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

More on acetaminophen and autism

From a pediatrician colleague: “. . . the study which is being used by certain parties to prove that “Taking Tylenol during pregnancy causes autism” does not actually say that. It says that there seems to be a slight increase in rates of autism among children whose mothers took Tylenol during pregnancy, BUT the lead […]

Tylenol time travel

RFK Jr and Trump have announced that the “cause” of autism is mothers who took acetaminophen during pregnancy. Not only are there no data supporting this, but chronology falsifies this theory. Swiss psychiatrist Eugen Bleuler provided one of the earliest documented descriptions of autism-like behavior in 1911. He used the term “autistic” to describe some […]

Convincing Pregnant Women to Avoid Using Acetaminophen

The agency’s head cited the well-known but rarely deployed concept to convince pregnant women to avoid using acetaminophen. Why not do the same for global warming and PFAS chemicals? Merrill Goozner’s (GoozNews) discussion points opposing Kennedy and Trump’s opposition to using Tylenol when pregnant. It is becoming stranger in the US with Trump’s failing awareness […]

C-SNPs Plans May Be Jeopardizing Medicare-Medicaid Integration

Something different today. C-SNP is a Chronic Condition Special Needs Plan; C-SNP plans provide Medicare Advantage benefits tailored to individuals with specific chronic conditions by offering personalized care coordination, condition-specific treatments. Better definition to follow. MA plans are more expensive than Traditional Medicare plans and more profitable. There is a lack of evidence showing that C-SNPs provide higher […]

Snake oil and the Trump White House

Trump brought the RFK Jr snake oil road show to the White House. “Yesterday, HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s traveling medicine show made a stop at the White House, where President Trump was the featured barker at an off-the-rails press conference. Taking unscientific aim at vaccines and unsubstantiated links between Tylenol and autism, the […]

Sellout by the Democrats in Congress

When I was living in Michigan, I found Jack Lessenberry to be an excellent pundit with regards to Republicans, Democrats, and state policies. For the most part the state was run by Republicans for two or three decades until Michigan governor Gretchen Esther Whitmer. And then it was a battle of the legislatures. The state […]

The State of the Consumer

– by New Deal democrat In addition to my system of long and short leading indicators, and the weekly high frequency data, the third system I use to mark to market my views of the economy is what i call “the consumer nowcast.” Introduction I have various systems for tracking the economy — including high-frequency weekly […]

Private equity is killing us

American hospitals are under siege. The Trump administration just announced an increase from $1500 to $100,000 per year for H-1B visas that are used by foreign-trained physicians. The recently passed GOP budget dramatically cuts Medicaid funding, cuts that will drive the closure of many rural and community hospitals that are on the edge of insolvency. […]

On obeying in advance

It is an article of faith among those opposed to Trump’s efforts to build an American autocracy that we should not obey in advance.  The charge of obeying in advance has been leveled forcefully against universities, law firms, and media companies that choose to placate the administration rather than resist its abusive demands.  Yet the […]