(SVU) shares shot up more than 12% afterthe company reported better-than-expected fiscal third-quarter earnings andannounced plans to close stores and cut capital spending to pay down debt.

The company also cut its fiscal 2009 guidance, but offered some upbeat newsfor the next fiscal year as Chief Executive for fiscal 2010 would likely be at thelow range of the grocers’ internal projections.

Private-label and generic drugsales continue to gain ground, although that it putting a crimp on identical-store sales, a key industry metric, due to their lower prices.

and other grocery chains are bendingto consumer desires to spend less at the grocery stores, and offering moreproducts at everyday low prices rather than relying on promotions.

lowered its fiscal 2009 guidanceas it anticipates slower sales and taking charges related to store closures andimplementing other cost savings.

in the coming fiscal year.

diverts more cashtoward paying down debt, that’s...

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Or is it simply a market factor that has nothing to do with bias?

Sebelius is qualified and more women are needed in the Cabinet.

But continue reading the article and you’ll find that bias, and cost, are reversed as people age.Insurance companies have argued that their premiums reflect the actual costs of healthcare.

If elimination of all differences between the genders is what passes for bias these days, then the answer to the first question is Yes.

birth control, abortion, and all visits related to pregnancy and delivery), yet are willing to offer coverage to men for things like drugs for erectile dysfunction?

But the point of striving to end bias is not to eliminate all differences between men and women (which is impossible) but to eliminate unfair stereotypes.

It would have been strange if you had - After all, these corporations exist to make a profit, and would never allow any ism to get in the way of that.What about how many of those same companies...

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Even if successful, measures to reduce smoking and obesity - two factors linked to the development of chronic and acute health problems - might not have a substantial impact on health-care spending for some time.

The reports challenge conventional assumptions about popular reform ideas.Encouraging people to improve their own health by quitting smoking or losing weight may not reduce spending for quite a while.

The agency outlined important issues to consider in reforming health care - including many issues some members of Congress might not have considered.

These costs, for private health insurance, totaled $90 billion in 2006, of which about $24 billion was for marketing.

Overall, these administrative costs accounted for about 12 percent of private insurance premiums.- Eliminate Medicare’s 24-month waiting period for the disabled seeking health benefits: $113.3 billion.- Charge Medicare recipients a co-payment for the first 20 days of a stay in a nursing facility:...

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