Memories shaping my life, as I celebrate Medicare's 60th birthday, health care

 In my very senior years, if I had to name one thing in my young years that shaped the rest of my life, it was the cost of health care.  It was not my health care, but my very handicapped brother's.  My parents were only able to breathe a sigh of financial relief and think about retirement when LBJ signed the seminal piece of legislation for Medicare. Medicaid for low-income people came into being in the same legislation in 1965.. My young brother Phil was a 6-month premature baby born in the latter years of World War II.  He had so many medical challenges, he spent periods of months at a time at the children's hospital in St. Louis over most of his pre-school and elementary school years, undergoing treatment for his physical disabilities and any number of surgeries and rehab.  My father was a telephone company district manager at the time in poverty-stricken eastern Oklahoma, and we were better off than most of my classmates, but nonetheless, we had to count our pennies because of the medical expenses. A local forward-looking school board, college scholarships, and family connections permitted me to still get a great education, but the reality was that even back in the 1940s and 50s, the cost of health care for others hit with such extraordinary needs made their ability to get the care they needed out of reach. That shaped my political views for the rest of \my life. I was Phil's caregiver after my parents' death, and I learned to navigate the health care system that gave him a semblance of a normal life until he passed away at age 65, spending his latter ten years in assisted living and a nursing home. His care could not have been adequate without Medicare and Medicaid.   I raise my coffee cup this morning in gratitude to LBJ and the breakthrough act of signing the Medicare legislation.  Yes, Sen. Joni Ernst, we all will die, but at least care about the degree of suffering many will have getting to that date without access to adequate health care, as you voted to cut Medicaid.   'We all are going to die': Sen. Ernst response to grilling on Medicaid : NPR

Per Google AI: The Medicare bill, officially known as the Social Security Amendments of 1965, was signed into law on July 30, 1965. This act established the Medicare program, a health insurance program for the elderly, and also created Medicaid, a program for people with limited income. The bill was signed by President Lyndon B. Johnson at the Harry S. Truman Library and Museum in Independence, Missouri...

MAGA supporters cheer Trump's economy, but the stuff has not hit the fan yet

Trump has been touting near the same interest rates and consumer prices that he inherited from Biden, and now Trump has engineered the economy's eventual slow decline into higher living costs, hurting all but the well-off. The stuff has not hit the fan yet.  Many of Trump's policies will come to a head over the next six months, leaving a sustained bad taste in the mouths of voters in time for the 2026 midterms, when all congressional members are up for re-election or the filling of open seats..  That is just for starters, because the Medicaid cuts, which were once intended to enable individuals to access affordable healthcare, will not take effect until after the November 2026 Congressional elections, when the full impact of those cuts will be felt by the voters themselves.

The announcement of the "trade/tariff" deal with the EU and major Asian trading partners, which included the largest tariff increases since the Great Depression, also hit consumers' pockets. As imported inventory is sold off, the new tariffs become additional costs that are passed on to retail customers. Businesses that cannot adjust or compete by raising costs and prices to customers will likely go out of business. It is a short-term victory for Trump, but it was a bitter pill for consumers that will be felt over the next six months. Still out there, even higher than the EU tariffs of 15%, are the "deals" that have not been finalized with Canada and Mexico. That stuff has not yet hit the fan, either.  The tiff with the Federal Reserve, Trump's pressure to lower interest rates, ignores the reason given by the Fed for holding off on lowering interest rates: it is due to the fear that these tariffs will lead to higher consumer prices and inflation.  What the tariffs would actually be is now only partially resolved.

Those crowing that today the Trump policies of the Big Beautiful Bill and the dramatic increase in health care costs to those who are living on the economic margins and the disaster facing access to rural health have not hit the fan either. The impact of the mass deportations on farm,  domestic, construction,  and hospitality workers, jobs not sought by already employed Americans, has also not hit the fan.

We in Grand County, Colorado, will know who to blame.  28 to 38 percent hike in health insurance premiums and costs. That one will be felt before the November 2026 midterms when you can thank your Congressperson who voted for this....

