Latest news with #JackForbes
New York Post
24-05-2025
- Health
- New York Post
Republicans aren't coming CLOSE to cutting Medicaid as much as America actually needs
It's a sign of how cock-eyed the Washington debate has gotten that Republicans are nervous about the slight slowdown in Medicaid-spending growth in the 'Big Beautiful Bill.' If anything, they're not cutting Medicaid anywhere near as much as they should. As the nearby chart shows, Medicaid outlays have positively skyrocketed these last 20 years: The feds spent $160 billion in fiscal year 2003; $591 billion in 2023 — over 3½ times as much. State-level spending, meanwhile, rose from $108 billion to $280 billion — still a huge rise, but far less drastic. What's basically gone on? Democrats steadily pushing toward universal health coverage at taxpayer expense, with Republicans sometimes pausing the march. (It's Bernie Sanders' 'Medicare for all' plan, except using the program originally intended to cover the poor, not the one designed for the elderly.) In the process, Medicaid's grown from covering the poor to covering the near-poor and even the not-really-poor-at-all — in the process displacing private insurance more than it's actually expanding the share of the population that's covered. (That displacement has been sped up by the way the ObamaCare law and countless other progressive moves have made the private insurance market ever-more dysfunctional.) Jack Forbes / NY Post Design Also added in: illegal immigants, as well as legal ones who aren't supposed to become public charges. All in a program so poorly designed that the only two major audits done in recent years both suggested that a full quarter of the spending is improper — whether on 'beneficiaries' who don't actually qualify, to 'providers' who don't, or in a truly vast amount of outright, criminal fraud. Dems don't want to discuss any of these ugly details; instead, they fall back on treating any opposition to their drive as 'kicking people off health insurance.' Hence their endless claims that the BBB 'will deprive 13.7 million poor and vulnerable Americans of health insurance.' In fact, the bill's extremely modest reforms (eventually) do things like deny coverage to illegal immigrants, reduce federal subsidies for states to give Medicaid to people above the poverty line, require more frequent eligibility checks and impose a 'work requirement' of just 80 hours a month on able-bodied recipients. What's wrong with insisting that the able-bodied work to receive public charity? Or cracking down on how states like New York and California openly use Medicaid accounting scams to grab extra billions a year from the feds? All too many Republicans flinch from trying to make that case; a few even grandstand by copying Democrats' dishonest arguments. And so, as the Cato Institute's Dominik Lett notes, Medicaid has been the fastest-growing part of the federal budget this past decade because its 'funding scheme actively rewards overspending, resulting in programmatic bloat, wasted taxpayer dollars, and fraud.' It costs the taxpayers more than does national defense. The House-passed 'Big Beautiful Bill' barely begins to change Medicaid's course; as the Senate takes up the measure, cross your fingers that it'll do more to rein in this madness — not less.
New York Post
23-05-2025
- Business
- New York Post
Retailers won't swallow Trump's ‘eat the tariffs' demand for much longer before hiking prices
The retail industry is alerting President Trump that they can't 'eat' his tariffs forever – and price increases are likely to hit in the coming weeks, On The Money has learned. Whether this gets translated into higher official inflation numbers is anyone's guess at this point. But for many items enjoyed by Americans who like cheap goods brought in from abroad – a majority of them from China – these things will soon be getting a lot less cheap. The warning to the president came weeks before his now-famous remarks over Walmart's announced plans to pass through tariff costs to consumers, where in his own understated way, Trump shouted on social media that the discount retailer should 'EAT THE TARIFFS.' 3 Walmart's warning to the president came weeks before his now-famous remarks over the company's announced plans to pass through tariff costs to consumers Jack Forbes/NY Post Design Walmart was the first out of the gate about its need to raise prices. However, Home Depot on Tuesday said it will continue to eat tariffs, though sources in the retail industry doubt that will last forever given the tight margins most retailers operate under. When the price increases begin to spread, that could set up an interesting catfight between the president and a huge chunk of the business community. The president believes Walmart, like many other big US companies, is a highly profitable company and they should all do a solid for the American people as corporate America adjusts to his new trade policy that slaps a 10% levy on every country, plus additional taxes on certain goods – and significantly higher tariffs on unscrupulous trading partners like China. No one is doubting China's intransigence on trade (trade-secret theft, currency manipulation and a lot more), of course. But Trump's 'eat the tariff' demand was a bit much for your humble correspondent, who has covered Trump Inc. for decades and has never seen him eat a cost when it came to his business dealings. Quite the opposite, actually. 