Dean Baker's Blog, page 443

The Washington Post Gets It Wrong on the Economy, Again

The Washington Post once again reminded readers why so many people are praying for the day that the paper shuts its door. Its lead editorial touted the September jobs report as though this was great cause for celebration.

The piece begins by saying that President Obama asked to be evaluated based on the economy's performance, it then tells us:

"Friday’s employment report gave Mr. Obama a reason to crow. Having hit a high of 10 percent in October 2009, the jobless rate fell in September to 7.8...

Catherine Rampell Explains the Job Numbers Are Not a Conspiracy

Very nicely done.

George Will Definition of "Rationing" Is When the Government Does Not Pay for Something

I'm not kidding. In his column today he complains about the Independent Payment Advisory Board (IPAD) for Medicare that was set up under one of the provisions of the Affordable Care Act. The IPAD will decide on which procedures will be covered under Medicare. If it determines that a procedure is either not effective or not worth the cost, then Medicare will not cover it, unless Congress overturns the decision.

George Will then trumpets this as rationing of health care. Of course under this sy...

George Will Definition of "Rationing" Is When the Government Does Pay for Something

I'm not kidding. In his column today he complains about the Independent Payment Advisory Board (IPAD) for Medicare that was set up under one of the provisions of the Affordable Care Act. The IPAD will decide on which procedures will be covered under Medicare. If it determines that a procedure is either not effective or not worth the cost, then Medicare will not cover it, unless Congress overturns the decision.

George Will then trumpets this as rationing of health care. Of course under this s...

Casey Mulligan and a Trip to the Supply Side

Casey Mulligan takes another shot at explaining the downturn as a decision by millions of people to stay at home and collect government benefits (joining the 47 percent) rather than work, in response to the increased generosity of programs like unemployment insurance and food stamps under the Bush and Obama administration. I don't have time to deal with all the points that Mulligan raises, but it is worth focusing on one implication of his story.

Not everyone was in a position to gain from th...

The NYT's Romance of Start-up Businesses

Politicians and the media just LOVE start-up businesses. We got another example of this relationship in an NYT piece on start-ups hiring fewer workers that told readers:

"But the implications for the American work force are worrisome, and may help explain why economic output is growing much faster than employers are adding jobs."

Actually the economy always grows faster than employers add jobs because of productivity growth. It would be very scary if productivity growth vanished, which would...

Washington Post News Article Praises Romney for Lying About His Tax Plan

The Washington Post ran a front page piece on Governor Romney's debate performance that was headlined, "Romney benefits from rigorous defense of tax plan." The article begins:

"With his forceful denial of charges that he would raise taxes on the middle class, Mitt Romney used Wednesday’s debate to launch an aggressive new effort to regain his footing in the battle over taxes.

In one of the debate’s first exchanges, the Republican presidential nominee directly challenged President Obama’s asse...

Morning Edition Debate Commentary Badly Misinforms Listeners

Morning Edition's fact check of comments in the debate badly misled listeners by implying that choosing between reducing deficits between higher taxes and greater growth through tax cuts are alternative paths to deficit reduction that people can choose from like flavors of ice cream at the ice cream store. They are not.

There is no plausible path through which a tax cut will generate enough growth to even pay for itself, much less produce additional revenue. The best analysis of this issue wa...

The New York Times Is Confused: It Thinks That President Obama and Governor Romney are Philosophers

The NYT is badly confused. While most of us recognize President Obama and Governor Romney as politicians, the NYT somehow came to believe that they are political philosophers. That is the inevitable conclusion that would be drawn from a front page piece headlined:

"a clash of philosophies."

The first paragraph tells readers:

"Somewhere in the wonky blizzard of facts, statistics and studies thrown out on stage here on Wednesday night was a fundamental philosophical choice about the future of A...

Washington Post Fact Check Gets Big Fact Wrong

The Washington Post was quick to do a fact check on the debate claiming that President Obama had misrepresented the budget plan put forward by Morgan Stanley director Erskine Bowles and former Senator Alan Simpson, the co-chairs of the deficit commission. The fact check wrongly describes the plan as the "Simpson-Bowles deficit commission proposal."

In fact there was no proposal from the commission. According the commission's by-laws a plan would have needed the support of 14 of the 18 commiss...