that EDS is not a benign but rather an important risk marker for midterm mortality in community dwelling elderly," they conclude, adding that simple questionnaires incorporating questions on sleeping patterns should become part of routine examinations in the elderly.
More information: Excessive Daytime Sleepiness is an independent Risk Indicator for Cardiovascular Mortality in Community Dwelling Elderly. The Three Cities Study. JP Empana, Y Dauviliers, JF Dartigues et al. Stroke 2009: 40:00-00. 1-6
Source: European Society of Cardiology
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