Archive for the ‘Economy’ Category

The Midterms and U.S. Health Policy: What Changes?

November 14, 2018 | 2018 Midterms

The Midterms and U.S. Health Policy: What Changes? The Democrats have taken control of the House. And Utah, Nebraska and Idaho have approved Medicaid expansion. What does this portend for U.S. health policy? In a nutshell, four health care developments will take place or are likely to occur within the next two years: Medicaid expansion …

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A Rare Moment of Bipartisanship in U.S. Healthcare

October 22, 2018 | Increasing Pharma Competition

The end of “gag orders” prohibiting pharmacists from informing patients on the cheapest way to buy prescription drugs On September 18 of this year, Congress passed a couple of bipartisan bills in health care: These two bills, one for Medicare and Medicare Advantage beneficiaries, and the other for employer-sponsored and individual health coverage, were passed …

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What Does Climate Change Mean in the U.S., Particularly for Minorities and…Coal Country?

October 21, 2018 | Climate Change

The recent UN climate change report wake-up call The UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) issued on Sunday October 7 an urgent call to action to governments all around the world: In its report, the IPCC stated that major changes are needed within the next decade to limit global temperature increases to 1.5 degree …

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The California Resistance: Make the Planet Great Again

October 10, 2018 | California

The real resistance is to protect our only planet Right after Labor Day, with most of the country coming together in memorial tribute to John McCain, the U.S. political environment reached fever pitch with the publication of an anonymous op-ed in the New York Times, claiming that members of the Trump administration were working together …

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The ten-year anniversary of the 2008 financial crisis

October 3, 2018 | Regulating Wall Street

A primer on Dodd-Frank, through a simple Q&A   Why was Dodd Frank passed?   The Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act was passed by Congress, and signed by president Obama on July 21st, 2010, to stabilize our banking and financial system, and prevent a repeat of the disastrous 2008 financial crisis, which …

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Is Universal Health Care Socialism?

September 11, 2018 | Health Care

Is Universal Health Care Socialism?  The November midterms elections are approaching, and one of the major topics is health care. Democrats are campaigning on retaining Obamacare, in many cases advocating that we move towards universal health care. That would be pure socialism, retort Republicans, who would rather repeal the Affordable Care Act as they attempted …

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Letter published in August 31 Financial Times, in response to the 8/29/18 FT article, “Nordic lessons for today’s socialists.”

Voters want decisive change towards a fairer type of capitalism (Letter published in the 8/31/18 edition of the Financial Times)   I liked Martin Sandbu’s article, “Nordic lessons for today’s socialists” (August 29), and its compelling description of the Nordic model. I agree with him when he mentions Bernie Sanders, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Rashida Tlaib and …

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Enjoying a Book Tour

August 18, 2018 | Book

Enjoying a Book Tour   Before writing my book I envisioned a book tour as a series of stops in bookstores across many cities…Well, I have enjoyed a couple of such stops, and even a book party at a restaurant, courtesy of neighbors who are also dear friends. Mostly, though, it has been written commentary, …

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Of Baby Boomers and Millennials

May 17, 2018 | Social Trends

I am a father of five, six with my stepson, and a baby boomer happily retired from full-time work. Plenty of time to reflect on the opportunities I have had, those that passed me by, and compare them with what is on offer for my children in this twenty-first century. I can start with one …

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Why We Need a Basic Universal Income

May 17, 2018 | Employment

The future belongs to artificial intelligence enabled robots. They clean our homes and hotel rooms. They serve our meals in restaurants and deliver them at home. They stretch their artificial limbs to bring us our medicines when we need to take them. They select in giant warehouses the goods we have purchased online that drones …

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