Articles from my Inbox as usual. There is a common thread or threads here of private equity getting more involved. It is bad enough with ACOs buying up medical facilities. We are losing control of healthcare.

“Insurers are taking decisions out of the hands of physicians, says ortho surgeon,” beckersasc.com

Dr. Grant Shifflett: I don’t want to paint a bleak picture, but I look at this in terms of the voice we have as physicians. And it seems like every day that voice is getting stripped away more and more by insurers denying care, determining what we can and can’t do and taking away decisions from us. … I’m in a private practice. I work for myself and I make my own decisions, but I still have to answer to the insurance companies. Not a day goes

The same as the American Rescue Plan Act and the Improving Medicare Coverage Act, no one is talking of the detail within the Build Back Better Agenda bill. This makes it very vulnerable to pseudo Senators like Krysten Sinema and Joe Manchin who are holding out for what ever reasons or just for spite.

It is also good for Angry Bear to know its content too. If there are questions, ask away. I will try to answer with what I know.

Build Back Better Bill

Lower Costs

Lower Child Care Costs

For 57 percent of children under six, there are no good choices for child care where they live. Only 44 percent of four-year-olds are served by public preschool programs. Nearly four in five private sector workers have no access to paid family leave. The

Farmer and Farm Economist Michael Smith on latest proposed business policies which can impact U.S. Farming.

Secretary and former Fed Chair Janet Yellen recently went on CBS in order to sell the changes to the tax code provisions that would trigger events yet unknown at the $600 level,  and potentially beyond.

I’ll leave this proposal up to you if it is a great idea or not. A dish washer purchase audit is probably bad tax policy, but I’ll again leave it at that.

What caught my attention is what Yellen said next:

“It’s the people who report $10,000 in income . . . and have $3,000,000 go into their bank accounts.”

A corn farmer is preparing for the year. He/she needs seed, fertilizers, pesticides, and the appropriate

The High Cost of Phone Calls in Prisons Generates $1.4 Billion a Year, Disproportionately Driving Women and People of Color Into Debt (businessinsider.com)

It has been a while since I have tackled issues with the prison system in the US. Besides it being heavily skewed towards the color of a prisoner and the funding they possess to mount a defense; once convicted and imprisoned, the screwing over the prisoner increases. If they go to trial, the sentence is enhanced (the court does not like to work).

Once at the prison, a prisoner’s family usually attempts to maintain contact either by phone or by visits if they can afford to do either. Family contact is an important factor in maintaining some degree of sanity besides having funds to buy

And gasoline exports at a 26 month low . . .

Blogger and Commenter R.J.S., Focus on Fracking: “Oil price is highest since 2014; natural gas price fell from 12 year high after largest inventory increase in 16 months”

Oil prices finished higher for the 7th straight week after OPEC decided to only add the minimum to global supplies in the coming months . . . after rising 2.6% to $75.88 a barrel last week as rising global demand amid tight supplies more than offset higher US inventories, the contract price for US light sweet crude for November delivery jumped early on Monday after reports emerged the Joint Ministerial Monitoring Committee of the OPEC+ alliance had recommended oil producers stick to their current plan and ease their cuts by just

I did not believe I would have to put this up on Angry Bear. Prof. Heather Cox – Richardson in her Letter From An American, October 11, 2021;

The Eastman memo, uncovered by Bob Woodward and Robert Costa at the end of September in their new book Peril, flew largely under the radar screen, explained away as more of Trump being Trump even as it laid out, in writing, the steps to overturn the 2020 election and even as we knew that the former president tried to put that plan into place. A study by Media Matters showed that ABC, NBC, and CBS all chose not even to mention the memo. These stations reach more than 20 million Americans. 

