The Angry Bear

Millions of People Who Could Benefit from Obamacare Don’t Because They Don’t Know About It, and Neither Does the New York Times Center for Economic and Policy Research, Dean Baker. I and others have written about the PPACA multiple times over since it came out and has been improved repeatedly since its introduction. Lets start with the subsidy cliff which was at 400% FPL. President Biden changed the law on it allowing higher incomes to receive...

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...

Manufacturing and construction show softness to start the month  – by New Deal democrat As usual, the new month’s data starts out with information on manufacturing and construction. The ISM manufacturing index has been a good leading indicator in that sector for 75 years. The difference over time, especially the last 20 years, is that manufacturing makes up a smaller share of the total US economy. As a result, even though it has almost...

 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 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...

This is not just Physican practices being bought up. A while back I was writing about hospitals merging with other hospitals and healthcare practices being bought up. The advantage of such is in negotiating rates with insurance companies. ~~~~~~~~ A measurement of the competitiveness of a hospital within a certain area of the country is done utilizing the Herfindahl-Hirschman Index (HHI). It has been used to measure competition in and around...

January personal income and spending: Goldilocks is knocking at the door  – by New Deal democrat Personal income and spending has become one of the two most important monthly reports I follow, because it nets out the impacts of higher interest rates and abating inflation due to the unlinking of the supply chain. Because real personal spending on services for the past 50 years has generally risen even during recessions, the more leading...

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...

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...

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...