The Angry Bear

I use the Veterans Administration also. I do not use it as widely as I could and I am ineligible for some of the care I really need. This does not mean it doesn’t offer the care I might need. I leave it for those who can not go elsewhere and maybe do not have insurance. I was based out of Lejuene and did drink and bath in the water. Been exposed and I believe it has had an impact on my blood. Just try and prove it though. It is discouraging to...

The budget deficit is the change in the nominal face value of public debt. It is roughly unique (as far as I know) being the change in a quantity which is not corrected for inflation. We do not usually talk about nominal GDP growth or nominal wage growth. The sustainable deficit increases one for one in debt*inflation, so the term should be removed if one is thinking of long term sustainability. I think the reason the absurd number is used is...

Then I really was going to skip today, even as–indeed, because–it is the 50th anniversary of 11 September. The original 11 de Septiembre, that is. Once is history, twice is parody. Feuerbach, as with Marx, was an optimist. Chile took only 17 years to get rid of Pinochet, and they did it at the ballot box. Twenty-two years later, the U.S. is still recovering something, though I’m no longer certain what. Are we trying to avoid torture?...

Interview Request:  The NPR program, “This American Life,” is looking for people living outside the US to interview about their student loans.  They have done surprisingly strong journalism in the past.  If this is you, please send an email to: [email protected] If you are outside of the United States and have Student Loans, “This American Life” may want to talk to you. The program is looking for people who have left the United States due to the...

Today, several folks have posted 9/11 remembrances online. I’m fine with that. We should remember the people who died as a result of the plane crashes, as well as their families and friends. But don’t stop there. Also remember how this tragedy was cynically exploited for political purposes by folks like Rudy Giuliani and George Bush. How it was dishonestly used to justify the US invasion and military occupation of Iraq*, the torture and abuse of...

This is a good take on what has driven the decline in inflation or at least it is what I believe. Mike has an explanation on the Phillip Curve within his article. I skipped by it as I felt it was addition to the supply side explanation. Or not needed as a part of the explanation. Supply-Side Expansion Has Driven the Decline in Inflation, Roosevelt Institute, Mike Konczal “After two years of persistently rising prices, inflation has finally...

Dale Coberly Talks Social Security . . . For over ten years I have been telling anyone who would listen . . . about ten people . . . that the great “Looming Unfunded Twenty-Two Trillion Dollar Deficit! . . . stealing our children’s future,” reported in all the high-end news sources by all the high-end reporters, columnists, nonpartisan experts, serious people, and other liars turns out to be really, really small when you actually “do the...

Our first new home purchase. I knew we were to have issues and would be working through them. It was new and something we had not had before. Arizona’s Registrar of Contractors says they are seeing an uptick in complaints against new home builders. Residents in Maricopa City is south of Phoenix where state highway 347 leads into the center of town. State Highway 347 is a coarse gravel highway with a speed limit of 65 except nobody obeys the limit...

In 2010 Congress passed the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Acts (there were 2) from now on called the ACA. One of the aims was to bend the Medicare spending curve and, they hoped (or dreamed) stop the increase in spending per beneficiary. The spending per beneficiary ceased increasing. Oh crap Chrome refuses to upload an image (and says I am offline while also opening other pages. I should have kept my oath). sorry for...

I have become addicted to Twitter. Among other things, I stopped posting here. Recently I posted a complaint about Chrome and messed up certificates (warnings that sites were not private because they had a dialog box pop up). Among other sites, this site had that problem with Chrome. I swore to never use Chrome again. I must confess that I broke that oath and am now using Chrome which allowed me to this site rather than blocking with a warning...