Bumpy week

No Pain No Gain

This week's polls (Can you really believe any polls?) show the majority of Americans are disappointed in the economic situation. Want prices to come down faster. They will but again battleships are hard to turn.

One Step Forward- Two Back

Less than one week after California revoked 17,000 commercial licenses that don't comply with Federal DOT minimum stands, a Federal Judge rules the DOT order cannot be enforced. Why - because it did not follow procedure nor did it explain why it would promote safety. Guess where the Judge is from? You got - D.C.

Now don't get me wrong. It is confusing why someone at the wheel of 16 ton monster barreling down the highway at 70 mph should able to read traffic signs in English, no?

Blue City - Red State

Recently CME noted that BIG Blue Cities can drag down crime statistics in otherwise Red States.

NC voted for Trump clearly in 2024. Yet Charlotte is one of the worst cities when it comes to being a human trafficking hub.

A startling rise in human trafficking cases throughout one of the nation’s most populous states is putting both experts and parents on alert, with data indicating that criminals are targeting children in unprecedented numbers. 

North Carolina is ranked ninth in the country for human trafficking, according to data from the National Human Trafficking Hotline. In 2024, the state identified 301 cases of human trafficking involving 580 victims, the Hotline indicated. 

These cases involve instances of sex trafficking, labor trafficking and additional types of exploitation that may not be specified or remain unknown. In North Carolina, data indicates that in 2024, there were 145 reported cases of sex trafficking, 73 cases of labor trafficking and 38 cases of both sex and labor trafficking. 

The eye-watering number of cases is best explained by North Carolina’s sweeping interstate highway system, high demand for inexpensive labor throughout its agricultural industry and increased amount of gang activity, experts said. 

From 2020 to 2024, Charlotte saw a 76% increase in reported cases of minor trafficking, according to the task force.

Affordability Crisis - Trump Doing?

Not hardly. Inflation hit a 40 year high in 2022 - long after Covid had abated. Why? Energy costs soared and government spending went ballistic. Government employment went from 1.9 million to 3.1 million under Biden.

There is an irrefutable linkage between oil prices and inflation. Give up our energy security and spend like a drunken sailor on handouts (e.g., Inflation Reduction Act, Obamacare subsidies) and, yes, affordability is affected - Big Time.

Good news - both are coming under control. Inflation averaged almost 6% under Biden. It's less than half that now.

Attacking Affordability

Despite my somewhat callous advice - if you can't afford where you live, MOVE - affordability is emerging as a serious voter issue. Ergo the party in power must address or risk adversaries seizing control. The more Mamdani chants "affordability crisis", the more liberals listen. Especially young "still working their way up" liberals. Actually, I'm not so worried about young liberals, I'm more worried about young independents and even young conservatives who buy in.

So where to start?

Well, healthcare might be a good place.

Healthcare now consumes nearly one-fifth of our economy. It is the largest single cost for employers, the fastest-growing burden on families, and the quietest drain on national growth. Every dollar businesses spend on bloated health costs is a dollar not available for higher wages, new jobs or investment. Every dollar families spend on premiums or out-of-pocket costs is a dollar they can’t use for savings, housing or opportunity. Until we fix healthcare, we can’t fix affordability. 

It’s not that Washington ignores healthcare — it’s that it thinks about it too narrowly. Politicians obsess over temporary subsidies, tax credits and program expansions that make insurance more expensive to subsidize but never make care itself more affordable. The current fight over extending COVID-era insurance subsidies is a perfect example. Even supporters of Obamacare now admit that the "Affordable" Care Act turned out to be UN-affordable. Their answer is to borrow more money to prop up a system that keeps getting worse. That is not reform — it’s surrender.

There are three truths both parties must face. 

First, the system is already too expensive and locked in a pattern that guarantees it will grow more unaffordable every year. 

Second, 60 years of bureaucratic control — public and private — have utterly failed to contain costs. Remember the nine scariest words - I'm from the government and I'm here to help.

Third, we must build a new model that relies on patients, doctors and employers — not massive government and insurance-company bureaucracies — to achieve the change Americans want. 

When Demand Goes Up...

Prices do too. Always. The Unaffordable Care Act (UCA) forces healthy young people to buy insurance they didn't need or want. Demand increased. So did prices. Remember those stock prices. Here are three reasons the UCA drove prices through the roof and made insurance company CEOs rich.

1. Guaranteed coverage 

One provision included in the ACA is the guaranteed issue, which requires that insurers provide coverage to anyone without factoring in their health status or age. This is a factor that ramps up the cost of premiums. Since older patients use a lot more healthcare than the young and cost insurers a lot more in claims, premiums have to rise to cover their loss on the older enrollees. 

