One of the programs in play is reductions in Medicaid and Market Place provisions to pay for the tax breaks to a few. Cutting these programs will result in higher deficits also. Reductions in Medicaid and Marketplace provisions will reduce the roughly $1 trillion in ten-year federal savings these provisions generate thereby magnifying the beautiful […]
– by New Deal democrat This week’s update in jobless claims was decidedly mixed. Initial claims were unchanged at 248,000. Nevertheless this level was only equaled once and exceeded once in the past year. The four week moving average increased 5,000 to 240,500, the highest number since September 2023. With the typical one week delay, continuing […]
– by New Deal democrat The story of consumer prices in May is the same as it has been for the past several months: virtually everything except for shelter costs, and the even more lagging sector of transportation services, were somnolent. If the Fed wanted to, it could have declared victory many months ago. To […]
Stephen Miller has pointed ICE to Home Depots as magnets for undocumented workers (usually gathered outside, hoping to snag a day’s work). But to paraphrase Willie Sutton, why not go where the immigrants are? “Undocumented immigrants are concentrated in cities for various reasons but by no means only in cities. Cities have communal and ethnic […]
– by New Deal democrat As per usual for the week after the employment report, there is no new data until Wednesday’s CPI report. So let’s take a further look at some of the information from Friday’s report, as well as several other reports from last week in the goods-producing and sales sector. In the 40 […]
This report or document is one year old. It still has a foundation for what is being said. State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Horne assumed the office in 2023. Previously he served as State Superintendent of Schools from 2003 to 2011. Obviously, he has the background or does he? Not sure. Universal school vouchers […]
– by New Deal democrat My “Weekly Indicators” post is up at Seeking Alpha. Very slowly the effects of price increases and supply disruptions from the tariffs are making their way into the data. This week was the first suggestion it may have begun to affect consumer spending. As usual, clicking over and reading will bring you […]
Rewrite of important points on Medicare and the over payments to commercial MA plans. This is not the entire Chapter 12 MedPac report to Congress. Although, you may think it is as this a rather long post even after I boiled it down. Why Chapter 12? Simple . . . It talks about the rip-off. […]
My chairman predicts that the proposed NIH cuts will be a “nothingburger.’ Even if the budget cuts don’t come to pass (and I’m pretty sure the indirect costs cuts will stick), the damage will already have been done. Creative, energetic American scientists who seek academic positions will move to other countries. Back in 1986, I […]
These days, it’s fashionable for right-wing Republicans to accuse those who disagree with their extremism as being Marxists, socialists or communists. Of course, they are using these words as epithets, not based on their actual definition. Also, it’s fashionable for right-wing Republicans to claim they’re not cutting the federal budget, they’re only cutting waste, fraud […]