.https://www.skyhinews.com/news/colorado-health-insurance-rates-jump-high-in-the-next-year-western-slope-increase/

For the record, inflation is creeping up, with the threat of higher tariffs looming, rising last month from 2.4 percent to 2.7 percent. In December 2024, Biden's last month in office, the unemployment rate was 2.9 percent...and we are not far from that. Gas at the pump prices are now near what Biden left them in January (per AAA.). Update 7/30/2025: As Biden left office, the economy grew by 2.4% in the last quarter of 2024.  The growth rate released today under the Trump regime rose to 3%, as the Fed meets to discuss whether to lower interest rates. As recently stated by the Fed chair, this is a heated economy, and the impact of the high tariffs on consumers is still a threat to inflation.  They will be considering this as they meet today. Google AI:and Gross Domestic Product, 4th Quarter and Year 2024 (Third Estimate), GDP by Industry, and Corporate Profits | U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA)

Conflict between presidents and the federal reserve has a history.   Politicians like to lower rates,, whether they are in a democracy or in a dictatorship.  It is good politics...but it could be a disaster to ignore economics

MUFTIC FORUM BLOG: Trump's latest attack on the Federal Reserve has a history

.reuters.com/business/fed-keeps-rates-steady-despite-trumps-pressure-with-two-governors-dissenting-2025-07-30/#:~:text=Summary,for%20the%20fifth%20consecutive%20meetingt: 

   

 The price of crude oil, the basis for gas prices, is controlled by Middle East oil cartels, not the president of the US. The announced trade deal with the EU included "investments" in US energy, and the details and impact on the price of crude to consumers are unknown. However, it is beneficial for US oil and gas producers who have been seeking markets for the glut of oil and gas in the ground they are currently experiencing.

The Consumer Price Index rose 2.7 percent for the 12 months ending June 2025 : The Economics Daily: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics     "The Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U) rose 2.7 percent for the 12 months ending June 2025, after rising 2.4 percent over the 12 months ending May. Prices for all items less food and energy rose 2.9 percent over the past 12 months, while shelter prices increased 3.8 percent over the last year. "

Happy to have Trump act like a strong man leader? Careful what you wish

Happy to have Trump act like a strong man leader instead of the kind of democracy we have had for 250 years? Between 26 to 38% of Americans do.  Careful what you wish. Someday, the shoe may be on the other foot. Trump's attempt to deflect interest in the Epstein files and his high-handed forcing Congresspeople to vote for the Big Beautiful Bill, even if it was against their constituents' interests, are examples of how the absolute power of a strong man leader can also blow back even on his own loyal supporters.

38% of Americans under age 30 support nondemocratic alternatives, compared with 29% of those ages 50 to 64 and 26% of those 65 and older.  https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2024/02/28/who-likes-authoritarianism-and-how-do-they-want-to-change-their-government/ 

A reminder in plain English: The downsides of autocracy, rule by a single strong man often backed by a few rich and powerful, are many:

1) The people's voice and needs can be easily ignored with so much money and power in a few hands and few checks left to curb abuse of power, with loss of the ability to protest government policies and to expose or prosecute corruption. The federal government is in charge of who qualifies to vote and how the vote is counted, taking away that power from individual states, and making it easier for a strongman leader to control the outcome..

2) It is unfair to favor those with power and money and subvert or ignore laws that all once had to abide by. Promises made to attain power are not kept, but once in power, they can be excused. Example: Lowering living costs and releasing the Epstein files are campaign promises that have been ignored. These oligarch cohorts will feather their nests before they contribute crumbs to the masses, and then grant us enough to keep the masses from getting too restless.. Tax cuts overwhelmingly benefit the rich, offsetting losses to the federal treasury by reducing government services that taxpayers value, such as Medicaid, Medicare, and Social Security, which citizens have already paid for through their own taxes and which have been approved by a rigorous congressional process, garnering broad public opinion support.

3) Fear shapes words and actions throughout society, government, journalism, and business..Those not at the top of the power hierarchy are motivated to shape their own actions and speech to avoid the consequences of not being loyal to the ruling group. Threats of harassment by prosecution without probable cause or any evidence of wrongdoing, and the loss of following primary or government contracts, are used as weapons to suppress opposition. Violence against dissidents and protestors is permissible, both by military and partisan loyalists. Educational institutions are compelled to teach children the ruling party's ideology, religion, and its perspective on history.

4) Keeping control of data and facts to make the regime look better and the citizens in the dark.

How do I know this? Show me an autocracy in the modern world where much of this does not happen. from China, to Russia, to Hungary.

Trump's attempt to deflect interest in the Epstein files and his high-handed forcing Congresspeople to vote for the Big Beautiful Bill, even if it was against their constituents' interests, are examples of how absolute power can blow back on his own loyal supporters.

