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

Progress in renewable electricity storage

The problem with renewable energy like solar and wind is intermittency. When sun goes down or when the wind isn’t blowing, no generation happens. Lithium batteries are one solution. Pumped hydroelectric is another. Lithium-ion batteries store power in their electrodes. Flow batteries store power in their liquid electrolytes. “Electrolyte solutions are stored in external tanks […]

The business of AI: where’s the intelligence?

The two editors-in-chief, the emeritus editors, and all associate editors but one for the Elsevier scientific periodical Journal of Human Evolution have resigned. In a press release, the editors note, among other complaints, that Elsevier has eliminated the position of copy editor on the grounds that “the editors should not be paying attention to language, […]

The final jobless claims report of 2024 is good weekly, but the trend indicates substantial weakening

 – by New Deal democrat Welcome to 2025! The data this year starts out with jobless claims for the last week of 2024, which of course is heavily influenced by seasonality. The news was mainly good this week, with claims declining -9,000 to 211,000, the lowest number in over half a year. The four week […]

Immorality of Greed and Its Impact on Healthcare – Opinion Piece

Greed Is Immoral. Health Care Greed Is Abominable. – by Jim Hightower Creators.com America has endured a long panorama of corporate greed — from the East India Trading Company to the Robber Barons, Gordon Gecko Wall Streeters to Elon Musk. But down at the bottom of raw greediness today, you’ll find the insatiable profiteers of […]

Donald Trump and the Musk business model

Yale Professor Timothy Snyder is an expert on the history of Eastern Europe, especially the histories of Nazi Germany, Stalinist Russia and World War II. He has become a public intellectual with the publication of his books “On Tyranny” and “On Freedom.” Snyder has been sounding warnings about the second Trump Administration, not only for […]

Puerto Rico Suffers New Year’s Eve Blackout

Fury at Private Power Giants as Puerto Rico Suffers New Year’s Eve Blackout, Common Dreams The latest failure of the Puerto Rico privatized power grid on Tuesday plunged much of the island into a blackout on New Year’s Eve, sparking fresh anger toward the system’s for-profit operators and political leaders who sold off the U.S. territory’s public […]

Upcoding Linked to Up to Two-Thirds of Payment Growth

Upcoding Linked to Up to Two-Thirds of Growth in Highest-Intensity Hospital Discharges in 5 States, 2011–19, Health Affairs This is an abstract as I did not have access to the research article by Health Affairs. Besides the numerics also consider this is only for 5 states. Just something to be aware of and the magnitude […]