2. Community rating rule 

Coupled with this provision is the community rating rule, which bans insurers from charging older people more than three times what they do younger people — regardless of their health status. This essentially amounts to a system of government price controls because it requires insurance companies to charge two people of the same age on the same healthcare plan the same premium, even if one is healthy and the other is sick, according to Cannon. 

This is a price floor for the healthy person, because the price can't go below whatever you charge the sick person, and it's a price ceiling for the sick person, because the price can't go above whatever you charge the healthy so the centerpiece of Obamacare is really just price controls, where you set the price too high in one area and too low in the other area." 

3. Mandated service coverage 

Additionally, the "U"CA has an "essential" health benefits requirement that stipulates health insurance plans must cover certain services, including inpatient and outpatient hospital care, mental health services, prescription drug coverage and more.

Enrollees have to buy a plan that covers each benefit, regardless of whether they want that benefit or not. If an individual family wants a plan that doesn’t cover alcohol rehabilitation or hair prostheses, they still have to pay to cover these benefits. They add tremendously to the cost of coverage.

Simplistic? Maybe - maybe not.

What to do, what to do?

Well, start with a new model that places the means of control FIRMLY in the hands of the patients. That model is not theoretical — it already works in the rest of our economy. When people have access to clear prices and quality information before making decisions, competition will drive innovation, choice and lower costs. Technology has made this possible in every industry, from travel to retail to manufacturing.

Worse, nobody knows what anything costs — not patients, not families, not even the self-funded employers who pay the claims for their plan members. Bills arrive months after care, after passing through a maze of third-party administrators, repricers and billing vendors. That secrecy fuels waste, fraud and frustration. It’s estimated that 30% to 50% of all healthcare spending is administrative rather than medical. In short, America’s healthcare system has more middlemen than medicine. Get this - the average family of four now spends roughly $27,000 a year on health insurance — about the cost of a new Chevrolet or Toyota every 12 months.

Progress was started in Trump 1.0 with his price transparency executive order and the No Surprises Act. Now it's time to finish the job and turn information into market-driven response.

Subsidize Instead of Solve.

That is where government involvement almost always leads. Most situations plagued by perpetually rising prices (leading to cuts in quality and service) cannot be solved by subsidies. They require overhaul at the grass roots level. New models. Government will never offer those because they're too risky. Politicians (of which government is made up) might lose voters. Might lose power.

Different People Have Different Ideas

No offense meant, but be glad your kids don't go to school in Michigan where 3 out of 4 can't read at grade level.

In a recent state hearing, Deputy School Superintendent, Dr. Sue Carnell was asked repeatedly, "How many genders are there? When she finally realized the question wasn't going away, she stammered, "Different people have different beliefs on that."

But - wait - she went on to clarify..."the guidelines provide students, by completion of 8th grade, to be able to define gender identity, gender expression, and sexual orientation, and explain that they are distinct components of every individual’s identity and explain how biological sex, gender identity, and gender expression are distinct concepts and how they interact with each other." Maybe they should focus more on learning to read. You know...See Spot Run.

No wonder kids are too confused to read.

Want Lifetime Job Security?

Be a football coach in the NFL or College.

James Franklin, recently sacked by Penn State after going 4 and a million (21) versus top 10 ranked opponents, just landed another sweet deal with Virginia Tech.

The proverbial revolving doors of employment.

From Their Lips to God's Ears

California Gov. Gavin Newsom was declared the Democratic frontrunner to win back the White House in 2028 by a column in Politico on Saturday. 

"By the old rules of Democratic nominations, Newsom fits neatly in the tradition of Jimmy Carter, Bill Clinton and Barack Obama."

Now there's a trifecta if ever I heard one.

Wildfire State Update.

Remember the Palisades fires of a year ago? Billions in damages, homes and lives lost. Yet not one permit for reconstruction has been granted. Insurance settlements have not been paid. Those who lost their homes are still required to pay property taxes and insurance premiums. What a wonderful place to live.

Understand why Gavin is now #1 for 2028 Dem Prez pick?Epstein Op

Not gonna waste any more of your time on this. Trump finally said...Sure, give 'em everything. So that's what's gonna happen.

Does anybody in their right mind think, if there was a scintilla of anything that could, even with leftwing distortion, incriminate the President that Biden would not have been flying a banner across the sky?

Just another ruse by the Lefties to tie up Donald and try to run out the clock.

Biggest Presidential Scandal Ever?

No doubt in my mind. The Biden coverup. I thought Obama was the biggest bait and switch. Hope and Change, Big Tent became "I've got a pen and a phone" after 2020 midterms.

But no. I was clearly, emphatically wrong.

