Doris O'Brien is a retired college Speech teacher and banker. She has published two books of humor (Up or Down With Women's Liberation and Humor Me a Little) and for many years contributed light verse to the Pepper 'n Salt column of the Wall Street Journal. She is an avid writer of letters to the editors.
Doris celebrated her 50th wedding anniversary in the same year she welcomed her first grandchild. She now lives in Pasadena with a great view of the San Gabriel mountains — and the annual Tournament of Roses Parade.
She can be reached by e-mail: witsendob at (@) gmail.com
KFF Health News: The Drug Company That Prospered Without Creating Any Drugs
"Although Horizon says it now has 20 drugs under development, in its 15 years of existence it has yet to license a product it invented. Yet the company has managed to assemble a war chest of lucrative drugs, in the process writing a playbook for how to build a modern pharmaceutical colossus. As the White House and both parties in Congress grapple with reining in prescription drug prices, Horizon’s approach reveals just how difficult this may be. Horizon’s strategy has paid off handsomely. Krystexxa was just one of the many shiny objects that attracted Amgen, a pharmaceutical giant. Amgen announced in December that it intends to buy Horizon for $27.8 billion, in the biggest pharmaceutical industry deal announced in 2022. Horizon’s CEO, Tim Walbert, who will reportedly get around $135 million when the deal closes, has mastered a particular kind of industry expertise: taking drugs invented and tested by other people, wrapping them expertly in hard-nosed marketing and warm-hued patient relations, raising their prices, and enjoying astounding revenues." more »
Ferida Wolff's Backyard, A Natural Path
Ferida Wolff Writes: "I find this activity so simple and calming that I like to do it often during the nice weather. And each season nature invites us to share in the changes, to see the variety that exists naturally. I hope that everyone has access to a calming place, a space to take a deep breath and let go of any worries... An awareness of the natural connection can beautifully enhance our lives." more »
Federal Reserve Notes: Gender Gaps in the Labor Market Widen Every Summer Contributing to Gender Disparities in Promotions and Pay
"Gender gaps in labor market activity are pervasive, longstanding, and a regular subject of policy debates. Relative to men, women tend to work fewer hours per week, more conventional hours, and fewer years over the course of their lives. These differences in the intensity and timing of work contribute to gender disparities in promotions and pay. But despite decades of research on this topic, little attention has been paid to the timing of work throughout the year. To motivate our inquiry, Figure 1 plots the monthly labor force participation rates of prime-age US women and men using non–seasonally adjusted data, with June, July, and August shaded gray. Summer after summer, women's labor force participation drops sharply while men's participation does not." more »
Jo Freeman Reviews: Fearless Women: Feminist Patriots from Abigail Adams to Beyoncé
What do Abigail Adams and Beyonce have in common? Elizabeth Coombs says they are both feminist patriots, a label she also applies to Phyllis Schlafly and Mary Church Terrell. This book profiles over nine women, some extensively, to illustrate how the drive for sex equality continues the ideals of the American revolution. Not all of the women in this book are public figures. Even those who were purely private had something to say as they fought for female independence. more »
