Signs of the Times

Surprise! TV Sex Leads to Teen Parenthood

Could the amount of sex teens see on TV predict whether they'll become a teen mother or father? A study in today's Pediatrics says it's a distinct possibility. The study is the first to draw a direct link between sexual content on TV and the likelihood that teens who watch it will become parents. Researchers examined survey data from about 2,000 teens. They plucked out 23 popular shows and asked how much teens watched each. They coded the replies to established indicators of sexual content for each show — everything from nudge-nudge jokes on network sitcoms to full-blown intercourse on steamy cable dramas. What they found: By age 16, teens who watched a lot of sexually charged TV were more than twice as likely to be pregnant or father an out-of-wedlock baby as teens who watched very little: 12% vs. 5%. The gap holds steady through age 20. Researchers controlled for parents' race, income and education and teens' total TV time. Previous studies have linked sex on TV to earlier initiation of sex; this is the first to link TV sex to pregnancy.

• JJ Commentary: Add in movies, video games, etc. and it’s a wonder even more teenagers don’t have sex and get pregnant. Our media has become a cesspool catering to the lowest common denominator

Number of Kids on Medication Jumps Alarmingly

The number of children who take medication for chronic diseases has jumped dramatically, another troubling sign that many of the youngest Americans are struggling with obesity, doctors say. The number of children who take pills for type 2 diabetes — the kind that's closely linked to obesity — more than doubled from 2002 to 2005, to a rate of six out of 10,000 children. That suggests that at least 23,000 privately insured children in the USA are now taking diabetes medications, according to authors of the new study in Monday's Pediatrics. Doctors also saw big increases in prescriptions for high cholesterol, asthma and attention deficit and hyperactivity. There was smaller growth for drugs for depression and high blood pressure. "We've got a lot of sick children," says author Emily Cox, senior director of research with Express Scripts, which administers drug benefit programs for private insurance plans. "What we've been seeing in adults, we're also now seeing in kids." Cox based her study on prescription records of nearly 4 million children a year, ages 5 to 19, covered by Express Scripts.

• JJ Commentary: Just as parents are overmedicated, so too are their children, resulting in “super-germs” that are resistant to some of the more common drugs, as well as immune systems that are compromised and weak.

Loss in Confidence Causes Huge Shifts in Deposits

The exodus of money from the stock market and troubled banks is reshaping the financial industry as quickly as any government bailout. Amid unrelenting economic turmoil, investors are pulling billions of dollars out of the plunging stock market. They're also withdrawing money en masse from banks perceived as troubled and putting it into others deemed in better shape. And, in a sign of just how nervous Americans have become, some have even started to hoard cash outside of banks. The government has urged consumers to remain calm and is hoping that new increases in deposit insurance limits — to $250,000 for most bank accounts — will stem the panic. Yet many consumers remain wary. Some are diversifying their money among multiple banks.

Specter of Deflation Lurks as Global Demand Drops

NEW YORK TIMES — As dozens of countries slip deeper into financial distress, a new threat may be gathering force within the American economy — the prospect that goods will pile up waiting for buyers and prices will fall, suffocating fresh investment and worsening joblessness for months or even years. The word for this is deflation, or declining prices, a term that gives economists chills. Deflation accompanied the Depression of the 1930s. Persistently falling prices also were at the heart of Japan’s so-called lost decade after the catastrophic collapse of its real estate bubble at the end of the 1980s — a period in which some experts now find parallels to the American predicament. With economies around the globe weakening, demand for oil, copper, grains and other commodities has diminished, bringing down prices of these raw materials. But prices have yet to decline noticeably for most goods and services, with one conspicuous exception — houses. Still, reduced demand is beginning to soften prices for a few products, like furniture and bedding, which are down slightly since the beginning of 2007, according to government data. Prices are also falling for some appliances, tools and hardware.

Manufacturing Index at Lowest Level in 26 Years

NEW YORK (AP) — A measure of U.S. manufacturing activity plummeted to its lowest level in 26 years in October as the credit crisis and Hurricane Ike disrupted businesses from plastics companies to lumberyards. The reading of 38.9 reported Monday by the Institute for Supply Management was the worst reading since September 1982. Any reading below 50 signals contraction, and a reading below 40 is exceptionally weak. "Pretty grim. It means we're in a recession, it's as simple as that ... a pretty solid manufacturing recession," said Robert Macintosh, chief economist at Eaton Vance in Boston. The report was uniformly weak, and employment in the sector was dismal. The ISM's gauge of employment fell to its lowest since March 1991 and suffered its biggest one-month drop in 20 years. The data foreshadowed a grim outlook, with the index of new orders hitting its lowest since 1980.

