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

Debt fueled consumption

rdan Rebecca Wilder will begin writing as a Bear soon. Meanwhile, she maintains her own blog NEWSNECONOMICS. Here is an example of an Aug. 19,2009 post, which I am cross posting today, and a follow up post here. There were several questions raised, but I think it an interesting notion. I own an old Malibu […]

Five Myths about health care

rdan 5 myths about health care round the world by By T.R. Reid, Commentary, Washington Post (hat tip Mark Thoma) …I’ve traveled the world … to see how other developed democracies provide health care. Instead of dismissing these models as “socialist,” we could adapt their solutions to fix our problems. To do that, we first […]

Why are we still paying Insurance Companies for HealthCare?

by Bruce Webb The above was the title to a blog post on TPM whose body read as follows: if 77% of americans want an alternative to paying insurance companies for medical care, why is more than 77% of the televised debate time being given to industry mouthpieces that oppose it, and the screaming stooges […]

Cost Controls and the Public Option: Why Losing the PO Would be Terrible-but Not Fatal

by Bruce Webb The part of the blogosphere that caters to the Progressive Left is hardening its position around the Public Option, it has become a non-negotiable point, the line in the sand, the “are you with us? or against us?” line. And I don’t have any problems with that position as a matter of […]

The Maine Chance

Robert Waldmann This seems important to me. Small business representatives told [Senator] Snowe [R-Miane] that they were opposed to any mandates that came without a public option and that such an alternative was desperately needed for small business, which can’t afford the rising cost of health insurance for their employees. In less good news, Snowe […]

Trade policy debate to begin for mid-term elections?

rdan Trade policy debate begins in Pennsylvania? America’s economy is now struggling to recover from the Great Recession. But even when the economy was said to be humming, it did not work for most Americans. Wages were stagnant or declining and the costs of basics – health care, housing, college – were soaring. Growth was […]

Medicare and "present value"

by reader coberly Andrew Biggs wrote that current Medicare recipients have not paid enough for the benefits they will recieve. He states that “since this is zero sum, it means that future taxpayers will get less than they pay for.” Here is an excerpt of what he said, followed by my comments. Biggs said: unlike […]

Poverty Levels and Health care reform

By divorced one like Bush It seems to go without saying, that if there is reform, there will be some type of assistance for those who need it. Some numbers are bandied about as to the cutoff points. The Mass Connector has it’s formula up that you can play with by punching in your own […]