Relevant and even prescient commentary on news, politics and the economy.

The National Review Invites Obama to Nip the Call-For-A-Balanced-Budget-Amendment Gimmickry In the Bud Tomorrow Night. Really.

The National Review scoops the Senate GOP’s next move, and note in particular the last paragraph: Frustrated by the months of non-stop budget fights, Senate Republicans are set to mount a fiscal counteroffensive this week with the reintroduction of a balanced-budget amendment. Senate minority leader Mitch McConnell and minority whip John Cornyn are leading the […]

The People-as-Props That Obama SHOULD Use During His Speech Tomorrow Night: John Boehner and Joe Barton. And They’re Already Invited!

Speaker John Boehner  @SpeakerBoehner House GOP has voted to replace the president’s sequester twice. Here’s why, courtesy @whitehouse: http://j.mp/WzhNgY #obamaquester — Twitter, h/t Politico, Boehner’s office dubs it “Obamaquester,” Feb. 8 Oh, dear.  I guess this is going to be a regular thing.  A few days earlier, our dignified House Speaker created the twitter hashtag #spendingstheproblem. […]

Medical coding

http://vitals.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/02/07/16842490-therapists-change-in-medical-coding-threatens-mental-health-care?lite

Like many quick and dirty “bumper sticker” arguments, Laszewski’s assertion sounds logical — as long as you don’t think about it for more than the minute it takes to read it. After all, someone is going to have to pay for all of those pills and devices, won’t they? Actually, not really. The truth is […]

Hobby Lobby’s Religion Lobby – [Appended]

About two weeks ago, Dan emailed me with a link to a New York Times article titled “A Flood of Suits Fights Coverage of Birth Control,” by Times reporter Ethan Bronner, published that day. The article began: In a flood of lawsuits, Roman Catholics, evangelicals and Mennonites are challenging a provision in the new health […]

http://thehealthcareblog.com/blog/2012/08/20/the-age-rating-game-will-older-americans-pay-more-under-health-reforma/   The Affordable Care Act leaves it to the states to decide whether they want to let insurers charge older Americans more for coverage. If a state takes no action, a 64-year-old buying his own insurance in the individual market will pay up to three times more than an 18-year-old. In the small-group market […]

The Crips and the Bloods could not whip a decent paying Ronald McDonald.

Open letter to Oakland Mayor Jean Quan:  The only legislation that can realistically end gun violence in Oakland – and Chicago – is a labor law: doubling the minimum wage to $30,000/yr. The Crips and the Bloods could not whip a decent paying Ronald McDonald. Crackpot? More than doubling the federal minimum wage from $7.25/hr […]

Aquifers too deep to be tapped

David Zetland at Aguanomics points us to the way the US ‘too deep to use’ water aquifers for waste water from fracking, and the example of Mexico City drilling deep as a way to handle water shortages: This article raises an interesting point: the US EPA allows companies to pollute aquifers that it assumes are […]

Risk = Freedom?

Peter Dorman at Econospeak speaks to the current selling of big idea models of the world (re-posted with permission from the author): There’s a review on the Dissent website by Steve Randy Waldman of Freaks of Fortune: The Emerging World of Capitalism and Risk in America by Jonathan Levy. The book sounds interesting, but it […]

Krugman’s Explicit Endorsement “Time to Kick the Can” Shows True Colors He Denies in “Despicable Me” from Mish’s Global Economic Trend Analysis Angry Bear’s column How To Debate Paul Krugman in response to my January 26 column How to Debate Paul Krugman: “Ask Questions Like a Child” was rather humorous for what it did not […]