Tag Archives: politics

Why the public still views inflation as a major problem, despite the official numbers  – by New Deal democrat This is the topic I indicated last week I wanted to write about more at length.  Paul Krugman wrote last week about the disconnect between most economists, who see inflation declining, and voters, who still see inflation as a major concern. Here’s a couple of his tweets: As I wrote last week, the “shrinkflation” in new homes is very...

I think the main practical point is that pharmacological treatment of opioid addiction is effective and yet not as easily available as it should be. Not all opioid use disorder (OUD) specialized treatment programs offer medication assisted treatment (I have a somewhat out of date report that in 2017 “only … 35.5% offered any single medication for opioid use disorder treatment. ” This is more recent information “ “Though the benefits of...

As taken from the Wall Street Journal September 26, 2023. If you have not been paying attention to what is happening in Alabama, this will bring you up to date. SCOTUS again rejected Alabama’s attempt to pack most of Alabama’s Black American citizenry into one congressional district. Alabama’s desires to maintain white majorities in six of its seven congressional districts. Supreme Court Rejects Alabama Bid to Scrap Black-Majority...

Income-based pricing is a bad idea, The one-handed economist, David Zetland I learned, via GS, that some Berkeley researchers have proposed [pdf] customers should pay for electricity based on their income. Thus, I would pay half of what you would pay if I made half the income you did. This is a terrible idea, IMO, but I can see how we got here, which I explain in two phases: charges related to costs (points 1-3) and charging rich people more...

New 20+ year record high mortgage rates begin to impact home sales; bifurcation in new vs. existing home prices continues  – by New Deal democrat In addition to updated reports on new home sales and prices, and existing home prices this morning, there’s some very important news on mortgage rates. Namely, at 7.51%, mortgage rates are the highest they have been since December 2000. Here’s what they looked like through the end of last week:...

Hmm. Maybe Trump *does* have a point about the lying press after all. Here’s the Reuters headline:“Biden, Trump to woo union workers in Michigan as auto strikes grow”So where are Trump and Biden going to woo union workers?“Former President Donald Trump is scheduled to visit a Macomb County automotive supplier of engine and transmission parts Wednesday, the day after President Joe Biden is set to visit a United Auto Workers picket line in Wayne...

The Senate is pretty much worthless. A dress code, you gotta be kidding me. What is this Omega Theta Pi? Dems really need to concentrate on the issues and lay into Repubs on their failure to pass a budget, etc. Why should Dems play nice when Repubs don’t. It is about time someone took a different stance. Fetterman is different than the normal arrivals in government. As far as Durbin, he gave a speech at Showdown in Chicago which I attended....

A bit of a rewrite on this commentary to make it clear and precise in what it is saying. What is occurring is the Insurance Companies and their CEOs are profiting off of our illness. Insurance Policy pricing keeps going up along with the healthcare insurance deductibles. Unless one can afford the insurance premiums, people rely on higher deductibles. The other issue is such profit taking by executives can leave a company at risk when the economy...

One of these things is not like the others. Fentanyl is killing about 70,000 Americans a year. The others are known to be useful in treating opioid dependency yet (in 2014 sorry will Google more) only half of private opioid use disorder treatment programs offered pharmaceuticals and less tha one third of patients actually received the drugs “The proportion of opioid treatment admissions with treatment plans that included receiving medications fell...

US mother sentenced to two years in prison for giving daughter abortion pills, Backwoods and Out Houses USA, The Guardian This is not horrific. It is what happens to people when there is no way out. The horrific part is the state which forces people to take any means possible. ~~~~~~~~ Jessica Burgess, a Nebraska mother accused of helping her teenage daughter use pills to end her pregnancy, was sentenced on Friday to two years in prison....