3 Home Depot said it will continue to eat tariffs, though sources in the retail industry doubt that will last forever given the tight margins most retailers operate under. REUTERS Plus, the sweep of the Trump trade policy is so dramatic that retailers who source some goods mainly from China (think nearly every baby product) are now facing a certainty of a hit to their bottom line. These are public companies that have a fiduciary responsibility to shareholders, and if they can't pass along costs they will begin layoffs. Walmart earned a significant $15 billion-plus last year. Its ability to provide Middle America with affordable products – from apparel to food – is vital to its profitability. Unlike many retailers, it can spread tariff costs across many products so it can survive and eat tariffs for now. Those retailers that can't – smaller shops with niche products–will be facing a difficult future. By most accounts, the retailers' warnings to the president about how they can't just eat tariffs indefinitely were well received in the sense that Trump didn't chase them out of the Oval, sources said. 3 Team Trump has been busy trying to work out compromises with trading partners, so in a sense he gets what they're saying. Getty Images As readers of the column know, Team Trump has been busy trying to work out compromises with trading partners, so in a sense someone in the White House including Trump himself must get some of what they're saying. My retail industry sources say they expect further exemptions, stuff along the lines of Trump's 2020 China trade pact that exempted baby items imported from there, and certain types of food. There also seems to be a less hard-line stance from the Trump people, including the one-time trade hawk Howard Lutnick, and an air of compromise as the more trade-centrist Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent leads negotiations. One unknown is whether the turmoil surrounding Trump's initial trade scheme is baked into retailer price models, as suggested by the volatility in markets, including the recent spike in bond yields that foreshadow inflationary pressure from the price increases. When all is said and done, we aren't going to zero tariffs with any country, even if Bessent manages to cut deals. That will lead to higher prices. There is a political angle here as well. Trump was elected in part because President Biden seemed clueless to how his overspending stoked inflation, and then when the inflation rate came down, he had no clue that prices remained high and the wage rates for Middle America never caught up. Yes, gas prices are down for lots of reasons in the early days of the Trump presidency, including oil traders pricing in a possible tariff-induced recession on top of inflation hitting certain products. More people out of work could mean a lower CPI. What's unclear is how much the tariffs will hurt when all retailers begin forcing Americans to 'eat' Trump's tariffs in the coming weeks. With the midterms just a year away, you can bet every GOP lawmaker in DC and beyond will be closely watching this diet.
New York Post
22-05-2025
- Lifestyle
- New York Post
These are the best places to live in America — NY's best town and the No. 1 community in the US revealed
Massapequa Park, LI residents are enjoying some positive vibes, especially when it comes to living there. The US News & World Report's new 2025-2026 list of the best places to live in America ranked Massapequa Park at the top of the list for the Empire State, although the Nassau County village is still leagues away from the country's No. 1 spot, which is a plane ride away. The close-knit village on the South Shore of Long Island enjoys a strong public school system, nearby beach access and a convenient commute to New York City for those heading to the office. The list evaluated a total of 850 cities and towns for affordability, job prospects, crime rates and other quality of life indicators — and a public survey gave weight to these criteria to determine the top 250 spots. 9 The incorporated village in Nassau County has a population of about 17,000 residents. Massapequa Park / Facebook 9 Life in the tight-knit community comes with easy beach access and a breezy commute to the city. Aurora East Media – 9 Residents in Massapequa Park enjoy the quintessential suburban Long Island experience. UCG/Universal Images Group via Getty Images While Massapequa Park ranked first in the Empire State, it only ranked 140th on the list of 250 singled-out cities. (New York City, meanwhile, performed far, far worse. The Big Apple ranked 797 out of the 850 metros surveyed.) 