The Angry Bear

Propublica has a story on waste in the medical industry: Experts estimate the U.S. health care system wastes $765 billion annually — about a quarter of all the money that’s spent. Of that, an estimated $210 billion goes to unnecessary or needlessly expensive care, according to a 2012 report by the National Academy of Medicine Having visited doctors in the past decade or two a few times, I can believe the 25% figure.  The billing structure alone creates...

I read with great hope that the junior senator from Kansas has learned from the Kansan tax cut disaster and will, maybe, possibly, have enough courage to vote against the horrible Republican tax cut for our Donors bill. I have a message for Republicans who know better, but are afraid of breaking with the president and majority leader.

I am so thankful that I am an economic blogger A few days late for Thanksgiving, but … like a lot of people, I woke up to a real nightmare one year ago.  One decision I made for mental health purposes was to focus like a laser beam on the economy rather than have my blood boil over each day by each new atrocity. In the last few months it has occurred to me over and over to be extremely thankful that I am writing about the one aspect of America that...

by Biagio Bossone (Biagio BOSSONE is an Italian national,  currently advises the World Bank Group/IMF on financial sector development issues and technical assistance programs in several countries in Africa, Asia and the Pacific, Latin America, and Northern Africa and the Middle East. He is a consultant to private-sector organizations. He has taught at various universities in Italy.) (Warning…wonkish) Macroeconomic policy and exchange rate regimes  under...

Tolerance And Terrorism In Saudi Arabia On the one hand this past week, Thomas Friedman at the New York Times has written a praising column about Crown Prince Muhammed bin Salman (MbS). He is going to bring a new “wave of tolerance” into Saudi Arabia, along with more generally modernizing it. This claim is not totally without substance given his setting up for women to drive starting next June as well as letting them go to sports events with men and also...

I have been doing my typical reading on healthcare in the US and ran across several articles which seemingly come together at various points in the dialogue and are written by different authors. I decided to tie them together into a much wider and telling story. An interesting point being was made by MedPage Today’s Dr. Milton Packer on his blog, “people suffer and die because Payors (Healthcare Insurance) is cost effective.” He starts his discussion on...

A Race To Suppress Academic Freedom? The race is between the two nations competing for global dominance, the US and China.  This post is triggered by an unnamed editorial in today’s Washington Post (probably authored by Fred Hiatt) criticizing China for imposing ideological limits on Chinese universities.  Since the recent party congress, 40 universities have set up centers for studyiing Xi Jinping Thought.  14 universities have come under attack for...

I think of the debate over net neutrality as a fight over the rules of the game where the game is the delivery of information and entertainment. There are big corporations arguing all sides of the issue. All of them are happy to explain how the position they advocate will benefit the public. But nobody seems interested in discussing issues pertaining to the very bedrock on which the communication industry is based. That bedrock is the right of the way...

(Dan here…Lifted from Bonddad blog by NewDealdemocrat): More on housing I’ve elaborated on my dissection of October housing permits and starts over at XE.com. Anecdotally, I know of three twenty-somethings, two of whom are single, who are blue collar workers in the construction or retail sectors, all of whom are in the process of moving out of apartments into existing homes. The story for all three is basically the same: compared with rents, the monthly...