Dean Baker's Blog, page 290

Median Household Income Began to Stagnate in 1980, not 2000

Thomas Edsall has a good discussion of the shift of income from labor to capital in the years since 2000. His piece puts the blame largely on the way the United States has structured global trade to put downward pressure on the wages of ordinary workers.

While Edsall's discussion of the period since 2000 is largely on target (it does miss the impact of macroeconomic fluctuations and the fact that we have been well below full employment for most of this period), it errs in telling readers:

"Un...

It's Best to Use Good Math (or Logic) When Picking on Paul Ryan's Bad Math

Jonathan Chait took a few swipes at Paul Ryan for his budget work and economic forecasts in a piece headlined "Paul Ryan Declares War Against Math." Most of Chait's shots are well-deserved, for example he notes Ryan's claims that the Obama deficits would lead to a surge in inflation and that Obamacare would cause health care costs to soar.

However one of the Chait's shots is definitely in the cheap seats. He tells readers:

"'Reality' [a sarcastic reference to Ryan's world view] is Ryan’s desc...

Total Home Sales Are At or Above Trend

The Washington Post gave us the ostensibly bad news that home sales were down slightly in August. It later uses as a point of reference the number of mortgages issued in 2001. The housing market had already entered its bubble phase in 2001 with house prices running well above trend levels. If we compare total sales (new and existing homes) with sales in the pre-bubble years 1993-1995, they would actually be somewhat higher today, even after adjusting for population growth.

While there may be...

If Children Are Being Crowded Out, It is Being Done by Rich People

There is a well-funded effort (think Fix the Debt and the Peter G. Peterson Foundation) to distract people from the upward redistribution to the rich through claims that the problem is really the elderly living high on Social Security and Medicare. Catherine Rampell contributed to this effort with a column warning the spending on the elderly threatens to crowd out spending on our children. Just about every claim in the column is either seriously misleading or outright wrong.

To begin with we...

Should We Worry About Economic Stagnation Due to Weak Supply?

Robert Samuelson devoted his column to discussing the argument of Northwestern University economist Robert Gordon, who argues that we are destined for a prolonged period of slow growth. Samuelson argues that this could lead to major conflicts over distribution since people will not be able to enjoy rising living standards due to growth.

There are several points worth noting about Gordon's argument. First our ability to predict productivity growth has been virtually zero. There was a huge slow...

NYT Passes Judgment on European Concerns on Sharing Economy

There are many issues raised by Uber, Airbnb, and other major companies that are part of the "sharing economy." For example Uber drivers don't have to pass the same tests, undergo the same background checks, or carry the same insurance as drivers for traditional taxis. Uber cars also don't have to meet rules about being handicap accessible.

The same sorts of issues arise with rooms rented through Airbnb. These rooms don't have to meet the safety and accessibility standards imposed on hotels....

NYT Passes Judgement on European Concerns on Sharing Economy

There are many issues raised by Uber, Airbnb, and other major companies that are part of the "sharing economy." For example Uber drivers don't have to pass the same tests, undergo the same background checks, or carry the same insurance as drivers for traditional taxis. Uber cars also don't have to meet rules about being handicap accessible.

The same sorts of issues arise with rooms rented through Airbnb. These rooms don't have to meet the safety and accessibility standards imposed on hotels....

Calpers Ends Its Wall Street Support Program, Stops Investing in Hedge Funds

Gretchen Morgenson had a good piece on the decision by the California Public Employees Retirement System (Calpers) to stop investing in hedge funds. She pointed out that such investments have been big losers for pension funds since the money transfered to the managers vastly exceeded any investment gains.

Interestingly, just last week the NYT praised to the sky Rhode Island's Treasurer and now Democratic gubernatorial candidate Gina Raimondo for a pension "reform" strategy that put much of th...

The Costs of Protectionism: Health Care Rip-offs

The NYT had a fascinating piece on medical care freelancers: health care professionals of various types who show up at hospitals and pass along huge bills to patients undergoing treatment. According to the article these contractors generally do not make their employment status known to patients at the time, so they would reasonably assume that they are hospital staff who would be covered under normal billing procedures. Patients often first discover that this is not the case when they get bil...

Canada, The Conservatives' Model Country, Has Single Payer and a Housing Bubble

Josh Barro has an interesting article noting how conservatives in the U.S. appear to have a love affair with Canada, based on its tax cuts and promotion of fossil fuel production. Barro points out that a big part of Canada's low-cost government is its single payer, or universal Medicare, system. According to the OECD, Canada spends 10.4 percent of its GDP on health care (mostly from the government) whereas the U.S. spends 16.2 percent of GDP (a bit more than half from the government). The dif...