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Open Thread March 17 2024, January and February were rough months for inflation

1 day ago

Employ America’s current corecast is for a 2.86% YoY core PCE print for February. The six-month growth rate of core PCE, which was under 2% in December, should now be over 3% in February. Core services ex-housing inflation will be up on a year-on-year basis versus the previous meeting. Many FOMC members, especially among the moderates in the committee (Daly, Mester, Powell, Waller) have expressed a willingness to look through a hot January potentially plagued by seasonality issues, but two months are probably too much to stomach. “March 2024 FOMC Preview,” employamerica.org. Preston Mui

Tags: inflation

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Inflation and Auto Insurance

2 days ago

Center for Economic Development and Policy Research, CEPR

Dean Baker

When we hear about inflation most of us probably think of items like food, gas, and rent, but when it comes to the Consumer Price Index (CPI), the most frequently cited measure of inflation, auto insurance has played a very large role in recent years. The index for motor vehicle insurance rose 0.9 percent in July. It was responsible for 0.024 percentage points of the 0.4 percent inflation reported for February.

Over the last year the insurance index has risen 20.6 percent and is responsible for just over 0.5 percentage points of the 3.2 percent inflation rate in the overall CPI. It accounts for more than 0.6 percentage points of the 3.8 percent inflation shown in the core

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Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s family finds fault with an award given in her name to Elon Musk and Rupert Murdoch

3 days ago

There has to be more deserving unrecognized people worthy of recognition running around today? Why would the Opperman Foundation believe Musk and Murdoch are deserving of such an award given in Justice Ruth Ginsburg’s name?

CNN, Tierney Sneed

The family of the late liberal Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg wants her name pulled off an award after the foundation in charge of doling it out named SpaceX CEO Elon Musk and conservative media mogul Rupert Murdoch among this year’s recipients. Ginsburg’s family objected to the Opperman’s Foundation selection.

“In a statement obtained by CNN, Ginsburg’s family said that, with the selection of this year’s honorees, the Opperman Foundation had ‘strayed far from the original mission of the award and from what

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One Place, AB is Happy Not to be Living in or Near

5 days ago

The actions of the state leaders is a blight on the rest of the state.

Florida is swamped by disease outbreaks as quackery replaces science, The Guardian.

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar’s Guardian Summary: Shortly before Joseph Ladapo became Florida’s surgeon general in 2022, the New Yorker ran a short column welcoming the vaccine-skeptic doctor to his new role, and highlighting his advocacy for the use of leeches in public health.

It was satire of course, a teasing of the Harvard-educated physician for his unorthodox medical views, which include a steadfast belief that life-saving Covid shots are the work of the devil, and that opening a window is the preferred treatment for the inhalation of toxic fumes from gas stoves.

But now, with an entirely

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Probing the Impact of Private Equity in Healthcare

6 days ago

Not rewriting anything on this commentary or adding to it. Shahon Firth covers a lot of territory in his brief commentary.

Probe Into Private Equity in Healthcare Launched,

MedPage Today,

Shannon Firth

Government officials announced a joint investigation into the role of private equity and “corporate profiteering” in healthcare during an online workshop hosted by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) on Tuesday.

The goal of the public inquiry is to collect information to guide agencies’ understanding of the impact of private equity acquisitions in healthcare so they can better leverage enforcement tools to address issues, said FTC Chair Lina Khan.

“Given recent trends, we are concerned that transactions may generate profits for those

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Legal versus Illegal Immigration

6 days ago

Going back to 2006 and one of the founders of Angry Bear below. Immigration being a positive thing and the reasons why. Also, the us population is not replacing itself. We have not yet experienced a decreasing population. It is not that far on the horizon. Replacement rate in the US is ~1.6 as discussed here.

Legal versus Illegal Immigration 2006

Angry Bear By Kash

Some of you have wondered why I haven’t yet made much of an effort to distinguish between legal and illegal immigration. It’s a fair question. Let me share my thoughts with you about the two and explain why my sentiments about immigration in general mean that I don’t worry much about the distinction between the two.

