Dean Baker's Blog, page 47

Ruchir Sharma's Swiss Model

The New York Times had a column by "global investor" Ruchir Sharma this weekend in which he touted the Swiss model as being preferable to the Scandinavian model promoted by Bernie Sanders and other progressives. He notes that Switzerland is considerably richer, has a smaller government role in its economy, and still manages to provide health insurance to everyone.

There are a few points worth making about Sharma's piece. First, one of the big factors that contributed to Switzerland's wealth is that it shiel...

Can People Stop Saying Consumers Are Supporting the Economy?

I hate to let the data ruin good lines in news stories, but apart from a few quarters in 2012, the savings rate is at its highest level in the last quarter century.

This means that people are actually consuming a smaller share of their income than normal. That is consistent with a tax cut that gave a lot more money to rich people, who tend to consume a smaller share of their income than low and middle class people.

Mark Zuckerberg is a Rich Jerk

Last week, New York Times columnist Timothy Egan had a piece headlined “Why Doesn’t Mark Zuckerberg Get It?” The piece then goes on to document how Facebook has become a medium for spreading lies and nonsense all over the world, that many ill-informed users have come to believe.

This is what Egan wants Zuckerberg to “get.” While it would be nice if Zuckerberg understood the problems created by Facebook, and took effective measures to address them, the problem with Egan’s piece is that there is no reason t...

Oh No! Interest on the Debt Is Half As Large as the 1990s Peak!

The Washington Post had a piece on newly released data on the federal budget deficit. The piece included the obligatory comments from the always wrong budget "experts" at the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget. It also warned readers:

"U.S. debt is considered one of the safest investments in the world and interest rates remain low, which is why the government has been able to borrow money at cheap rates to finance the large annual deficits. But the costs are adding up. The government spent about $...

Senator Warren’s Answer on Taxes and Medicare for All is Exactly Right

When I first saw Senator Warren refuse to acknowledge that Medicare for All will mean higher taxes, I admired her political skills, but as an economist, I was annoyed at her evasion of an obvious truth. However, on further thought, I realize that she is exactly right and is doing a public service with her simple insistence that costs for most people will go down.

It is true that many people hate taxes and find the idea that they would ever have to pay more for taxes for anything repugnant. But tha...

Capital Goods Orders are Down Again in September

The Commerce Department reported that orders for non-defense capital goods fell 2.8 percent in September after dropping 3.1 percent in August. The September figure is more than 10 percent below the September 2018 level. If we pull out aircrafts, which are highly volatile and being pushed down by Boeing's 737-Max problems, orders were still down by 0.5 percent. Orders for the month are up just 0.2 percent from the year ago level.

This would have been worth some attention (both the NYT and WaPo ran wire service sto...

Trump's Trade Deal with South Korea Hasn't Kept the Deficit from Rising

The Washington Post had an article reviewing Donald Trump's various efforts to secure trade and other agreements with foreign countries. It comments briefly on the trade pact Trump negotiated with South Korea.

While the piece noted that the deal made few major changes in U.S.-Korea trade relations, it would have been useful to report on the impact on the trade deficit with South Korea. In the first eight months of 2018, the U.S. trade deficit in goods with South Korea was $11.7 billion. In the same months of 201...

Celebrating Twenty Years of the Center for Economic and Policy Research

Next week we will be celebrating the 20th anniversary of the founding of the Center for Economic and Policy Research (October 29th to be precise). I’m going to take this opportunity to point out how much economic debate has shifted over the last two decades, and also do a bit of boasting.

When Mark Weisbrot and I started CEPR at the end of 1999, it was the heyday of neoliberalism. Bill Clinton had won reelection in 1996, a...

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How Has AP Determined that Ecuador's Debt and Deficits are Unsustainable?

It made this assertion in two different articles last week, without attributing it to a source. The budget data from the I.M.F. do not seem to support this claim. (The numbers are all percent of GDP.)

While the deficits run in 2015 and 2016 were unsustainable, the deficit came down sharply in the next two years. The deficit run in 2018 and projected for 2019 could be sustained indefinitely. (Ecuador uses the dollar as its currency, so it must be able to borrow the money needed to finance its deficit in financial markets.)

Su...

Trump Declares Victory in China Trade War

(This post originally appeared on my Patreon page.)

Back in the late 1960s, when it was clear that the United States was losing in Vietnam, Vermont Senator George Aiken came up with the plan to declare victory and leave. It seems that Donald Trump has stolen the senator’s playbook. 

While we don’t know much of the details of Trump’s partial deal with China, it seems almost certain that he has not won most of his demands. According to press accounts, China will commit to buy a large amount of U.S. agricultura...