Hope Fair kicks off for the holiday season
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Denver Mayor Mike Johnston sets off firestorm with vows to resist Donald Trump’s mass deportation plansGiants topple Colts 45-33 to eliminate Indy from the playoff raceNone
Non-profits will have to comply with new rules and share more information when they renew and apply for the licence to obtain foreign donations. ET Year-end Special Reads What kept India's stock market investors on toes in 2024? India's car race: How far EVs went in 2024 Investing in 2025: Six wealth management trends to watch out for The chief functionary of a trust running such a non-government organisation (NGOs) must sign on each page of key documents like the memorandum of association, trust deed, and constitution, and submit the entity's year-wise activity report to the authorities instead of presenting a general report. Non-profits have to also share their receipt and payment accounts with the government along with the audited accounts. Several non-government organisations whose licenses under the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act - a stern and oft-invoked law - expire on December 31, have learnt about the new compliance requirements after logging on to the FCRA portal hosted by the ministry of home affairs which frames the regulations. Also, applicants must now scan the original copy of their constitution even if it is in a language other than English and make sure that the documents uploaded are legible and not blurred. With the government delaying FCRA renewals of a number of NGOs and questioning the intent of some of the overseas donors during the past few years - amid suspicions that funds were spent on activities unrelated to the stated purposes or amounts spent on administrative expenditure breached the regulatory limit - the new conditions would make key NGO officials more accountable and cautious. According to Dr Gautam Shah, partner of the CA firm Gautam Shah & Associates, which advises many trusts, the additional requirements for new applications and renewal of FCRA are a welcome, but never in the past were they proposed or discussed. "If it was conveyed to the trusts that these conditions would have to be followed at the time of application, a lot of time would have been saved. Getting FCRA registration or renewal is very difficult. For better governance a separate helpline or email or any other social media channel should be provided to address the grievances of applicants," said Shah. 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Practitioners like Isha Sekhri, partner at the CA firm Ajay Sekhri and Co think that the further tightening of KYC norms is a step to align with global best practices in compliance and transparency. "Mandating the chief functionary's signature on every page of key documents ensures accountability and reduces the risk of document manipulation. Also, the shift to a year-wise activity report, instead of a generic summary brings granularity to the evaluation of an organisation's operational history and the use of foreign contributions.While the norms may demand more rigorous compliance efforts, they would ensure that foreign contributions are managed with integrity and aligned to their intended purposes," said Sekhri. However, there is always a lurking fear among NGOs over how the law would be invoked to stop foreign donations. Among other things, what fuelled the debate since 2020 was the allegation that dollar donations were being diverted to lure the poor to embrace a new faith. TACKLING TAX Of late, some of the NGOS are also facing a tax issue. A charitable trust is entitled to exemption for accumulation of income and for amounts spent by it. So, if a NGO spends 85% of its income, the entire income is exempt from tax. If spending in any year is less than 85% of its income, it can choose to accumulate the shortfall amount to be spent for specific purposes within the next 5 years. According to Gautam Nayak, partner at CNK & Associates, which advises several charitable trusts, "Till AY 2022-23, this accumulated amount could be spent in the year following the completion of 5 years, and if not spent, it would be taxable in the sixth year. Nominations for ET MSME Awards are now open. The last day to apply is December 31, 2024. Click here to submit your entry for any one or more of the 22 categories and stand a chance to win a prestigious award. (You can now subscribe to our Economic Times WhatsApp channel )One night last month, near the end of the Chicago International Film Festival, a particularly long line of moviegoers snaked down Southport Avenue by the Music Box Theatre. The hot ticket? This fall’s hottest ticket, in fact, all over the international festival circuit? Well, it’s a 215-minute drama