Saturday Links

Posted on by John C. Goodman

Biden supports striking health care workers over patients. Actually, the president appears to believe every worker should get more pay – meaning, I suppose, we should all pay more for everything we buy.

Lancet study on warming: In 2021, more than 2.5 billion hours of labor in the U.S. agriculture, construction, manufacturing and service sectors were lost to heat exposure.

Sen. Tim Scott was right: Thomas Sowell points out that in 1960—almost 100 years after slavery—only 22% of African-American children grew up in homes with one parent. Thirty years later, after the expansion of the welfare state under the Great Society, that percentage had tripled. (WSJ)

Should medical debt be banned from credit reports? (NYT)

In the 1950s and 1960s, the Army used blowers on top of buildings and in the backs of station wagons to spray a potential carcinogen into the air surrounding a St. Louis housing project where most residents were Black. More here

2 thoughts on “Saturday Links”

  1. The New York Times article on medical debt was fair and balanced journalism — thanks for posting.

    I favor the exclusion of medical debt from credit reports. There is a huge difference between owing money on a flat-screen TV, versus owing money for a specialty drug or for taking your child to the emergency room.

    The article also notes the sad fact that in some cases, the patient could contact the provider and go on a payment plan. This will usually keep the debt from showing up on any credit report.

    Unfortunately, many providers have their own solvency issues and cannot take the time to supervise private, informal payment plans. They may just sell the debt to a collection agency, collect their 10 cents on the dollar and be done with it.

    Reply

  2. Regarding Devon’s comment about needing to pay more for everything he buys, if everyone gets a raise………

    Actually, a true-blue socialist would be in favor of such inflation. The socialist regards most bargains as suspicious, as deriving from the exploitation of workers. The socialist would rather see cheap restaurants and cheap clothing disappear, if that is what happens when everyone involved gets a living wage.

    From this point of view, Devon’s complaint would be small potatoes.

    Reply

Join the conversation.