The biggest bait and switch was Biden. He ran on a return to normalcy. To moderation. Then as soon as he took office the Left had him by the short hairs. He led the most leftwing, progressive, radical, Woke Presidency so far. And...he didn't even know it was happening.

Ever Notice How Hitler is the Default Position?

The Dems called Reagan - Hitler. Dubya - Hitler. Romney - Hitler and the Hitler of them all - Donald. If the Dems consider Hitler the symbol of all evil, how come they sponsor Antisemitic protests all over the place?

How Did Trump Come Back?

Simple. Two things. First look at the candidates and policies the other guys put forth.

Second, "regular people" were looking for someone to say out loud the things they were too intimidated to say. Woke had shut them up and they were sick of it. They yearned for someone who would speak up and loudly. Boy, did they ever get their wish.

New Pope Gets It Right (almost)

Remember how Pope Francis cast aspersions on nations and leaders efforts to secure borders? New Pope, Leo, clarified recently. Pope Leo XIV rejected the idea that he or the Catholic Church support "open borders. He mitigated somewhat by adding that he agreed with US Bishops that the the US was not treating immigrants properly. See even a Pope listens to Fake News. Better half a loaf I guess.

Here's part of what US bishops said..."We recognize that nations have a responsibility to regulate their borders and establish a just and orderly immigration system for the sake of the common good. Without such processes, immigrants face the risk of trafficking and other forms of exploitation. Safe and legal pathways serve as an antidote to such risks. We oppose the indiscriminate mass deportation of people. We pray for an end to dehumanizing rhetoric and violence, whether directed at immigrants or at law enforcement."

Problem is there is NOT an indiscriminate mass deportation. It's targeted to emphasize criminals, terrorists, gang members and other nefarious anti-American 'bad guys'. Do some 'not bad" illegals get ensnared? Of course. Repatriating 11 million illegals is not a foolproof task.

Remember secure borders save way more lives than they wreck - BY FAR.

Trump to Meet with Mamdani

At Zohran's request apparently. Man, I can't wait for the nicknames to come out of that one. But, true to form, Trump is always open-minded enough to meet with anyone to try and make things better.

More Evidence of Education's Failure

A comprehensive study by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation in 2024, revealed more than 70% of Americans failed a basic civic-literacy quiz.

A 2024 study by the American Council of Trustees and Alumni (ACTA) found that among college students, only 31% knew that James Madison was the "Father of the Constitution." And only 23% knew that the phrase "government of the people, by the people, for the people" comes from the Gettysburg Address.

The Cato Institute's 2025 Fourth of July National Survey found that, among over 2,000 Americans, 53% did not know that the Declaration of Independence was adopted to separate the colonies from Britain in 1776.

Not really a surprise. Wanna bet 90% could define LGBTQ? (even though I can't)

Do As I Say

Sen. Raphael Warnock's, D-Ga., re-election campaign has spent an eye-popping amount of cash on private security over nine months in 2025 despite a history of supporting stricter gun control measures. Between January and September of this year, Warnock spent approximately $360,000 on security services from Executive Protection Agencies, LLC, an Atlanta-based security firm that includes both armed and unarmed options.  Warnock's campaign has spent over $2.7 million on private security dating back to Dec. 2020.

Warnock has been one of the loudest voices screaming for gun control. Guess it's alright to be packin' if you're in Congress but not if you're just a regular Joe.

Interesting Muskism

Elon cut Twitter (now X) employment from 7500 to 1500 when he took over. And turned out a better product. No wonder he in charge of DOGE.

Thomas Paine said...

Over 250 years ago, "A long habit of not thinking a thing wrong gives the superficial appearance of being right." How true, how true.

Paine is known for his pamphlet, Common Sense. He was an English-born American Founding Father, Revolutionary, inventor, political philosopher, and statesman. His pamphlets Common Sense and The American Crisis framed the Patriot argument for independence from Great Britain at the outset of the American Revolution.

He also noted...“Society is produced by our wants, and government by wickedness; the former promotes our happiness positively by uniting our affections, the latter negatively by restraining our vices. The one encourages intercourse, the other creates distinctions. The first is a patron, the last a punisher.”

Hear that Capitol Hill?

Duh. Isn't that Racist?

Michelle Obama says Americans are not ready for a woman President (so she won't run). Maybe Americans just aren't ready for a woman named Kamala or Hillary to be President.

Continuous Improvement

During my consulting days the most successful transformation projects were the ones that instilled a continuous improvement culture in the client organization. Continually doing things better is the only sure way to protect and increase value. Always been a great proponent of continuous improvement.

In that regard, I want to encourage feedback and ideas from the CME community. What do you hate? What do you want more of? All is appreciated. Use my personal email (George@gbubrick.com).

Nice weekend, all.