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My Social Security experience

With all the political chaos surrounding Social Security in the Trump Administration, I thought it might be useful to report on my experience. I submitted an online for Social Security payments on 11 December 2024, with benefits requested to start in March 2025. You can’t request a day, only a month. I was notified on my SS page that the application had been received on 11 December and that it was under review in an office in Pennsylvania. The notification also said that the review process typically takes 30 days and that I'd be notified if there were any problems. On January 10 (30 days), my SS page still said the application was under review. Same on 9 February (60 days). On 28 March, I was notified that my application was approved. During this time, I learned a couple of useful things: (1) like your pay check, SS checks drop at the end of the month, (2) it normally takes 3-5 months from the date of application for the first check to arrive and (3) if your check is delayed past t...
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How to make money while losing money

“Newsmax raised $75 million in its IPO Friday, with shares priced at $10. Newsmax’s rapid ascent in its first two days of trading pushed the company’s market cap to $16.7 billion. Shares traded around $190 early Tuesday.” Sounds great, right? But scroll down a bit:   “The company is facing an ongoing lawsuit from Dominion Voting Systems seeking $1.6 billion in damages   related to false claims it made in its coverage of the 2020 election, which Newsmax cited among risk factors to its business in its latest 10-K filing to the SEC.    “Newsmax settled another lawsuit with another election tech company Smartmatic in 2024 for similar claims and has paid $20 million of the $40 million settlement thus far, according to the filing . . . While Newsmax’s revenue soared roughly 26% to roughly $171 million in 2024, the company lost $72 million that year. The company also said in its filing that it has identified “material weaknesses” in its financial reporting controls such tha...
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The federal government and the future of US medical training

Residency is a mandatory step to achieving medical licensure in the US. Most residency programs are managed by hospitals, although my medical school is one of the ca. 10% that manages its own residency programs. The federal government, primarily through Medicare and Medicaid, is the largest source of funding for Graduate Medical Education (GME), which includes residency programs. Residency training is a significant bottleneck in the pathway for new physicians. If DOGE elected to cut off federal funding for GME, it would strangle medicine in the US. Unless (a) residency training was eliminated as a licensure requirement and/or (b) GME training were handed off to private equity firms that are already buying up hospitals across the country. I don’t see how either of these options improves healthcare for Americans.
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DOGE puts dollars over veterans

      I recall a time when the GOP posed as the staunch defenders of America’s military, including military veterans. But Republicans have stopped saluting veterans and save their salutes for tax cuts.   “ The Veterans Affairs Department is planning to lay off tens of thousands of employees throughout its organization later this year, according to an internal memorandum distributed to top staff on Tuesday.    “VA will soon kick off a departmentwide review of its mission, organization and structure, according to the memo, which was obtained by   Government Executive . It will work in partnership with the Department of Government Efficiency to create a workforce optimization plan, VA Chief of Staff Christopher Syrek said in the document. Syrek said VA will “move aggressively” to implement its plans that reduce management and bureaucracy, cut the department’s footprint and “increase workforce efficiency.”  The only “efficiency” DOGE is interested in ...
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The Trump measles pandemic continues to grow

“ As of March 27, 2025, a total of 483 confirmed* measles cases were reported by 20 jurisdictions: Alaska, California, Florida, Georgia, Kansas, Kentucky, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York City, New York State, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Tennessee, Texas, Vermont, and Washington. ” Meanwhile, l eaders at the CDC ordered staff this week not to release their experts’ assessment that found the risk of catching measles is high in areas near outbreaks where vaccination rates are lagging. And RFK Jr.  announced that the federal government was delivering vitamin A—an unproven treatment that Kennedy promotes as an alternative to vaccines—to measles-stricken communities in West Texas. But a Texas official reports that no doses of vitamin A have arrived at the state health department—not because RFK Jr. broke his promise, but because Texas doctors didn’t ask for them.  Not only does vitamin A not prevent measles and is only useful as therapy during i...
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Trump says trade wars are easy to win; history says no

Trump has said trade wars are “good and easy to win.” History begs to differ. The Smoot-Hawley Act and ensuing trade wars were  not  good for the country and  not  good for President Hoover.  “ The 1930 Tariff Act started with the narrow aim of helping distressed farmers but then mushroomed into a wholesale rewriting of the US tariff code, provoking anger and outrage from trade partners around the world. “ America’s major trade partners responded to those aggressive tariffs with their own targeted tariffs, quotas, and boycotts on American goods.   “ ▪ Trade partners like Italy, Switzerland, Uruguay, and Argentina called for patriotic boycotts on key exports, such as American cars, sewing machines, and motion pictures. “ ▪ European countries’ reprisals targeted highly visible US-branded goods (for example, France changed its tariffs on autos from value- to weight-based, effectively closing off its market to medium-priced — but far heavier — American-made car...
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No reason for Greenland to choose to be a US colony

Trump and Vance insist that Denmark and Greenlanders must cede control of Greenland to the United States. Trump has made not-so-veiled threats to seize Greenland by force. A US invasion and military occupation of Greenland would ostensibly be justified on national security grounds, to protect the region from Russia. A similar justification has been voiced for annexing Canada as the 51 st state. None of this makes any sense. First of all, the US and Russia are currently allied in Russia’s war of choice in Ukraine. And if Trump were worried about Russian threats to Greenland, he could beef up the existing US military base in Greenland, which currently has a skeleton staff.  Now, JD Vance has visited that base (after he and his wife were rebuffed for civilian photo-ops) and proclaimed that Greenland has been neglected by Denmark and should embrace American overlords. But how does Denmark stack up against the US? “ So consider. The US is is 24th in the world in the happiness rankings. ...
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