from Dean Baker In prior decades we in the US used to try to restrict the ability of the rich and very rich to buy elections. We have limits on campaign contributions to candidates and political parties. Until the Supreme Court’s 2009 decision in Citizens United case, corporations were prohibited altogether from contributing to politicians and political campaigns. This is no longer the case. The rich have found ways to largely circumvent campaign funding restrictions with independent...

One of my themes here has been that the Biden administration and congressional Democrats should actively and publicly seek compromise with Republicans.  The events this week illustrate the logic of compromise clearly.  The perceived crisis on the southern border was probably the biggest single threat to Biden’s re-election, or at least the biggest threat that he could take action to ameliorate (unlike the risk of an economic downturn, etc.). ...

This is a follow-up to two posts on Tuesday and Wednesday. One topic being “Low Income Consumers” and the other being GAO Prices etc. Neither said the Biden Administration is at fault. If you read Thursday’s report by New Deal Democrat, we are avoiding a recession. Briefly, Much of the cost from pricing increases people are experiencing result from rent-taking by corporations the same as what happened in 2008. They can do it (raise prices)...

Ran across two articles on conservatives, a presidential candidate, and the US Gov. pushing people towards Medicare Advantage plans. I thought I could combine both articles on one post using snippets of information from each. It was too exhausting to do so. I will keep them separate and write each independent of the other. Since I have been writing on healthcare for a while, I typically add my own comments as taken from other sources. This...

Not all genes, their mutations, and the conditions caused by those mutations are overwhelmingly complex. We’ve known for decades that sickle cell disease is caused by a specific nucleotide change at a specific position in the human adult beta globin gene, and we can predict the consequences to a patient with the disease to a high degree of accuracy. The fact that there are so many CRISPR trials underway now is testament to the clarity of our...

Initial jobless claims confirmatory of continued expansion  – by New Deal democrat Initial claims continue at their very low level, declining -9,000 to 218,000 last week.  The four-week moving average rose 3,750 to 212,250. With the usual one-week lag, continuing claims declined -23,000 to 1.871 million: For forecasting purposes the YoY% change is more important. YoY weekly claims are down -0.9%, the 4 week moving average up 4.4%, and...

Urgent Global Crisis: Battling Climate Change

Shot an email off to Kip Sullivan to see what he was up to with Medicare. He returned my email with a copy of a letter he wrote Much going on in this letter I was not aware of and am assuming many other are not aware of either. Still they persist in corporatizing Medicare and private practices into commercialized medicine such as Medicare Advantage. Kips message back to me . . . I’ve been very busy monitoring and commenting on four studies...

From a comment thread over at jabberwocking.com:“The walls are more a sign of desperation than power. A better way is to fix Central America so there is a larger buffer between the US and the problems in South America. Fixing includes making conditions in the continent prosperous enough for all that we don’t have hordes desperately attempting dangerous journeys.”Exactly. Walls don’t work. But the GOP would rather spend billions on futility than spend...

Blog Labour should learn that every fiscal rule is a political choice Rather than experiment with another round of austerity, Rachel Reeves should commit to investing in our economy. By Lydia Prieg 08 February 2024 After months of speculation,...