Dean Baker's Blog, page 424

Construction Numbers May Not be What They Seem

The Washington Post rightly noted the increase of 30,000 jobs in the construction industry as one of the bright spots in the December jobs report. As the piece points out, construction was one of the largest sources of job loss in the downturn and presumably a substantial portion of the job growth in the recovery will also be construction.

However the link between construction employment and actual construction is not nearly as close as would be expected. Housing starts peaked at just under 2...

Are Current TV's Slots on Cable Distribution Worth $500 Million?

For some reason no one appears to be asking this obvious question in the context of Al Jazeera's purchase of the Current TV station. According to the news reports, Al Jazeera does not intend to keep much, if any, of Current TV's programming. That means it is willing to pay $500 million simply to be carried by the large cable providers. That implies that these providers have extraordinary market power. This should be raising lots of questions at the Federal Communications Commission.

Los Angeles Times Effort to Promote Generational Conflict Flunks Reality Test

At a time where the most obvious conflict over resources has been the enormous upward redistribution to the top 1 percent, the Los Angeles Times is working to promote conflict based on age. A piece on the budget battle was centered around the claim that the Republicans base of support is disproportionately older people who depend on Social Security and Medicare whose interests are pitted against those of younger voters who support the Democrats:

"At its core, the debate over the size of gover...

George Will Is Upset that the Public Prefers to Take Arithmetic Over His Assertions

If George Will's New Year's resolution was to get as many wrong assertions in his columns as possible, he is off to a good start. Today's piece presented readers with an avalanche of inaccuracies before pounding readers with the main point: George Will says we can't afford Social Security and Medicare.

First let's take some choice items from the avalance. Will tells us that America:

"has an energy surplus, the government-produced overhang of housing inventory is shrinking and the average age...

Does "Changes" Mean Something Different at the NYT Than in Normal English?

In an analysis of the fiscal cliff deal David Leonhardt told readers that:

"Having won this round, Democrats still have compromises to offer Republicans in the next one, like changes to Social Security."

Actually Democrats, or at least progressive Democrats, are not concerned about "changes" to Social Security, they would be very happy with an increase in benefits, especially for lower income retirees. Democrats are worried about "cuts" to Social Security. It is amazing that the NYT refuses t...

Washington Post Maintains Campaign on the Deficit

The Washington Post is continuing its drumbeat for deficit reduction devoting an entire article to the views of the business lobby without ever presenting the possibility that their claims may not be accurate. In fact the piece explicitly endorsed the business perspective wrongly warning readers in the first sentence that the deficit deal "won’t unlock investment."

This assertion can easily be shown to be wrong since fans of Commerce Department data know that investment is not "locked." In fa...

The Agenda is CUTS in Social Security and Medicare, Not "Changes"

What the hell is wrong with the NYT, are they working for the Campaign to Fix the Debt? The plan for Social Security and Medicare is for cuts, as in reduce spending, as in pay out fewer dollars, not random "changes" that could lead to either more or less spending. How does the term "changes" appear in this paragraph:

"That opening bid [in further budget negotiations] should restart talks with Congress on an overarching agreement that would lock in deficit reduction through additional revenue,...

Washington Post Continues "Campaign to Tame the Debt"

Those who hoped that one of the new year's resolutions at the Post would be more honest budget reporting would be disappointed by today's paper. While this budget piece starts off well with a headline about taming the threat from the debt ceiling and high unemployment, the expression "tame the debt" appears twice on the second page. While it does note that the projected rise in health care costs is a major cause of the projected deficits, it does not note that it is really the only cause. It...

Robert Samuelson Is Very Upset That President Obama Didn't Push for Cuts to Social Security and Medicare

Yes, it is so frustrating that President Obama keeps missing the opportunity to whack the elderly. Of course fans of arithmetic know that the story of projected long-term budget deficits is the broken U.S. health care system. If we paid the same amount per person for our care as people in other wealthy countries we would be looking at long-term surpluses, not deficits. And, if we can't fix our health care system because groups like the pharmaceutical industry and the doctors are too powerful,...

Since When is Chief Justice Roberts an Expert on the Budget and the Economy?

In his year-end report Chief Justice John Roberts bizarrely complained about the "fiscal cliff" and the national debt, wrongly asserting that:

"“No one seriously doubts that the country’s fiscal ledger has gone awry."

Of course everyone familiar with budget data knows that the reason that deficit exploded was the economic downturn caused by the collapse of the housing bubble. It would have been appropriate for the NYT to present the views of an economic expert who could have pointed out that...