Category Archives: Business and economics

Everyday low doctor bills at Walmart

Business and economics, Health care

By Steve Brawner, © 2019 by Steve Brawner Communications, Inc.

Neither lawmakers nor insurance companies apparently can (or will) find a way to control health care costs, so now we’ll see if the company founded by Sam Walton can help.

Walmart on Sept. 13 opened its first Walmart Health clinic in Georgia, offering primary care, mental health, dental, optical and hearing services. More clinics are coming.

The company that promises “everyday low prices” in its stores says the clinics will offer more affordable health services with upfront costs. Located beside a Walmart Supercenter, the Georgia clinic offers services such as adult physicals for $30 and dental exams with X-rays for $25, as reported by the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette. Patients are told roughly what their visit will cost when they make the appointment.

The nation’s largest private-sector employer, which already subsidizes business and technology college degree paths for employees, also will help them earn health care-related degrees and diplomas. Some of those employees eventually will staff those clinics.

Walmart exists to make money, and there’s a lot to be made in health care. Continue reading Everyday low doctor bills at Walmart →

Arkansas, don’t be like Great Britain

Business and economics, State government

By Steve Brawner, © 2019 by Steve Brawner Communications, Inc.

In a democracy, any discussion of “Should we do something?” should also answer “How will we do it?” Otherwise, we start looking like Great Britain does now.

That country didn’t answer both questions regarding “Brexit,” and now it’s a mess.

On June 23, 2016, British voters were asked simply, “Should the United Kingdom remain a member of the European Union or leave the European Union?” Fifty-two percent said “Leave.”

Several factors played into the result. Voters wanted to maintain British sovereignty and identity in a country that never adopted the euro. Many opposed the EU’s open borders and immigration policies. The older the voters were, the more likely they were to support Brexit.

You might say they wanted to make Britain great again. Continue reading Arkansas, don’t be like Great Britain →

With that big hog farm, it was time to fold ‘em

Business and economics, State government

By Steve Brawner, © 2019 by Steve Brawner Communications, Inc.

June 20, 2019

If you’re a red-blooded Arkansan, you know what words follow these: “You’ve got to know when to hold ‘em, know when to …”

In “The Gambler,” it’s “fold ‘em.” In politics and the legal environment, it sometimes is “settle,” as I’m sure Gov. Asa Hutchinson knows, along with the owners of C&H Farms.

Hutchinson and the farm owners realized it was time to walk away before it came time to run. So that’s what both sides did with an agreement to close that big hog farm near the Buffalo National River.

Hutchinson announced June 13 that the state would pay Richard and Phillip Campbell (the “C”) and Jason Henson (the “H”) $6.2 million to close the concentrated animal feeding operation located 6.6 miles from Big Creek, which flows into the Buffalo National River. Of that, at least $5.2 million will come from the taxpayers, with the rest coming from private donations through The Nature Conservancy. Continue reading With that big hog farm, it was time to fold ‘em →

Cold War’s end: No parade, but maybe a museum

Business and economics

By Steve Brawner

© 2019 by Steve Brawner Communications, Inc.

May 28, 2019

One of the United States’ greatest military successes came after it barely fired a shot at its enemy, and now the city of Blytheville has decided somebody ought to mark the occasion.

That success came in the Cold War, the defining conflict of my generation.

For more than 40 years, the United States and the Soviet Union stared across the oceans at each other, missiles at the ready. As a boy, I had nightmares about nuclear war.

We’ll never know how close it came. One example: In 1983, a Soviet computer system mistakenly detected a launch of five U.S. missiles. Lt. Col. Stanislav Petrov’s skepticism (Why would the Americans fire only five missiles?) may have saved the world from accidental nuclear war.

Arkansas had its own near-nuclear accidents. As reported by historian Tom Dillard in the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, the state was home to 18 Titan II missile complexes. One complex near Pangburn burned in 1965 in an accident that killed 53 of the 55 contract maintenance workers inside. The missile remained unaffected. Continue reading Cold War’s end: No parade, but maybe a museum →