I took Algebra I in 8th grade. Algebra I and typing were the two classes I took in junior high that I can say I have used regularly for the rest of my life (so far).In the school system I was in, there was tracking. Some kids got to take 8th grade Algebra I. The rest took regular math. The ones who took Algebra I in 8th took Geometry in 9th, Algebra II and Trig in 10th, advanced pre-calculus in 11th and Calculus in 12th. I got off that bus after 10th...

Don Berwick says MA growth “should be slowed or stopped” Obama CMS Chief Don Berwick: Medicare Advantage Plans Game the System, MedPage Today, Cheryl Clark Ok, this is a long one. It is easy to follow. Donald Berwick is worthwhile read. As written several times on Angry Bear, the biggest driver of healthcare cost is “pricing” increases as reflected in hospitals, pharmaceuticals, and healthcare insurance. It was Dr. Donald Berwick while...

Difference in Differences (student stuff) .[embedded content]

I have expressed my disagreement with Kohei Saito's Slow Down and Marx in the Anthropocene in previous posts. I welcome Huber's and Phillips's critique of Saito at Jacobin. They get much right in their criticism of Saito's Utopianism and implicit primitivism but they share with Saito a fundamental misreading of Marx. This misreading is based on a speculative interpretation of a stirring but ambiguous passage in Marx's Preface to his 1859 Contribution to the Critique of Political Economy:In...

I grew up with the admonition that you always turn off the lights if you’re the last to leave the room. Or “close the lights,” as my grandma used to say. But home lighting technology has evolved considerably over the past couple of decades.1. Does it save money to turn out the lights when you leave the room?2. Does it shorten the life of the bulb by turning it off and on more frequently?If you have LED lighting, the answers are (1) not enough to...

Weekly Indicators for March 4 – 8 at Seeking Alpha  – by New Deal democrat My “Weekly Indicators” post is up at Seeking Alpha. Generally speaking, there is a demarcation between consumer-oriented data, which is in the main positive, and manufacturing-oriented data, which is mainly weak or negative. As usual, clicking over and reading will bring you up to the virtual moment on the economy, and reward me with a little lunch money. New...

Shocking Truth About Family Market

[embedded content] My interview with Rick Smith on the Heritage Foundation Index and its tenuous relationship with anything that can be called freedom, economic or otherwise.

Uncovering the Missing Link in Social Sciences

KFF Health News: In 2010 President Barack Obama signed legislation to create the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Its purpose he said “the new agency had one priority . . . looking out for people, not big banks, not lenders, not investment houses.” But people . . . Since then, the CFPB has done its share of policing mortgage brokers, student loan companies, and banks. More recently, the U.S. health care system has turned tens of millions of...