Nuclear War, Population Growth, and Prescription Drugs

March 26, 2004

Nuclear War 
    Here are two news items relating to nuclear weapons: Russia warns NATO with nukes - SpaceDaily and US Not To Reduce Nuclear Arsenal To Moscow Treaty Levels - SpaceDaily. 

Population Growth
    Another interesting bit of news: World population growth 'falling'  - BBC. This latter article explains that the world's population growth rate peaked 40 years ago at 2.2% a year. In 1990, it stood at 3.3 children per mother; now, it averages 2.6 children per mother -- slightly above the replacement level. By 2050, it is projected to crest at 9.1 billion, with births slightly below the replacement level.    



Prescription Drugs
    Here's an article on the new Social Security prescription drug benefit program. There's also mention elsewhere that seniors may not gain anything because drug manufacturers are already raising their prices now that Congress has made it illegal to buy drugs from foreign sources.