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

UK National Health Service Failures Due to Privatization & Funding Cuts

What we are seeing in the UK is an example of giving commercial healthcare too much latitude in providing healthcare. Private equity became involved with care for older people and care became chargeable and means-tested, long-stay hospitals were closed. and the government gave over the building of new facilities to private interests. Th US is […]

Minnesota’s Sanford-Fairview Hospital merger is a symptom of a larger problem

Sanford-Fairview merger is a symptom of a larger problem, MinnPost, Kip Sullivan. Minnesota has a hospital merger problem. But it didn’t begin last fall when Sanford Health and Fairview Health Services announced their intention to merge. It began in the 1980s and accelerated in the 1990s in response to mergers of unprecedented size among health […]

Plans to Cut Billions in Medicare Fraud Ignites Lobbying Frenzy

Have Medicare Advantage plans been over coding? According the MedPac 2022 report for year 2020 they have been. The funds of which come out of Medicare funding. The amount of which was an ~$12 billion for 2020 alone. But it is not just 2020, “Medicare Advantage has Overcharged FFS Medicare by Billions for Years,” Angry […]

3 graphic signs of financial stress

3 graphic signs of financial stress  – by New Deal democrat The theme of my weekly “high frequency” economic indicators update over the weekend was the sudden deterioration in some measurements of financial stress. Tomorrow we’ll find out that house prices as measured by both the FHFA and Case Shiller have decline further, and that […]

Two Banks in Trouble, Some History, and Four Opinions

I have read enough on the bailing out of two banks (Silicon Valley Bank and the smaller Signature bank). in 2018, I had argued against increasing the $50 or $100 (?) billion limit to $250 billion. These were commercial banks which were allowed in 2008 to join with Wall Street banks to dabble in securities, […]

Millions Strike and Protest in France

“France Is Furious”: Anger Grows at Macron for Raising Retirement Age as Millions Strike and Protest (rsn.org), Democracy Now. This is what happens when you let “the government” (“rich” taxpayers of a “progressive” tax) pay for your Social Security.  American Social Security was created “worker paid” by FDR exactly to avoid this (“so no damn […]

New Deal democrat’s Weekly Indicators March 20 – 24

Weekly Indicators for March 20 – 24 at Seeking Alpha  – by New Deal democrat I’ve neglected to put this up for the past several weeks, but by now you know where to find my latest Weekly Indicator post at Seeking Alpha. Probably unsurprisingly, in the week after the Silicon Valley Bank failure, just about every financial […]

Everything you didn’t know you need to know about the Postal Service’s new commercial

Everything you didn’t know you need to know about the Postal Service’s new commercial, Save the Post Office, Steve Hutkins. Last week the USPS Link had an article — titled “Get a ‘Move’ on” — announcing the Postal Service’s new TV commercial. The commercial is called “Orchestrated Delivery,” and its theme is “We’re reinventing our network” — […]

Living with Histories That We Do Not Know

Via Diane Ravitch’s blog comes this note and bio to watch Dr. Fenwick livestream presentation. I am pointing to her work as somebody worth a look. Living with Histories That We Do Not Know with Leslie Fenwick  Tuesday, April 11, 4 p.m. ET Dr. Fenwick will draw on her sustained contribution to education policy research and groundbreaking […]