Personally, I tend to see immigration as a positive thing. It

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Social Security Privatization: a Crapo Proposal Redux

6 days ago

Some schemes never see to go away on Saving Private Social Security when in reality Public Citizen Social Security still works, needs no major saving, would take little to fix it, and far short of MMT.

Taken from a 2006 commentary on Angry Bear by “Admin” at the time. I was not here at the time and maybe one of the oldsters can offer up a name. As I read this, what Crapo and the rest of the hooligans are proposing is an exercise in accounting. Some of these guys (all?) are still around.

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Mike Crapo has joined James DeMint, Rick Santorum, Lindsey Graham, and Tom Coburn with another spin on Social Security privatization that Phil Kerpen endorses:

The DeMint-Crapo amendment puts the possibility of meaningful, pro-worker Social

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Forget them the Supreme Court and the Constitution. We are on Our Own

7 days ago

A president assassinated, another pushed out of office, Black citizens beaten, cities burning, a war in Asia, and a rogue president.

As taken and inspired by “The Supreme Court and the Constitution were never going to save us from Donald Trump,” Vox, Ian Millhiser

A bit of Vox for you this morning. I am using bits of this VOX post. This commentary is by Ian Millhiser from earlier in March. His is good and my is rough but the idea is there.

What puzzles me is the topic. I don’t mean trump perse. I do not understand why we are being abandon by the systems in place which should just ride trump out of town. I never did imagine SCOTUS allowing a single state to disqualify a presidential candidate. It makes no sense. If he is going to be

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DeJoy Arrogance on Display at Houston Texas Post Office

8 days ago

More US Post Office news. Louis DeJoy’s plan creates havoc in Houston. I have been watching the unfolding of Louis Dejoy’s arrogance in the transitional plan of the USPS to something more efficient and profitable.

It has become a pitiful comedy of errors and arrogance by Louis in implementing his master plan. He still fails to recognize the U.S. Post Offices are not a commercial enterprises meant to be profitable. The of the Post Office is in being able to deliver the mail to every citizen in the US regardless of whether it is in metropolitan Houston or Loving County, Texas with a population of 64. The latter being just as important as the former in mail delivery.

DeJoy does not get it and never will. The former and the most distant person on

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A Military Nightmare Called PTSD

8 days ago

PTSD is a scourge for military veterans. The good news is that the VA system provides specialized, high-quality care for PTSD; the bad news is that corporate-friendly politicians are privatizing this vital public health system.

PTSD Is a Nightmare. A Fully Funded VA Can Provide Relief,

jacobin.com, Suzanne Gordon and Steve Early

As the introduction say, there is politics involved with the VA. Moving veterans to commercial healthcare is a profit-oriented plan. It serves no person other than profits. Plus, they do not know how to treat veterans. It’s the money people which the politicians reap in for their campaigns.

Steve Early and I had a few conversations in the past. Given my background in the military, he was curious. I was also curious

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Getting the Truth on Medicare Advantage Plans v Traditional Medicare

9 days ago

Don Berwick says MA growth “should be slowed or stopped”

Obama CMS Chief Don Berwick: Medicare Advantage Plans Game the System,

MedPage Today, Cheryl Clark

Ok, this is a long one. It is easy to follow. Donald Berwick is worthwhile read. As written several times on Angry Bear, the biggest driver of healthcare cost is “pricing” increases as reflected in hospitals, pharmaceuticals, and healthcare insurance. It was Dr. Donald Berwick while head of Centers for Medicare and Medicaid during the 1st half of the Obama administration who said, repeatedly, that at least 1/3 of Medicare dollars was wasted on unnecessary tests, procedures and drugs that provide no benefit for the patient. Angry Bear. It is even worse with Medicare Advantage.

