Some rather easy facts and numbers to understand what is going on in healthcare. The data and graphs originate from USA Facts. USA Facts makes government data easier to access and understand. as the assert, “we don’t tell you what to think. We give you what you need to make informed decisions.” Three topics are […]
No doubt the two most inexperienced politicians have decided the US needs a war in the Middle East. Neither have an understanding of the military. Neither served in any service I am aware of today. Both have egos bigger than they are. And they are willing to risk it all and you as long as […]
I’m neither an economist nor an historian, but I know enough about Marx to know that none of the governments that have been established in his name followed Marx’s theories. Suffice to say that Marx taught that socialism—and eventually communism—would arise in mature capitalist economies, when the workers got tired of labor exploitation and overthrew […]
This showed up as a comment in the “Loss of Confidence” commentary. The author (John) admits he was off topic. And he is off topic to the topic of that post. Rather than trash a good comment, there is enough of it to make a post out of John Hofer’s comment. Read on . . […]
The Trumpenproletariat loves to point to those who disagree with Dear Leader as having Trump Derangement Syndrome. But like everything they accuse others of, it’s what they’re guilty of. “A week ago I asked whether global energy markets have “Trump Derangement Syndrome.” I was being a bit arch because I didn’t mean in the sense […]
Self-sufficiency does not mean stable pricing in the United States as Paul Krugman explains in his earlier March commentary. There is no allegiance to US citizens by oil companies. Give the tax breaks and citizens still pay. “The Impotence of Drill, Baby, Drill,” Paul Krugman, March 10, 2026 America produces a lot of oil. It […]
I’ve had several Iranian colleagues throughout my faculty career. Unsurprisingly, none were anti-American. Here’s an interview with Juan Cole and Mojtaba Mahdavi, two Middle East experts, on the current events in Iran. They discuss the politics in Iran and among the Iranian diaspora. Both Cole and Mahdavi point to the Netanyahu ambition of hegemony in […]
AB: A review and forecast of what is happening and what will happen over the next few weeks due to the oil shortage brought on by Trump’s attack on Iran. The impact of which, Trump’s blunder will cause many more issues economically. This is not Venezuela. “The Economy Doesn’t Have the Room to Absorb This […]
I read this piece at Health Affairs. Liked it, thought I could shrink it down with a bit of a rewrite, failed on the latter. It is a 10 minute easy read on health care, deductibles, and why the ACA is in trouble . . . think deductibles. They do not solve the use of […]
Review: “Breakneck” – The one-handed economist Dan Wang is a trenchant observer of the US and China. He was born in China but raised in Canada. He’s worked in the US and China as an adult, and he compares the culture of the two in this 2025 book. Wang’s big point is that US culture is […]