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Dean Baker

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NYT Goes Off the Deep End On Budget Deficits

Dean BakerApr 11, 2010

The NYT notes that interest rates have recently risen and are generally predicted to continue to rise. It then told readers: "That, economists say, is the inevitable outcome of the nation’s ballooning debt and the renewed prospect of inflation as the economy recovers from the depths of the recent recession."

Financial Crisis Commission Too Dumb to Recognize Housing Bubble Even Now!

Dean BakerApr 10, 2010

This would have been a better headline for the Washington Post article on the testimony before the crisis commission of Fannie's former chief executive as well its top regulator. The discussion before the commission was apparently whether Fannie and Freddie were motivated by profit when they moved into Alt-A mortgages in 2005 and 2006 or whether they were trying to fulfill their mission of increasing homeownership.

NPR Tells Listeners That Financial Regulation Is "Complicated"

Dean BakerApr 09, 2010

We need reporters to do this? In the course of the report NPR assured listeners that there was nothing that could be done about AIG's explosive issuance of credit default swaps (CDS) because it was an insurance company that operates in hundreds of countries. And furthermore, the federal government doesn't even regulate insurance, states do.

Another Front Page Editorial from the Washington Post

Dean BakerApr 09, 2010

The Washington Post (a.k.a. Fox on 15th) feels so strongly that we should reduce the budget deficit that they ran yet another front page editorial on the topic. The piece told readers in the second paragraph:

"This mounting government debt poses a painful choice for developed countries such as Britain, Japan and the United States: either a deep reordering of public expectations about everything from the retirement age to tax rates, or slower growth as record levels of borrowing crimp economic activity."

Social Security, Like Peter Peterson, Is Draining Resources From the Federal Budget

Dean BakerApr 08, 2010

The Washington Post (a.k.a. Fox on 15th Street) told readers that: "Social Security is already draining resources from the broader federal budget, as spending on benefits has risen above this year's Social Security tax collections."

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