Tag Archives: politics

Kevin Drum doesn’t believe Life is so bad. Kevin poses a number of reasons why things are actually pretty good. Think about it. We weathered a pandemic. For the first time government stepped in biggly and well beyond what was done in 2008 for people. Biden insured people who had no healthcare insurance pre-pandemic, provided subsidies for people while we stayed home, added additional subsidies for children, permanently expanded subsidies for...

Judge Merchan appears to be boxed in.  On the one hand, fining Trump $1,000 for violating the gag order is obviously not going to be effective.  On the other hand, sending Trump to jail would make him a martyr to some, and may not even be effective, since Trump would appeal any order sending him to the hoosegow.  What’s a trial judge to do? Well, one possibility is to ban Trump from Truth Social (or from social media generally).  Sure, Trump could...

Since many AB readers are either retired or about to be:“Looking solely at the trust fund that covers retirement and survivor benefits, Social Security will only be able to afford scheduled payments in full until 2033, roughly the same projection as last year. At that time, the fund’s reserves will be depleted, and continuing income will only cover 79% of benefits owed.”*snip*“As for Medicare, its hospital insurance trust fund, known as Medicare Part...

I believe Angry Bear can present this excellent article on how the Supreme Court is evolving its interpretation of the Public Health. I am using it as informational and instructional to Angry Bear readers. A brief analysis of the SCOTUS philosophy on Public Health and their impact on the government and its legislation. It is brief enough and stated in nontechnical terms allowing a layman to pickup on it rather easily. The Public Good on the Docket...

Executive Summary portion of the Medicare Payment Policy Report to Congress I have only had time to wade through the Executive Summary portion of the MedPac Report to Congress on FFS and MA Medicare plans. If the Executive Summary has any meaning, we will see some changes in how MA plans administer pricing of services to Medicare patients. The difference between MA and FFS Medicare is extraordinary which you will see in my commentary. This is...

Western “Values” … | Homeless on the High Desert Dog named Cricket got a raw deal from an owner who could not train it, so took the easy way out. And she wants to be in the White House? ~~~~~~~~ Donna asked me about this the other day and it doesn’t seem to be going away First, let’s establish a couple of things: I am from Way Out West, from Eureka! California to Eureka! Montana; grew up in a logging, lumber and ranching town and my first...

Each year in retirement, we take a certain amount of funds from our IRAs and it becomes income. This is a bit different than when we were paying regular income taxes on our yearly income minus investments. I was curious about this as the big story today is rich people slugging away thousands and maybe millions into investments. The investments grow and are not taxable until withdrawal (unless there is another way to avoid taxes). These are smarter...

by Megan Messerly One more ACA rule was finalized by Biden today. Not something huge in numbers; but something which will impact a few thousand people. People who were allowed to stay in the US or under a program called.  Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals or DACA. A coalition of states, Alabama, Arkansas, Louisiana, Nebraska, South Carolina, West Virginia, Kansas and Mississippi argue the rule oversteps the “scope of executive power.” 5th...

Some thoughts on recent developments . . . Elite persuasion and its limits News reports suggest that President Biden got Speaker Mike Johnson to put a Ukraine aid bill on the floor of the House through good, old-fashioned persuasion:  Biden and his team convinced Johnson it was the right thing to do by sharing intelligence with him.  Biden didn’t berate Johnson in public.  I suspect he flattered Johnson in private. Knowing how to deal with...

Ever since Reagan and Thatcher first tried them, trickle-down policies have exploded budget deficits and widened inequality. At best, they’ve temporarily increased consumer demand (the opposite of what’s needed during high inflation that Britain and much of the world are experiencing). Reagan’s tax cuts and deregulation at the start of the 1980s were not responsible for America’s rapid growth through the late 1980s. His exorbitant spending...