Trump is acting like he is a strong man, dictator, autocrat, tyrant King already. He has reasons to believe he can.. The powers he has been given, much by the Supreme Court, have gone to his head. He has immunity from criminal prosecution. He ignores lower court orders he does not like. He rules by executive order until "his" Supreme Court tells him he can or can't. He abuses his powers to strike fear into the hearts of his rubber-stamping Congressmembers, threatening primaries and ridicule to anyone who dares protest. He threatens to prosecute former presidents, former candidates opposing him, and entertainers who are critics.. He even tells his followers to shut up about news that puts him in a negative light. The Epstein flap is a case in point.

Keeping track of how Trump is acting like a one-person dictator: Instead of giving priority to prosecuting those who commit crimes against the people of the US, he is absorbed by his obsession with those getting even with those who are his political enemies..

The most recent example: Justice Department Opens Probes Into Two Trump Enemies

Trump's style of governance: keep secret any data that would expose the Trump regime in a bad light...Not only did he fire the head of the Bureau of Labor Statistics who dared show unemployment is ticking up, but he tried to play keepaway from both the American public and Congress regarding executive branch expenditures. On the former, his damage to his credibility and trust, already bad, is worse, and on the latter, he got a slap down by an appeals court. Let's see how "his" Supreme Court does or does not act on these issues. Two more examples of Trump acting like a one-person rule and fooling the American people as he does it.Appeals court rules against Trump admin in big case — and gives deadline to comply

Is Trump a fascist? It would be easier to look at this list of what fascism is and see which ones do not apply to the current regime. So far, it looks to me he meets all of the criteria...or at least a case can be made. This list is from a earlier post on my blog. Does Trump resemble any of the fascists? He began his political life with "birtherism" to try to delegitimize the first African American president, calling immigrants rapists and murderers and terrorists from the beginning of his campaign and praising white nationalists and militia hate groups as patriots and fine people.., This culminated in January 6 violence mostly fueled by those carrying confederate flags, and neo Nazi symbolistic insignia and banners, Instead of brown shirts of Nazis, in Charlottesville, they were dressed in polo shirts and recently in Arizona crowds awaited the "forensic audit" dressed in mail order camo, waiving weapons of war accompanied by military-like trained dogs., These are who Trump has called patriots and fine people. This is the kind of governance Trump likes and praises. , This is the future of America he favors. He made strides in his first term. Should he be given another chance to take us further down that path?

Are those who support Trump fascists, too? Take the test.

I have seen is one provided in 2013, well before Trump's political rise and before the term was applied to Trump supporters orto Donald Trump himself. . Dr. Lawrence Britt, an Australian political scientist wrote "14 Defining Characteristics of Fascism" Those who wonder if they are ideological fascists or object to being called one, take the test and see how many with which you agree. If the shoe fits wear it

Nationalism: saying one's own country is better than other countries

Disdain for human rights

Scapegoating: blaming someone else for the country's problems

Putting the military first

Sexism: saying men are better than women

Control of mass media: telling newspapers and other sources of news what they can and cannot tell the people

Focus on national security

Close ties between religion and government

Protection of businesses and corporations

Suppression of labor power: preventing labor unions from becoming powerful

Disdain for intellectuals and the arts: telling people not to listen to scientists, scholars, and artists

Focus on crime and crimefighting

Corruption

.Fraudulent elections: Even if the people vote, the votes are either not counted or otherwise abused. In some fascist governments, leaders will have their opponents killed. .

Update on birthright citizenship court decisions..Spanish

 La ACLU y CASA, una organización defensora de los derechos de los inmigrantes, presentaron demandas colectivas que deberían obligar a la Corte Suprema a pronunciarse sobre la constitucionalidad de la enmienda que defiende la ciudadanía por nacimiento. Sin embargo, las personas afectadas aún pueden, si cuentan con el dinero o la ayuda, demandar, y los grupos de afectados también pueden hacerlo mediante demandas colectivas, como acaba de hacer CASA. Parece que esto no es retroactivo, y el caso de la Corte Suprema se refiere a niños nacidos en Estados Unidos después del 19 de febrero de 2025, fecha en que Trump firmó la orden ejecutiva manifiestamente inconstitucional. Es posible que el régimen de Trump pueda bloquear una demanda colectiva que llegue a la Corte Suprema mediante una maniobra legal. 2 de julio: Un tercer tribunal federal de primera instancia acaba de bloquear el edicto de Trump, mientras las demandas colectivas se abren camino hasta la Corte Suprema. Un tercer tribunal bloquea la orden de ciudadanía por nacimiento de Donald Trump en todo el país tras la decisión de la Corte Suprema.