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Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, is going after debt resulting from healthcare

10 days ago

KFF Health News: In 2010 President Barack Obama signed legislation to create the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Its purpose he said “the new agency had one priority . . . looking out for people, not big banks, not lenders, not investment houses.” But people . . .

Since then, the CFPB has done its share of policing mortgage brokers, student loan companies, and banks. More recently, the U.S. health care system has turned tens of millions of Americans into debtors. The CFPB financial watchdog is increasingly working to protect beleaguered patients, adding hospitals, nursing homes, and patient financing companies to the list of institutions regulators are probing.

Just how big is the problem of medical debt?

Most consumers with

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How health insurers profit by hoarding your data

10 days ago

A comprehensive All-Payer Claims Databases would help the health care system become more effective and efficient. The Department of Labor could do something about that, but hasn’t.

Merrill at GoozNews is depicting why providers and software vendors closely guard patient information, maintaining exclusivity so as patients have to rely on them. Insurance companies follow suit so as to maintain the frequency and particularity of care for disease, etc. to set payments. Reporting requirements would resolve much of the difficulty in healthcare.

Originally Published at GoozNews by Merrill Goozner

Last week, I reviewed how health care providers and their computer software vendors refuse to share patients’ electronic health records (EHRs). This issue

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Biden publishes SOTU Healthcare Proposals: Permanent subsidy upgrade, $2K drug cap for all, more

11 days ago

I am late in getting this information up on Angry Bear. I should have checked fellow Michigander Charles Gaba’s site ACA Signups. Most of the time, Charles is way ahead of me on healthcare just like some of the others are from time to time.

This is a rundown of what President Biden is going to tell us tonight. What he intends to offer US Citizens, with Congressional help, and with regard to healthcare. Keep this post as a marker and let’s see what he makes happen and what politics will block just for spite and to punish citizens.

Ahead of tomorrow evening’s State of the Union address . . . via the White House:

President Biden publishes SOTU Healthcare Proposals: Permanent subsidy upgrade, $2K drug cap for all, more, ACA Signups, Charles

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What One Economist Wants to Hear on Thursday’s SOTU Address

12 days ago

Up-Dated: Dean Baker, CEPR co-founder and Senior Economist, shares what he wants to hear from the President during Thursday’s #SOTU2024.

[embedded content]
State of the Union 2024: Biden’s Economic Record, youtube.comDean Baker and CEPR hopes Joe Biden reminds the country of his strong economic record while offering substantive policy pathways to bring more relief to the hard issues many face every day. He surmises what President Joe Biden’s may offer citizens a quick runup of what was accomplished and avoided and what still needs to be accomplished in 2024. “Some” aspects . . .

economic record

24 months of below 4% Unemployment in spite of a pandemic.

Real Wages are growing faster than inflation.

Work

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Addressing Credit Card late fees and Supply Chain Pricing

13 days ago

My beef has been with the Supply Chain. Yep, you can be forced into manufacturing less product due to part shortages. Unless you are air freighting that stuff or running OT, costs do not necessarily increase due to producing less. Another situation? In 2008, the calls would come in about raising prices in a take it or leave it manner.

This was in regard to semiconductors mostly. It was not due to increased costs as much as increased demand. A rule of conduct or maxim claims if I order more for immediate delivery, I will get them quicker. It does not work that way as demand does not increase capacity. If you read “The Goal,” the author makes a point of using whatever capacity (new and old) that is available to meet demand. But in temporary bottle

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Big Mac Index Measuring Purchasing Power Parity Globally

13 days ago

Wikipedia: The Big Mac Index is a price index published since 1986 by The Economist. It is an informal way of measuring the purchasing power parity (PPP) between two currencies and providing a test of the extent to which market exchange rates result in goods costing the same in different countries. It “seeks to make exchange-rate theory a bit more digestible. The index compares the relative price worldwide to purchase a Big Mac, at McDonald’s restaurants. The results from November 2022.