about a fictional Hungarian Jewish architect who emigrates to America in 1947 after surviving the Holocaust. The film’s title, “The Brutalist,” references several things, firstly a post-World War II design imperative made of stern concrete, steel, and a collision of poetry and functionality. Director and co-writer Brady Corbet, who wrote “The Brutalist” with his filmmaker wife, Mona Fastvold, explores brutalism in other forms as well, including love, envy, capitalist economics and how the promise of America eludes someone like the visionary architect László Tóth, played by Adrien Brody. Corbet, now 36 and a good bet for Oscar nominations this coming January, says his unfashionable sprawl of a picture, being distributed by A24, is also about the “strange relationship between artist and patron, and art and commerce.” It co-stars Felicity Jones as the visionary architect’s wife, Erzsébet, trapped in Eastern Europe after the war with their niece for an agonizingly long time. Guy Pearce portrays the imperious Philadelphia blueblood who hires Tóth, a near-invisible figure in his adopted country, to design a monumental public building known as the Institute in rural Pennsylvania. The project becomes an obsession, then a breaking point and then something else. Corbet’s project, which took the better part of a decade to come together after falling apart more than once, felt like that, too. Spanning five decades and filmed in Hungary and Italy, “The Brutalist” looks like a well-spent $50 million project. In actuality, it was made for a mere $10 million, with Corbet and cinematographer Lol Crawley shooting on film, largely in the VistaVision process. The filmmaker said at the Chicago festival screening: “Who woulda thunk that for screening after screening over the last couple of months, people stood in line around the block to get into a three-and-a-half-hour movie about a mid-century designer?” He lives in Brooklyn, New York, with Fastvold and their daughter. Our conversation has been edited for clarity and length. Q: Putting together an independent movie, keeping it on track, getting it made: not easy, as you told the Music Box audience last night. Money is inevitably going to be part of the story of “The Brutalist,” since you had only so much to make a far-flung historical epic. A: Yeah, that’s right. In relation to my earlier features, “The Childhood of a Leader” had a $3 million budget. The budget for “Vox Lux” was right around $10 million, same as “The Brutalist,” although the actual production budget for “Vox Lux” was about $4.5 million. Which is to say: All the money on top of that was going to all the wrong places. For a lot of reasons, when my wife and I finished the screenplay for “The Brutalist,” we ruled out scouting locations in Philadelphia or anywhere in the northeastern United States. We needed to (film) somewhere with a lot less red tape. My wife’s previous film, “The World to Come,” she made in Romania; we shot “Childhood of a Leader” in Hungary. For “The Brutalist” we initially landed on Poland, but this was early on in COVID and Poland shut its borders the week our crew was arriving for pre-production. When we finally got things up and running again with a different iteration of the cast (the original ensemble was to star Joel Edgerton, Marion Cotillard and Mark Rylance), after nine months, the movie fell apart again because Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. We couldn’t get any of the banks to cash-flow the tax credit (for location shooting in Poland). It’s completely stable now, but at that time the banks were nervous about whether the war would be contained to Ukraine or not. And then we finally got it up and running in Budapest, Hungary. Q: That’s a long time. A: Every filmmaker I know suffers from some form of post-traumatic stress (laughs). It sounds funny but it’s true. At every level. On the level of independent cinema, you’re just so damn poor. You’re not making any money, and yet from nose to tail, at minimum, a movie always takes a couple of years. With bigger projects, you might have a little more personal security but a lot less creative security with so many more cooks in the kitchen. Either route you choose, it can be an arduous and painful one. Whether you’re making a movie for a million dollars, or $10 million, or $100 million, it’s still “millions of dollars.” And if you’re concerned about the lives and livelihoods of the people working with you, it’s especially stressful. People are constantly calling you: “Is it happening? Are we starting? Should I take this other job or not?” And you have 250 people who need that answer from you. Every iteration of the project, I always thought we were really about to start in a week, two weeks. It’s just very challenging interpersonally. It’s an