[unable to retrieve full-text content]Former Sen. Pat Toomey (R), represented the key state of Pennsylvania for 12 years in the Senate. He said he would not vote for former President Trump or Vice President Harris in the November 2024 election. (Psst, pre-November 2024 election commentary). I do not know if this person actually did not vote for either Trump or Kamala Harris. He […]
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[unable to retrieve full-text content]The uninsured numbers dropped since the advent of the ACA. Lower costs would have been available if one Congressional Rep from Michigan had not interfered. I will find that information and add it. Still 26 million uninsured in the US. The State of Health Insurance in America, Econofact, Mark Shepard The Issue: Universal access to […]
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[unable to retrieve full-text content]DOGE today, gone tomorrow “With a little more than a month until Inauguration Day, one of the most fascinating parts of the new administration isn’t being led by President-elect Donald Trump. The Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, has arguably garnered more attention than Trump’s plans for tax cuts, tariffs, and immigration. Co-heads Elon Musk […]
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[unable to retrieve full-text content]Interesting article on wealth. Sometimes being lucky outperforms talent or intelligence. A recent article including some graphs I included. Sources for the graphs are provided allowing the reader to learn more about how wealth is obtained. Article by Vawn Himmelsbach was portrayed in Moneywise. ‘Moneyball’ and ‘Big Short’ Author Michael Lewis Says Elite Rich Americans […]
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[unable to retrieve full-text content]Some history on Senator Joe Manchin III. He has never met a lump of coal he did not like. There is money in the almost black gold. Twenty years of supplying the Grant Town power plant in West Virgina with low-grade coal mixed with rock and clay known as “gob.” And stymieing any interest in […]
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[unable to retrieve full-text content]Commentary: Trump’s pick for education secretary shows he understands the assignment, Erika Donalds, The Heritage Foundation There are answers to this author’s commentary. I will wait for another time to discuss student loans and private education in the US at the expense of a public education. Commentary: Trump’s pick for education secretary shows he understands […]
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[unable to retrieve full-text content]Applications are “carefully reviewed” by a legal team to determine eligibility for debt cancellation, yep! What does continuous growing Student Loan Debt look like today? Federal Student Loan Portfolio by Age. The chart below only shows the last 4 years by Quarter. President Joe Biden has been attempting to grant relief to students. This is […]
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[unable to retrieve full-text content]How the Vinyl Record Revival Is Spinning Into the Future, Norbert Sparrow, Plastics Today, Norbert Sparrow Good take om the revival of records. That is if you remember 78s and 45s. But today’s vinyl is not the same as that used to press Michael Jackson’s Bad, the best-selling album that year. Just as music has evolved […]
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[unable to retrieve full-text content]as Joe Manchin, Sinema Block Biden NLRB Nominee AB: I never had much respect for Joe Manchin. Just another rich guy out of West Virgnia. Perfect article about Joe’s reign in WV since 2010 “What has Joe Manchin done for West Virginia?” The answer to that question is not much unless it benefited him or […]
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[unable to retrieve full-text content]Dennis Drew discussing labor and why the US does not have more union labor. Higher minimum wage — bunk!  Unions systemically squeeze out the maximum price consumers are willing to pay for their labor. Any lower price should be taken as a unionless discount — I wish I could make up an “official sounding” term […]
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[unable to retrieve full-text content]Not an article by The Economist. Indeed, an article reporting on The Economist piece as written by La Vanguardia. A positive take on The Economist article. As reported, Spain achieved the best economic results of any nation with the exception of GDP per capita over the last year. Not everyone is in agreement. But all […]
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[unable to retrieve full-text content]The U.S. economy posted a solid though slightly disappointing (?) period of growth in the third quarter, propelled higher by strong consumer spending that has defied expectations for a slowdown. With the expectation of attempting to slow inflation, I would think a 2.8% rate of growth would be welcome in light of the Fed waiting […]
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[unable to retrieve full-text content]Nearly half of U.S workers will live in states with at least a $15 minimum wage by 2027, Economic Policy Institute In the 2024 election, Alaska and Missouri voters approved ballot measures to increase their state minimum wage to $15 an hour in the coming years. Now 15 states and Washington D.C. either have or […]
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[unable to retrieve full-text content]The Big 3 PBMs are Countersuing the FTC. Does Their Argument Have Any Teeth? MedCity News After the FTC filed a lawsuit in September, accusing the three major pharmacy benefit managers of anticompetitive rebating practices related to insulin, the defendants reversed roles and became plaintiffs. In November, they countersued the agency, arguing that its lawsuit […]
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[unable to retrieve full-text content]10 programs that could be on the ‘government efficiency’ chopping block, Washington Post The programs without separate spending authorization that Ramaswamy would do away with represent more than $516 billion, according to the Congressional Budget Office. The 10 largest make up $380 billion. Here’s a look at what some of those programs do (click on […]
