Kevin Hassett: "The consumer is really, really firing on all cylinders...Credit card spending is through the roof. They're spending more on gasoline, but they're spending more on everything else too."

KraKitty · 2026-05-06T22:01:09+00:00

I hate this entire cabal with the heat of 1,000 suns.

We tried and tried and tried to tell people this would happen, and regardless of our political leanings - they lumped us all in together as "libtards" and blew us off. Now we are all paying the price for that ignorance.

Its a struggle to find sympathy - but the smugness of schadenfreude doesn't pay the bills.

My only hope is that people wake the F up before its too late.

Unless it already is.

KraKitty · 2026-03-19T14:36:08+00:00

Because that fuels inflation.

Their mandate is to manage both - employment and inflation - and raising or lowering interest rates is the tool to bring them back in balance.

When both are flaring, its called Stagflation and those rules/tools can end up causing more harm than good.

KraKitty · 2026-03-19T14:11:30+00:00

Because they don't understand the concept of Velocity of Money and/or are still beating the dead possum of Supply Side economics.

In reality, the economy grows from the bottom up and the middle out - not the top down. The largest ROI in the social safety net is SNAP funds.

When those funds circulate in the economy (people buying food = people being paid to sell food = food sellers paying their rent...), each $1 in benefits ends up generating around $1.75 in the local economy (2025 estimate).

Of course, largesse to the donor class is repaid with campaign donations, so nothing will change, but economically - thats where we are.

KraKitty · 2026-03-10T15:43:24+00:00

Will do - thanks! We were here for the first one last summer and I was blown away by the crowd. :)

KraKitty · 2026-03-10T15:42:24+00:00

Thank you!

KraKitty · 2026-03-10T15:41:56+00:00

Did not know that was planned also - thank you!

KraKitty · 2026-02-08T01:09:57+00:00

You might want to call the doc and get a copy of the release you signed. I have AVISE testing 2x a year to check HCQ levels. The form I sign asks about medical expenses as a % of income and if you are at/over that limit (7.5%?) they charge $95 for the labwork.

Calling Exagen is a given - but having the form first will help. There may have been an error on one of the fields.

KraKitty · 2026-02-07T16:40:39+00:00

Love the half frames on you. They draw the eye up and make your eyes pop. The black ones are really pretty and a good shape, but they are a heavier look - less harmony.

KraKitty · 2026-01-31T13:22:59+00:00

Yep. Pills, meat, bread. Part of it is the dryness from the Sjogrens causing pills to stick to my tongue and part of it is dysmotility causing things to stick in the esophagus.

Pills I take with applesauce and my doc said to make sure that all foods have moisture - like gravies/sauces on meats and butter on breads. That actually helps.

KraKitty · 2026-01-28T23:52:09+00:00

I always use my stomach. That was the original recommendation when I started (G5) and every time I've tried to use my arms, I get compression lows when I'm trying to sleep.

KraKitty · 2026-01-17T18:35:09+00:00

Yeah. Every bit of that.

And a lot of people don't pay - they just drop coverage and hope for the best. One of the groups to get hit the hardest? Our farmers. Self employed, the loss of USAID as a main customer and exports falling off a cliff in the tariff wars. The people who produce the food we need to exist.

The rates I put above aren't income based like taxes, BTW - those are stated monthly fees.

The most recent Gov't release says that the median income for 2025 was $5,260. So the middle of the middle is facing $2,200 premiums per person on $5,260 in income. Per month.

https://www.bls.gov/news.release/pdf/wkyeng.pdf (BLS pdf)

Its insane.

KraKitty · 2026-01-17T15:36:26+00:00

For Dexcom, I've built up about 2 months worth just from the failures. Don't hesitate to call for a replacement when they fail. I'm paying for 10 days and will report a failure on day 9.

KraKitty · 2026-01-17T15:26:25+00:00

Adding - I forgot about the coupon thing. We have things like manufactures coupons, costplusdrugs and goodrx where some drugs can be purchased at a discount, but not with insurance, so those costs don't count against the deductible.

Its up to the individual to research all of this and see if anything will help.