imposition for everyone in your life. And then there’s the imposition of screening a movie that’s three-and-a-half-hours long for film festivals, where it’s difficult to find that kind of real estate on the schedule. So essentially, making a movie means constantly apologizing. Q: At what point in your acting career did you take a strong interest in what was going on behind the camera? A: I was making short films when I was 11, 12 years old. The first thing I ever made more properly, I guess, was a short film I made when I was 18, “Protect You + Me,” shot by (cinematographer) Darius Khondji. It was supposed to be part of a triptych of films, and I went to Paris for the two films that followed it. And then all the financing fell through. But that first one screened at the London film festival, and won a prize at Sundance, and I was making music videos and other stuff by then. Q: You’ve written a lot of screenplays with your wife. How many? A: Probably 25. We work a lot for other people, too. I think we’ve done six together for our own projects. Sometimes I’ll start something at night and my wife will finish in the morning. Sometimes we work very closely together, talking and typing together. It’s always different. Right now I’m writing a lot on the road, and my wife is editing her film, which is a musical we wrote, “Ann Lee,” about the founder of the Shakers. I’m working on my next movie now, which spans a lot of time, like “The Brutalist,” with a lot of locations. And I need to make sure we can do it for not a lot of money, because it’s just not possible to have a lot of money and total autonomy. For me making a movie is like cooking. If everyone starts coming in and throwing a dash of this or that in the pot, it won’t work out. A continuity of vision is what I look for when I read a novel. Same with watching a film. A lot of stuff out there today, appropriately referred to as “content,” has more in common with a pair of Nikes than it does with narrative cinema. Q: Yeah, I can’t imagine a lot of Hollywood executives who’d sign off on “The Brutalist.” A: Well, even with our terrific producing team, I mean, everyone was up for a three-hour movie but we were sort of pushing it with three-and-a-half (laughs). I figured, worst-case scenario, it opens on a streamer. Not what I had in mind, but people watch stuff that’s eight, 12 hours long all the time. They get a cold, they watch four seasons of “Succession.” (A24 is releasing the film in theaters, gradually.) It was important for all of us to try to capture an entire century’s worth of thinking about design with “The Brutalist.” For me, making something means expressing a feeling I have about our history. I’ve described my films as poetic films about politics, that go to places politics alone cannot reach. It’s one thing to say something like “history repeats itself.” It’s another thing to make people see that, and feel it. I really want viewers to engage with the past, and the trauma of that history can be uncomfortable, or dusty, or dry. But if you can make it something vital, and tangible, the way great professors can do for their students, that’s my definition of success. “The Brutalist” opens in New York and Los Angeles on Dec. 20. The Chicago release is Jan. 10, 2025. Michael Phillips is a Tribune critic.
USC freshman guard Kennedy Smith is out indefinitely after having a surgical procedure, the program announced on Saturday. Smith was not available against Notre Dame on Saturday, but the Trojans expect her to return at some point this season. No additional details have been released regarding what kind of procedure Smith underwent. The Trojans are currently ranked No. 3 in the nation, and having the top recruiting class in the nation has been a key part of that. Smith, a California native, arrived to USC as the No. 6 recruit in the class of 2024. She earned a spot in the starting lineup right away and was averaging 10.3 points, 4.0 rebounds and 2.0 assists in her first four games. With Smith unavailable against the No. 6 team in the country, freshman Kayleigh Heckel made her debut as a starter. Heckel played for Long Island Lutheran High School in New York and was the No. 13 player in the class of 2024. She has been averaging 9.8 points, 1.8 rebounds, and 1.7 steals. While Smith has been a valuable piece for the team, there is still plenty of talent in Lindsay Gottlieb's roster. JuJu Watkins is fresh of a historic year in which she broke the all-time scoring record by a freshman. She carried over that momentum into her sophomore season and is leading the USC offense with 21.5 points per game, along with 6.3 rebounds. The team also got stronger during the summer with the addition of Stanford transfer Kiki Iriafen, who gives USC 17.3 points per contest and a team-high 7.5 rebounds.
