DOW HYPE.

DOW HYPE. Paul Krugman takes a swing at both Wal-Mart's move to shift more of their workforce to part time and the NLRB's new, heinous decision revoking the organizing rights of millions of low-wage "supervisors" in his column today; but his opening graph concerns the Dow and echoes what Ezra said earlier in the week. Writes Krugman:

Should we be cheering over the fact that the Dow Jones Industrial Average has finally set a new record? No. The Dow is doing well largely because American employers are waging a successful war against wages. Economic growth since early 2000, when the Dow reached its previous peak, hasn�t been exceptional. But after-tax corporate profits have more than doubled, because workers� productivity is up, but their wages aren�t -- and because companies have dealt with rising health insurance premiums by denying insurance to ever more workers.

Our own Dean Baker, meanwhile, explained this week why relentless cheerleading for a higher stock market is an overclass trip. (And speaking of overclass bias in the media, see Baker's post today on Krugman's op-ed page neighbor Tom Friedman.)

--Sam Rosenfeld