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...
Read More »We’re Happy, Free, Confused, and Lonely at the Same Time
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?...
Read More »The NPR program, This American Life and Student Loans
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...
Read More »No Free Lunch Ignoring Social Security’s Timely Cheap Fix Costs You
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...
Read More »Jimmy Kimmel and Candidate Jimmy McMillan said rents were too high. What about drug prices?
Excellent take on Drug Pricing as written by Dr. N. Adam Brown at MedPage Today. In 2016 the 21st Century Cures Act was passed by the House. The intent was to make it easier for pharmaceutical companies to bring new drugs to market and short cut the clinical trial processes. Health Affairs had this to say: “Still, we believe the bill’s potential benefits and modestly enhanced funding for scientific advancement are far outweighed by the increased...
Read More »Coronavirus update: the virus is back; everyone should return to their prior precautions and get boosted this fall
Coronavirus update: the virus is back; everyone should return to their prior precautions and get boosted this fall – by New Deal democrat At the beginning of this year, I indicated that I anticipated only writing about Covid if something significant was happening. It is, so let’s look at the data. Almost all State and Federal testing data is gone, but we do have a very good source in Biobot’s waste monitoring. Here’s the long term view...
Read More »Now I’m angry with Gmail
Sorry to be so boring, but now I am angry with Gmail. It seems to me that Alphabet has adopted Elong Musk’s approach to customer service, programming, and destroying value. I wanted to send an e-mail and surfed to gmail.com. I was directed on to mail.google.come/mail/u/0/#inbox screenshot below. Notice there is no otion to use the e-mail site to send an e-mail. I have to click on the 3 horizontal lines to get “show main menu” then...
Read More »What makes ultra-processed foods so bad for your health?
Not too much has changed in the process food industry. Baloney, salami, hot dogs, sweet rolls, etc. are still the same. Process foods consists of any “raw agricultural commodities that have been washed, cleaned, milled, cut, chopped, heated, pasteurized, blanched, cooked, canned, frozen, dried, dehydrated, mixed or packaged or anything done to them altering their natural state.” It also includes adding preservatives, flavors, nutrients and other...
Read More »Marking my Beliefs About Weapons to Market 4/N
I have written about my disagreements with the pentagon about military procurement here, here, and here, April 11 2022 I wrote “5. some relatively cheap weapons are highly effective. They include Javelin, NLAW, Stinger, and StarStreak shoulder fired missiles. They also include Bayraktar drones. They may include Switchblade suicide drones (not depoloyed yet). They have somethings in common or especially they all lack some things. Shocking price...
Read More »Chrome Messes Up
Is anyone else having trouble with Chrome. I get a page not private error when I tried to open this page. I am now using Firefox. Chrome seems to have added a popup which, first of all, demands attention, but second of all causes older Chrome to correctly note that Chrome has become malware and block my access (for example to this page). Now many companies do this sort of stuff, but, until now, Alphabet has behaved well. I think it...
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