The United States already had the highest rate of child poverty compared to other wealthy, developed nations. According to the most recent data from the Organization for Economic Co-Operation and Development (OECD). The U.S. child poverty rate was 20.8 percent, and the average for similar countries excluding the United States was 11.2 percent using data […]

A quick run-down on Trump and Republican’s H.R. 1 bill. This has already passed in the House and is now at the Senate for consideration. There may be some changes and resistance yet. There is a widespread agreement the most vulnerable will take the biggest hit, and it is by design. Under H.R. 1, the […]

In 2006 Joel Garreau wrote “300 Million and Counting” in the Smithsonian. It was then we were at a replacement rate of 2.01. The nation was barely replacing itself.  November 20, 1967, the population of the United States passed 200 million. It had taken ~29 years to add 100 million more people to the US […]

Along with the return of trump, the United States popularity is in decline. U.S. President Donald Trump receives mostly negative ratings in a new Pew Research Center survey of 24 nations. More than half in 19 of these countries say they lack confidence in Trump’s leadership in world affairs-Pew. I would suggest not traveling globally […]

 – by New Deal democrat My “Weekly Indicators” post is up at Seeking Alpha. The trends that have been in place ever since the start of Tariff-palooza!, aided and abetted by the GOP budget-busting bill and the burgeoning Israel-Iran war, are continuing. The US$ is declining, oil prices are spiking, rail traffic has turned negative, and […]

Introduction to Pharmacy Benefit Managers and their role with pharmacies, insurance companies, drug manufacturers, and healthcare. They do have an impact on the costs of healthcare through the pricing of drugs. Also, a large impact on growth in drug prices, higher patient out-of-pocket costs, availability, and the closing of independent pharmacies. What Pharmacy Benefit Managers Do, and […]

I’m reading these religion-based and politically based articles saying Americans need to have more children. WTF? “In an effort to get Americans to have more children, the Trump administration has proposed ideas such as a $5,000 “baby bonus” or a $1,000 tax-deferred investment account for children born between 2025 and 2029. It’s as if we’re […]

City workers in NYC are getting a raw deal or some would call it a better deal (if you are the city) on healthcare when one retires. There must be some type of deal going on here. Medicare Advantage does have its coding issues and smaller sources of healthcare places a member can go to. […]

 – by New Deal democrat As promised yesterday, today let me take an extended look at the important leading sector of housing. I want to walk through each of the important series generally in the order in which they have typically peaked, and how in at least one important respect this time is – somewhat […]

It’s bad enough that Republicans believe poor Americans should be allowed to die without health care. But if you ever need a hospital, whether or not you have insurance, this could kill you, too. “That’s because each node of the system is interdependent. If the 190 rural hospitals estimated in a recent Center for American […]