Dean Baker's Blog, page 435

It's So Cute When People Who Couldn't See an $8 Trillion Housing Bubble Tell Us How Markets Will React to the Ending of the Bush Tax Cuts

The Washington Post has been as aggressive as any Republican in Congress in hyping the dangers of letting the Bush tax cuts expire. It has run numerous front page pieces telling readers of the dire consequences of letting January 1 pass without a deal (e.g. here and here). Today Wonkblog warned of us the real bad news of going off the fiscal cliff!!!!!!!

Just in case you didn't understand the Post's official line on this, the headline of the piece is "the economy (probably) can't survive a sh...

David Brooks Is Worried About Non-Existent Economic Crises

It's so cute to see all the serious people who are so worried about economic crises that do not exist. They are constantly telling us how the "job creators" (a.k.a. rich people) who run businesses are just so nervous and uncertain they don't know what to do. The current concern is that taxes could rise at the end of the year and government spending will fall.

Of course this would be bad news, but would it be a crisis? As many people have pointed out, this is called "deficit reduction," which...

More NAFTA Pushing at the Post: You Can't Find Wage Inequality in a One Wage Model

It seems that WonkBlog is picking up some of the Washington Post's bad habits. The Post was a strong supporter of NAFTA when the trade agreement was being debated, virtually closing its news and opinion pages to critics of the deal. In the almost two decades since NAFTA passed the Post has run numerous pieces touting the benefits of the agreement for both Mexico and the United States.

The praise has been especially off the mark in the case of Mexico. In spite of having the lowest per capita g...

It's Monday and Robert Samuelson Doesn't Like Social Security and Medicare

In case any Washington Post readers were unsure, Robert Samuelson used his column today to tell readers that he doesn't like Social Security and Medicare. The piece begins by telling readers:

"If you doubt there’s an American welfare state, you should read the new study by demographer Nicholas Eberstadt, whose blizzard of numbers demonstrates otherwise. A welfare state transfers income from some people to other people to improve the recipients’ well-being. In 1935, these transfers were less t...

Post in Hyper Drive on Effort to Cut Social Security and Medicare

The Washington Post is throwing all journalistic norms aside in its drive to cut Social Security and Medicare. It continues to hype the budget standoff as an ominous "fiscal cliff" and tells readers on the front page of its web site that it could provide a "magic moment" in which Social Security and Medicare can be cut. The piece begins by telling readers:

"Two years ago this month, the leaders of a presidential commission rolled out a startling plan to dig the nation out of debt. After decad...

The Trade Deficit Did Not Fall Under Volcker, It Soared

Former Federal Reserve Board Chairman Paul Volcker is a hero to the inside Washington crowd for having brought down inflation from its double-digit levels of the late 1970s. Never mind that this drop in the inflation rate occurred in every other country in the world also. We still must praise Volcker.

We also should not be bothered by the fact that his policy pushed the unemployment rate to almost 11 percent. This was necessary pain that those outside the elite just had to endure for the good...

Lying to Push Their Agenda on the Budget: There Was No Bowles-Simpson Commission Report

What is wrong with these people who keep talking about a Bowles-Simpson Commission report? This one is not a debatable point. There was no Bowles-Simpson Commission report. That's a fact, just like the fact that Governor Romney lost the election.

Look it up. The by-laws of the commission say:

"The Commission shall vote on the approval of a final report containing a set of recommendations to achieve the objectives set forth in the Charter no later than December 1, 2010. The issuance of a fina...

Washington Post Invents Flexibility for Stubborn Republicans

The voters might have told the Republicans that they would have to compromise on their position on taxes, but the Washington Post told them that they don't. The paper used a news article to imply that congressional Republicans are showing flexibility when they are just repeating the same position they have been putting forward for years. The article told readers:

"chastened Republican leaders have lined up behind Boehner to offer a compromise on taxes, until now a major stumbling block."

Actu...

Social Security: Yahoo Just Explains It Wrong

Yahoo’s short “Just Explain It” videoon Social Security seriously misrepresented the financial situation of the program. The segment misled viewers on both the magnitude of the demographic changes affecting the programs finances and also the impact of the projected shortfall.

The piece told viewers:

“Back in 1950, there were 7.11 workers per retiree. That number today is 4.5 and in 30 years, economists estimate that number will be 2.6 workers for every retiree.”

The Social Security trustees r...

Do We Have to Threaten Big Bird to Get NPR to Report the Budget Fairly?

The issue arises because Morning Edition decided to lead off its top of the hour news segment by telling listeners of the number of days until we hit the "fiscal cliff." While one could view this as a random fact, like the number of days until the winter solstice or Super Bowl XLVII, but that is presumably not how it was intended. Most likely this number would be viewed as a countdown against an important deadline.

Of course the end of the year is not an important deadline as every budget exp...