The theory underpinning the Big Mac index stems from the concept of purchasing power parity (PPP). PPP superimposes the same Big Mac in various countries priced in the currency of that country and compares the exchange rates between various currencies. Given the

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Commercial Interests Lobbying Against Railroad Safety kill Legislation

13 days ago

A bit of a rewrite on this article. Still a little too long. Talking about railroads, the East Palestine derailment February 2023 crash and how little has been done since then. Outside interests including Koch Industries have been blocking much needed reform through their lobbying of friendly resources in Congress. A good read.

Last year’s toxic train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio, prompted new legislation with the aim of making railways safer. However, the incessant lobbying by the Koch network and its web of conservative operatives, killed the bill.

The Koch Network Is Lobbying Against Rail Safety, Jacobin, Freddy Brewster

One year after a toxic train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio, bipartisan legislation making the nation’s

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The USPS Network Consolidation Plan: What’s at Stake for Southern Oregon

14 days ago

The USPS Network Consolidation Plan: What’s at Stake for Southern Oregon, Save the Post Office, Steve Hutkins

In 2023, two years into the 10-year plan, USPS reported that the agency had committed $7.6 billion out of a total $40 billion restructuring budget and plans were on track to open 60 new Regional Processing and Distribution Centers across the country in the coming years.

Through this consolidation plan, many postal processing and distribution facilities in smaller communities will be converted to Local Processing Centers with reduced functions. USPS has not yet disclosed a full list of facilities to be affected by the plan. But in numerous reported cases, consolidation will result in packages and mail traveling long distances from

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Alabama Senator Tuberville Displays his Lack of Veracity

14 days ago

Tuberville is a politician who campaigned to overturned Joe Biden’s electoral win over Donald Trump in 2020. He further displays his ignorance by advocating the Big Lie since the election of Joe Biden. He has some taken some controversial stances such as climate change denialism and repealing the ACA. The news media calls stances by Tuberville to be controversial. Well, it is controversial and silly too. He does not represent Alabama in a positive way.

Most recently Tommy made a remark about Pres. Joe going to NYC.

NYC does have issues with violence. How does it compare to Alabama?

Both comments are taken from “X” formerly known as Twitter.

Given the news making light of the Senator’s remarks about NYC in itself is infuriating and

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Buy an Electric Vehicle or a Hybrid Electric Vehicle?

15 days ago

Another site has a long article on Toyota of it not going whole hog into electric vehicles in the beginning. Meanwhile domestic US automotive companies are proving out the technology with their models. Beyond mentioning the article, I will not delve into its content. That is other than saying it exists and may be a good read.

To me, staying with Hybrids is a sound decision by Toyota. Wait till the technology is proven with EVs before jumping into it in manufacturing. Quite a few $billions are being spent by the big three to prove the technology and whether it is manufacturing equitable or not. Which is one reason to wait . . . plant manufacturing change-over is not cheap. One can witness such being experienced in model year changes at the big

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A ray of hope from the grassroots

16 days ago

Infidel753, A ray of hope from the grassroots, Infidel753 Blog

Mid-December commentary by Infidel753 as taken from his site as known by the same title.

Much of the intensity of political polarization in the US comes from a strangely mirror-image-like pair of personal-freedom issues — abortion rights and gun rights.  In each case one side, or rather its most militant exponents, is grimly determined to attack and destroy what the other side considers an absolutely vital freedom.

To those who value personal freedom across-the-board, and to much of the “exhausted majority” seeking to overcome the dead-end division of American society into two bitterly-opposed camps, the outlines of a political “grand bargain” seem obvious.  Let the right wing

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Representative DeFazio taking on Boeing

16 days ago

Taking on Boeing,

A senior manager for Boeing’s 737 MAX program testimony about Boeing manufacturing issues and its supply chain.

