Sommar i P1 är en ärevördig tradition i svensk radio. Redan som barn brukade yours truly tillbringa långa sommardagar med att ligga på Ribban eller vid Luhrsjön och lyssna med medhavd transistorradio. Tyvärr har programmet med åren genomgått samma utveckling som public service i stort — bra har blivit dåligt, dåligt har blivit sämre, och sämre har blivit ren skit. Visst glimmar det till ibland. Sture Linnér, Ingmar Bergman, Ingvar Carlsson, faller mig genast i minnet. Men mest...

The mining magnate does away with the constraints of arithmetic, simultaneously demanding lower taxes more public spending and lower deficits From The Guardian A striking feature of the age of billionaires in which we now live is that billionaires are more and more inclined to give us the benefit of their opinions. In the past year alone, we’ve had Marc Andreessen’s retro-futurist “Techno-optimist manifesto”, Mark Zuckerberg’s pronouncements on the future of media, and, most...

I start teaching this week (tomorrow). One of the things we are encouraged to discuss with students is the issue of academic misconduct. One of those problems that always existed, and not just among students, and it is hard to say whether things are better or worse than before, even though everyone thinks it has worsened. Certainly AI has made things even more complicated. At least in my classes, AI has limited impact, since it is an average of what is out there, and that is conventional...

Another Monday Message Board. Post comments on any topic. Civil discussion and no coarse language please. Side discussions and idees fixes to the sandpits, please. I’m now using Substack as a blogging platform, and for my monthly email newsletter. For the moment, I’ll post both at this blog and on Substack. You can also follow me on Mastodon here. Share this:Like Loading...

Debt Crisis Looms as Rates Rise.

Increasing profits far above actual costs. Think Medicare Advantage as compared to Medicare. Over the past 20 years, the prices of hospital services have grown faster than any other sector of the US economy. Unfortunately, the federal government recently issued a regulation intending to address underpayment of hospitals by Medicaid. However, the new rule could push hospital prices higher for 66 percent of the US population who have commercial...

I have posted about rural hospitals here, here, and here. Resources found at various hospitals can be defined by location. Rural hospitals may have less resource and capability than urban hospitals plus greater costs. Resources may be less due to cost which does not change but has a larger impact on a rural hospital due to patient usage. The cost is not spread across greater usage. Usage has to cover costs or the smaller hospital is in danger of...

Mainstream economics is a cult, not a science. It clings to outdated beliefs despite evidence to the contrary. Think of it like a stubborn old car. You know it’s broken. But instead of fixing it, you keep pouring in gas. That’s what mainstream economists do. They ignore the warning lights. Just like Marx contradicted his own Labour Theory of Value, economists ignore anomalies that disprove their models. It’s like trying to fit a square peg into a round hole....

New Deal democrat talked about the issues of the difference in Household and Establishment population numbers here and here (Bonddad Blog) and also on Angry Bear. I also added some detail in two separate posts also. Accordingly, New Deal democrat; “A big current issue with the Household Survey is whether, by relying on Census estimates, it has substantially underestimated population growth, and in particular immigration-driven growth, in the past two...

This did not start with Biden. When trump lost to Biden, Repubs started to advertise US borders were open for immigrants. A complete turn around from when Repubs held the presidency. The issue became bigger and Republicans helped to make it bigger. James Carville defended the Biden administration’s border policy Friday during a one-on-one interview with Fox News host Sean Hannity. The discussion spiraled into a broader debate on national...