News, Opinions & Events
Corrupt Dialysis Industry Exposed… “How to Make a Killing” Book Review. – Dr. Eric Bricker
Must watch for policymakers working on the US medical care system.
California Health Workers May Face Rude Awakening With $25 Minimum Wage Law – Kaiser FF Health News
Executive compensation at HCA, CHS, Tenet and UHS: 7 things to know – Becker’s Hospital Review
“1. HCA CEO Sam Hazen saw his overall compensation rise to $21.3 million in 2023. The second-highest earning CEO was Tenet’s Saum Sutaria, MD, ($18.5 million) followed by UHS CEO and President Marc Miller ($14.4 million) and CHS CEO Tim Hingtgen ($8.3 million).
“2. The CEOs and CFOs of all four health systems saw compensation packages drop substantially in 2022, according to proxy statements filed with the SEC. However, most of the top-earning executives saw their overall compensation rebound in 2023 as financial results improved.
“3. The CEOs of the four systems earned compensation packages of more than $63 million combined in 2023, compared to about $43 million in 2022 and $65 million in 2021.”
The US Secretary of State is biased, immoral, and incompetent. Blinken should resign or be removed from office.
US to query Israel about 6-year-old’s killing in Gaza, State Dept says – Reuters
The thousands of Palestinians Israel arrests, tortures, holds even in death – Al Jazeera
Homes burned, animals killed: Palestinians describe Israeli settler rampage – WaPost
Typical Washington Post soft-peddling of lynching in the West Bank. The headline above presents what happened as hear-say and does not mention people were killed. However, the passage below, buried in the middle of the article, describes longtime violence by Israeli settlers against Palestinians intended to depopulate the West Bank as background fact. The story itself is buried in the middle of the news section. In the same edition, the Post continues to provide prime op-ed space to Zionists expressing outrage over academic criticisms of Israel’s apartheid laws and practices.
“Violence by Israeli settlers, long aimed at depopulating Palestinian parts of the occupied West Bank, increased last year after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu returned to power — at the head of a coalition that included far-right settler activists who have been convicted of anti-Arab incitement and have advocated for the outright annexation of the West Bank.
“Since Oct. 7, when Hamas-led militants killed about 1,200 people in Israel and plunged Gaza into war, there have been an average of seven settler attacks per day on Palestinians and their property — more than triple the rate in 2022 and the highest figure since the United Nations began keeping statistics in 2006. Last year, Netanyahu’s government approved the highest number of housing units in Israeli settlements since watchdog group Peace Now starting recording figures in 2012.”
Revealed: Israel has sped up settlement-building in East Jerusalem since Gaza war began – Guardian
“Today, the Governor of Tennessee announced a new alliance with Alabama Governor Kay Ivey, Georgia Governor Brian Kemp, Mississippi Governor Tate Reeves, South Carolina Governor Henry McMaster, and Texas Governor Greg Abbott. The Governors are warning that unionization will lead to factories closing in their states.”
US workers seeking record wages to consider new jobs, New York Fed says – Reuters
“The so-called average reservation wage was $81,822 as of March, up substantially from the $73,391 seen in the last report in November of 2023, the regional Fed bank said, drawing on data compiled from in its regular Survey of Consumer Expectations. The New York Fed said that rise was driven by men, respondents over the age of 45, and those without college degrees.”
Makes sense that workers want to make more and employers want to pay them less. But the econ notion of an “average reservation wage” may be off the reservation in real life. Know many people in high-cost Northern Virginia for whom $15/hour — $30,000 a year — would be a raise: a food worker, a warehouse worker, a farm worker, a personal care worker… If higher-earning workers up their income expectations, the average would rise even if the lowest wage workers lack the leverage to raise their wages.
Netanyahu Outplays Biden Yet Again – Robert Kuttner/TAP
Israel’s provocation + Iran’s response provide the Netanyahu government political cover with US leaders to continue killing civilians in Gaza and empowering settlers to kill and take land in the West Bank. What will be Gaza death toll by year’s end: 40,000? 50,000? $60,000? More? … US taxpayer $$ at work.
Palestinians told to avoid north Gaza after shooting – Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
Iran attacks Israel, Gaza’s second city is destroyed – Al Jazeera
Israeli settlers kill two Palestinians in occupied West Bank, mayor says – Reuters
A former Mossad chief says Israel is enforcing an apartheid system in the West Bank – AP
What Apartheid Looks Like in the Occupied West Bank – FB
Life as Jewish settler in the West Bank – DW Documentary
Israeli Firms Are Working Overtime to Sell Stolen Palestinian Land to US Jews – truthout
“The real estate events peddling land in Israeli settlements in the West Bank appear to flout US and international law.”
