Solutionary Rail – “A people-powered campaign to electrify America’s railroads and open corridors to a clean energy future“ I was wandering around the internet when I came across the Solutionary Rail site. I was looking for something in particular and was not able to find it. The site itself gives the detail on why railway worker were set to strike. If you don’t know railways carry the bulk of freight (which includes automotive components across...
Read More »Report From Moscow
Report From Moscow by Barkley Rosser My wife, Marina, has returned from a two and a half week to Moscow to visit her 93 year old mother. She almost got bumped from her Turkish Airlines flight out of Moscow through Istanbul, but her travel agent managed to get her back on. Very glad she is back. Anyway, a few first hand current reports. Yes, in terms of living standards, in Moscow most things are operating and there are plenty of goods in...
Read More »He thought they were migrants on the bus
This is kind of an interesting story. It shows how crazy some of us and it also shows a presence in our military too. Active or reservist military are not supposed to be doing this. Here we have an off-duty officer of the Massachusetts Army National Guard following a busload of senior citizens in a dangerous manner . . . tailgating. He then confronts them when they reach their hotel. “An off-duty Massachusetts National Guard Lt. Colonel...
Read More »Review of “The Future is History”
I’ve long held that one of the greatest blows to American democracy was the disappearance of the Soviet Union. With the advent of the Cold War, as the USSR went from ally to adversary, the US was shamed into embrace civil rights and to improve public education. I personally benefitted from the updated public school STEM curricula driven by the space race. With the fall of the Soviet Union, the US has been in retreat in these areas and increasing...
Read More »Aggregate Medicare payments to Medicare Advantage plans
Medicare Advantage (Part C) plans were to be the private plans able to deliver more and better healthcare than FFS Medicare. MA plans does offer more services than FFS Medicare. It offers similar services at a higher cost than ordinary Medicare costs. This is accomplished by over coding healthcare issues of participants which in turn increases prices to FFS Medicare. Random surveys over the years have revealed excessive charges by Medicare...
Read More »August personal income and spending: major downward revisions overwhelm modestly positive monthly gains
– by New Deal democrat This morning’s personal income and spending report for August was positive month over month both in nominal and real terms, but the major story was in the revisions. Personal spending is the essentially the opposite side of the transaction of retail sales. Both have been tracking relatively closely since the end of the stimulus-fueled spring spending spurge of 2021, as shown in the m/m% changes below: Real...
Read More »Education Dept. Changed the Rules for Student Loan Relief
The little weasel Miguel Cardona has a grin on his face. They have been screwing these people over for decades. Department of Education did not check the fine print for FFEL loans. And now that Mohela said they will lose money, they yank the carpet out from under 800.000 people. God forbid they screw over a Federal Loan Servicer. What is Mohela: MOHELA has worked with student loans for several decades as a private lender. It has been a...
Read More »Honey, I’m Home
What if someone told you that one man from one mega law firm chose the last three appointees to the U.S. Supreme Court? In a new book, ‘Servants of The Damned’, David Enrich did just that, and much more. That one man was Don McGahn; the law firm, Jones Day. The suggestion leading to his being enabled to do so came from one Sen. Mitch McConnell. McGahn, a super lawyer from a powerful law firm with a right-wing agenda (better yet, a federalist Society...
Read More »White House Looking at Food and Nutrition, But Will it Matter?
Any given recession, food assistance needs increase. In an inflationary environment where purchasing power declines, food assistance needs increase. During a pandemic, well you get the idea. What is lost in that narrative is that the foods available to the general public, are same available to food assistance beneficiaries. The only difference is the bank account that it’s draws through the debit card, and a few other stipulations like beer and...
Read More »