Dean Baker's Blog, page 15

Donald Trump’s Tariffs Are Already Spurring Growth

The post Donald Trump’s Tariffs Are Already Spurring Growth appeared first on CEPR.

RFK Jr. Says Big Pharma is Corrupt, but the Media Can’t Talk About the Source of Corruption

The post RFK Jr. Says Big Pharma is Corrupt, but the Media Can’t Talk About the Source of Corruption appeared first on CEPR.

The Starving Hordes on Twitter, Yes the Economy Matters

The post The Starving Hordes on Twitter, Yes the Economy Matters appeared first on CEPR.

Donald Trump is Badly Confused # 67,218: The Story of Supply and Demand

The post Donald Trump is Badly Confused # 67,218: The Story of Supply and Demand appeared first on CEPR.

Donald Trump and the End of U.S. Hegemony

The post Donald Trump and the End of U.S. Hegemony appeared first on CEPR.

Thomas Cueni, Director General of the International Pharma Trade Association, Calls Bill Gates a Moron

Okay, those were not exactly Mr. Cueni’s words, and they weren’t specifically directed at Bill Gates, but that is the gist of an assertion that Cueni made about the international effort to vaccinate the world against the Coronavirus.

In a debate last week, Cueni asserted that at a conference held this month, everyone agreed that the major obstacle to vaccinations in the developing world was not the availability of vaccines, but rather the availability of vials, syringes, and other items needed f...

Hey Folks, January Retail Sales Were Revised Up by 2.3 Percent

I mention this because the implication seems to have been missed by news outlets reporting on the 3.0 percent decline reported for February. The Post told us that the 3.0 percent decline was considerably larger than the 0.5 percent drop expected by economists.

But unless these economists were expecting an upward revision to the January data, their expectation for the February number would have been 0.5 percent lower than the number previously reported for January. As it turned out, the February ...

The Big Biden Move on Health Care and Making Medicare for All Affordable

(This post first appeared on my Patreon page.)

One item in President Biden’s recovery package that deserves more attention is the increased subsidies for people buying health insurance through the exchanges created by the Affordable Care Act (ACA). These subsides will make insurance purchased on the exchanges far more affordable, by capping the cost at 8 percent of income. It also removes the current income cap on subsidies, so that even upper middle-income people can benefit under this proposal...

Profit Shares Fall to the Lowest Level Since 2009

The Federal Reserve Board released an item of good news that might be missed. The Financial Accounts for the fourth quarter showed a decline in profit share of national income to 12.0 percent, the lowest annual share since 2009. It is far too early to know if this shift will be enduring, but it is encouraging in any case. On the plus side, wages have been growing rapidly in recent months, so this shift to wages may continue for the immediate future.

 

Source: Bureau of Economic Analysis, Nation...

An 18th Reason to Be Optimistic About the Economy

In his New York Times column Neil Irwin gave 17 reasons why we should be optimistic about the economy’s near and medium-term prospects. He raises good and important points but I would add one more that he and others have largely overlooked.

More than 20 percent of workers now report that they are working from home at least part-time as a result of the pandemic. While many of these workers may end up returning to their offices when the pandemic is under control, or at least going in more frequent...