The fatal MAX 8 crashes occurred in 2018 and 2019. He decided to speak up publicly and was then called to testify before Congress on the problems he says he saw up close. The story is at Politico and is accessible. I wanted to read the Congressional Investigation hearing. Below is part of it and an easy read.

I have italicized parts of it which I thought to be important. I will add to this with another post or more as needed . . . an easy read. I do not fly Boeing either. Instead, we fly the AirBus A320 as it is roomier than Boeing’s available planes.

Note the issues called out by Representative DeFazio.

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USPS Optimized Collections – The threat to election mail and other risks

17 days ago

I have noticed Angry Bear picks up many readers when it features commentary by Steve Hutkins from “Save The Post Office.” Steve Hutkins, Mark Jamison, Save The Post Office and I go back a number of years. We would like to hear from USPS workers. Use an anonymous name if you are concerned about repercussions. I hope we win this battle.

Evening collections end in Oregon and Washington: The threat to election mail and other risks

Save the Post Office, Steve Hutkins

Last week the Postal Service stopped collecting mail and packages at the end of the day at 170 post offices in Oregon and 30 in southern Washington.

The initiative is called Local Transportation Optimization (LTO), aka Optimized Collections. Without the traditional end-of-day

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Trends of Cubans Migrating to the US and Why

17 days ago

We did not see many Cubans come over the fence to escape to the Naval Base known as GITMO. It was just not possible as the fence surrounding GITMO was watched closely by the Cuban military. The history behind the designation of GITMO is derived from a bit of history – 1917.

In 1917, sugar plantation owners who feared a military insurgency asked the U.S. to station Marines at the base. From then on, Guantanamo Bay became a crucial hub of operations, and with telegraphy used for essential communications, an abbreviated form of the name was pressed into service: “Gtmo.” That abbreviation can be found in a Spanish-language bulletin from Cuba’s Department of Health, reproducing a telegram from October 1917 about efforts to combat malaria. A year and a

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Time to Rebuild an Island

18 days ago

I was stationed in Cuba at GITMO for almost a year. Came back stateside every 4-5 months. I could not tell you much about the country itself. We did get people coming over the fence to escape. Not sure what happened to them.

I think it is about time we loosen up on this island. They are not much of a threat. The embargo plays out on the Cuban population mostly. Other countries are not looking kindly on the US embargo of Cuba.

There is not much more we can do to Cuba that has not been done over the years.

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Background: The US embargo against Cuba is one of the oldest and most stringent of all US sanctions regimes, prohibiting nearly all trade and financial transactions between the United States and Cuba since the early 1960s. After a

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Black journalists always knew what Confederate monuments really stood for

18 days ago

A way-to-long-time in coming. These monuments should have been removed decades ago to begin the healing the wounds caused by Black Slavery. A good read by Donovan Schaefer as taken from The Conversation.

October 2023 and nearly seven years after the deadly Unite the Right white supremacist rally, the statue of Confederate General Robert E. Lee in Charlottesville, Virginia, was melted down. Since then, two more major Confederate monuments have been removed: the Confederate Memorial at Arlington National Cemetery and the Monument to the Women of the Confederacy in Jacksonville, Florida.

Defenders of Confederate monuments have argued that the statues should be left standing to educate future generations. One such defender is former President Donald

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Supreme Court Decides on hearing trump’s Immunity Appeal

19 days ago

As told to us by Joyce Vance at Civil Discourse.

This afternoon, the Supreme Court told us that it will hear Trump’s presidential immunity appeal. After sitting on it for two and a half weeks, they’ve issued a brief grant of certiorari, scheduling argument for the week of April 22. It’s a major disappointment for people who believe justice can be done and presidents are not above the law. And understand, this is not about politics. This is not about using a criminal prosecution in an unfair way against a candidate for office. This is about seeking justice and accountability, the core functions of our criminal justice system. “Justice delayed is justice denied” is the earworm that’s burning through my brain tonight.

The issues now will be how

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