In the Public Interest has published a new report (pdf) on the impact of charter schools and public school funding in CA: In a first-of-its-kind analysis, this report reveals that neighborhood public school students in three California school districts are bearing the cost of the unchecked expansion of privately managed charter schools. In 2016-17, charter […]
Charles Gaba: Why Risk Pools are Bad Charles Gaba at ACA Signups.net has an excellent explanation on how Risk Pools work and how they harm those amongst us who depend upon a community rating system to balance out cost. Michigan Medicaid Wavier Strikes at the Poor The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities reported on […]
(Dan here…there is a lot of discussion about reasons for wages not keeping pace with productivity and the like. There are also discussions on the impact outsourcing, the role of monopolies and monopsony. and outright making it a policy to keep wages from rising.) Spencer thinks: Even though the year over year change in average […]
CMS is allowing states to seek waivers to alter parts of the ACA. According to Republicans, state government knows better than the federal government the needs of its citizens and can design a better healthcare plan for them. Michigan along with Kentucky and another state have applied for waivers. Michigan and Kentucky have been approved. […]
On Negotiations In Korea Let me say that if Donald Trump is able to finalize a serious agreement in Korea that brings an official end to the war there as well as establishing some kind of peaceful settlement in general that leads to some sort of mutually acceptable arrangement between the two Koreas that maintains […]
“Guaranteed jobs programs, creating floors for wages and benefits, and expanding the right to collectively bargain are exactly the type of roles that government must take to shift power back to workers and our communities,” — Senator Kirsten Gillibrand “By strengthening their bargaining power and eliminating the threat of unemployment once and for all, a federal […]
Duncan Foley On Socialist Alternatives to Capitalism Yes, it is May Day, time to think about workers and socialism, while Vladimir Putin gets himself inaugurated for another term as President of Russia, with military vehicles parading In Red Square like they used to for the glory of the workers, but today for the glory of […]
March 2018 personal income and spending Programming note: I’ve been working on a mega-post about housing, that is now complete except for a few graphs. So, please excuse the brevity otherwise. March 2018 real personal income and spending were both positive. So far, so good. The personal saving rate fell slightly: Again, this is consistent […]
Michigan Senator Debbie Stabenow zeroes in on Mick Mulvaney cutting funding to preserve the Great lakes which no one state controls and will suddenly become a Federal issue if this vast national resource of fresh water is polluted. Quelle Surprise! Mick Mulvaney purposely gets it wrong by comparing Arkansas dependency on Federal taxes to Michigan […]
Since the presidential election there have been claims made that the Democratic Party is not interested in change. People have noted how the pre-election rhetoric of both Bill Clinton and Barack Obama did not match their post election actions. (I’ve pointed out specific examples in the past). I just heard the following article on Democracy […]