Birthright citizenship updates on court actions; English

The near absolute power is being handed step by step to an American president, freed from the fear of being prosecuted for committing a crime, and now given the ability to ignore lower federal  injuncton decisions in the ruling handed down today in birthright citizenship. It is one more gift by the Supreme Court to emasculate the power of the two branches of government, the judicial and legislative branches, designed to check and balance each other and the executive, to bridle government abuse of power, and muzzle the inalienable rights of its citizens using the tools of fear and favor. The branch to which the extra power is given is already an administration dedicated to the unit/ary ability of one branch, the executive branch, which holds the reins of power without challenge, thereby becoming the enabler of an autocracy.

The precedence this decision sets gives Trump powers over other very important cases subject to nationwide injunctions, and most alarming are those concerning voters' rights.  Stay tuned on this one. Trump already has his list. https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2025/06/28/trump-nationwide-inunctions-supreme-court-ruling/   ...(  such as education and voters' rights and birthright citizenship).

Immediately after the Supreme Court handed down its decision, the ACU and CASA, an immigration rights organization, filed class action suits that should force the Supreme Court to rule on the constitutionality of the amendment to uphold birthright citizenship. However, individuals affected still have the ability, if they have the money or help, to sue, and also groups of those affected can also sue in class action suits, as CASA just did.  That this is retroactive appears not to be the situation, and the Supreme Court case concerns children born in the US after February 19, 2025, when Trump signed the blatantly unconstitutional executive order.  It is possible that the Trump regime could block a classL action suit reaching the Supreme Court through a legal maneuver.   7/25/25  Third lower federal court has just blocked Trump's edict, as class action suits wend their way to the Supreme Court. The near absolute power is being handed step by step to an American president, freed from the fear of being prosecuted for committing a crime, and now given the ability to ignore lower federal  injuncton decisions in the ruling handed down today in birthright citizenship. It is one more gift by the Supreme Court to emasculate the power of the two branches of government, the judicial and legislative branches, designed to check and balance each other and the executive, to bridle government abuse of power, and muzzle the inalienable rights of its citizens using the tools of fear and favor. The branch to which the extra power is given is already an administration dedicated to the unit/ary ability of one branch, the executive branch, which holds the reins of power without challenge, thereby becoming the enabler of an autocracy.

The precedence this decision sets gives Trump powers over other very important cases subject to nationwide injunctions, and most alarming are those concerning voters' rights.  Stay tuned on this one. Trump already has his list. https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2025/06/28/trump-nationwide-inunctions-supreme-court-ruling/   ...(  such as education and voters' rights?).

Immediately after the Supreme Court handed down its decision, the ACU and CASA, an immigration rights organization, filed class action suits that should force the Supreme Court to rule on the constitutionality of the amendment to uphold birthright citizenship. However, individuals affected still have the ability, if they have the money or help, to sue, and also groups of those affected can also sue in class action suits, as CASA just did.  That this is retroactive appears not to be the situation, and the Supreme Court case concerns children born in the US after February 19, 2025, when Trump signed the blatantly unconstitutional executive order.  It is possible that the Trump regime could block a class action suit reaching the Supreme Court through a legal maneuver.   7/2  Third lower federal court has just blocked Trump's edict,, as class action suits wend their way to the Supreme Court. Third court blocks Donald Trump birthright citizenship order nationwide after Supreme Court decision

Messaging again: a new messenger who speaks to many in red states: James Talarico

 There is a new messenger who speaks the language of many in red states...James Talarico, a state legislator in Texas. He is a devout Christian who actually reads the Bible and who puts his politics into how he sees it related to the religion that is the compass for his very fundamentalist belief. He sees as the most important message Jesus delivered: Love God with all your heart and treat your neighbor as you would like to be treated. That is not only a standard for his life as a preacher in training and the son of one, but he ties his beliefs to issues of the time.. He is a super articulate, young, and attractive spokesperson for his point of view.

Above all, Talarico is the polar opposite of the current leader of the GOP/MAGA movement, Donald Trump. Trump has no moral compass but is a self-serving, self-identified transactional person. That is his standard for life's decisions, to get the best deal to keep his power and wealth and gain more of both using his political office to do it. By inference, if people followed his unmoored, self-centered interest, they, too, will become richer and more powerful. Trump is a person who uses fear of his power to keep his followers and everyone he can in line, including cruelty and lack of empathy for how his policies harm "the least of these" and those trying to keep their daily lives above water.

