I copied the two paragraphs below (actually I took one and split it) from Matt Stoller’s Big News Letter. Matt is talking about the same issues I have been talking about for years. The Pharmaceutical Industry and their rip off pricing. It is a good read if you wonder over there. The YouTube is also from his site. I can not lay claim to posting such before. Doctor Glaucomflecken makes a valid point. United Healthcare Group is one of the top PBMs....

What’s confusing about the woke movement is that it expresses traditional left-wing emotions: empathy for the marginalized, indignation at the plight of the oppressed, determination that historical wrongs should be righted. Those emotions, however, are derailed by a range of theoretical assumptions that ultimately undermine them. Theory is such a nebulous and trendy concept that it’s even been used to launch a fashion line, but if the word today has no clear content, it does...

 Today (July 26, 2024), MMTed releases Episode 2 in the second season of our Manga series – The Smith Family and their Adventures with Money. Have a bit of fun with it while learning Modern Monetary Theory (MMT) and circulate it to those who you think will benefit …William Mitchell — Modern Monetary TheoryEpisode 2 of the second season of our Manga – The Smith Family and their Adventures with Money – available nowBill Mitchell | Professor in Economics and Director of the Centre of Full...

Contrary to popular belief, financial crises are not unpredictable black swan events. Mainstream economists love to paint them as rare and unforeseeable. But the reality is far different. Ignoring private debt and its bubbles leads to economic downturns. Take the 2007 housing crisis. It wasn't a bolt from the blue. It was a ticking time bomb. Private debt levels were skyrocketing, yet mainstream economists like Ben Bernanke were blissfully unaware. They were busy admiring...

When you are in the land of Ohio and the OSC decides. About a year and a half ago, in a ruling striking down the Ohio state version of Chevron deference, the conservative majority on the state supreme court noted that “text should be given its contemporaneous and customary meaning.” Yesterday, in a 4-3 opinion, the conservative justices decided that “boneless wings” can have bones in them. Welcome to Buffalo Wildly Deadly Wings! Michael...

As America ages, dementia is becoming a bigger and bigger healthcare burden. Medicare won’t pay for long-term nursing home care. Dementia will be a growing drag on the US economy at least until the baby boomer die off.Shingles is caused by herpes virus, a neurotrophic virus. For many people who had chicken pox as a child, the virus hid out in their ganglia, emerging decades later as a painful rash. There’s a vaccine for shingles now that is protective...

The Presidential Transition Project called “Project 2025” outlines a road map for how a new far-right presidential administration could take over the country. You can be sure Trump did not write this as it is readable. Former President Trump and his allies’ plan would have devastating impacts on our lives and our democracy, from banning abortion and contraception to gutting our system of checks and balances. One underdiscussed aspect of Project...

Personal income, spending, and prices: consumer remains strong, inflation close to 2% target no matter how you measure it  – by New Deal democrat I am on the road today, so I will have to keep this brief. In June nominal personal income rose 0.3%, and spending rose 0.2%. Since PCE inflation rose less than 0.1%, real income rose 0.2% and real spending rose 0.1%. Since spending on services tends to rise even during recessions, the more...

Post-colonial theory — an intellectual disaster .[embedded content]

Been writing on Rural and Inner-city hospitals and the lack of funding for them, the buying up of the same by larger entities, and the abuse of the 340B program by the larger hospital. Once the larger hospital buys the inner-city hospital, there is a tendency to cut services and also abuse the 340B program. Rural hospitals are less funded than their city cousins. Programs such as Medicaid and Medicare pay less than their smaller margins than what...