Saturday Links – 24 January 2026

A Trump trade deal that is good for the US and the UK.

There is supposed to be a $2,000 cap on Medicare enrollee drug spending. So how do some people reach the cap after spending only $1,200?

How  to reform the  food stamp program.

Kotlikoff on entitlement programs: 

Earn or save $1 too much and, depending on the state, lose thousands of dollars in your own or your family members’ Medicaid benefits. Hold $1 too much in assets and forfeit thousands in Supplemental Security Income (SSI). Earn an extra dollar in a Medicaid non-expansion state and receive thousands of dollars in otherwise unavailable [Obamacare] subsidies.

Drug use:

In 2023, a record 62 million Americans smoked pot; 17 million now use it daily or near daily. One in 12 young adults used a hallucinogen; one in 18 misused prescription stimulants such as Adderall. Another 2.6 million Americans over 12 took meth. Overdoses still claim the lives of 70,000 Americans annually; the majority died using synthetic opioids like fentanyl. HT: Arnold Kling