by Divorced one like Bush For your consideration here are some real numbers from a Medicare Advantage policy via United Health Care Cat Scan billed $1042.00Not Covered $ 831.68That means the contracted charge for this service with UHC is $210.32.Copay $ 42.06UHC payment $ 168.26 The “copay” is 20%. Same plan has a “Deductible/Copay” individual […]

By Spencer; The CPI rose 0.1% in May as the core CPI rose 0.1% and energy rose 0.2%. The real significance of the rise in energy prices shows up in this table that shows the composition of real average hourly earnings — the final column in the table. In the fourth quarter real earnings rose […]

105 years ago today, James Joyce lost his virginity. Eventually, he wrote a very funny book about the day. May all our days be as productive.

by reader ilsm From the Sunday June 14 Economist View discussion over Tyler Cowen’s article on Medicare crushing the federal budget, as the DOD budget has for many years. Tyler states the devastating growth of cost is due to “the financial incentives for doctors and medical institutions to recommend more procedures, whether or not they […]

rdan Transcript of speech via CBS News. Economist View points to Peter Orzag in Financial Times.

by Divorced one like Bush Time for some real numbers. This example is also an example for people to understand the need for fixing our system of paying for health care. Because, even in the senior years, the cost can bankrupt you. My parents, 2008 adjusted gross income $43,291. $19,745 is capital gains from a […]

Time for our military readers to step up. Various basement bloggers belonging to the 101st Fighting Keyboardists continually tell us the next step is Israel bombing Iran. But can someone explain exactly how this would work in detail? I mean in actual detail including 1) Israeli strike capabilities, 2) Iranian air defense capabilities, 3a) how […]

by cactus I’ve had a few posts on healthcare in the past, such as looking at how costs increased across various presidential administrations to my own run-ins with insurance companies. So I was kind of interested in this piece on healthcare on the WSJ by Karl Rove. Let me pick a few passages and comment… […]

Another dual-bankruptcy female with real estate problems. Wonder what the difference will be?

rdan This chart from Calculated Risk shows the surplus and deficit as a per centage of GDP since 1960. Howard Rich mentioned in his post that the deficit was a function of “the leak in demand of the American economy.” Juan reminds us that China is not a passive player to our ‘demand’ pull’. Juan […]