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

New Deal democrats Weekly Indicators April 29 – May 3

Weekly Indicators for April 29 – May 3 at Seeking Alpha  – by New Deal democrat My “Weekly Indicators” post is up at Seeking Alpha. Very little change this week in any of the indicators, but what there was had everything to do with the frame of reference, because all gas prices under $3/gallon have now dropped […]

Biden finalizes rule opening up Obamacare to DACA recipients

by Megan Messerly One more ACA rule was finalized by Biden today. Not something huge in numbers; but something which will impact a few thousand people. People who were allowed to stay in the US or under a program called.  Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals or DACA. A coalition of states, Alabama, Arkansas, Louisiana, Nebraska, […]

Commercial or Charter Flights to BBall Games

Saturday stuff to quibble about. It appears Indiana Fever’s newest basketball player, Catlin Clark is being mobbed and followed as she travels to other cities to potentially play. It was bad in DFW Airport, Clark and her teammates were followed by reporters, with assorted other onlookers also wanting an eyeful of the star. The Indiana Fever […]

Ukraine, Israel, and Biden:  lessons and questions

Some thoughts on recent developments . . . Elite persuasion and its limits News reports suggest that President Biden got Speaker Mike Johnson to put a Ukraine aid bill on the floor of the House through good, old-fashioned persuasion:  Biden and his team convinced Johnson it was the right thing to do by sharing intelligence […]

April jobs report: counterbalancing March’s blockbuster good report, the first significant “ding” to the soft-landing scenario in months

 – by New Deal democrat In the past few months, my focus has been on whether jobs gains are most consistent with a “soft landing,” i.e., no further deterioration, or whether deceleration is ongoing; and more specifically:  All three of these metrics came in negative, in the sense of the lowest gain in jobs since last […]

A Teaser for you . . . Trickle Down Economics

Ever since Reagan and Thatcher first tried them, trickle-down policies have exploded budget deficits and widened inequality. At best, they’ve temporarily increased consumer demand (the opposite of what’s needed during high inflation that Britain and much of the world are experiencing). Reagan’s tax cuts and deregulation at the start of the 1980s were not responsible […]

Broker Fraud in the ACA marketplace

by Andrew Sprung The latest scam in healthcare involves being enrolled in a different healthcare plan than what you initially enrolled in the beginning, The new ACA plan which will not be as good as the one you had. How easy is it for someone to do so to the enrollee? It can be done […]

First Quarter GDP Growth at 1.6 Percent

by Dean Baker Commerce Department reported that GDP grew at a 1.6 percent annual rate in the first quarter, some-what lower than had generally been predicted. However, the headline number was held down by slow inventory accumulation, which subtracted 0.35 percentage points from growth, and a big rise in the trade deficit, which lowered growth […]

The snooze-a-than in jobless claims continues; what I am looking for in tomorrow’s jobs report

 – by New Deal democrat  The snooze-a-thon in jobless claims continues, as both initial and continuing claims are well-behaved within the narrow range where they have been generally for the past six months. Initial claims were unchanged least week at 208,000, while the four week moving average declilned -3,500 to 210,00. With the usual one […]

A Doctor at Cigna Said Her Bosses Pressured Her to Review Patients’ Cases Too Quickly

I first caught up with this article on MedPage Today, “Doc Blows Whistle on Cigna.” I also read the ProPublic report. Both are reporting on denial of claims before and after treatment and the productivity of claims reviewers. Additionally, the report discusses the use of labor (nurses, etc.) outside of the US to evaluate claims […]