One of the phenomena that have led to increased income inequality and the hollowing out of the middle class in America is the decline of unions. Recently, it appears that some workers are trying to claw back some of that lost economic ground. Now I don’t count PCPs as middle class or working class. Yes, […]

RFK Jr and the food-as-medicine trope Anti-vaxxer and brain-worm afflicted RFK Jr has announced, among his priorities, to use federal money to get people to eat better. From The Palm Beach Post: “The former independent presidential candidate is a big fan of Trump but not so much about the president-elect’s fast-food diet. “During an interview […]

Years ago, we had an MD/PhD student in our program who had Eilers-Danlos syndrome, a connective tissue disorder that causes joint laxity and frequent painful joint dislocations. After over a decade of being misdiagnosed, her correct diagnosis was made by a physical therapist, not a physician. I noted in a previous post that I’ve been […]

America is the only industrialized nation where you can go bankrupt because of medical care. The ACA helped mitigate that risk for tens of millions, but the Trump Administration is promising to abolish the ACA. For those with some form of health insurance (private insurance, the ACA, Medicare), there’s still the challenge of (a) finding […]

Trump and his minions may not believe in global warming, but people whose livelihoods depend on understanding climate change—bankers, insurance companies and the military—know it’s real. So do non-humans whose livelihoods are compromised by climate change: “Native fish populations will likely continue their decline off of Massachusetts’ coast, while species from further south will move […]

No, the 1% aren’t the job creators—that’s the middle class and working class. Tax cuts for the 1%, of course, don’t create jobs, they just create greater wealth disparity: “The authors set out to examine all instances of major tax reductions on the rich in 18 OECD countries between 1965 and 2015 and identify the […]

We had rooftop solar on our house for eight years before we moved. Half the price was paid by Ameren, the electric utility, and we got a 30% tax rebate on the balance. Even with that steep discount, we never got back our put, even in nominal dollars. Solar panels are much cheaper now, and […]

The Trump administration is threatening to deport >10 million people. These are people who, regardless of their immigration status, are contributing to the economy and jobs by purchasing goods and service (“job creators”) and contributing to social programs like Social Security and Medicare. Indeed, if they are undocumented, they will never see benefits to the […]

I’ve seen some people post “Happy Veteran’s Day.” I’m not a veteran. Technically, my dad was, although he was a naval officer who did his service in the Canal Zone, nowhere close to combat. I never saw him happy on Veteran’s Day. I was never in the military, although I did carry a draft card […]

Trump says global warming is a scam and a hoax. He promises to cut federal funding for green programs and to ramp up fracking and drilling. He can certainly do the former, but business controls drilling and fracking, and the price of oil is dictated by international supply and demand, not the whims of the […]