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

Cost of Healthcare – Yearly Premium Changes

I broke Section 1 into two parts. The first part discussed the various types of plans available for single employees and employees needing family coverage. This part of Section 1 discusses premiums for sigle employees and employees with families. There is a match according to salary increases, inflation growth, and earnings. As you can see […]

Seems like Robert Changes his Mind on Flu Vaccine

Quiet on Vaccine Endorsements, Loud on Vaccine Attacks HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. last month quietly endorsed recommendations from his hand picked vaccine advisors that everyone in the U.S. ages 6 months and older receive a flu shot for the upcoming season. The backdated notice appeared this week on the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices’ (ACIP) recommendations page without […]

BLS BS

Trump fired BLS commissioner Erika McEntarfer for allegedly manipulating statistics to make him look bad. In support of the firing, he pointed to what he said were exaggerated jobs numbers in the Biden administration that had to be revised downward by—wait for it—BLS commissioner Erika McEntarfer! “How could downward revisions released during Biden’s presidency have […]

The Witnessing

For some years now, unbeknownst to some of us, we have been witness to a 100 year (and more) flood of historical events.  For some months now, we’ve been watching a slow-motion implosion of one of these events from these front row seats.  Slow, in our time —  a flash, in history’s eons.  Watching with […]

Questions to a Secretary of State

“Five Questions with Maine Secretary of State Shenna Bellows,” Civil Discourse Shenna Bellows is Maine’s 50th Secretary of State and the first woman to serve in that role. She’s led implementation of reforms like automatic voter registration and online voter registration in her state and has taken strong stands against Donald Trump—she ruled that he wasn’t […]

Cost of Healthcare Insurance by Commercial and Government

Healthcare is expensive as it is. You have copays, etc. to shell out money for when required. It becomes even more expensive if you do not have healthcare insurance of some type. Even if you have healthcare insurance, it may not cover everything. The plus side of the insurance being, you will pay the negotiated […]

Applying Prof. Edward Leamer’s pre-recession progression paradigm to the present

 – by New Deal democrat Twenty years ago, Prof. Edward Leamer gave an important speech at the Fed’s Jackson Hole, WY, retreat called “Housing IS the Business Cycle.” In that speech he discussed the fact that, historically, private residential construction as a share of GDP on average peaked 7 quarters before the onset of recessions, followed […]

Prophecy

As my AB peeps know, I loves me some prophecy. As a consumer, not a producer. My wife and I play this little game. If I make a prediction, she grabs a post-it note and writes it down, then dates it and makes me sign it. She saves them and we review them periodically. The […]

Simple answers to simple questions

The Fed has two jobs: (1) control inflation and (2) maximize employment. So how’s that going? “That’s a change in tone from last week, when most Fed policymakers voted to leave their influential interest rate unchanged for the fifth time this year. Fed officials had been content to wait and see how tariffs were moving […]

Student Loan Access and Pay Backs

In support of Alan Collinge of Student Loan Justice, I have been writing in support of his efforts to seek loan forgiveness which commercial business enjoys as well as US citizens. Student loan debt is the second-highest consumer debt category after mortgages. Student loan debt in the United States totals $1606.7 trillion; annual growth resumed in 2024 following […]