How To Dismantle An Empire My late mother seriously admired the now late Queen Elizabeth II. Not only was she a conservative Anglophiliac with overwhelming British ancestry (all the “nations” of the UK) who had tea in the afternoon at the proper British time in more or less the proper British way, there was also the matter that the queen bore a son her heir only seven months after my mother had me. I was raised to see Charles as a a sort of...
Read More »PPI, without the lagging phantom of Owners Equivalent Rent, declines in August, decelerates YoY
PPI, without the lagging phantom of Owners Equivalent Rent, declines in August, decelerates YoY – by New Deal democrat What a difference it makes that PPI does not have a concept like “owners equivalent rent!” Overall PPI declined by -0.1%, following a -0.4% reading in July, together the two lowest readings since the pandemic lockdown months: Core PPI increased by 0.5% (blue in the graph below), which while historically high, was the...
Read More »What News was in My In-Box
A lot of informational news deposited in my In-Box this week. Nothing this week is taken from anywhere else. I think last week, I included one news article from the outside. Political, Economic, Healthcare news are my mainstays. The usual economics and business news coming from different sources. Yes, inflation is still an issue. I do not believe Powell will not give us a soft landing he thinks he is capable of doing. One issue will help...
Read More »Nineth Amendment of the Bill of Rights
Has anyone looked at the Nineth Amendment of the Bill of Rights? Because of what is being said about rights not enumerated in the Constitution by SCOTUS and Carol Stewart is precisely why it exists. Some history: “The Amendment’s origin is fascinating history. James Madison proposed the Amendment to counter the Federalist arguments that a bill of rights was unnecessary or even unwise. The Federalists argued that the government created by the...
Read More »Answering John Roberts Beliefs of Innocence
I had read Dan’s post, “Total Hypocrisy, Franken Pushed Back on GOP” – Angry Bear (angrybearblog.com). Was kind of wondering if there was an answer to John Roberts. Roberts beliefs are they are innocent, alas how could their decisions be influenced by political beliefs, especially the political influences appointing them, the Federalist Society, their own beliefs, politics, etc. Did I miss something? As one commenter said, appointees to SCOTUS...
Read More »Fukuyama on Russia, Ukraine, and the future of democracy
I was planning to make this argument, but Fukuyama says it better than I would have: Thirdly, a Russian military failure—meaning at minimum the liberation of territories conquered after 24 February 2022—will have enormous political reverberations around the world. Russia and China prior to the war argued that liberal democracies, particularly the United States, were in decline. They argued that their authoritarian systems were better at...
Read More »More disinformation about COVID policy in New Zealand
I have a piece up at Science Based Medicine responding to criticism of New Zealand’s zero COVID policy by Jay Bhattacharya, an author of the Great Barrington Declaration and an uncompromising critic of COVID restrictions. Here’s the intro: Bhattacharya’s most compelling argument is that the zero COVID policy led to an increase in non-COVID mortality that substantially offset the COVID deaths the policy averted. If this were true, it would indeed...
Read More »Why is the Signify Health Acquisition Such A Big Deal?
“CVS beats out Amazon for Signify Health” (axios.com), Sarah Pringle Why does was CVS battling Amazon for a rinky-dink company like this matter? Hmmm, think back to “Value-Based Payment. It is the New For-Profit Health Care Industry” and all of the healthcare providers being acquired by insurers. There is also an involuntary push going on by CMS moving people out of traditional Medicare to these plans. Traditional Medicare has price control and...
Read More »Combating Nativism and Making America Stronger
Combat Nativism and Make America the Most Welcoming Country in the World Some findings from the Roosevelt Institute: “New report: Combat Nativism and Make America the Most Welcoming Country in the World” – Roosevelt Institute In 2020, natural disasters forced more than 30 million people to migrate across the globe. by 2050, climate change impacts could bring this number up to 216 million.Mass migration is happening against the global backdrop...
Read More »ARP Medicaid Postpartum Coverage Expansion
I believe it was 2019 when I was asked to write on women’s healthcare issues. I was not asked because I was an expert. They were asking me because they wanted a male’s perspective on women’s healthcare issues. In particular, the topic was maternal healthcare and mortality. “A Woman’s Right to Safe Healthcare Outcomes” – Angry Bear (angrybearblog.com) My wife and I were fortunate to have three healthy children born to us. We did lose one birth...
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