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

The Middlemen of Healthcare Pharma Especially

I copied the two paragraphs below (actually I took one and split it) from Matt Stoller’s Big News Letter. Matt is talking about the same issues I have been talking about for years. The Pharmaceutical Industry and their rip off pricing. It is a good read if you wonder over there. The YouTube is also […]

When Does Boneless Not Mean Without Bones?

When you are in the land of Ohio and the OSC decides. About a year and a half ago, in a ruling striking down the Ohio state version of Chevron deference, the conservative majority on the state supreme court noted that “text should be given its contemporaneous and customary meaning.” Yesterday, in a 4-3 opinion, the conservative justices […]

The shingles vaccine may protect from dementia

As America ages, dementia is becoming a bigger and bigger healthcare burden. Medicare won’t pay for long-term nursing home care. Dementia will be a growing drag on the US economy at least until the baby boomer die off. Shingles is caused by herpes virus, a neurotrophic virus. For many people who had chicken pox as […]

Project 2025, trump, and Student Loans

The Presidential Transition Project called “Project 2025” outlines a road map for how a new far-right presidential administration could take over the country. You can be sure Trump did not write this as it is readable. Former President Trump and his allies’ plan would have devastating impacts on our lives and our democracy, from banning […]

Personal income, spending, and prices

Personal income, spending, and prices: consumer remains strong, inflation close to 2% target no matter how you measure it  – by New Deal democrat I am on the road today, so I will have to keep this brief. In June nominal personal income rose 0.3%, and spending rose 0.2%. Since PCE inflation rose less than […]

Cares Act Funding Rural and Inner-City Hospitals Miss Out Again

Been writing on Rural and Inner-city hospitals and the lack of funding for them, the buying up of the same by larger entities, and the abuse of the 340B program by the larger hospital. Once the larger hospital buys the inner-city hospital, there is a tendency to cut services and also abuse the 340B program. […]

A Jump in the Global Temperature

Scientists have concluded a few years ago the Earth has entered a new climate state. This is one not seen in more than 100,000 years. Read elsewhere, that conclusion was part of a climate assessment report  published by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) in 2021. In 2024, we are threading in new temperature events which […]

Again not recessionary, but more evidence the Fed should start to lower rates now.

Coincident real GDP metric is good, but leading indicators from the GDP report are not: is the Fed listening?  – by New Deal democrat Real GDP grew 0.7% in Q2, or a 2.8% annualized rate, a perfectly good number in line with the past three years: Probably even more importantly, the GDP deflator increased 0.6% […]

Homelessness is a Housing Problem

by Gregg Colburn and Clayton Page Aldern Homelessness is a housing problem Somewhat of a writeup on homelessness using a review and the author’s introduction to the economic problem. Amazon published review of the book, “Homelessness Is a Housing Problem.” Authors Gregg Colburn and Clayton Page Aldern seek to explain the substantial regional variation in […]

Actually Understanding Corporate Share Buybacks

Who gets the money? Follow the assets. by Steve Roth Originally Published at Wealth Economics This post by Judd Legum at Popular Information (read and subscribe!) prompts me to revisit the issue of share buybacks. This passage in particular: It seems eye-popping. But is it? Even (especially?) finance and econ types don’t really understand buybacks from a […]