Stuff 2/9/2026

"According to the BLS, the cost of health insurance is down 32% since 2022."

Always an adventure calling the IRS

Me: "Hi, I'm calling about penalty relief for my client. He's disabled and --"

Agent: "What's the account number?"

Me: "He lost his job. Couldn't afford to file. He has severe anxiety and --"

Agent: "I see. The penalty is $847. Next?"

Me: "His anxiety is documented. He's been struggling for years. He literally couldn't handle opening the mail from you guys."

Agent: "Understood. The penalty stands."

Me: "So there's nothing we can do? No hardship exception? No compassion?"

Agent: "Not without something to base it on, sir."

Me: *long pause*

Me: "I mean - unless I..."

Agent: "You could...."

Me: "Could what?"

Agent: "Well. You'd have to say it."

Me: "Say..."

Agent: "I can't say them for you."

Me: "First time penalty abatement."

Agent: "Excellent. Your client is eligible.  I'm releasing the penalty now. We're all set."

Me: "Wait. That's it? Just like that?"

Agent: "Yes sir. The penalty is gone."

Me: "It's automatic?"

Agent: "Exactly."

Me: "So why all the drama? Why couldn't you just tell me?"

Agent: "Because most people don't understand how serious a decision it is to say THE words."

Me: "It's that serious? Why?"

Agent: "First time penalty abatement. You can only invoke it once per client. Ever."

Me: "...once?"

Agent: "That's right. Once... And then it resets again in three years."

Me: "Wait, it resets? So we can do this again in a few years?"

Agent: "Is there anything else I can help you with?"

"A downstream effect of college being so unaffordable is that private equity has bought up youth sports and turned it into a college scholarship hunger games that is ruining communities and putting parents in debt"

"There are many generations of intellectuals (in media and academia) who have lived off and fully trusted curated and credentialed information sources, always with the presumption that it is highest quality and the most reliable source of truth. That presumption is now collapsed."

"14.33% OF EVERY HOME HEALTH & PERSONAL CARE AIDE IN THE ENTIRE UNITED STATES IS IN NEW YORK

One state. One-seventh of the nation’s aides.

60 out of every 1000 jobs in New York is a home healthcare job. 6% of all employment!

Something very lucrative is happening inside a taxpayer-funded system with almost no scrutiny.

*NY has 171 aides per 1,000 residents aged 65+ - the highest rate in the US and 153% higher than the national average.

*Home health aides are now the largest single occupation in NY State, outnumbering retail salespeople 2.7-to-1.

*NY's one-year increase of 57,000 aides (2023-2024) accounted for almost one-fifth of nationwide growth

*Home health jobs represented 38% of all job growth in NY."

*This workforce is "predominantly financed by Medicaid"