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

How Pharma Avoids Paying US Taxes

Delightful story on how US pharmaceutical companies shift profits overseas. And US citizens are paying the highest prices globally for lifesaving meds which other countries our paying roughly one third. Pharma is also shifting their profits overseas and minimizing US taxes or tax avoidance. One way to avoid taxes is to move intellectual property to […]

DeSantis unveils economic plan, aim to ease process for discharging student loans through bankruptcy

This article came by way of Dale Coberly. In particular, Dale thought making student loans the responsibility of universities rather than students was enlightening. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis unveiled a new economic plan Monday as part of his 2024 presidential bid that includes a goal of easing the path for student loans to be discharged […]

Handicapped Man Dies from Lack of Heathcare

“About 90 minutes before the Michigan Supreme Court ruled Monday the cuts in payments to healthcare givers of badly injured motorists don’t apply to those injured before June 2019, one of those survivors died in a Farmington Hills hospital following a two-year struggle to maintain his quality of life and health. Sixty-four year old Brian […]

SARS-CoV-2 was probably not released from a research lab

I’m a molecular biologist who also has an undergrad degree in microbiology. Those facts and the additional facts that (a) I was in the Moderna phase III trial and (b) my medical school is one of ten NIH designated vaccine testing and evaluation units made me an avid student of the unfolding COVID-19 story. Given […]

Workers are 46% more likely to make below $15 an hour in states paying only the federal minimum wage,

I guess one could get by on this salary if one were frugal, could find low-cost housing, maybe used public transportation, ate cheaply, etc. There is not much room for anything else. And yet people still manage to do it. As EPI details, Nineteen percent of workers (9.76 million workers) in 20 states are paid […]

How the Biggest Emitters Match Up on Climate Change

I suspect that at the end of July, just about every expert globally will be looking for reasons why July’s climate will potentially be the hottest month experienced since we started to keep records. The U.S. has broken more than 2,000 high temperature records in the past month. The United States is long overdue in […]

Despite Potential to Electrify 90 Percent of Routes, USPS Still Plans to Deliver Pollution with the Mail

I came across this article on Steve Hutkins’ “Save the Post Office.” There has been a political effort to redefine the USPS into more of a business model and something it was never meant to be. Right now, the USPS is beginning to reimage its model and existence as led by Postmaster Louis Dejoy. There […]

On inheritance, college tuition and college loans

My parents died as paupers, so there wasn’t anything for me and my four siblings to “inherit” upon their deaths. No matter. I figure I got my inheritance on the front end, because my folks paid for my college education: tuition, room and board. Even correcting for inflation, tuition* at the University of Tennessee was […]