Dean Baker's Blog, page 162

When It Comes to Saying Donald Trump Lied, NPR Says It Can't Get Into a Politician's Head, Unlike the Other Times When It Apparently Can

Richard Gonzales, NPR's ombudsman, addressed the question of why NPR does not say that Donald Trump is lying when he says something that is clearly not true. The immediate point of reference was Trump's assertion to an audience at the CIA that the media had invented the feud between Trump and the intelligence agencies, even though Trump had repeatedly made harsh public comments directed at them. 

Gonzales commented:

"On Morning Edition, Kelly [NPR reporter Mary Louise Kelly] explains wh...

Thomas Friedman Thinks the Congressional Budget Office is Overly Pessimistic In Its Deficit Projections

In his column today Thomas Friedman was reasonably arguing for stronger supports for workers who are transitioning between jobs. However, the fundamental premise of his piece, that:

"every worker today will most likely have to transition multiple times to multiple jobs as the pace of change accelerates,"

...directly contradicts the economic assumptions used by the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) and other official forecasters.

While Friedman is asserting that pace of change in the economy...

NYT Discovers that It Is Not Just Video Games and Internet Porn Causing Male Workers to Drop Out of Labor Force

The NYT ran a front page story on the drop in women's labor force participation rates (LFPR) since 2000. The decline in LFPR for women is noteworthy because many economists have sought to blame the decline in LFPR for men on various problems unique to men. The fact that the LFPR for women has declined also suggests that the problem is on the demand side of the labor market, not the pathologies that afflict the men who are dropping out.

The Pro-NAFTA Protectionists Can't Even Imagine Making Our Doctors and Dentists Compete Internationally

Eduardo Porter used his NYT column to discuss how Mexico could put pressure on Donald Trump in a renegotiation of NAFTA. After discussing different pressure points he then turns to the ways in which the deal could be modernized. High on the list was fully opening long-distance trucking, which would put truckers in the United States even more directly into competition with much lower paid Mexican truck drivers. (NAFTA already allows Mexican truck drivers to carry many loads into the United Sta...

NYT Decides to Scare Readers About the Deficit

The NYT decided to scare its readers about the budget deficit with a headline warning "Federal debt projected to grow by nearly $10 trillion over next decade." While the article does put this figure in some context, expressing it as a share of GDP, readers who only look at the headline will undoubtedly be scared by this huge number.

Given the pass commitments of the paper to express large numbers in context, a headline telling readers that the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) projections sho...

NYT Endorses Protectionist TPP in News Article

The NYT did not bother conceal its enthusiasm for the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) in a news article reporting on President Trump's decision to kill the pact. It repeatedly referred to the TPP as a "free trade" pact, an inaccurate term chosen by its proponents to help promote the deal.

In fact, the TPP is largely protectionist, calling for stronger and longer patent and copyright related protections. While the article notes this fact, it doesn't acknowledge that these incredibly costly for...

It's Austerity, Not Globalization, that Is Making Workers in France and Italy Unhappy

Both the Washington Post and New York Times had pieces about declining support for the left in France and the rise of a nationalist right in both Italy and France. Both pieces attributed the rise in support for the right to people losing from globalization, implying that this is some impersonal process that is causing these people to be losers.

In fact, the losers are suffering because of the insistence of the European Union that its members pursue austerity policies. These policies have led...

NYT Says Davos Elite Are Concerned Because Public Doesn't Buy Their Lies Anymore

The NYT reported that the people at the gathering of the super rich at Davos are concerned because the population of major democracies no longer buy the lies they tell to justify upward redistribution of income. It told readers:

"At cocktail parties where the Champagne flows, financiers have expressed bewilderment over the rise of populist groups that are feeding a backlash against globalization. ....

"The world order has been upended. As the United States retreats from the promise of free tra...

Donald Trump Promises that Drill Everywhere Energy Plan Will Increase Wages by 0.04 Percent Over Next Seven Years!

It seems being great again ain't what it used to be. On its first day in office, the Trump administration is pushing an "America First Energy Plan," which it tells us will "increasing wages by more than $30 billion over the next 7 years."

For those who don't happen to know offhand how large $30 billion is relative to projected wages over this period, the Congressional Budget Office tells us that we can expect the cumulative wage bill to be roughly $69,700 billion over the years 2018-2024. Thi...

People are Choosing to Work Part-Time, Why Is that So Hard for Economic Reporters to Understand?

It is really amazing how major news outlets can't seem to find reporters who understand the most basic things about the economy. I guess this is evidence of the skills shortage.

Bloomberg takes the hit today in a piece discussing areas where the economy is likely to make progress in a Trump administration and areas where it is not. In a middle "muddle through" category, we find "Full-Time Work Is Likely to Stay Elusive for Part-Timers." The story is:

"Trump has highlighted the number of part-...