My university offers tenured faculty over the age of 60 two retirement options: (1) a buyout, where the faculty gets a full year’s worth of salary and benefits in exchange for immediate retirement and (2) phased retirement, where the faculty can choose reduced salary (70%, 50% or 30%) with reduced responsibilities for up to five […]
– by New Deal democrat Personal income and consumption is one of the two big monthly reports on the state of the average American, in addition to the jobs report. This month it has the added virtue of being the “least stale” monthly report, as it was issued only five weeks later than scheduled. Ever since […]
Student Loans are something Congress likes to mess with as an issue. The issue being, students are making off with millions or billions of dollars. Nothing could be further from the truth. Student loans will follow people till their death whether they can pay it or not. Congress has no issues in troubling young students […]
What you are reading here is a piece on the costs of Medicare Advantage Plans versus Traditional Medicare. Why is one so different than the other? The differences in MA and FFS are in coding intensity and selection. The later does not have such. MedPAC March 2025 report to the Congress Pages 338 to Page […]
Like Pete Hegseth and Donald Trump, I never had to serve in combat. But I’ve read enough history to understand why laws governing conduct of war have emerged. Secretary Hegseth thinks these laws are a sign of weakness and shouldn’t apply to the US military. I’m calling bullshit. But don’t take it from me, take […]
During my career, I served on NIH study sections and NSF grant review panels. What I personally witnessed was discussions over the scientific merits of various applications. There was no discussion of whether a proposal should be prioritized because the investigator worked at an elite institution on the east of west coast. Could the applicant […]
This entirety of this piece by Commonwealth Fund covers more than a Jobs cutback. There is a definite meanness in this legislation by President Tru_p and Republicans. It is meant to skew tax breaks to people who do not need tax breaks at the expense of overall healthcare cuts. This will impact more than just […]
One of embarrassments of our time is the medicalization of food. No, kale isn’t a superfood. No, Froot Loops are not poison. Food isn’t medicine. As for the risks of ultra-processed foods, any pharmacologist or toxicologist will tell you that the dose makes the poison. Ultra-processed foods don’t cause obesity. Obesity is caused by consuming […]
No. No matter how serious the issue, the crime, the anger, the attack, etc.; you do not get to murder people. It is that simple. Apparently, others have a different understanding of what you can do. The results of an investigation will be heavily skewed. Hopefully a couple of people I know who read here, […]
– by New Deal democrat The good news is, we are back to the normal weekly jobless claims releases. The really good news is that this week’s number, except for one week in 2022, was a new 50 year low! The bad news is that Holiday seasonality is very much in play, so take the good […]