Dyskinetic Cerebral Palsy: A Closer Look at Symptoms, Diagnosis and Clinical Research UnderwayThe Washington Commanders are on a small skid since starting the year 7-2, dropping their last three matchups. Still no reason to panic just yet in Washington, but they'll need to change something soon to avoid a second-half collapse. There's one player on the Commanders' roster that could have a new home next season, according to Bleacher Report . Dyami Brown was Washington's third round pick in 2021 and has played a backup role since joining the team. Brown has 16 catches for 171 yards and one touchdown this season while appearing in 30% of offensive snaps. To potentially earn a larger role in the future, Bleacher Report has the Buffalo Bills plucking Brown and adding him to one of the NFL's most elite offensive units. Targeting someone like Dyami Brown would give them a younger free agent who could develop into a better player. Brown has flashed some potential this season with the Commanders, but a fresh start in Buffalo could elevate his game. The Commanders will be looking for a legitimate No.2 receiver to pair with Terry McLaurin next season and Brown obviously won't fill that role. They shouldn't be affected by losing him in the offseason.
The Penguins will welcome back a veteran forward to their lineup on Saturday against Utah. The team announced (X link ) that they have activated center Kevin Hayes off injured reserve. To make room for him on the active roster, forward Vasily Ponomarev has been returned to AHL Wilkes-Barre/Scranton. Hayes is in his first season with Pittsburgh after St. Louis paid a second-round pick to offload the final two years of his deal (or at least half of it with Philadelphia retaining the other half) on the Penguins. The 32-year-old is off to a bit of a quiet start as he has just three goals and one assist in his first 14 games. However, he’s also averaging just 9:27 per night, by far a career-low. A veteran of 727 career regular-season appearances over parts of 11 years, Hayes has been a productive middleman at times and has five years of 44 or more points under his belt. But with his playing time basically being limited to the fourth line so far this season, it’s unlikely that Hayes will get close to that mark, barring a change in role as the season progresses. As for Ponomarev, he was recalled a week and a half ago and got into three games in that stretch, his first three games with Pittsburgh after they acquired him as part of the Jake Guentzel trade at last year’s trade deadline. The 22-year-old was held off the scoresheet while averaging a little over nine minutes per game. Ponomarev sustained an upper-body injury late in training camp, derailing any chance he had of making the opening roster and instead landed on season-opening IR until the end of October. As a result, he hasn’t had much playing time with Wilkes-Barre/Scranton either and he has just one assist in five games at that level. Still early in his development, consistent playing time will be needed and he’s likelier to get that at the AHL level than battling for fourth-line action with the big club. This article first appeared on Pro Hockey Rumors and was syndicated with permission.
By JESSICA DAMIANO Finding the perfect gift can be daunting. The only way to truly ensure you get it right would be to ask the recipient what they want, but that wouldn’t be much fun for either of you. Luckily, there’s another tactic to help you earn a “gift whisperer” reputation: seeking out unique, practical, game-changing gifts that will truly surprise and delight. But that’s about as easy as it sounds, which is to say it’s not easy at all. So, we’ve done the legwork for you. Start making your list with this compilation of some of the most innovative, functional and fun gifts of 2024. There’s something for every budget. Bear with me: The new FinaMill Ultimate Spice Grinder set elevates the pedestrian pepper and spice mill in both function and style. Available in three colors (Sangria Red, Midnight Black and Soft Cream), the rechargeable-battery unit grinds with a light touch rather than hand-tiring twists. That’s easier for everyone and especially helpful for those experiencing hand or wrist issues such as arthritis, carpal tunnel syndrome or tendinitis. And it’s fun to use. The set includes a stackable storage tray and four pods that can be easily swapped as needed: The GT microplane grater for hard spices, nuts and chocolate; the MAX for large spices and dried herbs; the ProPlus for smaller and oily spices; and the Pepper Pod for, well, pepper. $110. Campers and backyard firepit lovers who have experienced the heartbreak of wet wood will appreciate having a three-pack of Pull Start Fire on hand. Made of 