Not rewriting anything on this commentary or adding to it. Shahon Firth covers a lot of territory in his brief commentary. Probe Into Private Equity in Healthcare Launched, MedPage Today, Shannon Firth Government officials announced a joint investigation into the role of private equity and “corporate profiteering” in healthcare during an online workshop hosted by […]

February consumer inflation: the tug of war between gasoline and shelter continues The Bonddad Blog  – by New Deal democrat Last month I described the trend in consumer inflation as an ongoing “tug of war” between energy and housing. Energy (mainly gasoline) peaked in June 2022 and made its low in June 2023, while housing, […]

Later this week we get a lot of interesting reports, including CPI tomorrow, retail sales on Thursday, and industrial production on Friday. In the meantime, let’s take a further look at some of the more noteworthy data from Friday’s employment report.

As UnitedHealth Medicare Advantage Care racks up unprecedented profits, the people it insures battle for care. Open Thread February 29 2024 “The Republican Party is dying as Trump and his supporters take it over . . .” Angry Bear

PTSD is a scourge for military veterans. The good news is that the VA system provides specialized, high-quality care for PTSD; the bad news is that corporate-friendly politicians are privatizing this vital public health system.

Weekly Indicators for March 4 – 8 at Seeking Alpha  – by New Deal democrat My “Weekly Indicators” post is up at Seeking Alpha. Generally speaking, there is a demarcation between consumer-oriented data, which is in the main positive, and manufacturing-oriented data, which is mainly weak or negative. As usual, clicking over and reading will bring […]

February jobs report: the Household Survey is downright recessionary, while the Establishment Survey is decidedly mixed  – by New Deal democrat In the past few months, my focus has been on whether jobs gains are most consistent with a “soft landing,” i.e., no further deterioration, or whether deceleration is ongoing; and more specifically:  Here’s my in […]

Initial jobless claims continue positive, suggesting good news for the tomorrow’s February unemployment rate as well  – by New Deal democrat The most important reason I cover initial jobless claims is because they are an “official” short leading indicator. They are also very good at forecasting the short-term trend in the unemployment rate in the […]

This post uses material that a Facebook friend posted. I re-post it here with her permission. Any provider that uses a Billing Software (that has Change HealthCare integrated in their system as the main clearinghouse) can’t get claims to insurance companies once they medically bill for something/services in their software. Change Healthcare is the ‘bridge’. […]

January JOLTS report: shows more (relative) weakening, downward revisions to 2023  – by New Deal democrat The JOLTS report for January showed only minor changes compared with December, all to the downside, but was somewhat overshadowed by mainly downward revisions to all of 2023. Starting with the monthly changes, job openings (blue in the graph below), […]