One must remember that Intellectual Property is a monopoly granted by governments. What government gives, government can take away, and all governments do so regularly. In the past, IP monopolies were granted sparingly or not enforced. That’s the way the US got to be rich: using British IP without paying.

In countries where the people cannot afford the drugs, no money is lost by drug companies when someone else makes the drugs and sales them to poor people that would otherwise not buy them.

Drug companies are among the most profitable of all industries. For them to cry foul when a poor country uses a product similar to theirs to save lives is just plain grotesque. If drug companies had human leaders, they find a way themselves to provide the drugs. They can get rich off of Americans without making us watch everyone else die.

The problem is that there doesn't seem to be even one Republican that doesn't belong in jail. It’s just a disgrace that they are all part of this criminality. The party of Lincoln indeed: he must be turning over in his grave!

It is hard to see how all of these "only child males" are going to have an impact like the boomers have here. If this "mostly male" description is correct, where are they going to find wives? I don't see a bunch of Japanese girls moving to China. (Maybe North Korean girls?)

Also, boomers have a large impact partly because there are so many of us - more than just replacing our parents. And we had a bunch of kids ourselves. I think it is just as likely that this generation of Chinese will have less impact in China than normal years - with the possible exception that they may have to learn to treat women a lot better than Asian males have in the past. That may mean that wives will object to caring for husband's parents. It would be ironic if sons with wives weren't allowed to "take care of" their parents-after all, that's why the Chinese had sons-to take care of their parents in old age.

Mr. Kamiya is too kind to the Bush administration. Only fools didn’t know that what the war the Bushies were proposing posed a high likelihood of just what we have: Revenge of the Shiites on the Sunnis and Sunnis trying to get back their power (just having any say at all was always going to be unlikely). The problem with al-Qaeda stirring the pot was maybe less obvious in the beginning. But with a little planning ...

What was unforeseeable is the shear incompetence of the Republicans. (Even now, every Republican candidate endorses torture and the war. And these are Christians? God save us!)

Could any one have predicted that the US Army would leave weapons depots unguarded, allow the country to be looted, fire all of the Iraqi military & Police, and just basically refuse to supply enough troops to do the job? The amount and scope war profiteering boggles the mind. The refusal to provide the troops with armor or out of theater medial care is just unconscionable. Who could have guessed that having a moron for Pres would cause all of this?

Of course it's possible to get a payday loan for two weeks, but unlikely. That would be getting a loan on the day (payday)you otherwise have the most money.

No, the more common loan is purchased two days before payday. I say purchased because you have to write the check for the whole amount before you get the loan. The dealer just deposits the check two days later, on the payment due date. So the 15% for the loan is 2730% APR, more or less. I have loan documents specifying these quad digit loan interest rates pay day loans.

Yes, it's nice that the poor have the option to skip the loan sharks and get legit businesses to make the loans. By the large number of pay day loan places springing up all over, they are as profitable as any other loan sharking.

Maybe in the statute where in the government grants the monopoly called copyright, fair use is listed as a defense, not as a right. Anywhere else it is a right, just as the right to self defense is a “defense” to the charge of murder, but is clearly the right to self defense.

Many stores and restaurants assert the right to refuse service to anyone, but if they put out the sign “Whites Only” they brake the law. Lying about the law of copyright ought to void all rights. After all, there is no God given right to government granted monopolies.

No consumer wants to set through that fake warning and if consumers ruled, that lie wouldn’t be there. But monopolies are just that.

Just how much would, say, Sears be willing to spend to keep JC Penny from being Mayor? You think spending on campaigns is high now! The obvious solution for them is collusion. As Adam Smith said, when two business men get together, collusion is the likely outcome. Do you think they would be interested in preserving the rights of Blacks, Jews, Christians or women? What’s their take on law enforcement? Cost effectiveness?

Secondly, if you think government is ineffective now, just what do you think would interest Halliburton Inc as Mayor (or VP)?

Third, as any good MBA will tell you, businesses are a-moral. Doing illegal, immoral things is just a profit and loss issue to a corporation. Although it’s hard to discern any morals in the current Federal Executive, what if they avowedly had none other than to short term profits?

And these are just a few of the obvious problems.