MUFTIC FORUM BLOG: For those who want to put into perspective a profound amorality of the MAGA movement. Updated 5/8/2025

Trump's followers and some powerful cohorts think empathy is the sign of a failing society, but it is empathy that keeps community from lapsing into tribal chaos and dog-eat-dog conflict. It is the glue that keeps civilization from falling...the fate of nearly every civilization in history with a written record. Bravo, Talarico...you got my attention and admiration.

From my July 2 blog post:Was it moral and OK that Elon Musk cut US Aid in his chainsaw attack in search of ways to cut government funding so Trump could cut taxes to the ultra-rich?  Not only is USAID dead this month, which is now, but also millions who will die without that aid in the next few years.  No problem in Musk's value system, and he was famously quoted that 'The fundamental weakness of Western civilization is empathy.'"I believe in empathy, like I think you should care about other people," Musk said as part of the same discussion on Joe Rogan's podcast, "but you need to have empathy for, for civilization as a whole, and not commit to a civilizational suicide." ( fact checked on Snopes). So he must mean sharing our abundance as the richest country in the world with the poorest, and funding the methods of distribution is the US committing suicide? 

Christianity should be outraged. In some twisted religious minds, it is not.. In Trump's world of Christianity, empathy and charity are now to be reviled by some preachers. Empathy  is now a dirty word, "walking in others' shoes", is a sign of feminizing churches because women are so vulnerable to appeals for charity,  so it is no longer a Christian value to some professed Christians,  per a report on NPR

  https://www.npr.org/2025/03/22/nx-s1-5321299/how-empathy-came-to-be-seen-as-a-weakness-in-conservative-circles 

 

youtube.com

Joe Rogan Experience #2352 - James Talarico

James Talarico is a Democratic member of the Texas House of Representa

Here's one for science: NIH cannot shut down medical research per appeals court

 Trump can't shut down medical research conducted by the National Institute of Health because the order was arbitrary and capricious per an appeals court https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/crime/all-the-hallmarks-of-arbitrary-and-capricious-decision-making-appeals-court-deals-new-blow-to-trump-s-effort-to-stop-funding-scientific-research/ar-AA1IX6DC?ocid=msedgntp&pc=HCTS&cvid=687d68e8e3914ae2bb77692862e67379&ei=15

Colorado is being singled out by Trump's DOJ trying to validate conspiracy theories

Colorado is being singled out by Trump's DOJ, trying to validate conspiracy theories, by demanding Colorado turn over election files.

All the States Where DOJ is Demanding Voting Data - Democracy Docket

This may still be a case of revenge and retribution for the Tina Peters case, I suspect, and a continuation of efforts to prove that the 2020 election was indeed stolen. It is also an attempt by the Trump administration to establish a case for federalizing the election process and removing it from the hands of the states.   The recent attack on Colorado's elections administration is also, I suspect, another diversion by the Trump administration to change the subject from other very unpopular policies and actions that are polling badly.  Trump threatens Colorado with ‘harsh measures’ unless it frees a convicted felon

 Recently revealed was another suspected irregularity by an election-denying county clerk in my own Grand County, Colorado:, An election denier was elected county clerk a couple of years ago, and in 2024, the Secretary of State had to intervene because she had broken the chain of custody by failing to follow procedure. Missing seals in 2024 led Secretary of State’s Office to enact oversight on Grand County elections | SkyHiNews.com. Whether this was due to intent or incompetence will not be known, but the clerk nonetheless failed to follow the rules in maintaining ballot integrity. The former clerk, a Republican who had retired and whom she replaced, was tasked by the Democratic state Secretary of State to straighten out the problem, and the current election-denying clerk was required to relearn election procedures.

More at: https://mufticforumblog.blogspot.com/2025/04/trumps-power-grab-includes-federalizing.html

MUFTIC FORUM BLOG: Colorado, an epicenter of the conflict between election deniers and established voting systems.

