(Dan here…lifted from Robert’s Stochastic Thoughts) Kevin Drum Talking ’bout my generation Kevin Drum has a funny but also genuinely interesting post on how boomers are not really to blame for messing up America (he half tongue in cheek blames the silent generation). I don’t think the defensiveness is entirely an act. He does concede Now, if you […]
Via Naked Capitalism: Place based economic conditions and the geography of the opioid overdose crisis By Shannon Monnat, Associate Professor, Syracuse University. Originally published at the Institute for New Economic Thinking website Over 400,000 people in the U.S. have died from opioid overdoses since 2000. However, there is widespread geographic variation in fatal opioid overdose rates, […]
(Dan here….) Via the New York Times comes an article on the Social Security shortfall. No explanations given for what the shortfall context is, and not till the end was a fix suggested. In comments calling SS a ponzi scheme (with no explanation) was common, or with the fix mostly was about lifting the cap. […]
Trucking suggests transport slowing, but has not rolled over I have been paying particular attention to the monthly report of the American Trucking Association, to compare its performance with rail, which has been sagging since the beginning of this year. A few other people are relying on the Cass Freight Index, but since that includes […]
I’ve been on the beat of income inequality since I started blogging here. My theory: We changed the way we make money from one of making it from producing (polishing rocks into tools) to one of making money from money. When you can make money from moving money, you don’t need to compete. Just buy […]
The North Korea Food Shortage Deepens Yeah, I know, the Iran situation is more in the headlines, but nobody knows anything and everybody is shooting off their mouths. I shall comment on that one when things settle down a bit. Instead I shall provide info less widely reported coming out of nkecon on the still-unreported-in-MSM […]
For party voting preference, which is more important, age or education? Looks like we have an answer For all the slicing and dicing that has been done in voting metrics for 2016 and 2018, one quandary has stood out. We know that higher educational attainment has strongly correlated with voting for Democrats, and we also […]
A Bernie Sanders Narrative for Seniors What follows is some unsolicited advice for the Sanders campaign. Politico has an important piece on the downside of the extraordinary age bias in Sanders’ support. Like a teeter totter, the large advantage Sanders enjoys among younger voters is counterbalanced by his dismal showing among the older crowd. The article […]
75 Years After The Longest Day Yes, I am watching “The Longest Day” on TMC. Have not seen it for decades, but this 75th anniversary of D-Day seems to be the time to do it. This will be a rambling post all over the place. I note that according to the film, it was German […]
Robert Kocher and Donald M. Berwick “While Considering Medicare For All: Policies For Making Health Care In The United States Better,” Health Affairs Dr. Donald Berwick is the former Director of Medicare and Medicaid who talked about waste in Medicare and Doctors knowing such waste exists. “It is unlikely that the United States will move […]