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

Attempting to Extend the 2017 TCJA Tax Breaks

What is Necessary for Republicans to Extend 2017 Tax Cuts? The tax cuts in the 2017 TCJA were supposed to pay for itself in stimulation of the economy. The TCJA was passed using the Reconciliation Act. It never did pay for itself. So now Republicans are working on cuts to social programs to keep the […]

ACA Marketplace Healthcare Plan Renewals

ACA Marketplace Reflections on Retention and Year-round Enrollment – by Andrew Sprung xpostfactoid Writing about the ACA marketplace at this point has an elegiac feel (as does writing about almost any not-depraved or degraded aspect of American life). As of 2026, coverage is likely to be far less affordable, out of pocket costs will rise […]

New Administration and the return to an Inflationary Era

 – by New Deal democrat I don’t normally discuss movements in the stock and bond markets, but occasionally there are important paradigm shifts that can tell us a lot about the economy, and the last few months have been one of those times. The Federal Reserve began to cut interest rates on September 18th. What […]

Grocery Stores in Low Income Areas and Small Communities

Somewhere in all of this, I one time wrote about the accessibility of groceries in low-income neighborhoods. It mostly does not exist and people living in these deserts are more into eating McDonalds or other fast foods. I believe as you read further, you will find the same circumstance driving many smaller stores out of […]

The economic reasons why the Democrats lost in 2024

 – by New Deal democrat There is no significant economic news until Thursday. In the meantime, today and tomorrow let me discuss a couple of issues at the intersection of economics and politics. The 2024 Presidential election was one of the closest popular vote margin for the winning candidate, at 1.5%, since Richard Nixon’s 0.7% […]

California is an economic and technological powerhouse

Or who is the biggest moocher of Federal funding? Mike Johnson wishes to Penalize California. According to Louisiana’s Mike Johnson, California should be penalized. “Mike Johnson told CNN’s Manu Raju that there should be “conditions” on the proposed federal aid to California in the wake of the deadly wildfires in Los Angeles County. It appears to us […]

Healthcare, Groceries, Jobs, and Earnings . . . the Economy

We are amazingly ignorant of what is going on economically in the United States. But for groceries, the nation had a good economy. The right president was in the right place to ensure Americans had what they needed during several years of a pandemic. He no leaves the nation and presidency with a sound economy. […]

The Nation’s Increasing Federal Debt

A partial of a nice read on the US Federal Debt which will more than likely increase as this President and Congress will wish to make Trump’s 2017 tax break passed under reconciliation permanent. The issue being, it did not promote increased revenue which would have balanced out the deficit created. It (the issue) goes […]

Generic Drugs . . . a Growing Profit Center for Vertically Integrated PBMs

“Specialty Generic Drugs: A Growing Profit Center for Vertically Integrated Pharmacy Benefit Managers,” Federal Trade Commission A brief post or commentary on Pharmacy Benefit Managers (PBMs). For the Big 3 PBMs and their affiliated pharmacies during our study period from 2017 through part of 2022 specialty generic drugs represented a growing profit center. FTC analyses […]