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Dean Baker

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Sallie Mae Complains That Direct Government Loans Will Increase Efficiency

Dean BakerMar 24, 2010

That is the implication of its complaint that getting private financial companies out of the government insured student loan business will cause it to shed 2,500 jobs. Since the government is not hiring new employees to deal with the extra business, the implication is that these people were unnecessary paper pushers. This move by the government is freeing up resources to be used more efficiently elsewhere.

--Dean Baker

NPR: "Republican Leader Senator Judd Gregg Has No Understanding of Health Care Bill"

Dean BakerMar 23, 2010

That should have been the lead to an NPR piece following up a Morning Edition interview with New Hampshire Senator Judd Gregg. Senator Gregg, who is often held up as a thoughtful fiscal conservative, concluded his interview by asserting that the health care bill approved by Congress would increase the size of government from 20 percent to 25 percent of GDP.

The NYT Features the Views of the Mysterious "Many" Who Don't Understand Social Security's Finances

Dean BakerMar 23, 2010

Serious newspapers don't pull down ghosts from the sky to present their views to readers. However, in an article discussing the implications of the health care plan, the NYT told readers:"many have come to believe that the system [Social Security] must change or go broke, the battle Mr. Bush fought and lost in 2005."

The NYT Does Not Like Social Security

Dean BakerMar 23, 2010

That is what can be concluded from its decision to call the Treasury bonds held by the Social Security trust fund "IOUs."
This is not the normal term applied to government bonds in the New York Times or anywhere else. This is a pejorative term that has the effect of undermining the credibility of the trust fund. That is the sort of comment that is usually reserved for its opinion pages.

Robert Samuelson's New Economic History

Dean BakerMar 22, 2010

While rightly blaming Greenspan for the economic downturn, Robert Samuelson gets a few things wrong in his Post column. First, he attributes the revitalization of the U.S. economy to the end of the double-digit inflation of the 70s. Actually, most of the drop in inflation had been completed by the early 80s. However, there was no uptick in productivity growth from the inflation-wracked 70s until the mid-90s. It is also worth noting that the whole world saw a sharp drop in inflation over this period with no noticeable uptick in productivity growth in the vast majority of countries.

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