Banks Begin Process of Avoiding Foreclosures

NEW YORK (AP) — JPMorgan Chase said Friday that it is expanding its program to modify mortgages to try to avoid foreclosures on up to $70 billion in loans. The loan-modification program will also be offered to customers with loans held by Washington Mutual and EMC. JPMorgan acquired Washington Mutual last month after the bank became the largest in the nation's history to fail. EMC was a mortgage unit of Bear Stearns, which JPMorgan acquired in February. The program will include opening 24 regional counseling centers, hiring of 300 more loan counselors, new financing alternatives, reaching out to borrowers with pre-qualified modification terms and a new process to independently review each loan before it is moved into foreclosure. Chase says the changes are expected to be implemented within 90 days, and until the changes are made, it will not put any loans into foreclosure.

ARIZONA REPUBLIC — A large number of Phoenix-area homeowners facing foreclosure have received a reprieve. Bank of America, which last summer bought the nation's largest subprime lender, Countrywide, has suspended foreclosure notices pending against nearly 2,000 homes across the Valley in the past week in an effort to help homeowners hold on to their property. And relief for even more homeowners is expected to follow. The move, which will lead to cuts in people's mortgage payments, is part of the bank's recent settlement agreement with the office of Arizona Attorney General Terry Goddard and could help stem the growing number of foreclosures that has crippled the local housing market. Last month, BofA agreed to modify loans for struggling borrowers if attorneys general from Arizona, Texas, Ohio, Iowa and Washington halted legal action against Countrywide. That action is based on the lender's "alleged use of deceptive practices" in its mortgage-lending business, according to Goddard.

• JJ Commentary: Banks got their bailout money, and now they want exemption from penalties for their “deceptive practices” leaving us taxpayers the only ones footing the bill.

Banks Seek Help to Forgive some Credit Card Debt

USA TODAY — To head off surging credit card defaults, banks and consumer groups are lobbying regulators to make it easier to forgive a portion of struggling consumers' credit card debt. The proposal — and the unusual partnership by two groups typically at odds with each other — underscores the severity of the economic downturn, and the fear that credit cards could provide the next shock to the financial system. This year, delinquent credit card accounts hit a six-year high of 4.9%. Meanwhile, charge-offs — when banks give up on collecting debt — have been rising for about two years, hitting 5.47% in the second quarter, the latest data available, according to the Federal Reserve. Banks are proposing that they forgive up to 40% of the credit card debt owed by the most financially stressed consumers, who are close to bankruptcy. These consumers would then get five years to pay off their remaining card debt, interest-free. Banks would pilot this program with 50,000 consumers, in hopes of expanding it to tens of thousands of others.

• JJ Commentary: Gosh, maybe we should run out fast, max out our credit cards, stop making payments and get rewarded with a 40% discount!!

Dismal Month for Stocks and Oil Producers

Not unlike famous October crashes that occurred in 1987 and 1929, the Dow Jones industrial average plunged by as much as 24.7% at one point this month from its September close. On Friday, the Dow climbed 144.32 points to 9,325.01, putting it down 14.1% in October for its worst monthly performance in more than 10 years.

Oil prices ended the week with a modest rally Friday but couldn't erase one ugly October: Crude capped its biggest monthly drop since futures trading began 25 years ago, weighed down as a deflated U.S. economy crushes demand for fuel. Oil's monumental collapse — prices fell 32% for the month — has stunned oil-producing countries while giving cash-strapped U.S. consumers a rare dose of relief. Pump prices have fallen by almost half since their summer peak above $4 a gallon — a huge drop that's expected to result in more than $100 billion in annual savings for American households.

More Business Declines,Closures, Layoffs

RICHMOND, Va. — Circuit City Stores said Monday that it is pulling the plug on about 20% of its U.S. stores in an effort to return the nation's No. 2 consumer electronics retailer to profitability. The company said it will shutter 155 of its more than 700 stores in 55 markets, including Phoenix and Atlanta, by Dec. 31, laying off about 17% of its domestic work force.

REUTERS — While the market for initial public offerings has virtually shut down in all industries, with no deals in the United States in nearly three months, biotechnology companies desperate for capital will likely be waiting in line far longer than others when it does reopen. Once an industry coveted by investors, biotech has not seen an IPO since November last year, when Nanosphere Inc, which develops diagnostic tests, made its $113 million debut at the bottom of its price range. Since then, it's down 68%, compared with just a 16% drop in the sector, as measured by the Nasdaq Biotech index. Others waiting in the wings are throwing in the towel. In the last two weeks, nearly half of the biotech companies in the IPO pipeline have dropped out..

Pakistan Almost Insolvent

Nuclear-armed Pakistan needs billions in outside assistance to avoid defaulting on its international loans. The impoverished nation of 170 million people is hampered by high inflation, chronic power outages and a sinking currency, as well as a violent Islamist insurgency — all of which threaten to undermine the fledgling pro-U.S. government. An International Monetary Fund assistance package would likely come with painful requirements to cut government spending that could affect programs for the poor, making it a tough choice for the politicians. Economist Muzammil Aslam predicted Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari would ask for $3 billion in deferred oil payments from the Saudis, but warned that Pakistan should prepare for IMF assistance.

