Lotus-eater

The hate directed at UnitedHealthCare has matters exactly backwards (pun intended). If he had a failed back surgery that set him off (he apparently recommended the book “Crooked: Outwitting the Back Pain Industry and Getting on the Road to Recovery”), then UnitedHealthCare should deny more claims like his to discourage useless back procedures.

Banning Tenga fleshlights and "Japan Real Hole" custom pornstar pocket pussies is fine by me if he's volunteering himself as the replacement.

It was a parliament in which the colonists had no representation. By contrast, Shays' and the Whiskey rebellions were deemed to be beyond the pale because Americans did have representation in their legislatures. Likewise, the laws governing insurance companies and their enforcement are subject to popular control. And if there is a tort, you can engage in one of our favorite pastimes and sue the insurance company.

A political motive makes his action worse. It makes it more akin to terrorism.

Agreed. All health care systems--whether public or private--have to control costs. Government-run systems also ration care by denying or delaying access to procedures and drugs and usually do more of it, which is why their wait times are frequently longer. E.g., in the UK, the average wait time for cancer treatment is much longer than in the U.S. and the elderly have the longest waiting times (only 2% of those aged 85+ receive chemotherapy within NHS's target of 62 days) because the NHS in effect doesn't view treating them as cost-effective.

Big aversion to fish.

1. Contrary evidence: "The rise in markups and market power documented by De Loecker, Eeckhout, and Unger (2020) has recently generated much discussion in economics. We measure the correlation between the change in firm level markups and the change in industry level prices as measured by the Producer Price Index and find little to no relationship both for 1980–2018 and 2018–present." 2. The argument that Walmart, Amazon, etc. force out local firms and eventually raise prices is likewise dubious even if Lina Khan, et al. believe so. 3. Higher markups do not prove price gouging if, for example, firms anticipate higher marginal costs in the future: "We show that markup growth likely contributed more than 50 percent to inflation in 2021, a substantially higher contribution than during the preceding decade. However, the markup itself is determined by a host of unobservable factors, including changes in demand but also changes in firms’ expectations of future marginal costs. The decline in markups during the first half of 2022—even as inflation remained high—is consistent with firms having raised markups during 2021 in anticipation of future cost pressures. Furthermore, the growth in markups was similar across industries with very different relative demand and inflation rates in 2021, which is also consistent with an aggregate increase in expected future marginal costs." Also: "Economist Jan De Loecker and his colleagues looked at company-level data on all publicly traded firms to measure both markups and profitability in the United States from 1955 to the present. They have argued that, beginning in 1980, the average “pure profit” rate (that which is in excess of the normal cost of capital) increased from 1 percent to 8 percent. However, this study has been widely criticized, including for its data on markups. Economist Tyler Cowen has pointed out that if profits are defined as the difference between market prices and the marginal cost of production, businesses with high fixed costs and significant economies of scale can have large profits yet still lose money..." More criticisms of greedflation (specifically Isabella Weber). 4. Fairness is a political concept that is even more disputed, so it is impossible for history to show any such thing. The institutional context in which antitrust bureaucrats operate undermine their supposed virtues. Price controls are even worse as a matter of economic efficiency and deontological liberty. 5. Two different explanations of higher prices in simple form:

Wendy's has about 6,000 stores in the U.S., and claims to be opening more stores to offset the closures.

There is plenty of evidence that there has been no overall increase in market concentration, and where there has been an increase in concentration, it is not necessarily "an indication of the augmented market power of top firms" and is instead mostly technological (more productive firms). "The increasing presence of top firms has decreased local concentration in local markets as the new establishments of top firms gain market share from local incumbents." Further, "we find that total employment rises substantially in industries with rising concentration. This is true even when we look at total employment of the smaller firms in these industries." More local competition and higher employment are the opposite of cartel behavior, which restricts output to increase prices. As for government intervention in the market, it requires knowing what the cause of concentration is and exactly what should be done. I am highly skeptical that the common prescriptions of more antitrust enforcement and price controls by bureaucrats will produce more consumer welfare (even assuming that they should override deontological liberty claims).

Yes, it is widely debated (e.g., here and here), so it's not a settled or revealed truth. Even if there is market power, it's not clear that government is capable of improving matters. The pharmaceutical industry is a good example. It's already a highly regulated industry with significant barriers to entry. The likes of EPI may believe that government fine-tuning in the context of various institutional constraints will produce substantially better outcomes even assuming that there's a consensus about what's fair or equitable (which there's not), but I don't.