“Meanwhile, violence and displacement has skyrocketed with roughly 4,000 Palestinians displaced in the West Bank in 2023, the majority after October 7, according to a February report by the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.
“Tamara Nassar at The Electronic Intifada reported in late March that “Israeli forces and settlers have injured nearly 5,000 Palestinians in the West Bank since 7 October, more than 700 of them children.” The Express Tribune, a Pakistani partner paper of The New York Times, reported on March 30 that some 27,000 decares of land (roughly 6,600 acres) in the West Bank have been confiscated by Israel just since October 7.”
A Class Analysis of the Biden-Trump Rematch – Richard Wolff/LAP
Echoes of Schumpeter’s assessment of Marx: Wolff’s economic, social, and political analysis of capitalism has much to offer. But the solution that pops up at the end — “worker cooperatives” — is a wisp of socialist religion.
The Inflation That Democrats Can’t See – Atlantic
If Krugman had the live on $50K, he might take the time to count how much he’s spending on food, fuel, housing and other basics.
The Silver or the Lead: How White Collar Crime Prosecutors Get Punished – BIG
“The main villain is a man named Philip Esformes, a Miami nursing home kingpin, who in 2019 was convicted of the largest health care fraud scheme ever charged by the government, having stolen roughly $1.3 billion from 1998 to 2016 by making bogus claims to Medicare and Medicaid and bribing doctors and state inspectors. Esformes lived large, buying Ferraris, luxury watches, and prostitutes, as well as bribing officials at the University of Pennsylvania to get his son accepted.
“There was plenty of evidence of his crimes, so you’d think going after this guy would be a slam-dunk, a career builder for ambitious prosecutors. But as you’ll see, Esformes managed to put Beth Young, the government lawyer who went after him, on trial, and nearly ruined her career…
“This dynamic is bad for several reasons. The first and most obvious one is that it puts an entire class of people above the law. As someone familiar with white collar cases told me, ‘When the defendants are wealthier the lawyers get more leeway.’ The second is that it creates a bureaucratic pull upward of mediocre risk averse lawyers, since those who are promoted are usually those with a spotless record, with spotless increasingly meaning willing to pick on poor people.
“And that legitimizes prosecutorial misconduct towards the poor. After all, prosecutors will conclude there’s no point in trying to adhere to universal rules, since judges don’t enforce them equally. The only thing that matters is whether the target is rich or poor.”
Owner of failed nursing home chain accused of $38 million tax fraud scheme pleads guilty – NBC
Why School Absences Have ‘Exploded’ Almost Everywhere – NY Times
“The increases have occurred in districts big and small, and across income and race. For districts in wealthier areas, chronic absenteeism rates have about doubled, to 19 percent in the 2022-23 school year from 10 percent before the pandemic, a New York Times analysis of the data found.
“Poor communities, which started with elevated rates of student absenteeism, are facing an even bigger crisis: Around 32 percent of students in the poorest districts were chronically absent in the 2022-23 school year, up from 19 percent before the pandemic.”
Long COVID for Public Schools: Chronic Absenteeism Before and After the Pandemic – Nat Malkus/AEI
“Key Points:
- Consistent attendance is key to student success, but post-pandemic attendance has been far from consistent. Nationwide, chronic absenteeism—the percentage of students missing at least 10 percent of a school year—surged from 15 percent in 2018 to 28 percent in 2022.
- Falling in 33 of 39 states reporting data, chronic absenteeism rates improved in 2023 but still remained 75 percent higher than the pre-pandemic baseline.
- Chronic absenteeism increased for all district types, but rates were highest in districts with low achievement and higher poverty, affecting over one in three students.
- In 2022, 16 percent of Asian students and 24 percent of white students were chronically absent, compared to 36 percent of Hispanic students and 39 percent of black students.
- The urgent need to recover from pandemic learning loss will be severely hampered by current rates of chronic absenteeism, making it the most pressing post-pandemic problem in public schools.”
School absenteeism crisis needs an all-hands effort – Everett Daily Herald
“‘When a student stops attending school, it closes the door to a multitude of living-wage careers and further complicates their pathway out of poverty,’ Monica Wilson told The Herald for a May 2021 editorial. Wilson is director of human services for Housing Hope, the nonprofit agency that provides housing for homeless and low-income families throughout the county.”