U.S. Missile Strikes Kill 29 in Pakistan

DERA ISMAIL KHAN, Pakistan (AP) — Suspected U.S. missiles slammed into two Pakistani villages close to the Afghan border, killing 29 people including several suspected foreign militants, intelligence officials said. Washington is suspected of launching at least 17 missile strikes inside northwestern Pakistan since August, an unprecedented surge that is straining its seven-year alliance with the nuclear-armed nation at a time of soaring violence and mounting economic problems. Friday's reported strikes reflect U.S. frustration at what it says is Pakistani inaction against extremists blamed for planning attacks in Afghanistan and Pakistan — and perhaps Sept. 11-style terror strikes in the West.

Libya Completes Payments for U.S. Terror Victims

WASHINGTON (AP) — Libya has paid $1.5 billion into a fund to compensate the families of American victims of Libyan-linked terror attacks in the 1980s, clearing the last hurdle in full normalization of ties between Washington and Tripoli. In exchange, under a deal worked out earlier this year, President Bush on Friday signed an executive order restoring the Libyan government's immunity from terror-related lawsuits and dismissing pending compensation cases, the White House said. State Department spokesman Sean McCormack called it "a laudable milestone" giving "a measure of justice to families of U.S. victims of terrorism and clearing the way for continued and expanding U.S.-Libyan partnership." The money will go into a $1.8 billion fund that will pay $1.5 billion in claims for the 1988 Pan Am 103 bombing over Lockerbie, Scotland, and the 1986 bombing of a German disco. Another $300 million will go to Libyan victims of U.S. airstrikes ordered in retaliation for the disco bombing.

Rebels Tighten their Grip in Eastern Congo

TONGO, Congo (AP) — Tutsi-led rebels tightened their hold on newly seized swaths of eastern Congo Saturday, forcing tens of thousands of frightened, rain-soaked civilians out of makeshift refugee camps and stopping some from fleeing to government-held territory. European officials offered sympathy but no concrete promise of military reinforcements for the Congolese troops and U.N. peacekeepers routed by rebel forces in the sudden and dramatic escalation of eastern Congo's civil war in the past week. The rebels appeared to be maintaining a unilateral cease-fire they declared a day earlier, focusing on consolidating territories that stretch to the doorstep of the provincial capital, Goma, instead of taking the city. The area the rebels have seized is a minerally and agriculturally rich area that commands much of the access to the Rwandan and Ugandan borders.

8 Police Officers Killed in 24 hours in Mexico

TOLUCA, Mexico (AP) — Mexican authorities say eight police officers have been killed in less than 24 hours in a state near the capital. Mexico state attorney general's office spokesman Octavio Campos says the police chief and a commander in the town of Teoloyucan were found shot to death Friday inside a patrol car. Campos says six state officers were gunned down in three separate attacks late Thursday. Seven other people were also killed in the state during the same period. Mexico state is one of several that have suffered a wave of homicides. Officials blame the violence on warring drug gangs.

Vietnam capital under water

HANOI, Vietnam (AP) — Much of Vietnam's capital remained under water Sunday as the death toll from the city's worst flooding in two decades climbed to 18, disaster officials and state media reported. Floods caused by heavy rain have killed at least 50 people across northern and central Vietnam in the past week and sent food prices skyrocketing in Hanoi as much of the capital's transportation system ground to a standstill. Rain submerged homes, power stations, schools and offices, stranding many who couldn't return from work. Floods also contaminated city water supplies.

Moderate Quake Shakes Guam

HAGATNA, Guam (AP) — A moderate earthquake has shaken the island of Guam, but there are no reports of any damage or injury. The U.S. Geological Survey says in a preliminary report that the magnitude-5.1 quake struck at 3:34 p.m. Sunday local time at a depth of about 24 miles. It was centered 16 miles northeast of Hagatna and 126 miles southwest of Saipan.

Rare Aftershocks Persist in North Texas

DALLAS (AP) — Northern Texas has been getting more rare earth tremors, one day after several minor earthquakes made Halloween memorable for some people in the area. Two almost simultaneous aftershocks were centered beneath Grand Prairie and Irving just before 7 a.m. Saturday. The U.S. Geological Survey says the Grand Prairie quake measured 2.5 magnitude and the Irving quake came in at 2.7. Saturday's tremors between Dallas and Fort Worth were in the same general areas as on Friday, when tremors of magnitude 2.5 set off car alarms. Switchboards for 911 systems lit up with calls from people near the quakes' epicenters but no damage was reported.