'It's great, I'm here 52 years, came from the city in Maspeth, moved here. People are great, town is great, food is great. What can I say, I love it,' Rose Polis, of Massapequa Park, told News 12. New Yorkers are willing to shell out for the quintessential suburban Long Island experience offered by the village. The median Massapequa Park home sells for $746,500, according to That's more than twice the statewide median sale price in 2024, New York City excluded. 9 Massapequa Park is located on the South Shore of Long Island. Jack Forbes / NY Post Design 9 The Nassau County village boasts high quality schools and low crime rates. AP 9 Massapequa's Big Chief Lewis Statue is a tribute to the Native American history on Long Island. AP The reputation of Massapequa Park took a hit in 2023, however, when one of its 17,0000 residents, Rex Heuermann, became the prime suspect in the grisly Gilgo Beach serial killings. Heurmann's arrest rocked the suburban community at the time. Local residents are relishing in the good news — Long Island hardly made an appearance on last year's rankings, in which Buffalo led the New York pack. The mayor of Massapequa Park, Danny Pearl, shared news of the recent US News & World Report distinction on Facebook to largely enthusiastic responses. 'We knew it all along!' wrote one Facebook user. 'I'm so proud to live here,' commented another. 'It's beautiful.' 9 Locals reacted warmly to Massapequa Park's ranking. Massapequa Park / Facebook Others were less enthused. 'Please don't broadcast this,' another user wrote. 'We don't want all the hipsters moving here from the city and getting our property values jacked.' The list's top-most distinction went to Johns Creek, Georgia. 9 Similar to Massapequa Park, the city of Johns Creek, Georgia enjoys easy access to its state's largest metro. City of Johns Creek 9 A real estate agent who grew up in the area called the city 'a little bit of a bubble because it's such a good place to live.' City of Johns Creek The suburban city 25 miles from downtown Atlanta boasts a high quality of life thanks to a strong job market and high desirability scores. Indeed, the years since COVID have seen a number of residents from across the nation head to Atlanta and its surroundings to start new lives. Skylar Topper, an Atlanta real estate agent and Johns Creek native, told US News & World Report that the city is 'very idyllic.' 'Growing up here, we kind of called it like a little bit of a bubble because it's such a good place to live,' Topper said. 'It's always been a pretty desirable area.' Carmel, Indiana, which claims the largest number of roundabouts in the country (150 in total) snagged second place. Not a single metro in the Northeast breached the list's top 10 ranking, which was dominated by cities in Indiana, Texas and North Carolina.
New York Post
05-05-2025
- Business
- New York Post
US tax dollars subsidizing egg manufacturers' insane profits — while they continue to ‘price gouge' due to bird flu
America's egg producers are making record profits while receiving tens of millions of dollars from taxpayers via the USDA for bird-flu related culls, The Post has learned. Cal-Maine, the country's largest egg producer, made $876 million net profit over the last nine months, it announced in April. The figure was five times the $164 million it had made in the same period during their 2024 financial year. The profits are being driven by the continued sky high price of eggs for consumers — currently $4.60 per dozen — pushed up by birds being culled due to avian influenza. 8 Chart showing how Cal-Maine's net income profit has grown tremendously in the last five years. In 2024 the company spent a significant amount buying out competitors, affecting overall profits. Jack Forbes / NY Post Design Cal-Maine – whose brands include Land O' Lakes and Egg-Land's Best – said price increases were 'a direct result of the reduced supply of shell eggs across the industry due to [avian flu] during a period of peak seasonal demand for eggs and egg products,' according to its quarterly report. Publicly traded Cal-Maine, which has approximately 47 million laying hens, had to cull about 4% of its flock amid bird flu outbreaks, which started in 2022. For each of those birds they receive between $15 and $17 per hen from the US Department of Agriculture (USDA). The company temporarily shuttered one of its facilities in Texas last year, slaughtering nearly two million hens and receiving $21m in USDA money. A cull of 1.5m hens at one of its facilities in Chase, Kansas, the year before resulted in a payment of $22m, according to Inside Indiana Business. Taxpayers have shelled out $1.25 billion in bird flu compensation payments since 2020 through to November of last year, according to the Federal Register. Cal-maine isn't the biggest beneficiary of USDA payments to date. Hillandale, one of the top five egg producers in the country with facilities in Ohio and Pennsylvania, received $53 million, according to the Washington Post. Another of the top producers, Versova, which has around 20 million hens at operations in Iowa and Ohio, has been allotted more than $107 million, according to the report. 