Public Policy

  • |

    If Prices Can Fall Now, Who Approved the Old Ones?

    ByHarlan Quill

    I have spent enough time with budgets to know that when a Medicare drug price falls after negotiation, the old price deserves an audit—not a standing ovation. The usual sales pitch says Medicare must accept whatever number arrives in the envelope, as though drug pricing were a weather event and not a market with lawyers. Then bargaining happens, the bill gets smaller, and “impossible” suddenly develops a discount code.

    The exact before-and-after figures may be illustrative, and lower prices do not automatically shrink every patient’s copay. But the practical point survives the fine print: negotiation can reduce public spending and may ease the bill at the pharmacy counter. The people defending the old system now have to explain why savings were forbidden until someone asked for them. The national drug-pricing spreadsheet has ruled that “unavoidable” was apparently the premium tier, complete with a lobbyist and no cancellation button.

  • |

    Gulf O’ Merica and the Great Naming Stunt

    ByHugh Jass

    Hugh Jass here, filing this under civic branding that wants to be taken seriously while contributing absolutely nothing to the ledger. “Gulf O’ Merica” is the kind of patriotic rename that arrives wearing a flag pin and leaves the taxpayer with the same old ocean, the same old bills, and a thinner patience for people who think louder lettering counts as governance.

    The whole operation is a familiar piece of administrative fog: take a public thing, dress it in macho font choices, and declare victory because the slogan now has fewer letters. But short words are not policy. Short words do not fix ports, storms, pollution, wages, schools, or the inconvenient fact that freedom is measured in ordinary life, not in how hard a man can shout “America” before breakfast. Exhibit A appears to be a map. Exhibit B is the filing cabinet laughing in the corner.

  • |

    No Riders, No Excuses

    ByHarlan Quill

    One law. One vote. That is not a revolutionary demand; it is the minimum standard for pretending a legislature is doing adult work. If a provision needs a trench coat and a fake mustache, it probably does not belong riding through Congress in a thousand-page bargain bin.

    Omnibus bills are sold as efficiency, which is a fine word for “we hid the awkward parts where nobody has time to read them.” That is how you get hidden taxes, pet projects, and corporate favors waved through under the banner of urgency. If lawmakers want the credit, they can also take the daylight. Separate bills, separate debate, separate vote. The rest is just accountability with the serial numbers filed off.

  • |

    The Great Carried Interest Escape: How to Vanish Billionaires

    ByMoses Pray

    Brothers and sisters, gather ’round to witness the remarkable magic show taking place in the hallowed halls of Congress. Our wealthy friends, the performers in this act, have mastered the art of the grand disappearing act—threatening to whisk their fortunes abroad every time reform whispers its name at the door. The plot twist? They never actually pack a bag. No, the real vanishing act isn’t them—it’s the tax justice that mysteriously dissolves under a cloak of lobbying smoke.

    Now, let us pause in wonder: despite their dire warnings of a billionaire exodus reminiscent of an Old Testament retreat, those gilded patrons remain steadfastly in their mansions while our would-be reforms languish in the wilderness. Perhaps it’s time we recognize that this isn’t a battle of economics, but a spectacle of power where sleight of hand ensures that the only thing disappearing is our shared sense of financial fairness. Peace be with those who still believe that wealth will one day lose its ability to pull the wool over our eyes.

End of content

End of content