 

Tina Peters was sentenced to 9 years. https://www.cnbc.com/2024/10/03/trump-election-conspiracist-tina-peters-sentenced.html

Hear how the judge came down on her: Colorado County Clerks Association responds to Tina Peters' sentence | Watch (msn.com)

A memorable quote: "Fear is the tool of tyrants" and how Trump rules by fear

 The most memorable quote of the past week was contained in a letter written by a fired Department of Justice prosecutor, Maurine Comey, warning those left in the DOJ not to succumb to the rule of fear by Trump: "Fear is the tool of tyrants".     Comey's contribution to the concept of Trump as a tyrant was that she condensed the concept that rule by fear is how tyrants control both opponents and their masses and stated it in those six memorable words.  Maurene Comey's farewell after firing: 'Fear is the tool of a tyrant' - ABC News.  The concept has deep roots from the Greeks to Machiavelli to 20th century dictators, and Trump often uses fear as a tool.

This is how Trump is using fear as a tool, like a tyrant.  He mongers fear against his opponents and controls his supporting masses in many ways: fear of primaried, fear of prosecution, fear of losing federal funding, losing government contracts, fear with threats of being prosecuted with a crime by his Department of Justice without evidence of probable cause, fear of being called degrading names used to turn his MAGA base against someone he sees as a past, current, and using fear of active army displays of power to suppress demonstrations against him. Above all, he has promoted fear of brown migrants from south of the border because they are murderers and rapists," and we must remove them from us because they will "adulterate our blood" ...phrases well documented as uttered by Trump himself by many sources.

Trump's mongering fear of brown people has become the mantra that has fueled the approval of his MAGA base to violate human and civil rights and the due process clauses of the 4th and 14th amendments, to be cruel about the method of detaining and deporting them, whether or not they had a criminal record. The issue of ICE snatching anyone from the street or fields who looks "Mexican" or speaks Spanish or English with an accent has been temporarily halted by a federal judge and will eventually make it to the Trump-favoring Supreme Court.

The concept that tyrants rule by fear, per a brief Google AI search, goes back to ancient Greeks, Machiavelli.  The Declaration of Independence called what the King was doing to the states was "tyrannical".Hannah Arendt noted that, unlike previous tyrannies that used terror against opponents, modern dictatorships used it to rule even the obedient masses. How King George III acted like a tyrant was spelled out in a 'bill of particulars' in the 1776 Declaration..

Fear is one half of the tool tyrants can use: the other half is favor...favorable treatment of sycophants, and loyalists, to the disadvantage of others. One example of that is Trump's appointments to his cabinet and his firing of Department of Justice employees who had anything to do with investigating Trump and the prosecution of those convicted for January 6, either by jury or by admission that they had committed a crime, attacking law enforcement or the equivalent in peacetime of 

Lost in the Epstein conspiracy theory flap: what really bugs consumers; it's the economy, stupid

 Lost in the Epstein conspiracy theory flap: what really will bug consumers. It's the economy, stupid. ( Stupid is a reference to some past pre-Trump quotes by long-ago opinion writers. Polls are showing voters are catching on to Trump's failure to live up to his campaign promises on prices)  

I am really getting tired of some MAGA supporters claiming Biden was so bad, and look how good the economy is now in contrast. Therefore, Trump's policies are not hurting the economy, they deduce. BS. The Price of gas and the inflation rate today are within close fractions to what it was in the last month of the Biden presidency in December 2024. (Remember COVID and market dislocation that caused, or did you forget that?). The bad stuff has not yet hit the fan., Tariffs and health care insurance costs, loss of migrant labor, and other factors will not be felt until months from now as inventories of imports wth the lower tariffs or none at all get depleted and sold at retail and crops rot for lack of migrant workers. The full brunt of Trump's cost-of-living-raising policies should be felt in time for the 2026 Congressional election cycle campaigns.

One very strange result of Trump's tariff threats is both MAGA and Democrats may find some common ground. Both may being seeing eye to eye that tarifss are the matter for Congress to decide, not the executive branch. 'Someone gave the President very bad legal advice': Conservative group sues Trump, claims tariffs are a 'presidential power grab that usurps Congress'

More.....

. The impact is already beginning,. Instead of the Epstein conspiracy theory obsessing the House of Representatives and dominating DC news, the GOP-controlled House should be focused on tackling constituent concerns if they care about their political futures. They are not.  They are laying the groundwork for their defeat in the 2026 midterms, but in their loyalty to Trump,  they have fallen on their own swords.  The cost of some consumer goods has already risen.  Trump's tariff policies have already impacted interest rates. Instead of handing their legislative responsibilities over to Trump, the GOP Congress should take back its power over tariffs and health care. These issues should include lowering, not increasing, the cost of Obamacare beginning this January, depriving the sick and elderly. and disabled of their health care provided by Medicaid beginning in November 2026. wrecking access to health care services for rural areas of patients, even those self-insured and paying ones. The impact of many of the health care policies backed by the GOP will be felt during and before the 2026 Congressional elections.  