Whether it's her own opinion or research supplied to her by interns, they're still clueless. Your hypothetical about the market power of Big Egg is something that one of my graduate economics professors wrote a book about (Egg Marketing Board: A Case Study of Monopoly and Its Social Costs, which analyzes a monopoly created by government regulation). But when it comes to the alleged market power of grocery retailers: Where's the beef?

Large size by itself is not proof of price-setting power. There is no clear correlation between market concentration and higher markups. So color me highly skeptical. And as The Economist pointed out, people are confusing cause and effect. The root cause is not to be found in the morality tale of greedy corporations but rather the government rapidly spending trillions of dollars when there were major supply constraints.

Greedflation is a nonsense idea, particularly in the case of grocery retailers because there is no reason to believe that there is market power when there are so many competitors. The greedflation narrative in fact relies on claims of concentrated markets among producers of food, not retailers. Whoopi is clueless.

The issue is whether retail grocers colluded to raise prices or simply passed along price increases from producers. Standard economic theory says that in a competitive market, retail grocers would be price-takers, not price-makers. Aldi is ranked #13 nationally (1/3rd of grocery shoppers admit to shopping there) and growing rapidly.

Retail grocers have been subject to intense competition from Aldi, Walmart, Amazon, Target, Costco, etc., so it's hard to believe that there was collusion among retailers to raise prices.

I am SHOCKED that someone would exploit an animal rescue nonprofit for personal financial gain.

Agreed. Nonprofits because they are nonprofits are able to escape the sort of oversight that for-profit firms typically receive from government and investors seeking to maximize returns. One of the largest "nonprofits" that I'm aware of is IKEA, which is owned by the Stichting INGKA Foundation.

Queer Works CEO charged with stealing $940,000 from city of Palm Springs, others WWW.DESERTSUN.COM A Riverside County criminal grand jury has indicted Queer Works CEO with 53 felony counts, including grand theft and money laundering. GLAAD Paid For CEO’s Lavish Spending, Documents Reveal - The New York Times WWW.NYTIMES.COM GLAAD paid for its chief executive to fly first-class, rent a Cape Cod house and remodel her home office. It may have violated I.R.S. rules. Ruby Corado pleads guilty to wire fraud in plea agreement WWW.WASHINGTONBLADE.COM Reduced charge says she stole at least $150,000 in COVID-relief funds.

More research: "Twenty-five studies involving 1744 volunteers were identified. No significant effects were found when fructose or HFCS was substituted for glucose, except for a slight decrease in diastolic blood pressure when fructose was substituted for glucose. Similarly, no effects were found when fructose or HFCS was substituted for sucrose, except for a small increase, of uncertain clinical significance, of apolipoprotein B when HFCS was substituted for sucrose." HFCS isn't any worse than sugar. Too much of either is bad for your health.

That's a myth. HFCS is no worse than sugar: "Finally, whereas glucose and fructose are metabolized differently, the belief that sucrose is metabolized differently than HFCS is a myth. No study has shown any difference between the two when each is given isocalorically, nor is there any difference in sweetness or caloric value. ...there is no evidence that fructose or HFCS per se causes obesity or even weight gain." Per capita consumption of HFCS and refined sugars peaked in 1999 and is down 17% (though still high). Avoid a lot of empty calories in general.

I agree that the internet may play a role but instead think that younger generations may be more concerned about being captured on video and having it shared or posted on social media and being mocked.

People have mentioned the heat in PS, but there's also the wind to consider. Northern areas get very windy, and when combined with dust, can produce dust storms. There are wind maps showing the windy areas if that's a concern.

It's much easier to do something about a gas tank than lithium batteries, which are inherently inflammable. Toronto is considering banning e-bikes during the winter (surprisingly) : "Fluctuating temperatures can cause condensation and lithium plating, increasing the likelihood of short circuits and fires," the TTC said in its report."

CC has nicer and not so nice areas, which is why it's a relative bargain (though not as cheap as 20 years ago) compared to Palm Springs, Palm Desert, Rancho Mirage and other upscale areas.

Agreed. As males, I don't see why gay men would be much less aggressive than straight men (but perhaps some think that gay men do little more than throw handkerchiefs on the ground to indicate interest). And homophobia induces some gay men to compensate by behaving in hypermasculine ways like sexual assault.