Dean Baker's Blog, page 252

Getting Globalization Wrong at the Washington Post

The Washington Post had a front page story in the Sunday business section headlined, "The Great Unraveling of Globalization," which told readers that the overseas profits of U.S. corporations are not growing in line with their expectations from two decades ago. Among the main complaints is that consumer markets have not developed as expected.

"Those vast new consumer markets in globalized nations have not emerged either. For example, Chinese household consumption accounts for about 34 percent...

Washington Post Uses News Section to Lobby for Deficit Reduction in the United Kingdom

The Washington Post has long been known for its willingness to ignore the distinction between news and editorial pages in pushing the case for deficit reduction in the United States. Today it took its drive for austerity overseas. In an article on public attitudes on the eve of national elections in the United Kingdom it discussed the likelihood that military spending would be cut to "pay down a still-burdensome deficit."

The Post doesn't explain how it has determined that the deficit [it may...

And What Do They Pay for The National Health Service in the United Kingdom?

That's what millions are asking after reading the front page piece in the NYT on the state of the National Health Service in the United Kingdom in the context of upcoming elections there. The piece discusses the widespread public support for the system, but notes some of the issues that have been raised concerning the quality of care in recent years.

It would have been useful to tell readers that the U.K. spends 9.1 percent of its GDP on health care. By comparison, the United States spends 17...

Note on Format Change

I apologize to those disgruntled over Beat the Press's new format. I adhere strongly to the view that website makeovers are everywhere and always for the worse. But CEPR had to change its website because the old one was becoming increasingly dysfunctional at the back end. One of the great things about software innovation is that it forces people to upgrade their software simply to preserve compatibility. That was the main motivation for the change.

Being forced to get a new website, we did tr...

Pinocchio Wars: Senator Sherrod Brown Versus the Washington Post Fact Checker

Glenn Kessler, the Washington Post fact checker, gave four Pinocchios this morning to Ohio Senator Sherrod Brown for mis-attributing a claim on lost jobs from the trade deficit to George W. Bush. Since I may have played a role in the Pinocchio warranting comments, let me try to clear up some possible confusion on the issue.

At the most basic level there are two different ways to view trade based on two different views of the overall economy. The conventional view is that trade affects the all...

Robert Samuelson Says a 12 Percentage Point Increase In Income Taxes Would Impose No Hardship

That's not exactly what Samuelson said, after all a 12 percentage point increase in the income tax would take a lot of money from rich people. Samuelson told readers that increasing the normal retirement age for Social Security by an additional two years between now and 2027 (it is already scheduled to rise to 67) "wouldn’t impose major hardship." Raising the normal retirement age by two years is effectively a 12 percent cut in benefits. (For orientation, the average Social Security benefit i...

The Hamilton Project Discovers Wage Inequality

Those of us who work for progressive think tanks are always happy when one of the better funded centrist outfits replicates our work, since the findings are then more likely to get attention in major news outlets. For this reason, it was great to see that the Robert Rubin funded Hamilton Project had done a short paper analyzing trends in earnings by education level over the last two decades. This piece got written up in the NYT's Upshot section by Neil Irwin.

While the Hamilton Project folks...

How Did the Washington Post Decide Japan's Birth Rate Is "Miserable?"

Did someone in Japan call the Washington Post's news reporting "crappy?" Usually newspapers refrain from name-calling, especially in the news section, but this is the Washington Post, there we find the paper telling us:

"With a rapidly aging society and miserable birth rate, Japan hasn’t been able to replace the people leaving outlying towns and cities as quickly as they’ve departed."

"Miserable" in this context means "low." Given that Japan is a densely populated country, it is not clear why...

Washington Post Tells Readers the Elite Will Lie, Cheat, and Steal to Pass Their Trade Deals

The Washington Post has established itself over many decades as a major mouthpiece of elite opinion. Its editorial pages argue strongly for the interests of the wealthy, with scarcely concealed contempt for people who have to work for a living. (They do support alms for the poor, hence they are okay with programs like food stamps and TANF.) 

This attitude has been shown many times over the years, but perhaps never more clearly than in its editorial on the bailout of General Motors and Ch...

Washington Post Trivia Quiz: Is a $1 Billion Budget Shortfall in Kansas a Bigger Deal Than a $1.8 Billion Gap in Pennsylvania

The paper must have assumed everyone knew the answer to this question since it didn't bother to put these budget numbers in any context, like expressing them as a share of the total budget. These numbers appeared in an article on the fiscal situations of states this year.

Incredibly, the article threw out numbers for budget shortfalls and gave readers no context whatsoever. While the Post undoubtedly has a well-educated readership, it is not likely that many are familiar with the relative siz...