89% recycled materials, including sanding dust, wax and flint, the food-safe, eco-friendly, 3-by-2-by-1-inch fire starters will light a fire quickly without matches, lighters or kindling. Just loop the attached green string around a log, incorporate it into a wood stack, and pull the attached red string to ignite. Each windproof, rainproof block burns for 30 minutes. $29.99. The No Mess Utensil Set from Souper Cubes , a company known for its portioned, silicone freezer trays, lives up to its name. The utensils — a serving spoon and a ladle — have innovative, S-shaped handles designed to rest on the edge of a pot, keeping them upright so they won’t slip in. The design also eliminates the need for a spoon rest or, worse, placing dirty utensils on the kitchen counter or stovetop between stirs. A silicone coating in a choice of Aqua, Charcoal, Cranberry or Blueberry keeps handles cool to the touch. $24.99. The FeatherSnap Wi-Fi smart bird feeder could turn anyone into an avid birdwatcher. Equipped with an HD camera, the dual-chamber feeder enables up-close livestreaming of avian visitors, as well as species-logging via the free mobile app. An optional premium subscription ($59.99 annually or $6.99 monthly) includes unlimited photo and video storage, AI identification with species-specific details, and the opportunity to earn badges for logging new visitors. Turn on notifications to get alerts sent to your phone whenever there’s activity at the feeder. $179.99. Fujifilm’s Instax Mini Link 3 smartphone printer offers a touch of nostalgia without sacrificing technology. Just load the 4.9-by-3.5-by-1.3-inch printer with Instax Mini instant film and connect it to your Android or iOS device via Bluetooth to print wallet-size photos. If you want to get fancy, you can adjust brightness, contrast and saturation, or apply filters, including 3D augmented-reality effects, via the free Instax Mini Link app. It can also make collages of up to six images, or animate photos to share on social media. Available in Rose Pink, Clay White and Sage Green. $99.95. The appropriately named easyplant is one of the best gifts you can give your houseplant-loving friends, regardless of their experience level. Select a pot color, size and plant (or get recommendations based on sunlight requirements, pet friendliness and other attributes) and fill the self-watering container’s built-in reservoir roughly once a month. Moisture will permeate the soil from the bottom as needed, eliminating the often-fatal consequences of over- or under-watering. It’s also a literal lifesaver come vacation time. $49-$259. Related Articles Things To Do | US airports with worst weather delays during holiday season Things To Do | The right book can inspire the young readers in your life, from picture books to YA novels Things To Do | Holiday gift ideas for the movie lover, from bios and books to a status tote Things To Do | ‘Gladiator II’ review: Are you not moderately entertained? Things To Do | Beer pairings for your holiday feasts If you’ve got a no-dairy friend on your list, a plant-based milk maker could save them money while allowing them to avoid sugar, stabilizers, thickeners and preservatives. The Nama M1 appliance both blends and strains ingredients, converting nuts, seeds, grains or oats into velvety-smooth milk in just one minute, with zero grit. And for zero waste, the pasty leftover pulp can be used in other recipes for added nutrients. The device also makes infused oils, flavored waters and soups. And, importantly, cleanup is easy. Available in white and black. $400. For friends who prefer stronger beverages, the QelviQ personal sommelier uses “smart” technology to ensure wine is served at its ideal temperature. Unlike traditional wine refrigerators, this device doesn’t take up any floor space. It also doesn’t chill wine to just one or two temperatures based on its color. Instead — paired with the free QelviQ app — the tabletop chiller relies on a database of more than 350,000 wines to bring a bottle to its specific recommended serving temperature in as little as 20 minutes. It also suggests food-wine and wine-food pairings. Plus, the appliance serves as a great icebreaker to inspire dinnertime conversation. Available in Exciting Red, Dashing Black and Dreamy White. $495. Grilling food after dark — and ascertaining its doneness — can prove challenging without outdoor lighting, and it’s nearly impossible to cook while holding a flashlight. But as is often the case, the simplest of solutions can make the biggest of impacts: Uncommon Good’s 2-piece LED Grilling Tool Set puts illumination into the handles of its stainless-steel spatula and tongs. After use, the lights can be removed and the utensils run through the dishwasher. $40.
