$874 Million in Illegitimate, Unrecoverable Obamacare Subsidies in 2015 Alone, Armstrong & Getty Radio

Jack and Joe with a great, 4-minute Obamacare update.

• Tax savings for high earners if Obamacare is repealed (here is Business Insider's take); 
• Taxpayers lost $874 million in illegitimate, unrecoverable subsidies in 2015 alone; 
• 1.9% of Americans actually paid the individual mandate in 2015; and 
• If Trump wanted to stir the pot, he would strip away the 32 extra-legal, administrative exemptions to the individual mandate and see how many folks still want to protect Obamacare.  

 

Study: Multitasking May Damage Brain and Lower IQ

Fascinating read from CNBC: 

Every time you multitask you aren't just harming your performance in the moment; you may very well be damaging an area of your brain that's critical to your future success at work. ... 

IQ drops of 15 points for multitasking men lowered their scores to the average range of an 8-year-old child. ... 

[H]igh multitaskers had less brain density in the anterior cingulate cortex, a region responsible for empathy as well as cognitive and emotional control.... 

Nothing turns people off quite like fiddling with your phone or tablet during a conversation. Multitasking in meetings and other social settings indicates low Self and Social Awareness, two emotional intelligence (EQ) skills that are critical to success at work. TalentSmart has tested more than a million people and found that 90% of top performers have high EQs. If multitasking does indeed damage the anterior cingulate cortex (a key brain region for EQ) as current research suggests, doing so will lower your EQ while it alienates your coworkers.

 

On Armstrong & Getty Discussing Why More Employees are Losing Access To Their Doctors

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How to Become a ‘Superager’ and Retain Mental Clarity Well Into Our Golden Years

From the New York Times:

"[W]ork hard at something. Many labs have observed that these critical brain regions increase in activity when people perform difficult tasks, whether the effort is physical or mental. You can therefore help keep these regions thick and healthy through vigorous exercise and bouts of strenuous mental effort. My father-in-law, for example, swims every day and plays tournament bridge. 

The road to superaging is difficult, though, because these brain regions have another intriguing property: When they increase in activity, you tend to feel pretty bad — tired, stymied, frustrated. Think about the last time you grappled with a math problem or pushed yourself to your physical limits. Hard work makes you feel bad in the moment. The Marine Corps has a motto that embodies this principle: “Pain is weakness leaving the body.” That is, the discomfort of exertion means you’re building muscle and discipline. Superagers are like Marines: They excel at pushing past the temporary unpleasantness of intense effort. Studies suggest that the result is a more youthful brain that helps maintain a sharper memory and a greater ability to pay attention. 

This means that pleasant puzzles like Sudoku are not enough to provide the benefits of superaging. Neither are the popular diversions of various “brain game” websites. You must expend enough effort that you feel some “yuck.” Do it till it hurts, and then a bit more.