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Familiar but more dangerous

The yield on the 30-year Treasury bond has climbed back to where it stood in 2007, north of 5%, and it pushed a little higher again this week after the Federal Reserve left its own rates alone. On its face, that sounds almost reassuring, a return to some pre-crisis normal. It is nothing of the sort. The same number today carries a very different, and far heavier, meaning than it did 19 years ago. In 2007, the federal debt held by the public was roughly nine trillion dollars. Today it is about four times that. A yield is simply the price of borrowing, and paying the 2007 price on four ...

Capitalism allows people to prosper

I’ve failed! I make the case for free markets ... young people elect socialists! What are they thinking? Do they even think? Do they pay any attention to history? Or economics? Socialism always fails. Only markets create environments that let people prosper. “Getting the right environment — this country’s done it better than anyone else,” says Steve Forbes in our full interview. “Give people a chance to be creative, experience liberty, and humanity moves forward.” His magazine has made that point for years. “You and I are failures,” I tell him. “We’ve ...

State’s health care system needs triage

The cost of staying healthy is climbing. The cost of getting sick is even worse. Prescription drug costs are up. So is the amount of money people spend in urgent care — and that’s affordable compared with an emergency room visit. Testing, diagnostics, office visits, the little extras you don’t think about until the bill shows up in the mail. They all add up. It’s not surprising. Everything is more expensive these days. And people are more and more concerned. According to the Peterson-KFF Health System Tracker, healthcare costs are making people worry a lot, more than food, ...

Horoscope: Monday, August 3

Life will be full of allies who appear exactly when needed. Aries (March 21-April 19) You hesitate before pressing send. You almost put the phone down instead of making the call. You stand in the doorway for a second longer than necessary. Then you do the thing anyway, and the day changes from there. Taurus (April 20-May 20) Some responsibilities feel heavier than lead because they are new and you’re still learning or because you’ve carried them too long. Either way, you rise to the occasion. You’re on a streak now and don’t intend to break it today. Gemini (May 21-June 21) ...

Hospitalized due to hypercalcemia

Dear Dr. Roach: A few years ago, at the age of 65, I was hospitalized and in critical condition with a calcium score of 14 mg/dL. After many tests, the diagnosis was hypercalcemia. After a 10-day hospital stay, I was discharged, and every test in the book was done to find the cause. All tests came back negative as to the cause, and still to this day, it isn’t known what could have caused this. Any ideas? — G.V. Answer: “Hypercalcemia” just means a high calcium level, and there are many causes — some of which are quite serious, including several cancers. A level of 14 mg/dL is ...

Having two cultures is gift and challenge

Dear Annie: My mother is German, and my father is American. Growing up, I was raised with traditions from both cultures, but I have never felt fully part of either one. Last Christmas, my mother made a traditional German dinner and invited several relatives. I tried to join the conversation, but my German is not fluent, and everyone kept switching to English for my sake. They were being kind, but I felt embarrassed and strangely separate from my own family. A few weeks later, I brought homemade German cookies to an American friend’s party. Everyone loved them, but they treated the ...