2024’s top ASX gas performersSaturday, November 23, 2024 Mumbai, India – From November 28th to December 2nd, 2024, the iconic Amerigo Vespucci , the historic sailing ship and training vessel of the Italian Navy, will dock in Mumbai as part of its global tour. Accompanying the ship will be Villaggio Italia , an immersive and itinerant “expo” dedicated to showcasing Italy’s excellence in design, art, technology, and culture. Both will be open to the public free of charge, with prior registration required for access to the port. A Unique Cultural and Tourism Experience in Mumbai The Amerigo Vespucci , affectionately known as “the most beautiful ship in the world,” will offer visitors an opportunity to experience Italian naval history and maritime traditions that have been preserved for over 90 years. The ship’s visit marks a historic moment as it reaches Mumbai for the first time in its 93-year history. The Villaggio Italia exposition, running concurrently, will highlight Italy’s rich cultural heritage and its contributions to the fields of design, art, music, and innovation. Visitors can expect to explore a diverse range of exhibitions, performances, and conferences, all centered around the theme of Italian excellence. Exhibitions, Performances, and Conferences The Villaggio Italia will feature a comprehensive cultural program designed to captivate both local and international audiences. Key highlights include: Networking and Conferences on Italy-India Collaboration In addition to the exhibitions and performances, the event will host several high-profile conferences and networking sessions aimed at fostering collaboration between Italy and India in various sectors: Booking and Access Information Visitors to the Amerigo Vespucci and Villaggio Italia can explore the exhibitions and enjoy the performances for free, but access to the port area requires prior registration. Visitors must book their spot on the official website at least four days in advance. Non-Indian citizens are required to present valid identification and will not be permitted entry to the port area with just a tourist visa. Amerigo Vespucci Visit Timings : Villaggio Italia Opening Hours : This exciting cultural initiative, strongly supported by the Italian Government and featuring a variety of prestigious Italian authorities, represents an important step in strengthening the cultural ties between Italy and India while promoting Italy’s rich tourism offerings and global influence.
Last week, UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson was shot to death on a New York City sidewalk in what was clearly a thoroughly planned-out attack. Over the next few days, as authorities hunted for the killer, online progressives did not try hard to hide their delight that a millionaire health insurance executive like Thompson was killed. Social media was flooded with posts and videos—with different ranges of subtlety—suggesting that Thompson, at the very least, did not deserve to be mourned because of all the health care his company has denied to poor and working people. Progressives framed the shooting as an act of self-defense on behalf of the working class. Before the alleged killer was caught Monday, they promised not to snitch if they saw the shooter themselves and fantasized about a working-class jury nullifying all charges, leading to other CEOs getting gunned down with impunity if they oversaw price increases. The narrative that these online progressives clearly subscribe to and perpetuate is one where, in the United States, healthcare is a totally unfettered, unregulated industry; where—because of a total lack of government involvement—wealthy CEOs charge whatever prices they want and then refuse to provide customers what they already paid for without facing any bad consequences. The characterization of healthcare and health insurance companies charging absurdly high prices while treating their customers terribly without the risk of losing them is spot on. But the idea that what caused this was a lack of government involvement in the healthcare system is completely delusional. And this delusion conveniently removes all the responsibility progressives bear for the nightmare that is the US healthcare system. Today, healthcare is one of the most heavily government-regulated industries in the economy—right up there with the finance and energy sectors. Government agencies are involved in all parts of the process, from the research and production of drugs, the training and licensing of medical professionals, and the building of hospitals to the availability of health insurance, the makeup of insurance plans, and the complicated payment processes. And that is nothing new. The US government has been intervening heavily in the healthcare industry for over a century. And no group has done more to bring this about than the progressives. It really began, after all, during the Progressive Era, when the American Medical Association maneuvered its way into setting the official accreditation standards for the nation’s “unregulated” medical schools. The AMA wrote standards that excluded the medical approaches of their competitors, which forced half