TACO Trump's tariff policies have already impacted interest rates. The Federal Reserve has said it would have lowered the interest rate but for Trump's tariff threats for increasing them in the future, and now even inflation is creeping up with the threat of higher tariffs. rising last month from 2.4 percent to 2.7 percent. In December 2024, Biden's last month in office, it was 2.9 percent...and we are not far at all from that. Gas at the pump prices are now near what Biden left them in January. And the actual tariff policies have not even taken effect...as Trump TACOs from one delay date to another.

 The stuff has not yet hit the fan, tariffs and health care insurance costs, loss of migrant labor,  and will not be felt until months from now as inventories of imports wth the lower tariffs or none at all get depleted and sold at retail and crops rot for lack of migrant workers. The full brunt of Trump's price raising policies should be felt in time for the 2026 Congressional election cycle campaigns.

A reality check:Inflation breakdown for June 2025 — in one chart

Consumer Price Index Summary - 2025 M06 Results

We do not have governmental price controls like the old communist style countries have and had. Trump's demands that domestic producers swallow the cost of tariffs will be ignored.

Here is why prices have risen.  I am an importer. I care about margins, the difference between sales and costs.  If I do not, I will go out of business. I am in business to make a profit.  Even now, fear of being charged with tariffs means that before customs releases the product to me to sell, I have already been charged up front for the import tariffs, which I pay to the US government, just charged to me on delivery.  If I don't pay the tariff, I don't get the product delivered I imported..  In anticipation of this, being charged so much up front, those who are responsible to their boards of directors or their owners, they increase prices to cover these up-front costs or take other means to compensate: lower quality, lay off workers, use more automation, charging new shipping and handling fees, same price for smaller contents in packages..  And, yes, it is business malpractice not to take this into to consideration and act accordingly. 

 When the Trump government crows about the billions their tariffs are already bringing into the treasury,  what is really happening is that consumers will eventually get charged more to cover the anticipated increased costs of paying tariff duty.  In short, consumers get screwed, and the treasury looks better. It is a cost shift that works like a tax on consumers ...and right now, importers and retailers are increasing prices to cover anticipated up-front duty charges caused by Trump's threats and some actual tariffs now in effect.  

Here is the unanticipated fallout: One would think that the imported product would be so expensive, they could not compete with US domestic producers. That may happen, and they stop importing if it makes no business sense to stay in business in the US.. However,  even 10 to 20% tariffs on imported goods will be passed on to consumers and still be sold on the shelves.   Then domestic producers could see an opportunity to raise their prices to equal the once lower cost of manufacture of imported products, which are now having to pay tariffs and raising their prices to the retailers to recoup the import tariff cost.. Imported products that are produced abroad more cheaply are no longer a factor in market competition, thanks to the tariffs. This competition wth cheaper imports once forced domestic producers to keep their margins as slim as possible.. Instead, without competition from cheaper imports,  some domestic producers are tempted to raise their prices to equal the retail price of imported products.  This is not corporate greed so much as it is market forces at work based on competition in the market..and consideration of what their competitors are charging. 

MAGA's Epstein conspiracy theory is what it is like in one party/person rule

Watching what is going on in MAGA land regarding the "Epstein Files", reminds me of what it is like to be in the thrall of a dictator/authoritarian. There is a lesson here. Towing the party line can result in mental whiplash, requiring all loyalists to be very agile and up-to-date. The mental and verbal agility required of followers of a wannabe King (dictator, etc) to survive in a regime is sometimes jaw-dropping.   Three days ago, there was an Epstein file (a little black book) of his customers of pedophilia. There was a conspiracy to kill him to keep it under wraps. He didn't commit suicide; he was killed...and the FBI has the keys to the drawer where the evidence is kept."  Today, per Trump," there was no list, nothing to see here; go on pay attention to other things like how he is getting rid of undocumented brown murderers and rapists. Amid a weekend, even some Epstein conspiracy theory backers heard Trump's call: "nothing to see here, no list, so shut up." And in a whiplash weekend, they started echoing the Trump line": no list, move on".  