Letter From An American, October 11, 2021

Abbreviated version of the John Eastman Plan

PRIVILEGED AND

Blogger RJS, Marketwatch 666, September jobs report

September Summary

Major agency reports released this past week included the the Employment Situation Summary for September from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the August report on our International Trade from the Commerce Dept, and the Full Report on Manufacturers’ Shipments, Inventories and Orders for August, and the August report on Wholesale Trade, Sales and Inventories, both from the Census Bureau…in addition, the Fed released the Consumer Credit Report for August, which indicated that overall consumer credit, a measure of non-real estate debt, grew at a seasonally adjusted $14.4 billion in August, or at a 4.0% annual rate, as non-revolving credit expanded at a 4.1% rate to $3,345.3

What did you know and when did you know it?

J. Michael Luttig, the former United States Circuit Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit:

“I was honored to advise Vice President Pence that he had no choice on January 6, 2021, but to accept and count the Electoral College votes as they had been cast and properly certified by the states…. I believe(d) that Professor Eastman was incorrect at every turn of the analysis in his January 2 memorandum.”

Quote taken from “Letters From An American – September 22, 2021,”

Two questions and maybe three.

What? Why is Circuit Judge J. Michael Luttig feeling so honored when Vice President Pence asks a question about decertifying the nation’s Electoral vote and overthrowing the

Commenter and Blogger RJS, MarketWatch 666, “Trade Deficit Rose 4.2% to a Record High in August on Higher Imports of Pharmaceuticals and Services”

Our trade deficit rose by 4.2% in August as the value of both our exports and our imports increased, but the value of our imports increased by four times as much . . . the Commerce Dept report on our international trade in goods and services for August indicated that our seasonally adjusted goods and services trade deficit rose by a rounded $2.9 billion to a record high of $73.3 billion in August, from a July deficit of $70.3 billion, which was revised from the $70.1 billion deficit for July that had been reported last month . . . after rounding, the value of our August exports rose by $1.0

Michael Smith, Real Farmer and Farm Economist

Ooh boy have we got a lot going on in ag world. Run sent me this a little while ago and I think this is important.

The Tricky New Way That Big Ag Is Getting Farm Data, The Atlantic, Claire Kelloway, October 5, 2021

Big data collection is 100% not in the favor of the farmer by corporations. The more we see John Deere et al get tech heavy where they are collecting data about the equipment used and also other ag adjacent corporations such as Cargill who just purchased a chicken processor in Central Texas the more we see the plight of farming.

Now, don’t get me wrong, data collection by the USDA and the university extensions has always been a thing, but that was a give and a get. I give the

Michael Smith on the Open Thread: “‘Found this interesting. Tucked in the reconciliation bill they want to mandate employers with 5+ employees to contribute up to 10% to an IRA. Failure to do so is ‘taxed’.” 

Hidden In The Reconciliation Bill: A Retirement Plan Mandate That Will Take Most People By Surprise, Forbes, Elizabeth Bauer, September 25, 2021

“Under the proposal, starting in 2023, employers with five or more employees would have to offer a retirement plan and automatically enroll employees, diverting 6% of their pay to a retirement account. An automatic escalation clause would increase the automatic contribution to 10% of pay by year five. The default plan would be a Roth IRA invested in a target-date fund, a mix of investments based on

UNITED WE SPEND For 20 Top-Selling Drugs Worldwide, Big Pharma Revenue from U.S. Sales Combined Exceeded Revenue from the Rest of the World, Public Citizen, Rick Claypool and Zain Rizvi,

I have written on the high prices of pharmaceuticals in the past on Angry Bear, pointing to a WHO report which showed the costs laid out to bring the drugs to market had been recovered, and hinting on a new approach to increasing profitability by claiming increased value due to newer uses as a reason to increase prices. Note the difference between cost and prices.