of the nation’s medical schools to close. The new shortage of trained doctors drove up the price of medical services—to the delight of the AMA and other government-recognized doctor’s groups—setting the familiar healthcare affordability crisis in motion. Around the same time, progressives successfully pushed for strict restrictions on the production of drugs and, shortly afterward, to grant drug producers monopoly privileges. After WWII, as healthcare grew more expensive, the government used the tax code to warp how Americans paid for healthcare. Under President Truman, the IRS made employer-provided health insurance tax deductible while continuing to tax other means of payment. It didn’t take long for employer plans to become the dominant arrangement and for health insurance to morph away from actual insurance into a general third-party payment system. These government interventions restricting the supply of medical care and privileging insurance over other payment methods created a real affordability problem for many Americans. But the crisis didn’t really start until the 1960s when Congress passed two of the progressive’s favorite government programs—Medicare and Medicaid. Initially, industry groups like the AMA opposed Medicare and Medicaid because they believed the government subsidies would deteriorate the quality of care. They were right about that, but what they clearly didn’t anticipate was how rich the programs would make them. Anyone who’s taken even a single introductory economics class could tell you that prices will rise if supply decreases or demand increases. The government was already keeping the supply of medical services artificially low—leading to artificially high prices. Medicare and Medicaid left those shortages in place and poured a ton of tax dollars into the healthcare sector—significantly increasing demand. The result was an easily predictable explosion in the cost of healthcare. Fewer and fewer people could afford healthcare at these rising prices, meaning more people required government assistance, which meant more demand, causing prices to grow faster and faster. Meanwhile, private health “insurance” providers were also benefiting from the mounting crisis. In a free market, insurance serves as a means to trade risk. Insurance works well for accidents and calamities that are hard to predict individually but relatively easy to predict in bulk, like car accidents, house fires, and unexpected family deaths. Health insurance providers were already being subsidized by all the taxes on competing means of payment, which allowed their plans to grow beyond the typical bounds of insurance and begin to cover easily-predictable occurrences like annual physicals. And, as the price of all of these services continued to shoot up, the costs of these routine procedures were becoming high enough to resemble the costs of emergencies—making consumers even more reliant on insurance. With progressives cheering on, the political class used government intervention to create a healthcare system that behaves as if its sole purpose is to move as much money as possible into the pockets of healthcare providers, drug companies, hospitals, health-related federal agencies, and insurance providers. But the party could not last forever. As the price of healthcare rose, the price of health insurance rose, too. Eventually, when insurance premiums grew too high, fewer employers or individual buyers were willing to buy insurance, and the flow of money into the healthcare system started to falter. The data suggests that that tipping point was reached in the early 2000s. For the first time since the cycle began back in the 1960s, the number of people with health insurance began to fall each year. Healthcare providers—who had seemingly assumed that the flow of money would never stop increasing—began to panic. Then came Barack Obama. Obama’s seminal legislative accomplishment—the Affordable Care Act, or Obamacare—can best be understood as a ploy by healthcare providers and the government to keep the party going. Obamacare required all fifty million uninsured Americans to obtain insurance, and it greatly expanded what these “insurance” companies covered. Demand for healthcare shot back up, and the vicious cycle started back up again—which is why the bill enjoyed so much support from big corporations all across the healthcare industry. Before it was passed, economists were practically screaming that the Affordable Care Act would make care less affordable by raising premiums and healthcare prices while making shortages worse. Progressives dismissed such concerns as Reagan-era “free market fundamentalist” propaganda. But that is exactly what happened . Now, the affordability crisis is worse than ever as prices reach historic levels. And, because Obamacare brought American healthcare much closer to a single-payer system, the demand for healthcare far exceeds the supply of healthcare—leading to deadly shortages. There are literally not enough resources or available medical professionals to treat everyone who can pay for care. Also, the tax code and warped “insurance” market protect these providers from competition—making