Update VII - MEZFWMD update

Previous blog entries referencing MEZFWMD:

NPT Review Conference 2010 -  Jun 13th, 2010

Getting to agreement - Nov 29th, 2010

Earlier blog entries had discussed how the U.S. evidenced zero interest in actually supporting movement towards the setting up of a WMD-free zone in the Middle East (MEZFWMD) while simultaneously hailing the May 2010 NPT Review Conference final document as a "significant achievement" by President Obama!

A paper, 'International Law, Nuclear Weapon-Free Zones and the Proposed Zone Free of Weapons of Mass Destruction in the Middle East',discussed nuclear weapons free zones (NWFZs0 in general and issues around one in the Middle East. It ends on the hopeful note that the non-occurrence of the 2012 conference does not indicate the demise of the effort, noting that it took thirty years for the Latin America and Caribbean NWFZ to come into being...

Update VI - OCO update

 Source: CBO letter to Harry Reid

Previous blog entry on the OCO:

The Magical $1 Trillion - Aug 4th, 2011

A Step Backward, or More to Go? provides information on the 'slush fund' that is the OCO (the 'Overseas Contingency Operations') and the funding request for the upcoming fiscal year:

"The FY15 OCO request for DoD is $58.6 billion, 31% less than the FY14 enacted amount. As part of two newly requested funds for counterterrorism and reassuring European allies given the Ukraine crisis, the request also includes an additional $1.4 billion in OCO funding for State, which adds to State’s previously submitted $5.9 billion OCO request for a total of $7.3 billion in FY15.

The 31% drop puts the decline in OCO funding back on the pace of the FY13 and FY12 OCO budgets, which dropped by 29% and 28% from the prior year, respectively, after only a 2% drop from FY13 to FY14..."

And, as surmised/predicted back in 2011, the OCO has turned out to be a major 'slush fund' that keeps on giving: "...Although OCO funding is dropping significantly again, it is still not declining as quickly as troop levels in Afghanistan are being reduced. In FY15, troop strength in Afghanistan will drop by 56% from this year’s levels, or a rate almost twice the drop in OCO funding. As a result, troop strength will be less than a tenth of what it was six years ago, but OCO funding will still be more than a third of what it was..."

Update V - emergency response

Previous blog entries on the marathon bombing medical response:

Follow-up (lessons learned) - Aug 20th, 2013

The Right Lesson? - Jun 9th, 2013

The examination of what happened as part of the medical response continues, and additional lessons are being drawn, see Researchers assess emergency radiology response after Boston Marathon bombings

Update IV - MDET update

Previous blog entries on the MDET:
Follow-up (MDET) - Jul 4th, 2013
Consequences (MDET) - Jun 1st, 2013

The Medical Device Excise Tax (MDET) has now been in force for some time and Exclusive: IRS collected $1.4B in medtech excise tax payments in 2013 gives us a first approximation of the actual impact on medical device companies...

Update III - MLR update

Some previous blog entries referencing the MLR:

MLR - Year 2 - Jun 22, 2013

All you ever wanted to know about the MLR - Sep 23rd, 2012

Latest MLR update -  Dec 4th, 2011

The MLR saga continues - May 13th, 2011

Misc update (MLR) - Mar 26th, 2011

Misc update - V - Feb 13th, 2011

Misc updates - MLR - Oct 25th, 2010

MLR Redux - Aug 24th, 2010

MLR update - Jun 27th, 2010

Health care re-form VIII (More nonsense) - August 28th, 2009

The MLR - medical loss ratio - was in the news again... First, it was announced that "... U.S. health insurers will send out about $330 million in rebates to employers and individuals this summer... The rebates will go to about 6.8 million people and have a value of about $80 per family. They are to be sent by Aug. 1 either directly to consumers or to the employer providing the health coverage, who is required to pass the savings onto employees..."

Second, a detailed GAO report provided information on the MLR, including: "... When the MLR rules were being considered, there was some concern that insurers would categorize spending on routine operations, such as utilization review, as QI, Jost said. Doing so would move these costs from administration to claims, and thus help them avoid paying MLR rebates to consumers and businesses. “But that does not seem to be happening in a major way" and "...insurers spent less than 1.6 percent of their annual premium income on quality improvements (QI). In 2011, health insurers’ average spending on QI activities as a percentage of net premiums ranged from a low of 0.2 percent (in Wyoming) to a high of 1.5 percent (in Tennessee). The 2012 numbers were similar — Wyoming was still the lowest (at 0.3 percent) and New Mexico was highest at 1.6 percent..." and "... Contrary to predictions that MLR rules would drive up insurers’ costs, the GAO report found that the rules had little influence on insurer spending...", see:

U.S. health insurers to pay $330 million in premium rebates

GAO report on medical loss ratio finds insurers spend little on quality improvement 

Update II - "shadow commander"

The July 7th, 2014 blog entry 'Recycle...' discussed the "shadow"commander of Iran's Quds Force, General Qassem Suleimani.  

IRGC-QF Maj. Gen Soleimani, as young commander during Iran-Iraq War has extensive pictures of the "shadow commander" that "no one's ever heard of."

Update I - manufacturing

The December 19th, 2009 blog entry 'Drivel' took issue with the 'manufacturing in the U.S. is in complete decline' meme.

A recent (July 2014) CRS article, Measuring the Loss of Manufacturing Jobs,explains that manufacturing job loss data "... suggest that the United States is not an outlier when it comes to losing factory jobs...Over the entire period between 1991 and 2012, the most recent year for which comparative data are available, the United States shed 23.7% of its manufacturing jobs. This was a smaller percentage decline than that experienced by many peer economies, including France, Germany, Japan, the Netherlands, Sweden, and the United Kingdom..." 

However, the decline in manufacturing jobs does not translate into a decline in manufacturing. The article 'US manufacturing base is surprisingly strong' looks beyond the employment data and points out that:

"... the overall size of the US industrial base – real value-added in manufacturing – has been growing rapidly for more than four decades, and is on track to surpass the all-time 2006-7 high before the end of 2014..."

"...Real value-added in manufacturing grew by 3.1% per year over the entire period 1960-2007, and after a dip during the recession recovered with 4% per year growth from 2010 through 2013. Even with a growth rate no higher than 2.8% per year, the absolute size of the US industrial base – total value-added in manufacturing – will surpass the all-time 2006-2007 high before the end of 2014..."

and

"...  A careful look at the most recent and detailed data shows that despite falling employment, the US manufacturing base is growing larger, more productive, and more competitive."