The Angry Bear

Two in five Americans have outstanding health care bills, according to the Kaiser Foundation. Those with payments overdue are more likely to be uninsured, low-income, and either Black or Hispanic. What’s more, the total amount of outstanding medical debt in the United States is much bigger than people think. ~~~~~~~ Most states have not yet enacted laws preventing the accrual of medical debt, but many have implemented protections for people who...

We have already posted on Grocery Stores artificially holding prices high and the use of another entity gathering those prices and supplying them to various entities. In day two, Kroger’s use of Albertson’s higher pricing to set their own pricing is a ” strategic avoidance of lowering pricing.” Read on, I will gather up Day Three for later tomorrow. Kroger’s Pricing Strategies and Market Control Scrutinized in Day 2 of Merger Hearing, Economic...

 – by New Deal democrat As usual we start the month with two important reports on the leading sectors of  manufacturing and construction. First, the ISM manufacturing index showed contraction yet again, with the headline number “less negative” by way of increasing from 46.8 to 47.2, and the more leading new orders subindex declining sharply by -2.8 from 47.4 to 44.6: Including August, here are the last sis months of both the headline...

I have long thought that there is a (partially effective) treatment for opiate addiction — suboxone. To review suboxone is a mixture of buprenorphine and naloxone. Buprenorphine is a partial opiate receptor agonist (activator) which also blocks other opiates. At least when taken orally, it relieves opiate craving but does not make people high and prevents them from getting high with other opiates. Naloxone is the well know opiate antagonist used in...

I have read many articles quoting (brave) Republicans complaining about Donald Trump’s focus on personal, petty and implausible attacks on Kamala Harris. They often assert that if the election were decided on the basis of policy or issues, then Trump would win. Here is the latest discussion I read about that (just the available link and an excellent blog post). My immediate reaction is to argue that the Republicans’ claim is false and that voters...

 – by New Deal democrat On this Labor Day, it is fitting to update the economic state of ordinary workers. There is a variety of economic data series to track both average and median wages: The most commonly known measure average hourly pay for nonsupervisory workers, which is part of the monthly jobs report. The Bureau of Labor Statistics, which conducts the household employment survey, also reports “usual weekly earnings” for full-time...

[embedded content] 643,567 views May 20, 2024Why would I be timely with this Keynote Address to the Class of 2024 by Ken Burns. Fifty-something addresses to graduating classes at Brandeis University. Good listen if you have 25 minutes to hear it. Ken Burns books are good reads and make for something to do while spending 10 or more hours on a plane. ...

The university where I was on faculty for 37 years has one of ten NIH-funded vaccine testing and evaluation units in the US. I vividly recall attending a presentation by the clinical director of our vaccine center in January of 2020 on the then-new SARS-CoV-2 virus. By the summer, our vaccine center became a clinical trial site for the Moderna mRNA vaccine. I immediately enrolled, even though I knew I had a 50% chance of being in the placebo arm (in...

We have shopped at both stores and also Frys which is also a part of Kroger. Of the three, Ftys is less costly. Our Frys always seems to be out of product. We end up at Bashas to fill out the rest of or grocery shopping, or Sprouts which has excellent veggies, or make the trip to WalMart which is on the other side of town. In any case, you will not save much. They all know what the other is charging. The real issue is, when there is a shortage, do...

 I guess if it is said enough times it has to be true or does it have to be? The Biden rescue since he took office is far better than what we experienced in 2008 onward. Yet Another in the Economy Is Bad Under Biden by Dean Baker CEPR Like other major news outlets, the Washington Post is perfectly happy to ignore the data to tell you the economy is bad under Biden. Past entries in this series included the many pieces telling us young...