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

Medicaid Fraud Reduction Might Save $50 Billion

At the most. The GOP leadership keeps trumpeting work requirements and fraud when asked where they’ll find $880 billion in cuts to health care programs. That’s nonsense according to Merrill Goozner. The fraudulent work requirement meme, GoozNews I was glad to see fellow substacker Paul Krugman weigh in this morning on how the Republican Party is attacking […]

Taking Medicaid Away from Those Who Need It the Most

Cruel and Usual: Republicans Prepare to Gut Medicaid – by Paul Krugman West Virginia is a very red state; Donald Trump received more than two thirds of its votes last year. It’s also a poor state, left behind by the 21st century economy. Because incomes are low, it pays very little in federal income taxes — less […]

RFK Jr wants to cut Alzheimers research

As the American population ages, the burden of dementia care is increasing. While the GOP congress hopes to ease that burden by cutting Medicaid funding and letting those folks die*, RFK Jr is tackling the prevention side to make sure more Americans and their loved ones suffer from this awful condition: “Robert F. Kennedy Jr., […]

All About Politics and Not the Law

When They Come for the Judges, Civil Discourse Utah Senator Mike Lee knows better than this, which means that it’s about politics and not about the law. Specifically, it’s about letting politics trump the rule of law, the principle that there are laws that everyone, including the government, must follow. Apparently, the senator is no […]

Florida GOP Chair Slams U.S. Congressman Protecting Medicaid

AB: Uppity Democrat and Congressional Person Maxwell Frost is in a battle with Florida GOP Chair Evan Power in the aftermath of a rancorous congressional session. “Florida GOP Chair Slams U.S. Congressman Protecting Medicaid, “We Are Laughing at You,” 2Paragraphs Headlines were made when Frost tried to counter a MAGA legislative majority determined to push President Donald Trump‘s […]

The Trump/Musk/RFK Jr Administration is trying to kill us

• Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has paused a multimillion-dollar contract from the Biden administration to create a new COVID-19 vaccine; • US health officials are reevaluating a $590 million contract for bird flu shots that the Biden administration awarded to Moderna; • A meeting of a committee that advises the FDA on vaccine policy has […]

Viruses don’t care about your beliefs

“As the measles outbreak in Texas keeps spreading, parents who previously chose not to vaccinate their children are now lining up to get their kids the shots needed to protect them from the serious illness. “People are more and more nervous” as they watch the highly contagious virus spread in their communities, mostly among children, […]

Techno-Stalinism and the death of democracy

A former mentor once explained to me why America would be better off if scientists ran the country. While technocracy isn’t inherently anti-democratic—America could simply elect scientists and engineers—the notion smacks of elitism. Of course, this country was founded on the idea of elitism. Only property-owning White men could vote. The president was appointed by […]

Planned Budget Cuts and Impact

Jim VandeHei and Mike Allen review Trumps budget cuts. The implication here is it is near impossible to achieve the dramatic cuts without imposing severe penalties on the US Citizenry, The attempt is to balance the budget so as intakes equal outtakes of funds. Except Trump does not want to fix his 2017 tax break. […]

DOGE is shooting blanks

This appears to be a new and unfamiliar use of the word “efficiency”: “The Department of Government Efficiency run by Elon Musk last week published an initial list of 1,125 contracts that it terminated in recent weeks across the federal government. Data published on DOGE’s “Wall of Receipts” shows that more than one-third of the […]