it almost impossible for people to switch to a different provider after their claims are unfairly denied. If it were simply greed, denying customers who already paid would be a feature in all industries. But it’s not. It requires the kind of policy protections progressives helped implement. And on top of all that, despite paying all this money, Americans are quickly becoming one of the sickest populations on Earth. This is one of the most pressing problems facing the country. A problem that requires immediate, radical change to solve. But it also requires an accurate and precise diagnosis—something that, this week, progressives demonstrated they are incapable of making. Related Articles Commentary | John Stossel: Your tax dollars not at work Commentary | After so many years of failure, time’s up for California Democrats Commentary | Vince Fong: We don’t need Newsom to lecture us. We need him to listen to us. Commentary | Deregulation rather than fossil fuel controls needed to fix California insurance market Commentary | The FBI has been political from the start The American progressive movement is responsible for providing the political class the intellectual cover they needed to break the healthcare market and transform the entire system into a means to transfer wealth to people like Brian Thompson. Now, they want to sit back, pretend like they’ve never gotten their way, that the government has never done anything with the healthcare market, and that these healthcare executives just popped up and started doing this all on their own—all so they can celebrate him being gunned down in the street. It’s disgusting. Brian Thompson acted exactly like every economically literate person over the last fifty years has said health insurance CEOs would act if progressives got their way. If we’re ever going to see the end of this century-long nightmare, we need to start listening to the people who have gotten it right, not those who pretend they are blameless as they fantasize online about others starting a violent revolution. Connor O’Keeffe ( @ConnorMOKeeffe ) produces media and content at the Mises Institute. This commentary is republished with permission from the Mises Institute.
The Minister for Education, Dr. Maruf Olatunji Alausa, has outlined a new strategy focused on advancing Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM), Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET), and enhancing the overall quality of learning in the country. The Minister stated this in Abuja on Tuesday while declaring open the stakeholders’ consultative dialogue on the Education Sector Renewal Initiative (ESRI) 2024-2027. The meeting had in attendance representatives from the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO), the World Bank Group, and the European Union (EU), amongst others. Alausa said his strategic goals include reducing the number of out-of-school children, addressing learning poverty, and enhancing skills development and human capital for the labour market. He also emphasised the integration of out-of-school children (OOSC) and Almajiris into formal education, alongside initiatives such as conditional cash transfers, school feeding programme, and Social and Behavioral Change Communication (SBCC) for the education of girls and vulnerable populations. Alausa also stressed the importance of strengthened governance and management in the education sector, which involves organisational reforms of relevant institutions, enhanced oversight of programmes and subnational implementation, improved planning, resource allocation, tracking, research, and monitoring. Additionally, the Minister announced plans to build a robust data architecture and strengthen the Education Management Information System (EMIS) to improve decision-making and accountability across the sector. “As we all know, the education sector is filled with numerous challenges. As we are aware, infrastructural decay, funding issues, unreliable data intake, cutting, planning, poor capacity, development for teachers, problem of out-of-school, we have one of the highest number of out-of-school children in the nation, in the country. “As a ministry, we are committed to providing quality education to all Nigerians as enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the land as beautiful, which ensures inclusive, equitable, and quality education and the promotion of lifelong learning opportunities for all,” he said In her welcome address, Dr. Suwaiba Said Ahmad, the Minister of State for Education, acknowledged the challenges facing Nigeria’s education sector, including infrastructural issues, inadequate funding, poor teacher development, and the out-of-school children crisis. She emphasised the Ministry’s commitment to providing quality education in line with global standards and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), noting that achieving this required collaboration with development partners, stakeholders, and the private sector.U.S. shares mixed at close of trade; Dow Jones Industrial Average down 0.22%TikTok CEO sought Musk's input ahead of Trump administration
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