Category Archives: Business

Economy Is Back on Track

By David Arnett

After falling to an 11-year low during the Biden Administration, new polling shows “Americans’ faith in the economy and direction of the nation is back on track and shooting higher” amid President Donald J. Trump’s relentless America First agenda. The Washington Examiner reports, “the latest McLaughlin & Associates national survey, the percentage of voters who believe the country is on the right track has jumped 10 points since Inauguration Day, to 44%, and those viewing it on the wrong track have dropped 16 points to 49%.”

In fact, the share of Americans who say gas prices are a “major problem” is down by 15% over last year; the same is true for housing costs (down 11%) and grocery prices (down 8%). Meanwhile, small business owners are feeling renewed optimism driven by a sharp rise in approval “across the political spectrum” for President Trump’s economic policies.

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AG Drummond Seeks Action Against Temu

By David Arnett

Attorney General Gentner Drummond, currently campaigning for governor, has issued a request for proposals for outside counsel to investigate and pursue legal action against the Chinese e-commerce company Temu amid concerns of consumer protection violations.

Temu is a popular mobile app and website that offers low-cost goods to consumers. The company is accused of deceiving consumers by unlawfully collecting data and providing that data to the Communist Chinese government as well as engaging in other deceitful practices. Security and privacy concerns and the presence of malware led Apple and Google to suspend the Temu app.

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OK’s $32M Settlement With CVS Caremark

By David Arnett

Oklahoma Attorney General Gentner Drummond announced yesterday a more than $32 million settlement with CVS Caremark over money from Oklahoma’s state employee health plan. 

CVS Caremark is a pharmacy benefit manager (PBM) that manages prescription drug benefits for health plans, including HealthChoice which is Oklahoma’s state employee plan. When drug companies give discounts and rebates for medications, CVS Caremark was supposed to pass that money on to HealthChoice. Instead, the state contends that CVS kept millions of dollars that should have gone to help lower healthcare costs for state employees from January 2020 through December 2024. CVS maintained that it complied with its contractual obligations. 

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The CPA Gap: Not Learning Government

By Judi Willard

Despite the critical role state, local, and federal governments play in managing trillions of taxpayer dollars, most accounting students graduate without ever learning how public finances are actually reported.

While private companies follow accounting rules set by the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB), governments operate under entirely different frameworks—GASB (Governmental Accounting Standards Board) for state and local governments, and FASAB (Federal Accounting Standards Advisory Board) for federal agencies. These rules govern everything from pension reporting to how a “balanced budget” is defined. And yet, in most college and university accounting programs, they’re barely mentioned.

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How Are Your Medical Costs?

By Jane Orient, M.D.

Since the Affordable Care Act (ACA or Obamacare) passed in 2010, how are you doing?

 As the graph below shows, health insurance premiums have grown steadily, and this was not slowed by ACA. Since 2000, the average U.S. family health insurance premium has increased from $6,000 to more than $25,000 in 2024. That’s a 297% increase, more than triple overall inflation. This does not tell the whole story because deductibles and copays have also increased, as have denials of coverage.

 Obviously, mandating insurance and requiring cost-free inclusion of “preventive” services did not lower costs.

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