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Missing the obvious: life expectancy in the U.S. is closely related to income – Karl Polzer
“The underlying theory is simple: More income and wealth allow people and governments to support more years of life. Fewer resources put them at a disadvantage. Some politicians who see the connection may be leery of talking about it. Doing so would lead to awkward questions about improving working and living conditions for millions of Americans and dealing with growing economic inequality.
“The strong relationship between income and longevity is clear when comparing states… (E)ight of the nine states with the lowest median household income also are among the bottom nine in longevity. Similar clustering occurs comparing the highest ranked states across the two categories. Seven of the nine states with the highest median household income also are among the top nine in life expectancy.
“Realizing they are rowing in the same economic boat could prompt states to join forces on policy changes, particularly Mississippi, West Virginia, Louisiana, Arkansas, Alabama, New Mexico, Kentucky, Oklahoma, South Carolina, and Tennessee, and others ranking at or near the bottom…
“Presidential candidate and former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley strongly proposes raising the program’s retirement age on the premise that increased life spans are undermining Social Security’s long-term solvency. If long-held assumptions about longevity were challenged, and potential losses to low-income workers and low-income states caused by raising the eligibility age came to light, would she change her position? Republican candidate Donald Trump, by the way, opposes cuts in Social Security as do most Democrats…”
Thanks to the Washington Examiner for running this op-ed:
Senate minimum wage bills make bipartisan compromise possible – Washington Examiner
For longer version with references, see:
Previous work on this issue:
One way to make living easier in Virginia – letter to WaPost
Yes, raise the minimum wage, but don’t stop there – op-ed
“More Americans are rightly asking if Israel could neutralize Hamas without massive destruction and loss of civilian life. Indiscriminate air attacks by the Netanyahu regime already have killed and injured tens of thousands of Gazans with no end to the violence in sight. To put this in perspective, imagine how Washington, D.C., would look if a foreign government with the power to fence in the District of Columbia dropped a comparable number of bombs here while shutting off access to water and food and destroying most of the capital area’s housing and medical system. UN officials say conditions in Gaza are catastrophic.”
Thanks to the Washington Post for publishing our letter to the editor:
One way to make living easier in Virginia – Karl Polzer/letter to WaPost
“Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin (R) told reporters he is ‘concerned about the cost of living in Virginia and we’re continuing to evaluate how best to address that,’ as reported in the Nov. 26 Metro article ‘Budget battle looms in Virginia. Facing a tighter fiscal environment and Democratic control of the legislature, Mr. Youngkin and fellow Republicans could help working families without denting the budget by making an expected Democratic push for a higher minimum wage a bipartisan affair.
“The GOP has been trying to attract more minority and working-class voters. However, party leaders have stopped short of addressing core economic issues, such as supporting higher wages and better benefits, and mainly stress cultural issues…”
Background Information on these issues provided to Virginia legislators
McCarthy & Co. offer themselves up on the cross to help motivate lazy poor people back to work
Work requirements are a policy failure: Why are they still an option? – The Hill
Thanks to the Washington Post for running our letter:
“Letting Americans Down”
“How can House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.), President Biden and Senate leaders claim to represent the working class and poor when Medicaid work requirements are a focal point in the debt ceiling standoff and the Trump-era tax cuts are not? According to the Congressional Budget Office, the work requirements in the Limit, Save, Grow Act would have a tiny impact (about $5.6 billion in fiscal 2025) on the nation’s $31.4 trillion national debt, but they would increase the number of uninsured and state costs and have no effect on hours worked by Medicaid recipients.
“In contrast, ending the Trump-era tax cuts, which disproportionately benefit the wealthy, could put a major dent in the national debt….”
Because most of this site’s readers won’t be able to get through the newspaper’s pay gate, here’s the draft of the letter sent to the Post:
Debt ceiling negotiators focus on a ‘speck’ in benefits for the poor, ignore the ‘logs’ in their own eyes.
“Legislative Choices for Paying Promised Social Security Benefits”
Statement of Karl Polzer, Center on Capital & Social Equity,
U.S. Senate Budget Committee hearing: “Protecting Social
Security for All: Making the Wealthy Pay Their Fair Share”
Has DT crossed the line into delirium tremens?
“It came out of his mouth during a campaign speech last month.”