Health care is big money. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics says that health care represents America’s largest industry, providing roughly 14 million jobs. The Bureau goes on to mention that seven of the 20 fastest growing occupations are health related. Here at Cornell, medical research is a huge deal, producing shiny new buildings like Weill Hall, and attracting top professors from around the country. And our top students have always been lured towards medicine as an attractive, stable, intellectually stimulating career option.

But question: Jobs and investments aside, is this approach to medicine effective? Does it produce a healthy, productive society in the most efficient way possible?

Although the Office of Financial Aid faces the large responsibility to serve all students, some recently reported errors on its part extend too far beyond the pale. It is understood that this time of year, amidst the shuffle of acceptance letters and registration forms, the office faces stressful working conditions and a high volume of materials to process. But many managerial mishaps have now resurfaced, which the recently announced and commendable expansions to students’ financial aid packets cannot fix.

Four years ago, Cornell didn’t seem to care if prospective undergraduates were fabulously wealthy. This was good for me, because I was not. Nor am I now, in spite of a two-year stint as a highly paid employee at Olin Library. I was fortunate the undergraduate admissions process was completely need-blind, with no regard for family income or potential building donation. Current applicants may not be so lucky.

Four months ago, the University announced it would be expanding the class of 2013 by 100 students in response to the ubiquitous “financial crisis.” This, I thought, could only mean one thing: 100 more wealthy students to help offset our school’s endowment losses.

We’re fucked unless we get people spending again. Tax cuts, government initiatives, refunds, rebates, shovel-ready projects — all forms of stimulation designed to pad the American wallet, to give America a little walkin’ around money as they jazz up the ol’ infrastructure, to get people spending again. This is our real solution to the depression.

Ultimately, we don’t need bailouts or tax cuts or green jobs, but spending. We, the American people, gotta get spending like it’s 1998. Politicians may disagree about the means of stimulation, but there is no doubt that America has to get back to what America does best — consume. Buy shit, people. Spend that hard-earned dime on something real nice, because it’s only as good as what you can buy with it.

Whoever said you have to be rich to do good is mistaken. But whoever said you can’t be rich and also do good is mistaken as well. In the face of these two extremes — torn between the desire to accumulate wealth and the passion for social action — our generation has coined the term “social entrepreneurship” as an attempt to find a middle ground. This revolutionary idea that you can do good while still making money, has fueled the trend of applying business models to non-profits.

In these dark times, when betting on horses yields better returns than the stock market, hedge fund manager and amateur hedge fund manager alike must look for other means of making money easily. To those considering selling junk on ebay, stuffing envelopes in your home, starting a Ponzi scheme or gambling to make an honest dollar, hark! I know of a way you can get richer by doing absolutely nothing. Really. And you don’t even have to pay me for a book to tell you how.

This proven and reliable get-rich-quick scheme is called deflation, and it’s a great reason to start recycling your beer cans. Deflation means that the purchasing power of the dollar increases. Or, in simple terms, that the five-cent refund from your beer cans buys more now than it did before.

NEW YORK (AP) — The fight over control of Wachovia intensified Saturday, as a judge temporarily agreed to block the sale of the bank by Wells Fargo, Citigroup announced in a news release.

State Supreme Court Justice Charles Ramos issued the order blocking the sale of Wachovia Corp., which Wells Fargo & Co. had agreed to purchase in a $14.8 billion deal.

Citigroup Inc. accused Wells Fargo of trying to cut off its earlier takeover offer of Wachovia's banking operations for $2.1 billion in a deal struck with the assistance of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. On Friday, four days after that deal was struck, Wells Fargo said it was buying Wachovia.

NEW YORK (AP) — The Federal Reserve, working with central banks in Europe, Canada and Asia, pumped as much as $180 billion into money markets on Thursday to combat a seizing up of lending between banks that is intensifying global financial crisis.

The move was aimed at boosting waning confidence and getting banks around the world to open their ever-tightening purse strings. Asian markets closed lower, but the Fed action helped send European stocks higher after three days of losses.

Wall Street appeared headed for a higher opening, after dropping 450 points Wednesday when a Fed bailout of American International Group Inc., one of the world's largest insurers, failed to settle the markets' frayed nerves.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. discriminates against blind people by printing paper money that makes it impossible for them to distinguish among the bills' varying values, a federal appeals court ruled Tuesday.

The ruling by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit upholds a decision by a lower court in 2006. It could force the Treasury Department to redesign its money. Suggested changes have ranged from making bills different sizes to printing them with raised markings.

The American Council for the Blind sued for such changes but the Treasury Department has been fighting the case for about six years.

"I don't think we should have to rely on people to tell us what our money is," said Mitch Pomerantz, the council's president.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Thwarted in efforts to bring troops home from Iraq, Senate Democrats on Monday helped pass a defense policy bill authorizing another $150 billion for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The 92-3 vote comes as the House planned to approve separate legislation Tuesday that requires President Bush to give Congress a plan for eventual troop withdrawals.

The developments underscored the difficulty facing Democrats in the Iraq debate: They lack the votes to pass legislation ordering troops home and are divided on whether to cut money for combat, despite a mandate by supporters to end the war.

Hoping the political landscape changes in coming months, Democratic leaders say they will renew their fight when Congress considers the money Bush wants in war funding.