8 Dead chickens killed as a precaution in a bird flu infected area being loaded onto a truck. AP Those companies areall privately owned and therefore not required to publicly disclose profit figures. Neither does Iowa-based Rembrandt Foods, which received $26 million in USDA payments when it was owned by billionaire Glen Taylor, according to local news reports from the time. It's unclear whether Taylor still owns a stake, according to The Washington Post. Angela Huffman, who is the president and co-founder of Farm Action – a group backed by smaller farmers to take aim at 'corporate monopolies' – accused the egg producers of 'corporate greed' for accepting millions in taxpayer-funded relief payments from the federal government while quietly breaking the bank. 'During [the early months of 2025 when Cal-Maine made $508 million profit], they were blaming high egg prices on losses from avian flu, which prompted USDA Secretary Rollins to commit one billion dollars to the egg industry,' Farm Action president Angela Huffman told The Post. 'There is no reason that the largest egg producer in the nation should be bailed out by our government while simultaneously tripling their profits.' Ironically, the egg companies have been laughing all the way to the bank since the epidemic began. In the first three months of 2021, Cal-Maine made $359 million in sales. Four years later, its revenue has quadrupled — even though they only sold about 20% more eggs, Fortune reports. 8 Cal-Maine, which produces roughly one-fifth of the nation's eggs, lost about 4% of its flock in recent years to bird flu outbreaks. Getty Images Cal-Maine's financial reports show it has been able to more than triple its average price for a dozen eggs, from about $1.30 before the outbreak to as high as $4.06. However, the consumer pays even more – with American shoppers reaching a record peak of $6.23 for a dozen eggs in March, according to the Consumer Price Index. According to Huffman, instead of using the windfall profits they are earning from the record egg prices to rebuild or expand their egg-laying flocks, the largest egg producers are using them to buy up smaller rivals and further consolidate market power. 8 Federal regulations require farmers to kill all birds in a flock if avian flu is discovered. Cal-Maine Foods Although Cal-Maine produces 90% of their own eggs, farms who have a contract to supply eggs to them are paid just $0.27 per dozen, per an investigation by Farm Action. An investigation to alleged price-fixing for eggs has been launched by the Department of Justice. In January, egg prices rose 15.2% — and the USDA predicts egg prices will increase at least another 41% this year, The Post previously reported. In some New York City supermarkets, the price for a dozen regular eggs has hit or surpassed the $10 mark. Stores offering lower prices, including Trader Joe's and Costco, have imposed limits on how many customers can buy. 'If taxpayers are going to subsidize egg producers for flocks lost to bird flu, then the least those companies could do is not price gouge consumers,' a source, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told The Post. 8 Nationwide, the price of eggs hit a record in February, and is expected to rise as much as 40% more this year, according to the USDA. AP 8 The USDA's indemnity program pays a set price per bird killed, with some added compensation for cleaning and disinfecting. Getty Images In a March letter to the Federal Trade Commission and Department of Justice, Farm Action claimed that Cal-Maine Foods has taken advantage of the avian flu crisis to 'raise prices, amass record profits and consolidate market power'. While US egg farms have destroyed some 115 million hens over 24 months to stop the spread of bird flu, the largest suppliers are showing 'a remarkable unwillingness' to invest in expanding their flocks, according to the letter. The group has accused leading egg producers are keeping the supply of new egg-laying hens 'stagnant' in order to prolong their run of record profits. The other companies accused of colluding with Cal-Maine are the four other largest egg producers, each with between 15 and 30 million hens: Rose Acre Farms, Daybreak Foods, Hillandale Farms, and Versova Holdings. 8 Egg company Cal-Maine Foods ell short of the market's revenue expectations in Q1 CY2025, but sales rose 102% year on year to $1.42 billion. Christopher Sadowski 8 In February, the Trump administration announced an additional $1 billion in funding for combatting bird flu. AP Cal-Maine did not respond to The Post's request for comment. The Trump administration has announced new measures to tackle bird flu including ramping up biosecurity measures and increasing the compensation paid out when infected flocks are killed. The US egg-laying flock has yet to return to its pre-epidemic size of around 330 million hens. During the last bird flu outbreak from 2014 to 2015, producers lost and replaced over 35 million hens in less than a year, making a full recovery from the outbreak. This time around, there is no recovery in sight after two years. In 2023, Cal-Maine and three other egg producers were ordered to pay $17.7 million in damages by a federal jury after food suppliers accused the companies of conspiring to limit the egg supply in the US.
