- An argument that life on earth did not begin on earth.
- Over six million prime-age men are neither working nor looking for work — Depression-era work rates for American men ages 25–54.
- David Friedman asks: why are poor people fatter than the nonpoor? The conventional answer is that fast foods are cheaper than healthy foods. But Friedman shows that the reverse is true – per calorie consumed, nutritious food is half the cost of fast food.
- Without fungi, we not only wouldn’t be alive, we never would have evolved.
- In Uganda, where nearly half the people eat fewer calories than they need each day, excess fat is often a sign of wealth.
Category: Wednesday Links
Wednesday Links
- Aaron Carroll: there is no scientific reason to avoid artificial sweeteners. But there are good reasons for many people to reduce your intake of sugar.
- House votes today on personal and portable health insurance (funded by an employer) – essentially codifying a Trump executive order.
- The House also will vote to codify a Trump executive order on Association Health Plans that has been stymied by the courts.
- Incentives matter: Lionel Messi could play soccer anywhere, but the lack of a state income tax helped draw him to Florida.
- Why veterans need private doctor alternatives to the VA.
Wednesday Links
- Deaths in local jails due to drug or alcohol intoxication in 2019 was the highest recorded in 20 years. Drugs? Alcohol? In jail?
- Yglesias completely loses it over Donald Trump. And he’s not alone.
- The downside of prior authorization: A survey of more than 1,000 physicians found that 93% reported care delays and more than 50% said prior authorizations led to treatment abandonment because of patient hardships navigating the prior authorization process
- Quote of the week: DeSantis on Larry Fink:
“Who do these people think they are that they govern our society? Nobody voted for him. And so, our mantra in Florida is no economic or social transformation without representation. These are policies that could not win at the ballot box, and so they’re trying to do through corporate America what they can’t do in the electoral process.”
Wednesday Links
- Can a nanotechnology patch help you win tennis games?
- When the progressives were really in power: Bob Graboyes on the eugenics movement.
- Site-neutral reforms could reduce federal spending by up to $279 billion, patient costs by $137 billion in Medicare and up to $466 billion in the private sector, and national health expenditures by up to $672 billion.
- More bad news on woke medical schools.