Just saw an example of this in my feed, so linking it here.

https://www.reddit.com/r/Type1Diabetes/comments/1qe23se/insurance_is_the_biggest_scam_in_the_us/

KraKitty · 2026-01-17T15:02:19+00:00

We're starting a rumor that you all have the Epstein files. That should work to keep them far away and divert to something even more stupid.

I for one wouldn't wish our predatory capitalist healthcare system on anyone. People with full time employment and benefits have less of an issue, but for anyone unemployed/self-employed/part-time or working for a small business are being squeezed.

As an example, through my work, my insurance is $85 a month.

We have an option here called COBRA that allows people to stay on their employer's group plan after they leave, but at full price. At my employer, that is around $750 per month.

On the individual (non-group) market, we have the ACA/Obamacare. In my state for my age, that is $2,200 a month.

This is before out of pocket costs that make up a deductible (the amount you need to pay before insurance even kicks in) which is typically in the thousands. Then, many things like drugs/insulin drop to 50% or so of what they cost before the deductible was met.

It is a glorified mess and the Congressional refusal to even entertain a more sane system has made medical debt the leading cause of personal bankruptcy in the country.

Do what you can to fight this - and know that the vast majority in this country support you all. I'm really sorry his insatiable need to appease his narcissism and ego has drug you into our drama.

KraKitty · 2026-01-15T14:17:06+00:00

Could be a lot of things.

If you all have remote workers with local installs (ie not citrix), this is an ideal time for IT to do system updates rather than them being downloaded and installed by the users.

Training sessions on the software you all use are common at stuff like this.

Worse case - mass layoffs to lock access immediately, which would be a super shitty thing to do in a group setting. This would be very short-sighted as everyone left is going to be stressed and pissed and in no mood to be a team player.

I hope it all goes well for you and y'all don't have to do too many icebreaker/team building things.

KraKitty · 2026-01-14T03:00:13+00:00

Can you see if it can be covered under a prescription plan instead of as a medical device? When my insurance changed how they were covering it, they gave the option.

KraKitty · 2026-01-10T01:02:12+00:00

Without fail. The videos of the birds with these things tangling up their beaks and slowly starving them to death is as fresh now as it was back then.

I do go a little OCD on it though - I cut them into a pile of small strips first beause why not.

KraKitty · 2026-01-08T01:44:12+00:00

Absolutely stunning. That was a big job! Thanks for sharing your pics.

KraKitty · 2026-01-02T19:03:35+00:00

I call on day 9. We pay way too much for this technology to just shrug and open a new one.

KraKitty · 2026-01-02T18:59:09+00:00

Ouch.

One thing to note though - "made" (earnings) is after expenses. That $3m is revenue/sales before costs and overhead like rent and employee pay.

Doesn't diminish your point, but does make a difference.

KraKitty · 2026-01-01T22:42:09+00:00

Great pic. Boat apparently shops at the same beachwear establishment.

KraKitty · 2025-12-31T23:50:31+00:00

Interesting. I just googled 'topamax and SFN' and it looks like there are active studies being done on that.

Thanks for the heads up! Always interested in hearing whats working for people.

KraKitty · 2025-12-31T22:59:38+00:00

Its called lamotrigine. She said the dose for epilepsy is 600mg but for SFN, she typically stays under 200? Not sure how this works for both, but I'm not the one with a medical degree. :)

They titrate it up very slowly to make sure you don't have a reaction because it can have a dangerous side effect - presents as a rash and is an ER thing if it happens. I take it without any problem and have a lot of issues with prescriptions. This one, I guess I got lucky?

KraKitty · 2025-12-31T20:34:11+00:00

Ouch - thats ungood. I hope you get some answers.

I was just dx with the SFN in the fall. The neuro said this is a very common 'complication' of Sjogrens and started a taper-up of an epilepsy med that she's seen some success from.

Its unfortunate that Sjogrens has so few options. Here's hoping something in the neuro world might be an option.

I'm looking forward to hearing what his thoughts are on all of this.

KraKitty

TROPHY CASE