Dean Baker's Blog, page 19

The Interview Continues

You can get more of my thoughts here.

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An Interview for Those Who Want More of My Wisdom

What Should Progressives Prioritize Under Biden?

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The New York Times Thinks It’s Reasonable that We Have to Beg Billionaires Not to Corrupt Our Elections

That is the takeaway readers of this piece on efforts to reform Section 230 would likely get. Section 230 is the provision of the Communications Decency Act, which protects Internet intermediaries from liability for third party content. While the New York Times or CNN could get sued if they ran an ad or ran a letter or commentary that defamed an individual or corporation, because of Section 230, Facebook would face no risk from carrying the same material. Repealing Section 230 would mean that Fa...

Are Shareholders Allies in the Fight Against Inequality?

A friend sent me a new study showing that the top five executives of major corporations pocketed between 15 and 19 cents of every dollar their companies gained from two recent tax cuts. This paper, Eric Ohrn at Grinnell College, should be a really big deal.

The basic point is one that I, and others, have been making for a long time. CEOs and other top executives rip off the companies they work for. They are not worth the $20 million or more than many of them pocket each year. Again, this is not ...

Environment Versus How Many Jobs?

The Washington Post had an article on concerns among unions about job loss due to various measures from the Biden administration to promote clean energy. The article noted concerns that Biden’s agenda may lead to the loss of good-paying jobs in the fossil fuel sector.

It would have been helpful to point out how many jobs are potentially at stake. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, fossil fuel powered electric plants and the pipeline industry, the two sectors discussed in the piece empl...

The New York Times Has not Heard of China’s (or Russia’s) Vaccines

I guess it is hard to get news at the world’s leading newspapers, but this lengthy podcast on Bill Gates and his efforts to make vaccines available to the developing world never once mentioned the vaccines developed by China or Russia. This is more than a bit incredible because at this point, far more of the Russian and Chinese vaccines are going to developing countries than the vaccines supplied by Western countries through COVAX, the international consortium set up the WHO and supported by the...

Steven Pearlstein’s Parting Shot at Progressives

Washington Post columnist Steven Pearlstein had his final column today, and it is quite explicitly an attack on current progressive economic priorities. I will make three points, but first let me say that I have appreciated Pearlstein’s columns over the years. I have often criticized them, but I have also learned from them. And, I will give Pearlstein credit for talking to a diverse range of voices and not just repeating centrist claptrap, like some other economic commentators.

Okay, so getting ...

To Prevent the Resurgence of the Pandemic, Can We Talk About Open-Source Research?

As the vaccination campaign picks up steam, we have many public health experts warning us about a possible resurgence of the pandemic due to the spread of new vaccine-resistant strains. The logic is that, as more people are protected against the predominant strain for which the vaccines were designed, it will allow room for mutations to spread, for which the current vaccines may not be effective. This can leave us in a whack-a-mole situation, where we have to constantly alter our vaccines and do...

Bartenders and Pension Fund Investment Advisers

If you were worried that you had a drinking problem, you probably would not ask your neighborhood bartender for advice. (Let’s assume the bartender owns the bar, so they pocket the cash from the drinks.) The bartender may be a very nice person, and may actually be your friend, but they obviously have a material interest in keeping you coming back to the bar.

It is the same story for pension funds when it comes to their various pension advisers. The pension funds’ boards (the people who actually ...

Bitcoin and Baseball Cards

I saw this piece last week on the soaring price of baseball cards, and naturally started thinking about Bitcoin. The article begins with a story about how a rare LeBron James trading card (it’s all sports cards, not just baseball cards) would now sell for over $3 million, more than ten times its price in 2016. It then reports on how the prices for rare cards of other famous players have also gone through the roof, with even cards of less great players selling for several million dollars.

The rea...