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A few years back, many hospitals in America were embarrassed by revelations that some of their neediest patients, the uninsured, were being charged the most. These patients were getting slammed with the full list price for health care while those with insurance got negotiated discounts. The outcry prompted congressional hearings and state inquiries. All not-for-profit hospitals in Illinois haveadopted voluntary guidelines, set by the Illinois Hospital Association, to dole out free or discounted care. But Illinois attorney general Lisa Madigan says that"s not nearly enough. Madigan announced recently that most Illinois hospitals spend less than 1 percent on charitable care. She proposed that hospitals be required by law to spend at least 8 percent of their operating costs on charity: free health care, community clinics. This is a terrible idea. For starters—amazing as this may sound—Madigan hasn"t calculated how much this law would cost hospitals. No overall cost, nor the cost to any single hospital in the state. The Illinois Hospital Association says her bill would require 133 hospitals to spend $739 million more a year on charity care. That, the IHA says, would push 45 of those hospitals into the red, and 28 hospitals that already operate at a loss would be pushed closer to bankruptcy. Madigan disputes those figures. How did Madigan settle on the magic 8 percent She cites her office"s investigation of hospitals and a task force she convened. But the task force didn"t issue a report and may never do so. She all but acknowledges that her claim that Illinois hospitals provide a miserly 1 percent in charitable care isn"t the whole story. That figure excludes much of what hospitals absorb, including the gap between what they spend on Medicaid patients and what they receive for that care. The IHA argues convincingly that mandating a high percentage of revenues to be spent on free care ignores the reality that many hospitals operate in the red. Draining more money would weaken hospitals—and encourage cost-cutting in nursing care, equipment or other essentials. Why are we talking about charitable giving by hospitals, as opposed to muffler shops, fast-food restaurants or beauty salons Because most hospitals are tax-exempt by law: They don"t pay any federal, state or local taxes. In return, they"re required to provide services to the needy. But the law doesn"t say exactly how much. So they do have a charitable obligation. And some hospitals—even some not-for-profit hospitals-have hefty revenues. It"s useful to see how much they"re giving back to their communities. But the hospitals also have an obligation to stay solvent. No one profits when a hospital closes its doors. Madigan"s proposed mandate carries too much risk. IHA objected to Madigan"s proposal based on the argument that _____.
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How stupid does one need to be to get a job reading the television news Is it actually beneficial for TV newsreaders to have, instead of a brain, a plate of lemon jelly Last week the debate was raging once again about the controversial and important point as to whether the newsreaders write their own copy, read someone else"s or simply make it up as they go along. Angela Rippon reckonedthat she had never heard of a newsreader writing stuff, but her modern counterpart, the beautiful Sophie Raworth, claims that they do the writing and adds that she has a postgraduate degree in journalism. This is the core of the issue: what on earth is there to learn about journalism at postgraduate level The point and purpose of our lowly, occasionally useful, trade could be scribbled on the back of a postage stamp and would easily be comprehended by a 14-year-old boy with ADHD (attention deficit hyperactivity disorder). Who has decided that it must be dignified with a doctoral thesis Nor is reading the news even what one might call "journalism". It is an even simpler business called "reading". All that the BBC demands of its female newsreaders is an ability to read in an impartial way words like "Israel has murdered more Lebanese children again today" from the teleprompter without belching or lisping. It helps if they have the eminently presentable manner of a girl guide leader from Esher. They are forbidden to express an opinion. They are not required to go undercover, analyze the news or add witty asides. They are required to be that which they are known as in the trade—"a gob on a stick".A penetrating intelligence is not merely unnecessary, it is counterproductive. Newsreaders who are too intelligent soon stop being newsreaders, much as John Humphrys did, stifled by the commonplace of their duties. Or they give the game away by doing what that German newsreader did and end the programme, shaking their heads sadly, muttering, "it"s all lies, all lies". Which is not to say BBC newsreaders are bad at their jobs: quite the reverse. But we should not confuse competence with intelligence. Newsreaders believe that because they are reading out serious stuff and everybody is listening to them, they must therefore be creatures possessed of a high IQ. They are confusing the message with the medium. If the newsreaders are too intelligent, they are likely to _____.
我国的股票发行实行______。
The clean-energy business is turning into the next big investment boom, in which risks are lightly ignored. Until recently, recalls Charlie Gay, a 30-year veteran of the solar-power business, venture capitalists were far too busy catering to captains of the information-technology industry to waste time on "hippy-dippy tree-huggers" like himself. But now the tree-huggers are in the ascendant and theIT barons are busy investing in clean-energy technology. Investors are falling over themselves to finance start-ups in clean technology, especially in energy. Venture Business Research reckons that investment in the field by venture capitalists and private-equity firms has quadrupled in the past two years, from some $500m in 2004 to almost $2 billion so far this year. The share of venture capital going into clean energy is rising rapidly. Clean-energy fever is being fuelled by three things: high oil prices, fears over energy security and a growing concern about global warming. The provision of energy, the industry"s cheerleaders say, will change radically over the coming decades. Polluting coal- and gas-fired power stations will give way to cleaner alternatives such as solar and wind; fuels derived from plants and waste will replace petrol and diesel; and small, local forms of electricity generation will replace big power stations feeding far-flung grids. Eventually, it is hoped, fuel cells running on hydrogen will take the place of the internal combustion engine which is available everywhere. It is a bold vision, but if it happens very slowly, or only to a limited extent, boosters argue that it will still prompt tremendous growth for firms in the business. Analysts confidently predict the clean-energy business will grow by 20-30% a year for a decade. Jef-feries, an investment bank that organized a recent conference on the industry in London, asked participants how soon solar power would become competitive with old-fashioned generation technologies: in 2010, 2015 or 2020. About three-quarters of those present, one visitor happily observed, were "cheque-writers". This "megatrend", the keynote speaker advocated, "may be the biggest job- and wealth-creation opportunity of the 21st century." Such exaggeration might remind people of dotcom bubble. But clean-energy advocates insist growth is sustainable because of the likes of Mr. Schwarzenegger. The Governor is a hero in green circles because of his enthusiasm for environmental regulation. He easily won re-election partly because he seized on global warming as a concern and signed into law—America"s first wide-ranging scheme to cap greenhouse-gas emissions. It can be inferred from the last paragraph that_____.
寡头型市场也称寡头垄断市场，是同时包含垄断因素和竞争因素而更接近于完全垄断的一种市场结构。
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