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[unable to retrieve full-text content]CBO: Not extending IRA subsidies will cause 3.8M to lose coverage, ~7.9% avg *additional* premium hike | ACA Signups, Charles Gaba Not that this should surprise anyone, but it’s good to have the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) formally chime in: It’s important to keep in mind that the 4.3% average premium hike in 2026, as well […]
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[unable to retrieve full-text content]I believe it was about 4-5 years ago, we decided to move from our of 2600 square feet on 2/3rds of an acre. We also wanted to get to some place warmer. We did eventually do both and not exactly where we wanted. The first year we went exploring in the areas around Phoenix and […]
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[unable to retrieve full-text content]Social Security adjustments are coming up starting January 2025. As if typical the increase in payment did not keep up with inflation last year. If you have not been keeping track of forth coming Social Security changes in 2025, here they are: Starting in 2025, Medicare Part B premiums will increase from $174.70 per month […]
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[unable to retrieve full-text content]We often talk about poverty and people living in poverty as measured by the government, Then, we set policy with regards to them. We never quite realize the impact of the programs on the people on the receiving end. A brief recital of facts and figures in charts. I also do not believe we get […]
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[unable to retrieve full-text content]Elon Musk Was Behind Effort To Gaslight Americans Into Believing Donald Trump Supports Reproductive Rights, Above the Law In the waning days of the 2024 presidential election, a curious political action committee, named after the late Supreme Court justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, ran ads in support of Donald Trump. It, bizarrely, claimed RBG and Trump were […]
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[unable to retrieve full-text content]This is a good take on what has been happening with United States Fiscal policies impacting its economy. It does mention former President Trump’s 2017 tax break which targeted the upper 5% of taxpayers with substantial breaks. We should look further to the 2001 and 2003 Bush’s tax breaks which Obama extended for two years […]
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[unable to retrieve full-text content]If you can tolerate a long commentary about Trump’s nominee to head the Food and Drug Administration, this is a good read. It would be hilarious if it were not true. Kind of like a joke? Except, it is for real. The contrarian addiction – by Merrill Goozner GoozNews Dr. Marty Makary, Donald Trump’s nominee […]
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[unable to retrieve full-text content]One of David Zetland’s students who posts to his Blog The one-handed economist. Each year Prof. Zetland allows some of his students to write on various topics and he posts their words on his site. You can either comment here on AB or post to David Zealand’s site. The link is above. Pleease be polite. […]
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[unable to retrieve full-text content]Explanation: The 340B Drug Pricing Program was designed to help patients access more affordable medicines. Since 1992 manufacturers have provided billions of dollars in steep discounts on outpatient medicines to safety-net clinics and qualifying hospitals expecting that those entities would use the savings to ensure vulnerable patients have access to needed medicines. But the 340B […]
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[unable to retrieve full-text content]The population is on a path to shrink and the majority of the population will be elderly in some fashion or another shortly. US productivity is based on inputs from Labor without which there could be declines in such without younger Labor. The nation populated in the past is not on a path of replacement […]
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[unable to retrieve full-text content]The numbers of school bus drivers decreased by 12.5% from 2019 till 2024. Low pay has been much of the factor in driving the shortage. School bus driver earned 43% less than the median weekly wage for all workers. The shortage is a result of more than a decade of disinvestment in these workers and […]
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[unable to retrieve full-text content]Just a snapshot of US firms offering healthcare insurance by size, cost, and amount od cost. As you can see, cost has increased from 2010-2023. It has become one of the largest costs impacting both emploers and employees in the US. Overall, it impacts the competitiveness of employers globally and smaller employers ability to attract […]
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[unable to retrieve full-text content]But not in the way Mikie Johnson believes. “House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) on Monday slammed President Biden for his decision to pardon his son Hunter, calling the move an abuse of the justice system.   Johnson rips Hunter Biden pardon, saying trust in justice system damaged, The Hill ‘President Biden insisted many times he would never pardon his […]
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[unable to retrieve full-text content]A brief coming out of China reporting as to what they see as to their issues in growing their international trade. It is a different perspective in what they see as compared to what we see. When I was overseas for weeks at a time, I would pick up a local paper to get those […]
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[unable to retrieve full-text content]Strong demand because people had money to spend when they would have had nothing if the ARP was not put into play. By the same token, the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act was targeting the upper 1% of the taxpayers with the next 4% tagging along. It in itself was ~$2 trillion much of which […]
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