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

“divergence between higher-wealth, higher income consumers and their lower-wealth, lower-income counterparts”

Preliminary results from the February 2026 survey University of Michigan economics’ report does not see a dynamic economy for the overall nation. It portends gains for the upper income populace and not so much in store for the lower income brackets. Largest stockholders can look forward to a good year. Those further down, a not-so-great […]

Medicare Advantage Plan from a Year Ago

This piece by Merrill Goozner was written one year ago to the month. Merrill covers a lot of territory in his healthcare discussions. There is one other person who also is very knowledgeable about Medicare and Medicare Advantage plans. As Merrill says there is not need for 5% increases in pricing for Medicare Advantage plans […]

Not getting hepatitis A&B vaccination can have consequences

Exposure to an environment where hepatitis is prevalent (or risk factors like diabetes, certain jobs, or travel, offering lifelong protection with just a few shots, etc.) than get the shot. If not then maybe flip a coin. I am compromised, so I opted for the A&B shots. I also travel out of country when I […]

Does Government Military Spending “Fund” Shareholder Dividends, Buybacks, and Concentrated Wealth?

Short answer: yeah. The long answer is . . . longer. – by Steve Roth Originally posted at Wealth Economics There are a lot of pathways and mechanisms in the US and worldwide that deliver wealth to assetholders, and that have perennially concentrated that wealth (hence power) into the hands of dynasties over millennia — notably over […]

New Deal Democrats Weekly Indicators for October 13 – 17

– by New Deal democrat My “Weekly Indicators” post is up at Seeking Alpha. About 90% of the high frequency data comes from non-Federal government sources and so is unaffected by the shutdown. It continues to signal no particular stress. But there is no denying that the loss of the monthly official data series (for things like […]

Tyler Cowen’s no good, very bad post on Affordable Care Act Subsidies

We are in the middle of a government shutdown, and one point of contention between Democrats and Republicans is the extension of “enhanced” premium subsidies for policies purchased on the exchanges set up under the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare). Yesterday Tyler Cowen put up a blog post titled “The unraveling of Obamacare?”.  I haven’t followed […]

Summer Covid Wave

In the past and through the epidemic, r.j. sigmund has been reporting on Covid and the waves that have hit the U.S. He is a good read on the topic of Covid. ~~~~~~~ Summer’s Covid wave continues to recede, based on the sketchy data we’re still getting. The CDC’s Covid Surveillance page shows that “test positivity”, (or […]

People Will Learn Once the ACA is Cut

My comment: “Do you see such an awaking amongst the citizens who are Republicans? Are they besieging their representatives or senators yet? It appears many voters disapprove of Tr_mp. His reign this presidency is similar to his 2017 reign.” Partial of my reply to a superior comment by J.P. McJefferson. ~~~~~~~ Some & slightly, but […]

Improving Social Security Options

Dean Baker: Don’t Buy the Scare About Social Security. “The increase in spending on Social Security from 2033 to 2034 (measured as a share of GDP) is 0.03 percentage points. That would be less than 1.0 percent of the Pentagon’s budget. This is the extent of the increased economic burden in the year the trust […]