Logo for The Tapback from Civic Action [[link removed]]
NICE WORK
According to a “lifestyle” piece in the Wall Street Journal, [[link removed]] all kinds of people with all kinds of experience are stepping up to volunteer to join Elon Musk’s Department of Governmental Efficiency , including “entrepreneurs, cryptocurrency consultants , real-estate professionals, software developers and insurance executives." Two things that everyone involved seems to have in common: 1) they’re willing to work for free, and 2) they have zero relevant experience with the operations of the federal government.
And yes, in the abstract, there’s something compelling about the idea of people stepping up and volunteering to serve their country ; from a certain perspective it’s even noble to see so many people raise their hands and sign up in response to a request for people “willing to work 80+ hours per week on unglamorous cost-cutting ." But it’s also incredibly creepy. What kind of cult logic is in effect here? Hundreds of people are really stepping up to serve as human fodder and willing to work for free to serve the delusional plans of a billionaire , when the closest they come to having qualifications for the work is one guy’s notion that he is “qualified because he built a profitable business and sold it”?
Make it make sense.
Three Numbers [[link removed]]
$7 an hour [[link removed]] is the effective pay rate earned by Love is Blind contestants, after accounting for all the time they are required to spend on the show. They were recently held to be employees [[link removed]] with the legal right to unionize, just like actors in scripted television.
$8 billion [[link removed]] in estate taxes could be avoided by Nvidia CEO [[link removed]] Jensen Huang, thanks to his extensive use of legal loopholes, tax shelters, and financial engineering strategies popular among the ultra-rich. Huang is currently worth $127 billion, and in theory, his estate ought to pay 40% of his net worth in taxes when he dies.
1 lame-duck Senator [[link removed]] surprised colleagues by showing up [[link removed]] to vote against the appointment of a new NLRB commissioner, after failing to vote on any other Senate matters for several weeks. Senator Kyrsten Sinema cast the deciding vote to reject the nomination, which would have ensured a pro-labor majority could continue to control the labor board through 2026.
A Chart [[link removed]]
The health care company PR crisis teams desperately trying to gussy up the industry’s intensely negative reputation are struggling to make headway for one simple reason: we all have direct experience of the industry, and it’s not great. In the best case, those of us who have health insurance coverage experience it as a hassle, a time suck, and a major expense . In the worst case, it’s a critical obstacle between patients and the care they need .
The chart below showing claim denial rates is particularly striking: the average company denies 16% of claims, or about 1 out of every 6 claims they receive . And one company — UnitedHealthcare [[link removed]] — denies 32% of claims. These brutal numbers have real impacts: because many doctors and medicines are effectively impossible for most people to afford on their own, when your insurance denies coverage, it often means you just can’t get care at all.
chart showing claim denial rates by insurance company [[link removed]]
Blowing up the Groupchat [[link removed]]
The proposed merger of Kroger and Albertsons would have been the largest grocery store merger in American history — but it was blocked in landmark rulings by two different judges last week, and seems to have fallen apart. (In fact, the companies are now sniping at each [[link removed]] other [[link removed]] over a variety of legal claims and could be headed to court, which might be fun to watch.)
As the industry publication Retail Wire details [[link removed]] , the court victory was a validation of the argument advanced by the FTC: that mergers can be blocked due to their potential to harm workers , as well as their potential harm to consumers. While that might sound obvious, it’s a big step forward in antitrust enforcement — and hopefully one which will have a lasting impact.
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