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

The contrarian addiction

If you can tolerate a long commentary about Trump’s nominee to head the Food and Drug Administration, this is a good read. It would be hilarious if it were not true. Kind of like a joke? Except, it is for real. The contrarian addiction – by Merrill Goozner GoozNews Dr. Marty Makary, Donald Trump’s nominee […]

Solutions for a salty future

One of David Zetland’s students who posts to his Blog The one-handed economist. Each year Prof. Zetland allows some of his students to write on various topics and he posts their words on his site. You can either comment here on AB or post to David Zealand’s site. The link is above. Pleease be polite. […]

The Minnesota 340B Report Is Out

Explanation: The 340B Drug Pricing Program was designed to help patients access more affordable medicines. Since 1992 manufacturers have provided billions of dollars in steep discounts on outpatient medicines to safety-net clinics and qualifying hospitals expecting that those entities would use the savings to ensure vulnerable patients have access to needed medicines. But the 340B […]

Uncertainty is nothing new for DACA recipients

The population is on a path to shrink and the majority of the population will be elderly in some fashion or another shortly. US productivity is based on inputs from Labor without which there could be declines in such without younger Labor. The nation populated in the past is not on a path of replacement […]

Trump vs Fannie Mae and Freddy Mac

Fanny Mae and Freddy Mac are the nicknames for two mortgage giants that back about 70% of U.S. mortgages and have been under government conservatorship since the 2008 financial crisis. “Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac don’t issue mortgages directly. They purchase loans from lenders and package them into securities sold to investors. This process ensures […]

Services are Roughly 3/4’s of the Economy

ISM non-manufacturing shows that services continue to power the economy forward. Are they inflationary?  – by New Deal democrat Because services are roughly 3/4’s of the economy, I now pay a lot of attention to the economically weighted average of the ISM manufacturing and services indexes. Since the accession of China to normal trading status […]

The Government And The Economy

A well constructed government, at a minimum, provides its citizens FDR’s four freedoms:  A good well constructed government would want what is best for the society or nation as a whole; understand that a healthy, well fed, well housed, well educated society or nation with a stable quality government is best.   A well constructed, healthy […]

86% of Private-Sector Employees Worked for Establishments Offering Health Insurance

Just a snapshot of US firms offering healthcare insurance by size, cost, and amount od cost. As you can see, cost has increased from 2010-2023. It has become one of the largest costs impacting both emploers and employees in the US. Overall, it impacts the competitiveness of employers globally and smaller employers ability to attract […]

JOLTS report for October: continuing trend of deceleration has begun to pose a problem

 – by New Deal democrat The JOLTS survey parses the jobs market on a monthly basis more thoroughly than the headline employment numbers in the jobs report. It also is a slight leading indicators for both initial jobless claims and unemployment; and for forecasting wage growth as well.  Like many other statistics concerning jobs, the […]