This is mostly a C&P with editing involved. Taken from Altarum Health Sector Economic Indicators, and “Insights from Monthly National Health Spending Data through December 2021.” I have added the link Altarum to return to the original article. Without the additional government spending covering Covid costs and a recession during 2020 -2021, overall healthcare spending would have been higher. The nation is also having one Covid issue which...
Read More »Reflections on the Evolution in France
Yesterday Emmanuel Macron was re-elected president of France solidly defeating Marine LePen by about 16%. This is a relief. I think a striking aspect of the election was the absence of Gaullist or Socialist candidate in the runoff. Instead there is a centrist vs a far rightist. This pattern is not confined to France and also not universal. One important point is that LePen made the runoff by defeating leftist Jean-Luc Melenchon by 1.5% in the...
Read More »SPR and Oil Supplies Low, same with Distillates and Products
RJS, Focus on Fracking Summary: Strategic Petroleum Reserve at a 20 year low, US oil supplies at a 14 year low after record jump in exports; distillates supplies at a 14 year low, total oil + products inventories at an 8 year low; a total oil + products exports at a record high The Latest US Oil Supply and Disposition Data from the EIA US oil data from the US Energy Information Administration for the week ending April 15th indicated that...
Read More »Masking Up to Prevent SARS-CoV-2 transmission
SARS-CoV-2 transmission on planes – Katelyn Jetelina (substack.com) This substack article came to me by way of a commenter asking if I was interested in it. Of course, I am. It is a part of healthcare and covers a topic I believe is important to all of us. Stopping the transmission of Covid. Introduction On Monday, a Florida judge voided the U.S. mandate for public transit, which includes planes, trains, and buses. Several airlines...
Read More »Section 2 of the 14th Amendment
Congressional Representative Marjorie Green is playing cat and mouse with an Administrative Judge who took to questioning her as her memory keeps failing on certain things she has said in the past. Green was continuously reminded of past comments to the point of her being declared a “hostile witness.” CNN — Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia was in court on Friday over past social media posts and commentary advocating violence to...
Read More »Healthcare News – Georgetown Center for Children and Families
These are sections of healthcare news articles which I thought might catch your eye and may interest you on topics in healthcare. I added the links to each article so you can read “the rest of the story” if you care to do so. Georgetown Center for Children and Families – What can be found in the News: “Pandemic’s end could surge the number of uninsured kids” (axios.com) Once the temporary reforms to Medicaid are lifted the ranks of uninsured...
Read More »Learning from History? Questions from a Back Bencher
Commenter and Blogger Dale Coberly I have been reading William Manchester’s biography of Winston Churchill. I do not know how reliable Manchester is, but I think I have learned more about a couple of things I thought I knew about, which might be worth thinking about with regard to events in Ukraine. Churchill was a very gifted man who made mistakes, but he got Hitler right when no one else did, and so earned his place in History. In the past I...
Read More »Daily Global Oil Surplus despite OPEC Production Short Fall
RJS Summary; Global oil surplus at 710,000 barrels per day in March despite OPEC’s 821,000 barrel per day production shortfall OPEC’s Report on Global Oil for March Tuesday of the past week saw the release of OPEC’s April Oil Market Report, which includes details on OPEC & global oil data for March, and hence it gives us a picture of the global oil supply & demand situation after OPEC and aligned oil producers agreed to increase their...
Read More »PPI, Goods, and Services Up. Record Highs . . .
RJS, MarketWatch 666 Summary: Producer Prices Rose 1.4% in March, Annual Increase at 11.2%, with Goods Up 15.7%, Services Up 8.7%, All Record Highs The seasonally adjusted Producer Price Index (PPI) for final demand rose 1.4% in March, as average prices for finished wholesale goods rose by 2.3% and final demand for services rose 0.9% . . . that increase followed a revised 0.9% increase in February, when average prices for finished wholesale...
Read More »Rapid 2020 Recovery, Faster than Previous Recoveries
Coming from a different source of information . . . Employ America emphasizes a rapid recovery in 2020 as measured from a pre-recession peak till now. If you recall the 2008 recovery after Wall Street and banks were faltering was by far longer. In this case, we are looking at a Covid inspired period of layoff as compared to previous recessional layoffs. Due to Joe Biden programs and the support of Dems, the nation and labor’s 2020 recovery...
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