Dean Baker's Blog, page 396

Keeping CO2 Emissions from Rising Would Be Costless

Brad Plummer has a useful post showing that with current policy in place we can keep CO2 emissions constant over the next three decades. The piece notes that this would be inadequate to prevent dangerous levels of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere; for that we would need substantial reductions in emissions.

It is worth calling attention to one comment that may mislead readers. At one point the piece tells readers:

"Some of these measures [continuing current policy], such as re-upping the tax...

Keeping CO2 Emmisions from Rising Would Be Costless

Brad Plummer has a useful post showing that with current policy in place we can keep CO2 emissions constant over the next three decades. The piece notes that this would be inadequate to prevent dangerous levels of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, we would need substantial reductions in emissions.

It is worth calling attention to one comment that may mislead readers. At one point the piece tells readers:

"Some of these measures [continuing current policy], such as re-upping the tax credits...

WAPO Complains that Europeans are "Impatient" for Wanting an End to Bad Economic Policy

A front page Washington Post article (print edition) had the headline "in impatient Europe, some see more debt as answer." It would be interesting to know on what basis the Post has determined that Europeans are impatient. Would it, for example, consider Americans impatient because they voted Jimmy Carter out of office when the economy was doing poorly in 1980 or George H.W. Bush in 1992? It is common for people to be upset by economic policies that are causing recessions and high unemploymen...

Scary Uncertainty Over Obamacare Slows the Economy (Right)

In an article about problems with the implementation of Obamacare the NYT tells readers:

"Uncertainty over the law’s future hung over employers and investors throughout 2012. 'It impeded the recovery,' said the economist Mark Zandi."

It's difficult to see what this uncertainty would be and who exactly would be affected. The vast majority of large firms, the ones who employ more than 50 people and would face new obligations under the Affordable Care Act (ACA), already provide workers with heal...

The Government Is Not Perfect at Picking Winners In the Economy

All those people who thought the government puts Warren Buffett to shame in picking winning companies must be embarrassed after reading Charles Lane's column in the Washington Post this morning. Lane told readers what a disaster Fisker Automotove proved to be, an electric car company that received $529 million in low-interest loans from the government in 2009. The company is now at the edge of bankruptcy.

Lane tells us that that the mistake was compounded by the fact that the loan made it eas...

Steve Rattner's Incredibly Low Expectations

It's a bit scary what passes for good news in the economy today. Steve Rattner had a NYT blogpost this morning that began by telling readers:

"On its face, Friday’s announcement that the nation’s gross domestic product expanded at a 2.5 percent annual rate in the first quarter was good news, following as it did an only marginally positive result for the previous three-month period."

Well, positive growth is better than recession, but we have to remember that we are operating at a level of out...

George Will is Outraged Because Amazon Will Be Taxed Like a Mom and Pop Grocery Store

Yes, he is. In his column today he expresses his anger over a bill that would apply the same sales tax to Internet sales that people pay now when they go to their corner store. He scoffs;

"In a burst of the bipartisanship we are told to revere, a coalition of Republican and Democratic senators rose above party differences last week to affirm class solidarity. They moved toward a tax increase of at least $22 billion to benefit the political class at the state and local levels."

Let's see,...

Morgan Stanley Director Erskine Bowles and Alan Simpson Still Want to Cut Social Security and Medicare

The Washington Post gave Erskine Bowles and Alan Simpson another opportunity to push their case for deficit reduction, which includes plans for cutting Social Security and raising the age of eligibility for Medicare. The Post does not mention Mr. Bowles affiliation with Morgan Stanley. This could have something to do with his persistent refusal to ever include a Wall Street speculation tax in his deficit reduction plans.

Many other countries, including the UK have long had such taxes. Much of...

Reinhart and Rogoff #61,346: Stevenson and Wolfers Edition

Betsey Stevenson and Justin Wolfers are offering their assistance as referees in the debate over the Reinhart and Rogoff (R&R) spreadsheet error. They tell us:

"It has been disappointing to watch those on the left seize on the embarrassing Excel errors but ignore this bigger picture."

Of course the real story is that people on the left have seized on the embarrassing Excel error to bring about a public debate on an incredibly important debate from which they had previously been excluded....

Robert Samuelson Tells the Middle Class and Poor that They Should Stop Expecting to Have Decent Lives Because His Rich Friends Want All the Money

That is the best way to describe Robert Samuelson's column in Monday's Washington Post. I could go through the piece in detail and offer point by point rebuttals, but what's the point in killing innocent electrons? We've been here before.

Let's just take the first and most obscene of his inaccuracies. He tells readers that the idea that the non-rich could enjoy decent living standards rest on unrealistic assumptions beginning with this one:

"First, that economists knew enough to moderate the...