Category Archives: Economy
Google Engineer James Damore
There are certain things one doesn’t ask in polite elite society. Lucky for you you’re nowhere near there. You’re in Bokbluster, so I’ll ask:
Is it possible, on average, that girls don’t like math as much as boys? It’s possible, on average. Unless you’re Larry Summers, the former president of Harvard.
Is it possible, on average, that girls are less fond of computer engineering than boys? That’s a possibility too. Unless you’re another Harvard guy, former Google engineer James Damore.
Damore’s Downfall
Damore wrote a 10 page memo (screed to the politically correct among us) asking if it’s possible that women are underrepresented in engineering because of biology rather than bias.
Google management was having none of that. Here’s Google CEO Sundar Pichai:
To suggest a group of our colleagues have traits that make them less biologically suited to that work is offensive and not OK.
Coming down firmly on the side of bias, he fired Damore.
Medicaid Addiction Crisis
Here’s a nifty graphic from Axios AM. It’s based on data gathered by The Kaiser Family Foundation. The data show that most people are covered by group health insurance. But Medicaid comes in second.
The Affordable Care Act encouraged states to expand Medicaid to the able bodied poor. The deal was that the feds would pay 100% of the costs until 2020 and 90% from then on.
Addiction to Medicaid
The Medicaid expansion created a new entitlement. And Governors like John Kasich got hooked on it. And, as with most addictions, the price skyrocketed.
Daniel Henninger in the WSJ finds it ironic that Republicans are using the opioid addiction crises as a reason not to cut back on soaring Medicaid expenses.
What an irony it is that one of the Republican arguments made now for preserving ObamaCare’s Medicaid expansion is the opioid crisis. Even after the Supreme Court ruled in 2012 that Medicaid’s expansion was optional, some Republican governors got hooked on the promise of federal cash flow to the horizon.
Uber Founder Ejected
Uber investors forced C.E.O. Travis Kalanick out of the company he founded.
Here’s Reuters:
The resignation sent shockwaves through Silicon Valley and leaves Uber’s board of directors with the problem of finding a dynamic leader who also has a steady hand needed to heal Uber after a bruising six months.
Uber Founder Ejected
And here’s MIT Technology Review on Uber’s driverless car problem:
Its new CEO will inherit many problems, but a business plan based on the elusive dream of driverless cars is the largest.
Anthem Takes a Hike
Anthem Insurance recently pulled out of Ohio’s ObamaCare exchange. The company cited “a mix of uncertainty and big losses from higher-than-expected bills racked up by sick policyholders.”
Also, Anthem cited the shrinking individual market — a half million fewer people signed up for Obamacare during open enrollment this year — and the return of an Obamacare tax levied on insurers that had been waived for 2017 as reasons for its departure.an uncertain future for ObamaCare and declining
Bull in the Swamp
When President Trump rides high so does the stock market. The Dow Bull has surged 2,700 points since his election.
Trump and Bull Get Swamped
But as allegations from unnamed sources rise in the media, President Trump sinks in the swamp. Apparently, so does the stock market. The Dow lost 373 points on Wednesday. The experts say investors worry that if Trump goes down so will his agenda for tax cuts, less regulation, and more growth.
Most experts that is. Wharton professor Jeremy Siegel, says the market could spike 1,000 points if Trump resigns.
Update: Well, as of noon Friday the Bull has clawed back over 200 points of Wednesday’s losses. Maybe I was just looking for an excuse to draw an alligator.
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