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

Trump hostage-taking

Trump is threatening to conduct mass firings of federal workers unless Democrats help Republicans overcome a filibuster to pass an unconditional stopgap measure keeping the government open. “The White House Office of Management and Budget, which is led by Russ Vought, put out a memo last night telling federal agencies to start prepping reduction-in-force (RIF) […]

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 […]

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 […]

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. […]

Trump’s newest attack on rural hospitals

The Trump GOP’s Medicaid cuts will cause many rural hospitals to close. Now, Trump has come up with a way to hasten that process. “NBC News medical analyst Dr. Vin Gupta warned of the consequences that President Donald Trump’s imposed $100,000 annual visa fee for highly skilled foreign workers could have on those seeking health […]

Beachfront property and sunk costs

While we were grad students at UNC-Chapel Hill, we visited my wife’s uncle and his family on the Outer Banks. He built fishing boats, and lhey lived in a modest house in Buxton, near Hatteras lighthouse. Hatteras lighthouse is the tallest lighthouse in the US. In 1999, Hatteras lighthouse was moved from its original location […]

The Kimmel firing was strictly business

Look, I haven’t watched TV in over 20 years. I’ve never seen a Superbowl game in my life, and the only time I’ve seen Jimmy Kimmel is clips on Youtube. So I can’t boycott Disney because I wasn’t patronizing them in the first place. Anyway, Bob Iger cares about stockholders first, last and always. “If […]

Is the US on the brink of civil war?

I was alive and sentient through the 1960s. It was certainly a turbulent time of violence and political activism. So it was in mid-19th century America. But the ‘60s didn’t result in a civil war. “In the wake of Charlie Kirk’s assassination, voices from across the spectrum sounded alarms that the shooting was just the […]