Dean Baker's Blog, page 532

Does the Post Get Paid to Push Trade Agreements?

One would hope so, since its reporting on the topic is so embarrassing. The paper told readers:

"There have been some compromises on jobs measures this year, as both parties have sought small wins. On Wednesday, Congress approved new trade agreements with Colombia, Panama and South Korea, lowering barriers to American exports."

While politicians from both parties, including President Obama, have called these trade pacts job bills, it would be very difficult to find any economist anywhere who ...

Post Pushes Government Versus Market Fairy Tale, Again

The Washington Post likes to tell readers that politics is not really about interest groups fighting to use the government to advance their ends, but rather reflects a difference in philosophy. It did so again today, telling readers that we can't get a jobs plan because:

"each side's philosophy holds that the other's is essentially bunk."

The piece continues:

"For the GOP, the big idea is that government is the main problem.

Republicans have proposed to stop new environmental and financial...

Martin Feldstein Strikes Out Again: Big Time

Harvard economics professor Martin Feldstein, who made himself famous by predicting in 1993 that Clinton tax increases would not raise any revenue, strikes out big time in his proposal for the housing market in today's NYT. He tells readers:

1) House prices are continuing to fall because of the wave of foreclosures;

2) That consumers are not spending because they are losing housing wealth;

3) That a major reason that unemployment is high is that underwater homeowners can't move to place with ...

WOW! Fracking Added 0.1 Percent to Employment in PA

That's what NPR told listeners this morning. Although they didn't bother to put the 6,400 new jobs in any context, just reporting that fracking was leading to an employment boom. This piece is a joke, it is the sort of thing that you would expect the industry to run as an ad.

NYT Ignores Division Between Bankers and Democracy on Fed

The NYT ran a piece on the divisions on the Fed over the future course of monetary policy with some members strongly supported more aggressive measures to boost the economy while others expressed concern about inflation. The piece noted that this division was in evidence in the last two votes by the Fed's Open Market Committee, however it failed to point out the fact that it was closely tied to who appointed the members.

All five of the Federal Reserve Board governors, who are appointed by...

Covering Up Protectionism

The NYT went overboard in covering up the protectionism in the trade pacts approved by Congress yesterday. All three deals substantially increase protectionism in the form of patent and copyright protection. The former will likely increase the price of drugs in the countries partnering with the United States. The distortions created by these protections will reduce real wages and lower output.

For this reason, it is wrong to call these pacts "free trade" agreements, as the NYT did four times ...

Can't the Post Get Democratic Officials to Speak on the Record?

A Post article on the failure of the Senate to approve President Obama's job bill included quotes or cites from "a senior White House official" and "a senior Senate Democratic aide." It is difficult to see any reason that the statements in the piece should have been printed without attribution. If the sources were not willing to go on record, then their comments or insights should not have been presented to readers.

Imports Cost Jobs: Tell Marketplace Radio

Marketplace radio did a short segment this morning in which it cited estimates of job gains associated with increased exports from the Korean trade pact. Jobs are generated by net exports, which is equal to exports minus imports. While the trade deal will surely increase exports to Korea, it will also increase imports from Korea. If past agreements are any precedent, the increase in imports will exceed the increase in exports meaning that in the short-term the agreement would be a job loser. ...

The NYT Should Have Corrected Perry: The Government Did Cut Spending Under Clinton

During the Republican debate last night, Texas Governor Rick Perry said that he opposed budget compromises taht involved both tax increases and spending cuts because the people, "never see a cut in spending." Actually, President Clinton had large cuts in both domestic and military spending. If the public did not see it then it is the result of poor reporting and the efforts of politicians to conceal these cuts. This should have been noted in this article.

Newt Gingrich Wants to Force Taxpayers to Pay for Useless Medical Procedures

The NYT had a short piece commenting on and correcting some of the statements made by the Republican presidential nominees in last night's debate. One of the items was a complaint by Newt Gingrich that a government task force had recommended that Medicare and private insurers stop paying for routine prostate cancer tests, where there is no reason to believe that a patient has cancer. The piece notes that, contrary to Gingrich's claims, the task force was comprised of medical professionals...