What News Was in My In-Box, December 21, 2022

I am not sure if you experienced similar. A year ago getting Delta Airlines customer service on the line took hours. And if you left a phone number, they never called back. I found calling them when they first opened up seemed to work. 6 AM? One time we even got better seats. Getting airline help is an issue.

Minnesota is moving forward with their version of single payer for residents and those who work in Minnesota. It will be interesting to see how this works. Joseph Stiglitz’s “The Causes of and Responses to Today’s Inflation” is worth reading. He follows the same argument I have been. Interest rates are not going to fix supply chain and production issues.

Many other good reads too.

Healthcare

‘Constant Turmoil’ at FDA Makes Our Food Less Safe, MedPage Today, Scott Faber. Our food is safe because of laws that ensure food companies and farmers take steps to keep pathogens out of our food.

A ‘Shocking’ Development in CPR? MedPage Today, Jeremy Faust, MD. New research found that a fad in how defibrillation is done may actually save lives.

In Washington State, a public option may get some traction, xpostfactoid, Andrew Sprung. Washington state is tacking toward a marketplace sharing some features with ConnectorCare. A partial plan standardization, wraparound subsidies offered at low incomes, and a measure of state-imposed cost control.

Philadelphia Schools to Require Masks After Winter Break, (medscape.com), Ralph Ellis. The Philadelphia School District will require students and staff to wear face masks after returning from the winter break. AB: Briefly.

Long COVID Contributed to Thousands of Deaths, CDC. MedPage Today, Michael DePeau-Wilson. Death certificate records from January 2020 through June 2022 showed long COVID contributed to 3,544 deaths, based on ICD-10 codes for COVID-19 as well as text referring to long COVID.

Study Adds to Debate Over Nurse Practitioners’ Scope of Practice. MedPage Today, Michael DePeau-Wilson. A working paper likely to spur debate found nurse practitioners (NPs) used more resources and had worse patient outcomes compared with physicians in the emergency department (ED).

SF 1643 Minnesota Single Payer, 92nd Legislature (2021 – 2022) (mn.gov). Relating to health; guaranteeing that health care is available and affordable for​ every Minnesotan; establishing the Minnesota Health Plan, Minnesota Health​ Board, Minnesota Health Fund, Office of Health Quality and Planning, ombudsman​ for patient advocacy, and auditor general for the Minnesota Health Plan; requesting​ a 1332 waiver; authorizing rulemaking; appropriating money.

Environment and Consumerism

A grocery shopping expert’s study shows where the best prices are, (consumeraffairs.com), Gary Guthrie.

On hold forever when you call an airline? There may be a solution, (consumeraffairs.com), Gary Guthrie. “We are experiencing higher than normal call volumes” has become a broken record. It may also mean “We are experiencing normal call volumes and we are understaffed.” 

GM recalls 740,000 vehicles with daytime running light issue, (consumeraffairs.com), James Limbach. Vehicle daytime running lights may not deactivate when headlights are on.

Will Rising Battery Prices Create a Barrier to Entry for EVs? (treehugger.com), Marc Carter. In 2010, the prices were over $1,000 per kilowatt hour, which then dropped to a low $132 per kilowatt hour in 2021. But according to BlooombergNEF’s annual lithium-ion battery price survey, the average price has increased by 7% this year. 

Aluminum Tariff Wars Are Hurting American Health and Finances, (treehugger.com), Llyod Alter. The biggest problem with American aluminum plants is that they are old according to Phil McKenna of Inside Climate News. They emit far more climate pollution than their counterparts abroad.

4 ways companies can turn sustainability goals into actions, (qz.com), Avanade. The survey showed that business decision-makers across five major industries—financial services, healthcare, manufacturing, retail, and energy/utilities—unanimously agree: environmental and social sustainability is important.

Cop15, historic deal struck to halt biodiversity loss by 2030. The Guardian, Patrick Greenfield and Phoebe Weston. The Governments meeting signed a once-in-a-decade deal to halt the destruction of Earth’s ecosystems. The agreement seems to have been forced through by the Chinese president. It , ignores the objections of some African states.

Europe’s Cities Are Getting More Crowded—That’s a Good Thing, WIRED UK, Matt Reynolds. The sprawling mass of suburbia has been a disaster for the environment. But now smaller, denser cities herald a renaissance in city living.

The Scorched-Earth Strategy Corporations Use to Silence Critics, (theintercept.com), Sasha Chavkin. Victims suing multinational corporations for alleged crimes committed abroad face steep odds.

Law and Politics

The Supreme Court Has Upended Gun Control, The Atlantic, Ryan Busse. In the Bruen opinion, Thomas makes clear the Court’s conservative majority would judge all firearms regulations by a new originalist standard.

‘She Made an Idiot Out of Me’: Conversations with Former Kyrsten Sinema Volunteers, The Atlantic, Nathan Kohrman. Conversations with Kyrsten Sinema’s former canvassers reveal anger and disappointment with the newly independent senator from Arizona.

Indiana sues TikTok, describes it as “Chinese Trojan Horse,” (malwarebytes.com). Jovi Umawing. the State of Indiana filed two lawsuits against TikTok, Inc, the company behind the same name app, and its parent company, ByteDance.

The Big Potential of Karen Bass’s Homelessness Agenda, The New Yorker, Jay Caspian Kang. On her first day in office, Karen Bass, the newly elected mayor of Los Angeles, declared a state of emergency over the city’s homelessness crisis.

Leonard Leo’s Latest Supreme Court Play, (levernews.com), Authors. The conservative activist’s dark money network is bankrolling groups pressing the high court to gut election, affirmative action, and discrimination laws.

Economics

The Causes of and Responses to Today’s Inflation, Roosevelt Institute, Joseph E. Stiglitz, Ira Regmi. The evidence is overwhelming: were there no supply problems, aggregate demand would not be excessive. The inflation we’ve experienced is best understood as resulting from industry-specific problems that many Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries are facing. A strong labor market is part of the solution, not the problem.

Indeed Wage Tracker Shows Wage Deceleration. The Fed Should Pay Attention. (employamerica.org), Preston Mul. The IWT shows the growth rate of advertised wages has been falling throughout 2022.

We Don’t Need Government-Granted Patent Monopolies to Finance Drug Development, (cepr.net), Dean Baker. Really deserving of more attention than it is getting, is the Covid vaccine developed by Peter Hotez and Maria Elena Botazzi at Texas Children’s Hospital. This vaccine was developed using grants in the single digit millions. 

“real-world economics review,” www.paecon.net/PAEReview/issue102/whole102.pdf, Issue no. 102.

The Best of the Substacks

YOU LOVE TO SEE IT: A New Hope For Louisiana’s Climate Future, (levernews.com), Ricardo Gomez. A run-off election has opened the door for a more promising climate future. Also, public land defenders took on Arizona’s governor and won, a proposed new rule could help consumers track corporate criminals.

More Links

Infidel753: Link round-up for 18 December 2022, Infidel753 Blog

Top Pops 2022 (pt1)…Homeless on the High Desert, December 19, 2022

What News Was in My In-Box, Dec. 14, 2022, Angry Bear, angry bear blog

What News Was in My In-Box, Dec. 7, 2022, Angry Bear, angry bear blog