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

Climate Change and Back to Drawing Board for Economists

NYT article Pace of Climate Change Sends Economists Back to Drawing Board, Lydia DePillis, Aug. 25, 2022, a reporter on the Business desk at The New York Times. Previously, she covered federal agencies at ProPublica, the national economy at CNN, the Texas economy at The Houston Chronicle, labor and business at The Washington Post, the […]

In which I parse and war-game the Trump “special master” litigation

In which I parse and war-game the Trump “special master” litigation And now, for something completely different .. ..  While I have zero special knowledge about Federal criminal procedure, I *do* pay very close attention to “tells” in human behavior. (See, for example, my parsing of Bill Barr’s ‘summary’ of Mueller’s report summary, in which […]

Student Loan Forgiveness by Age and Dollars

Student Loan debt and how much of this may shake out. Pretty simple when you look into the this for now. The data above is taken from the National Student Loan Data System (NSLDS). A database maintained by the U.S. Department of Education to aggregate loan and grant data for all students who utilize federal […]

Does The IRA Lower YOUR Health Insurance Premiums?

Let’s answer the question. I am going to break this up into several segments as it takes into consideration multiples of people, income, etc. I think it will be easier to absorb. A well-known expert in MIchigan has put together the answers. This is Part 1 – Single Individuals “How much does the #IRA lower […]

MA Plans are Scamming Billions from Medicare

“Major Insurers Are Scamming Billions from Medicare, Whistle-Blowers Say” – PNHP, John Tozzi, Bloomberg, April 12, 2022 Teresa Ross had been raising objections at work for months when her bosses brought in a psychologist hoping to make her question her own sanity. A longtime manager at a Seattle health plan called Group Health Cooperative, Ross had opposed […]

irs.gov

The republicans are indignant as hell that the Inflation Reduction Act, née Climate and Healthcare Bill, would increase funding for the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). Since Reagan, republicans had been defunding it for them that brought them; them being the very rich who don’t like paying taxes. After the 2010 cuts, it had gotten to […]

MA Pricing Increases 8.5%, Traditional Medicare remains the Same so far

I believe we should fund traditional Medicare more, if the funds are going there (the funds are not going there). If you want something else, you are on your own. I do not want to pay the additional costs involved with MA Plans which we are doing out of Medicare funds. It is also no […]

MAGA Republicans threatening “our personal rights and economic security”

“August 27, 2022,” Heather Cox Richardson, (substack.com) In a speech Thursday night, President Joe Biden called out today’s MAGA Republicans for threatening “our personal rights and economic security…. They’re a threat to our very democracy.” When he referred to them as “semi-fascists,” he drew headlines, some of them disapproving. A spokesperson for the Republican National […]