One institution noted for providing quality health care to the poor in this country is the criminal justice system. A recent footnote in The Week tells the story of a man who robbed a bank precisely because he needed urgent care. (“Medicare for All,” The Week, Feb/ 15. 2019, pg. 6

In the opening scene of the film, The Graduate, the operative word was “plastics.”  Today, Dustin Hoffman is all grown up, though that scene remains a movie classic.  For billionaire Jeremy Grantham the new word for this era is “topsoil.”  Necessary to feed a burgeoning glo

Recently, a reader referred me to an article by The New York Times columnist, David Leonhardt.   In it, the writer cites Margaret Sullivan of the Washington Post.  She accuses reporters of being too centrist:  “walking down the center line with a blindfold on.” According to he

My jaw dropped when I read it.  More than 100 million women around the world each month use free menstruation-tracking apps with names such as Flo, Glow, Ovia, and Cue.” (“A Different Conception Of Privacy,” by Naomi Kresge et al, Bloomberg Businessweek, January 28, 20.) Never

Recently, the super-rich and super powerful gathered for the annual economic summit in Davos, Switzerland.  There, they received a report from Oxfam.  It said the 26 richest people in the world own as much wealth as half the human race. (“Davos: Skiing past a world in crisis,” T

“Let me tell you about the very rich. They are different from you and me.”*  For one thing, they don’t pay much in taxes.  When the top rate exceeds 48 percent, they find ways to avoid taxes and “government revenues start to fall.” (“A 70 percent tax rate is a liberal fa

Recently, one of the bright lights in the U. S.  freshman Congressional class noted that the slate of reporters assigned to cover the 2020 Presidential election failed to include an African-American.  As I stared at the list of about 30 reporters, 8 appeared to be of American-Asian

A news report in a local paper reawakened some bad memories.  The story was about enterprise zones, programs meant to breathe life into depressed areas.  The project under review included portions of a tony area in the heart of the city. Developers were going the make a fortune and

Ranchers may be getting worried.  The Cattlemen’s Association has asked the government to “’define ‘meat’ as a product ‘derived from animals.’” (“Faux Sure!” by Clive Thompson, Wired, Jan. 2019, pg. 26.) Apparently, they feel threatened by growth in the “fake”

“Tax the rich.” The chant gets louder as the liberal left begins to flex its muscles  Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez (AOC) cites history as evidence the rich could pay more taxes.  She reminds us at one point in our history the tax rate was as high as 70%. I’m no economics major, as