Public Citizen has a recent article up which breaks down the pricing schemes between the US and the “Rest of The World.” It is a quick read and hits the differences I have been pointing to and will

US natural gas hits highest price since 2008, closes at 7 1/2 year weekly high; European and Asian prices 5 times higher, Commenter RJS, Focus on Fracking

Oil prices rose for a sixth consecutive week as rising global demand amid tight supplies more than offset higher US inventories . . . after rising 3.0% to $73.98 a barrel last week as U.S. crude inventories fell to a 35month low and as global oil supplies tightened, the contract price for US light sweet crude for November delivery opened higher on Monday on continuing signs that global oil inventories were falling sharply, and rose nearly 2% to close $1.47 higher at $75.45 a barrel, as parts of the globe, especially China and India, were seeing demand pick up with the easing of pandemic

Improving Medicare Coverage Act – H.R. 5165

Medicare – Improving  Medicare Coverage Act; H,R, 5165, September 3, 2021

130+ House Democrats are co-sponsoring a bill by Pramila Jayapal, the Improving Medicare Coverage Act. The impact of which would drop the Medicare eligibility age to 60 years of age.

All well and good, it is about time something is changing. Healthcare Insurance and medical costs are exceeding high in the US. Pricing of healthcare exceeds the actual cost of it. Today, sixty-year-olds can pay a penalties under the ACA for just being old. The ACA was designed to allow for such the same as for smokers. Oldsters are told they could get better coverage under Medicare which is true. It too comes with a price which I have written

August Personal Income up 0.2%; 2 Months PCE Would Subtract 0.07 Percentage Points from Q3 GDP, Blogger and Commenter RJS reports at MarketWatch 666

The August report Personal Income and Outlays from the Bureau of Economic Analysis gives us nearly half the data that will go into 3rd quarter GDP, since it gives us 2 months of data on our personal consumption expenditures (PCE), which accounts for nearly 70% of GDP, and the PCE price index, the inflation gauge the Fed targets, and which is used to adjust that personal spending data for inflation to give us the relative change in the output of goods and services that our spending indicated . . . this report also gives us monthly personal income data, disposable personal income, which is income after

Briefly, with more info being found at The American Prospect by David Dayen (link below). The USPS has initiated check cashing service for a minimal fee. And Louis Destroy the USPS DeJoy has bought into this service.

The pilot was launched on September 13 (?) in four locations: Washington, D.C.; Falls Church, Virginia; Baltimore; and the Bronx, New York. The initial banking test allows customers to cash business or payroll checks at the post office and place them onto a gift card. Although DeJoy did not initiate this and is usually too busy trying to wreck the place, DeJoy did buy into the test.

Under its current authority, the post office can expand its operations to include financial services options. One of the major postal workers unions

Blogger and Commenter RJS

Briefly: even though US Covid infections have been falling since labor day, there’s been anecdotal evidence it’s rising among school age kids . . . at the same time, there are now solid studies showing that the mRNA vaccines administered in the US are losing their effectiveness . . . hence, it looks likely that about the time the holidays roll around, many of those infected kids will be mingling with their vaccinated grandparents, who may no longer be protected against a serious case . . . no doubt the CDC sees that too, hence their sudden urgency to push booster vaccinations…

The drop in new US cases is mostly a story of the South, where the August surge was most pronounced, and to a lesser extent to the West,

Prof. Joel Eissenberg has a new post up considering people’s immunity to Covid and what it consists of after vaccination.

COVID vaccine immunity is waning — how much does that matter? (nature.com), September 17, 2021, Elie Dolgin,

We can say circulating antibodies do matter for protection from COVID-19. With the innate immune response, they represent the frontline response in a viral challenge. Often forgotten in the durable immunity response are the memory B- and T-cells. The assays for their activities are much harder to monitor. Ultimately, this part of the adaptive immune system plays an increasingly important role over time. For the vaccinated people, the memory cells are continuing to perform well:

Immunologist at the US National

Does Joe Manchin Believe That Income Inequality Is a Problem?, Horizons, Nancy LeTourneau’s big picture looks at politics and life

Nancy was one of the regular writers at Washington Monthly. She had well – written fun reads, some of which I disagreed with in my numerical way. I am a numbers guy. The editors of Washington Monthly decided to change the format and brought in a cadre of writers who replaced Nancy, the Longmans, Atkins and others. The site is over-run with trash-commenters. Not sure why the lead editor did such as most of the good commenters left and readership has decreased.

