Tag Archives: politics

This particular graph was pulled from an April 2024 Morning Star article. The source of it being the Bureau of Labor Statistics. It depicts wage growth before during and after the Pandemic. In particular I believe the government did quite well in providing for and protecting its citizens during the pandemic when many people could not work. The stimulus packages may have caused some of the wage growth and inflation. There are other things which are...

Probably, and that’s bad for straightforwardly political reasons.  Arrogant, naively moralistic Justices would be much less effective. Last week the conservative court preserved access to the critical abortion drug mifepristone.  But they relied on a procedural technicality and thus preserved their ability to limit use of the drug after the upcoming election.  Refusing to reach the merits may well have been a savvy political move to limit the risk...

Taken from Joyce Vance’s Civil Discourse I thought perhaps the argument going on in front of Federal Judge Cannon about Jack Smith’s appointment to prosecute XPres. Donald Trump might need some explanation. I am borrowing from Joyce Vance’s Civil Discourse as a subscriber. This is kind of a sideshow to the real issue of trump being prosecuted. The Defense is pulling from whatever pile of mud they have to disrupt and delay the trial to such time as...

by Bill McBride Calculated Risk, May 29, 2024 The FDIC released the Quarterly Banking Profile for Q1 2024: Reports from 4,568 commercial banks and savings institutions insured by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) report aggregate net income of $64.2 billion in first quarter 2024, an increase of $28.4 billion (79.5 percent) from the prior quarter. A large decline in noninterest expense because of several substantial,...

It is unfortunate we do not possess a “Wayback Machine” to fix the issues we are experiencing with banks since 1986. Instaed we bumble again and again, making the same mistake over and over with banks. In a cartoon series called Peabody’s Improbable History, Mr. Peabody and Sherman would open the door to the past, speak in English to everyone they met (even if they could not speak English). The translation was a part of the machine. Both Mr....

I am sure borrowers having to use Payday Lenders are thrilled to wait till March 2025. Supreme Court ruling in May, the federal government is expected to get tougher on regulating payday lenders and other firms that offer high-interest, short-term loans. This type of lending — which often targets low-income borrowers — has long drawn fire from consumer groups on grounds that these small-dollar loans quickly balloon when they’re not repaid,...

by Merrill Goozner GoozNews Hospitals are pushing back on an experiment that would put providers on budgets. CMS should ignore their lobbyists and consultants playing games with numbers. Changing the way hospitals and doctors get paid is central to reforming our dysfunctional health care system. Payment reform can achieve better health outcomes, improve the patient experience and help keep overall health care costs in check, the three goals...

by Lawrence O. Gostin and Sarah Wetter MEDPAGE TODAY — A slew of cases this term could reshape health policy. Undecided Issues still before SCOTUS which should be decided this month. The Justices will then take off for a bit to reconcile the decisions they made causing issues amongst the population. Nothing unusual here, it happens every year. This group of 6-3 appear to be more partisan (right-wing) than prior Justices. Abortion as...

Today, the Supreme Court released its opinion in FDA v. Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine. Here’s a little background—you can be forgiven if you’ve lost track of how this case has evolved since I first wrote about District Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk’s order granting a nationwide injunction banning mifepristone in April of 2023. In April of 2023, Matthew Kacsmaryk, a federal district judge in Amarillo, Texas, entered a nationwide injunction banning...

The article as it stood was long and enduring. I do not believe many of the readers at AB would complete it. What I did is grab the intro and three graphs to make the point of, we are not doing enough to educate a workforce. Labor that can meet the demands of the future. The nation is failing a large percent of its younger population. through a lack of education and adequate funding to provide for it. Ok, I said it three times. Hopefully, you read...