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

Will The Iran Nuclear Deal Ever Get Reestablished?

“Will The Iran Nuclear Deal Ever Get Reestablished?,” Econospeak  It (Iran Nuclear Deal) keeps looking like it might, but then no obstacles have appeared yet. President Biden promised to undo what I have long argued was the worst foreign policy mistake made by Donald Trump. He should have just done it right after he took […]

Sex and Gender: Diversity in Chimps, Bonobos, and Us

A bit of an introduction; Welcome to: “Annie Asks You:”  Seeking Dialogue to Inform, Enlighten, and/or Amuse You and Me. My interests are diverse: just about every aspect of what is sometimes called “current events,” with a frequent political emphasis (interrupted by breaks when I find matters have become unbearable); health and wellness; the environment; […]

An update on oil and gas prices

An update on oil and gas prices  – by New Deal democrat After stabilizing in the $87-$94 range for a little over a month, oil prices have declined further in the past several days. As of this morning they were in the $82/barrel range. The YTD graph via CNBC below shows that they have now […]

The spending transition from goods to services

The spending transition from goods to services  – by New Deal democrat Today is the last day for a very light economic week of news. One item worth addressing is the relative state of consumer purchases of goods vs. services in this pandemic recovery, because it appears to be unique. Let’s start with the ISM […]

Value-Based Payment Is the New For-Profit Health Care Industry

Before I get started on the main text of Kip’s expert article, I wish to point out something which is happening nationally. There is a plan afoot of forcing people into Value-Based Payment plans from traditional Medicare. The players include Iora Health (subsidiary of One Medical), Privia, General Catalyst, agilon health, Caravan Health, Signify (CVS […]

Another week of good news on jobless claims

Another week of good news on jobless claims  – by New Deal democrat Initial jobless claims had been in an almost relentless uptrend from the end of March through early August. Since then, they have completely reversed. This week initial claims declined another -6,000 to 222,000, and the 4 week average declined -7,500 to 233,000. […]

Reign of Queen Elizabeth II Has Ended

Another moment in History. “Remembering Queen Elizabeth II, Who Died at 96″ | The New Yorker, Rebecca Mead. Informational . . . Queen Elizabeth II, died on Thursday at Balmoral Castle, in Scotland, at the age of ninety-six. She became monarch in the early hours of February 6, 1952. Famously, she remained unaware of her […]

Coronavirus dashboard for September 7: the slow ebbing on the way to endemicity continues

“Coronavirus dashboard for September 7: the slow ebbing on the way to endemicity continues” I promised a COVID update, so I suppose I ought to follow through. Let’s start today with a graph of South Africa’s cases and deaths for the past year: South Africa is where BA.1 and BA.4&5 originated. You can see the […]

One person’s detailed history of Paying off a Student Loan

Mary Jacob explaining the student loan she paid off. This is a loan which had high balances due to miscalculations, etc. If I felt up to it, I could probably figure out how she ended up paying $16,000 in the end. It appears she was paying interest only in the beginning, drove the loan down […]