Some of Joe’s more epic moments . . .

Since 2010, millions of opioid tablets have been sent to two small towns in West Virginia. Has Manchin

“Preliminary Analysis of Safety and Immunogenicity of a SARS-CoV-2 Variant Vaccine Booster,” medRxiv preprint

Authors: Kai Wu1*, Angela Choi1*, Matthew Koch1*, LingZhi Ma1 , Anna Hill1 , Naveen Nunna1 , Wenmei Huang1 , Judy Oestreicher1 , Tonya Colpitts1 , Hamilton Bennett1 , Holly Legault1 , Yamuna Paila1 , Biliana Nestorova1 , Baoyu Ding 1 , Rolando Pajon1 , Jacqueline M Miller1 , Brett Leav1 , Andrea Carfi1 , Roderick McPhee1#, Darin K Edwards1#

Affiliations: 1Moderna Inc., Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA

Prof. Joel Eissenberg, Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Saint Louis University School of Medicine. Joel participated in the early trials of the Moderna mRNA vaccines for Covid-19. He was inoculated with the true vaccine as determined by

Agri-Economist and farmer Michael Smith talking inflationary impacting crops and farmers.

Higher inflation rates “will likely remain so in the coming months,” Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell acknowledged today in testimony before the Senate Banking Committee. Powell has been in meeting this week discussing the persistent inflation going into next year.

 Powell noted the effects of inflation on the economy “have been larger and longer-lasting than anticipated,” adding, “it will abate,” and begin to fall back toward the Fed’s longer-run 2% target.

As we look at CPI on the food side, we continue to see higher market prices for consumer staples. This doesn’t look to be waning any time soon. 

As no surprise to anyone here, this year’s

Blogger RJS,@ Market Watch 666, “August Durable Goods: New Orders Up 1.8%, Shipments Down 0.5%, Inventories Up 0.8%“

The Advance Report on Durable Goods Manufacturers’ Shipments, Inventories and Orders for August (pdf) from the Census Bureau reported that the value of the widely watched new orders for manufactured durable goods increased by $4.6 billion or 1.8 percent to $263.5 billion in August, after rising by a revised 0.5% in July….July’s new orders were revised from the $246.9 billion reported last month to $258.9 billion, and hence the month over month percentage change for new orders was revised from a decrease of 0.1% to an increase of 0.5%…even with that upward revision and the August increase, year to date new orders are now running

Various articles which may interest Angry Bear readers.

Supply chain disruptions may last into 2023 & more (beckersasc.com)

Seven Supply Chain by Beckers ASC Review. For example: “Many companies that pivoted their business plans early in the pandemic to respond to shortages of medical supplies are now facing severe financial consequences.”

I Got Moderna. Can I Boost With Pfizer? | MedPage Today

With FDA authorizing boosters for Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine (Comirnaty) for certain groups, recipients of the Moderna vaccine are wondering if they can crossover to Pfizer for a third dose.

Experts are quick to point out that there are no data to guide that decision — and that no federal health agency explicitly recommends doing so.

In

Addendum to US crude supplies at 35 month low; Total oil and product supplies at 6 1/2 year low – Angry Bear (angrybearblog.com) by RJS

Authors of Angry Bear Posts and I converse from time to time. We talk about what they write, what its content implies, and what they are thinking. This note came from RJS at Marketwatch 666, etc. Keep it mind as oil production has not returned to prior levels as of yet. The US has been drawing down its underground reserve it set aside for issues we have been faced with over the last few months.

