A Threat to the U.S. Budget Has Receded, and No One Is Sure Why

They don’t mention falling life expectancies. If people are dying before they use as much care as expected, small wonder costs would rise less.

TLDR: It's Medicare costs. It's plateauing rather than rising.

NYtimes links are just an advertisement for a paywall.

Which wouldn’t be so bad if they didn’t also use dark patterns to prevent cancellation.

It's a fine line sure, but between the archive sites and an honest subscription being $5 a month the "i hate paying" is overwrought. My local newspaper? Sure, $15/month is too much to know which municipality Comcast is currently shitting on when Comcast is literally hanging the unsolicited info on my door handle.

By-the-by your moralizing is also out of date (unsurprisingly since you cheap out at less than $5/month) you literally just hit "manage my account" -> "cancel account" -> "cancel online" and Bob's your uncle.

I am a subscriber to the NYT, but I can confirm it is not so easy to cancel. I can do as you suggest, but am directed to a page asking me to call a number or chat w/ an agent. Apparently some "eligible" accounts can cancel online, but most (including me) cannot.

It’s easier to cancel if you subscribe through the app.