Here are the topics for this blog: unsettling health news; the other Republicans; the state of our union; a forgotten anniversary; the new vs old consumer.

Unsafe hospitals. Studies seem to indicate that the third leading cause of death in the US may be preventable medical errors in hospitals and physicians' offices. Makes you wonder.

Being "down ballot."  Kermit sang, "It's not easy being green." Nor will it be any easier being a Republican listed on the ballot below presidential candidate Trump. Americans are not particularly prone to ticket-splitting.

A less than healthy union. Writing in The American Interest, Walter Russell Mead opens with this sentence, "The state of our union can be summed up pretty easily: Democratic policy ideas don’t work, and the Republican Party is melting down." He continues, noting, "[t]he more 'Democratic' an institution is these days, on the whole the less well it is working...Yet against the backdrop of failing Democratic policies and institutions, the collapse of the Republican Party into political and intellectual incoherence is all the more striking." Clearly, the Republic is unsettled. Mead's piece is well worth your time.

That unholy Sykes-Picot treaty. In an op-ed piece, veteran correspondent, David Ignatius, notes that this May 9th marks the 100th anniversary of a treaty which, more than any other, illustrates the folly -- then as now -- of "nation building." Sykes-Picot (aka Asia Minor Agreement) laid the foundations for modern-day Syria, Iraq, Lebanon, Palestine, and other fragile Middle Eastern nations from the Ottoman, French, and British empires. Most Middle Eastern observers thought then the treaty was at best ill advised. Syria, Iraq, and Lebanon have been hotbeds of military action and terrorism ever since. Palestine still does not exist, though Israel does. But that is a whole another story.
    The Kurds, who were never considered in post-WW I foreign policy discussions, have emerged as a significant regional force. A senior Kurdish official recently said, “For 100 years, a system has been in place in Iraq that has now failed. Iraq was never built on the right foundations. It was built to serve the interests of the great powers. A hundred years of failure is enough. We need to look at new options.” He might well have included Syria among those with shaky foundations.

Spending vs. saving. Robert Samuelson, the Washington Post's economics columnist titled his latest column, "The economy's real drag is us." ?There’s an Old Consumer and a New Consumer, divided by the Great Recession....The Old Consumer borrowed eagerly and spent freely. The New Consumer saves soberly and spends prudently....Americans are repaying old debt, avoiding new debt and saving more." He closes on this cautionary note, [t]he public and politicians should take note: This legacy of the Great Recession will endure. It has left a deep psychological scar that won’t soon heal."