RJS: As I have mentioned previous, the six and a half year low for inventories, I am citing isn’t making headlines elsewhere because most analysts only look a commercial supplies. They ignore the ongoing depletion of the

I am no attorney. However my experience has caused me to learn the law an how it applies to us. I have learned attorneys are not necessarily honest with plebeians, You know us butchers, bakers, candle stick makers or collectively anyone at all. As a just-out-of-boot-camo Marine private, I can remember one Corporal saying this to us at Pendleton. Different story for another time.

Yesterday (September 25, 2021, Robert Reich had an interesting article up on his Substack . . an interesting read.

___________

“When I Was at Law School with Clarence Thomas“

“Earlier this week, Clarence Thomas told a crowd of more than 800 students and faculty at Notre Dame the Court shouldn’t be viewed in partisan terms, and justices don’t base their rulings on

August Job Growth Was Twice as Fast in States That Retained UI – “People’s Policy Project,” Matt Bruenig, September 21, 2021

I ran across this author and his site while reading a commentary (referencing Matt Bruenig’s story) on McDonalds experience in Denmark at Yves Smith’s Naked Capitalism. Since my background over 40 odd years has been in manufacturing and the impact of direct Labor on it, I was drawn to that article and visited Matt’s site. This caught my attention.

Yes, there are people who may not want to work . . . period. In my experience, I have found this reasoning of not working outside of illness, children being home, etc. is not realistic. Most people do want to work . . . period.

In all of their wisdom, some states,

Commenter and Blogger RJS adds more detail to what I would suggest is a coming shortage of oil and oil products.

Focus on Fracking US crude supplies at a 35 month low; total supplies of oil and all products made from it at a 6 1/2 year low…

US oil data from the US Energy Information Administration for the week ending September 17th indicated that despite sizeable increases in our oilfield production and our oil imports, we still needed to withdraw oil from our stored commercial crude supplies for the 7th consecutive week, and for the 33rd time in the past forty-four weeks.

Our  imports of crude oil rose by an average of 704,000 barrels per day to an average of 6,465,000 barrels per day, after falling by an average of 44,000 barrels per day

President Biden’s temporary ARPA Improves ACA Subsidies through 2022.

xpostfactoid: Will 60-64 year-olds have a choice between Medicare and Obamacare? What will that look like?, ARP puts more ‘affordable’ in the Affordable Care Act | healthinsurance.org and How the American Rescue Plan Act will boost marketplace premium subsidies | healthinsurance.org

If you have not been reading any of what is going on with the ACA and Medicare; it is time to update your knowledge. It gets a little complex. Thanks to blogger Andrew Sprung @ xpostfactoid, for explaining what is happening with the ACA and making it clearer. Also Washington 7th District Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal has introduced H.R 5165 which lowers the age for Medicare eligibility to 60.

Angry Bear’s Mike Smith; I am a little baffled by our governments assessment of agriculture. Just today they released a few details about paying farmers to plant cover crop, as per this article here. House Budget Plan Offers Big Injection of Funds in USDA Conservation Programs

House Budget Plan Offers Big Injection of Funds in USDA Conservation Programs (dtnpf.com), Progressive Farmer

OMAHA (DTN) — Farmers would get up to $25 an acre from the Farm Service Agency to grow cover crops under $28 billion that would go to USDA conservation programs in the House budget reconciliation package.

Agricultural groups started sending around top-line numbers for the $28 billion that will go into conservation programs as part of the $3.5 trillion

As a subscriber to Professor Heather Cox – Richardson’s “Letters From An American,” I have access to each daily article. And as a follow up to yesterday’s “Letters From An American,” today’s, September 23, 2021 submission gives additional detail to the amount of effort made to subvert the January 6th certification of the election by Congress.

As detailed in this edition, there were four distinct players or Trump staff who laid much of the groundwork leading up to January 6th. The House Committee has subpoenaed each person to testify. One has to wonder if they will resist and whether the House has a backbone and whether the courts will back the issued subpoenas issued.

September 23, 2021 – Professor Heather Cox Richardson – Letters from an