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

Credit Card Reward Program Trickery

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (2023), received over 1,200 complaints involving credit card rewards. Which is reflective of a 70 percent increase over pre-pandemic levels. Some complaints are perennial issues such as the administration of credit card rewards. Consumers are claiming credit card companies are denying them benefits after they met program requirements. Others suggest […]

The economics of bacon

I love the smell and taste of freshly cooked bacon. That said, I very rarely eat bacon, for the same reason I rarely eat sausage, ham or bratwurst. Preserved meats are associated with a higher risk of colon cancer. But if you *do* eat bacon, can you afford to? Not according to Donald Trump, who […]

The Media

Yeah, Biden is old. He walks slow. He has a speech impediment. He moves too fast in answering lies and ignorance. etc. Due to all of this, we ignore the stench in the room call trump. And you all appear to believe trump is eligible to be the president despite his past actions and his […]

Manufacturing and construction make up the vast bulk of the goods producing sector, and they are still trending postive

The leading sectors of the labor market are still generally trending positive  – by New Deal democrat Our economic news drought ends tomorrow with the CPI report, and I’ve beaten the issue of unemployment to death, so today let’s turn to the leading sectors from the Establishment Survey portion of the jobs report, whereas I’ve […]

Two years after the end of Roe v. Wade, most women on probation and parole have to ask permission to travel for abortion care

Since the 2022 Dobbs decision, 21 states have restricted abortions earlier than the Roe v. Wade standard. Now, more of the 800,000 women on probation and parole must seek abortion care out-of-state — but for many, whether they can get there depends on an officer’s decision. by Wendy Sawyer Blog | Prison Policy Initiative June 18, […]

Pharmacy Benefit Managers: The Middlemen Inflating Drug Costs and Squeezing Main Street Pharmacies

There are seventy-one pages to this FTC report. My commentary looks at 5 edited (mine) pages of the report. The intent is to introduce you to Pharmacy Benefit Managers (PBMs) and the control they have over the market. The services they provide has been integrated with the healthcare insurance companies. Which makes this a dynamic […]

A historical look at labor force participation surges, real GDP, and unemployment

 – by New Deal democrat In my discussion yesterday of why the Sahm Rule might be giving a false signal at present, I noted that “in addition to the 1980-81 double-dip period, significantly the only other time [a big increase in new entrants into the labor force leading up to a recession] even came close […]

Health Care Spending to rise despite more uninsured

by Merrill Goozner GoozNews Government prognosticators once again foresee rising health care costs amid falling insurance coverage. Is this an election prediction? Each mid-year, economists and actuaries at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services offer their predictions for the direction of health care spending over the next decade. This year they projected health care’s share of […]

Waffle House strike highlights the harms of the Southern economic development model

by Chandra Childers Economic Policy Institute Working Economics Blog Some background on the author; Chandra Childers is a senior policy and economic analyst with the Economic Analysis and Research Network (EARN) at EPI. Her work is primarily focused on supporting EARN’s state and local policy research and advocacy network in the Southern United States. Childers is committed […]

Arizona abortion ballot measure locks in more than twice the number of signatures needed

by Robert Gundran The Copper Courier I was not expecting to see a turnout as large as this one in Arizona as mentioned below in The Copper Courier. In April, the Arizona Supreme Court upheld an 1864 law, which carries with it a mandatory prison sentence for doctors who provide an abortion for any reason other […]