 My late husband of over 50 years was a refugee from a communist dictatorship of Yugoslavia and had learned to keep on his toes to be successful and told me about an eye-opening event that illustrated this. I wrote this in a prior post last fall. Here is what happened when my late husband, Dr. Mike Muftic, was a medical student in Zagreb, then Yugoslavia, and at that time led by dictator Comrade Josip Broz Tito.  The Tito regime had been in power for nearly ten years. It was a communist regime allegedly dedicated to all people being economically equal, a revolt from the time of the King and privileged classes. Milovan Djilas, a comrade-in-arms and close friend of Comrade Tito, was considered the ideological guru of the regime and, at one time, Tito's potential successor. He was a dedicated believer in Marxist ideology in its purest form. To him, the dictatorship of the proletariat meant that the workers were in charge, not the apparatchiks or bureaucrats. He had become appalled at fellow high-ranking government officials and overbearing government administrators who were becoming the new privileged lords, chauffeured in Mercedes-driven cars, with better housing, and vacationing at seaside resorts on the government's dime. Djilas wrote a book, "The New Class," to express his criticism of the new class.  Mike arrived for the class at medical school as the communist party commissar in charge of keeping the faith, as medical school students were praising Djilas' book and righteously criticizing the privileged class.  In response, however, Comrade Tito was not pleased, seeing it as a threat to his power since he relied on the support of those he favored and to whom he gave employment and perks, the new class, and issued a warning.  The next morning, the same communist party commissar was holding forth, repeating Tito's criticism and telling the crowd of students around him how terrible Djilas was.  It was heresy, and this was and is the party line the students had to repeat: Djilas was wrong. Failure to recite the party line could lead to loss of future desired hospital appointments, loss of preferred professors, or worse. Djilas spent years in prison. To get ahead, you had to repeat the party line in both public and private settings, as there were loyalists everywhere who would report you to their superiors. 

A reality check for those who think cutting Medicaid will strengthen their own health care affordability

Update: 7/25/2025  Rural health sickened by the Big Beautiful Bill.  We in Grand County, Colorado, will know who to blame.  28 to 38 percent hike. That one will be felt before the November 2026 midterms when you can thank your Congressperson who voted for this....

.https://www.skyhinews.com/news/colorado-health-insurance-rates-jump-high-in-the-next-year-western-slope-increase/

In response to those who think cutting out waste and abuse of Medicaid will reduce their own 7;25;2025health care costs:,  There is no free lunch here...we will all be paying the price in some way...in heartbreak or in money. When a rural hospital closes, it affects far more than those on Medicaid. How do we know this? Because that is what happened before Medicaid and Obamacare.  It is why both came into being.  Cutting Medicaid in the name of what little there is of waste, fraud, and abuse is throwing the baby out with the bathwater.  It also affects the self-paying patients, depriving them of timely and easy access to hospital care. It affects the families who have to take over the care at home of those who can no longer afford in nursing homes, because the nursing homes serving rural communities close. It affects all those employed in the closed hospitals and nursing homes who become unemployed. It can be a matter of life and death, with long and deadly ambulance or budget-busting helicopter rides for those in a medical crisis.

What about those hospitals and nursing homes in both rural and urban America that survive, and the patients who use them, both who lose Medicaid and Obamacare, and those who do not and are still self-paying?. If non-paying patients reach the nearest hospital, they become a charity-funded case, covered by a shift of higher bills for paying patients to make up the difference. It means greater use of hospital emergency rooms, the most expensive form of primary care available, as sicker patients who delayed attention have to depend on them. If surgery, diagnosis, specialists are needed, and there is no money to pay for follow-up care, either the patient dies or they go bankrupt, and no one gets paid....the provider, the hospital, the doctors, or other creditors..

 Expect MAGA-dominated states to do what Alaska did: demand supplemental federal aid or special carve-outs. In the federal budget. Expect the blue states to raise state and local taxes to cover the loss, partially..

The Truth about Waste and Abuse in Medicaid – Center For Children and Families   A study and comment by Georgetown University

Why I am concerned about rural health: A personal note. I have lived in a rural health area for the past 35 years, and we have just this year gained an ER 5 minutes away, instead of 30. The nearest nursing home is 45 minutes away. The nearest full-service hospital is an hour and a half by car, over a mountain pass. My husband was a part time doc here ..ob gyn. but. no anesthesiologist  so all deliveries were done in Denver 60 miles away, where he also had an office. Women mostly stayed in Denver close to term.