Dean Baker's Blog, page 543

USA Today Is Too Dumb for Words When It Comes to Taxes

Arghh!!!!!!!! Don't you have to know anything to write for a major newspaper these days? USA Today told readers that:

"That raise actually might not be as good as it looks. The extra money is nice, but it could very well bump you into the next tax bracket, possibly leaving you with less money than you had before the raise."

 

No, no and 286,000 times no! The tax system brackets give marginal rates. This means that if the raise bumps you into a higher bracket then you pay more taxes only on ...

What Makes the Post Think That the EPA Ozone Rule Would Have "Enormous" Implications for the Economy?

That is a really strange thing to assert out of the blue. Usually newspapers like to back up such assertions with evidence, but readers would look in vein to find anything in this article to support such an assertion.

In fact, a study by Charles Rivers Associates suggests that the main impact of the regulation would be to hasten the replacement of old polluting power plants. This could help to create jobs in the private sector in the next few years, a period in which all projections show...

Are Businesses Actually Being Held Back By Taxes and Regulation?

Everyone should read this article from the McClatchy News Service. The business owners they talk to don't see taxes and regulation as the problem.

This just shows what I have been saying along, the Republicans are actually taking part in the Outrageous Claims Game Show. They are trying to find the most ridiculous story about a public policy issue that they get taken seriously in the Washington Post, New York Times and other major news outlets.

In keeping with this spirit for the national...

Republicans Call Environmental Regulations "Job Killers," the NYT Doesn't Know What They Think of Environmental Regulations

The NYT told readers that the Republican Party:

"regards environmental regulations as job killers and a brick wall to economic recovery."

Actually, the NYT has no idea how the Republican Party (presumably it means its leaders) views environmental regulations. It is entirely possible that most leaders are familiar with the research that shows that most environmental regulations have had little or no impact on jobs.

Republican leaders may also know that industry groups have a long history of...

Is Phoenix an Example of Good Housing Policy?

Ryan Avent criticizes the building restrictions in California's coastal cities in arguing for the benefit of increased population density in cities. He contrasts the high house prices in cities like San Francisco and San Jose with Phoenix, which has few restrictions on building.

Phoenix may not be an ideal city for such a comparison. It was one of the cities that was most caught up in the bubble. Five years ago there would not have been anywhere as near as large a difference between house...

Recovery In the Housing Market Does Not Mean Higher Prices: Is the Post Still Listening to David Lereah?

During the days when the housing bubble was inflating to ever more dangeorus levels its main source on the housing market was David Lereah, the chief economist at the National Association of Realtors (NAR) and the author of the 2006 best-seller, Why the Real Estate Boom Will Not Bust and How You Can Profit From It. Remarkably, its main source now for the housing market is Lereah's replacement at the NAR, Lawrence Yun.

It seems that the Post still doesn't understand that there was a housing...

Trade Arithmetic for David Brooks

The NYT has been sponsoring a competition between Thomas Friedman and David Brooks to see who can say more silly things about the economy. Brooks has a couple of good entries in today's column. Brooks told readers that:

"There's strong evidence to suggest that the rate of technological innovation has been slowing down."

Actually there is zero evidence to support this assertion. The standard measure of technological innovation is productivity growth. This was close to 3.0 percent annually...

How Many Jobs Does It Take to Keep Pace With the Growth of the Labor Force?

I have been saying that it takes roughly 90,000 jobs a month to keep pace with the underlying growth rate of the labor force. This means that more rapid growth should lead to declines in the unemployment rate while less rapid growth would lead to increases.

Many other analysts have used higher numbers. For example, in her NYT blognote, Catherine Rampell suggested that the number is necessary number for keeping pace with the growth of the labor force is 150,000 jobs a month. People have often ...

Mortgage Servicers Are Still Making It Up

That's what readers of Kate Berry's articles at American Banker know, why aren't readers of the NYT, WAPO, and the WSJ learning this? Apparently the servicers are still inventiing documents and forging signatures just like nothing ever happened.

Creating Jobs: Oh, It's So Complicated!

The Post notes the division among the members of the Fed's Open Market Committee over the best course to reduce unemployment and maintain price stability. It then tells readers,

"The Fed will always have its critics, internal as well as external, and that is as it should be in a democracy. It would be more honest, though, if purveyors of economic solutions — whether in Washington, on Wall Street or in the media — displayed a little more humility and a little less certitude."

It is worth ...