Just Some Reading on Various Topics in My Mail Box

– Israel Agrees to Cease-Fire With Lebanon’s Hezbollah—But What About Gaza?, Common Dreams. After months of slaughtering those not responsible, then you ask for a truce? “A cease-fire agreement between Israel and Hezbollah appeared to be within reach on Monday amid reports that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu repeatedly scuttled diplomatic efforts in recent months.

– The Global Dimension of Inflation: Exposing The Achilles’ Heel of Stabilization Policy, Employ America. In the past 4 years, we’ve seen a historic bout of inflation. At a moment when there is eagerness to finger-point to specific policies, it’s worth starting from a very simple fact: inflation was global.

– As Trump touts plans for immigrant roundup, militias are standing back, but standing by, The Conversation. Many experts’ concerns about this program have included the facts that immigrants contribute enormous value to the U.S. economy and mass deportation would hurt food production, housing construction and other crucial industries. Other scholars have analyzed how deportation traumatizes families.

– How Ivy League Admissions Broke America, The Atlantic. Every coherent society has a social ideal—an image of what the superior person looks like. In America, from the late 19th century until sometime in the 1950s, the superior person was the Well-Bred Man. 

– Our mistake was to think we lived in a better country than we do, The Guardian. Our mistake was to think that racism and misogyny were not as bad as they are, whether it applied to who was willing to vote for a supremely qualified Black woman or who was willing to vote for an adjudicated rapist and convicted criminal who admires Hitler.

– Walmart rolls back DEI initiatives, becoming biggest company to do so, QUARTZ. Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion. I am having a difficult time understanding what the problem is with any of this. “It drives innovation, improves decision-making, critical thinking and problem-solving skills.” U of M.

Progressive billionaire offers to match Elon Musk’s offer to buy MSNBC from Comcast, The Desk. A number of billionaires are reportedly interested in acquiring progressive news network MSNBC from Comcast, should the company decide to list it for sale at some point in the future.

– Dismissed, Civil Discourse, Joyce Vance. Special Counsel Jack Smith wrote that his view of the merits of his case—in other words, his ability to obtain and sustain convictions against Donald Trump, has not changed.

– Health Insurance, Pharmaceuticals, And More, Health Affairs. We used 2021 claims data covering virtually all enrollment in ACA risk-adjusted plans. In aggregate, in 2021, Marketplace prices were 152 percent of Medicare prices, whereas the prices paid in small-group employer plans were 179 percent of Medicare prices. 

– When the ACA enhanced subsidies expire: mitigations, xpostfactoid. Zero-premium options will still be available at low incomes, barring other blows to the ACA marketplace