Dean Baker

The NYT has a column this morning that makes the true point that the cheapest way to reduce greenhouse gas emissions is to pay developing countries not to pollute. The problem is that basic argument is not right and the proposed solution is inadequate. The problem with the basic argument is that China’s economy is […]

Much of the discussion of the Alternative Minimum Tax (AMT) is unnecessarily confusing. It is often reported that is expensive to “fix” the AMT. The real problem is that baseline budget projections assume tax revenues that no one expects will ever be collected. The basic story on the AMT is that it is a catchall […]

Representative Barney Frank has proposed a law that would require corporations to have non-binding polls of their shareholders on CEO compensation packages. According to Marketplace Radio, the opponents of this measure claim that shareholders have diverse interests and aren’t in a position to properly assess CEO compensation. It would be helpful if the media teased […]

BLS released the revised data for the 4th quarter and incorporated the benchmark revisions to employment from the establishment survey. The net result is that productivity growth has averaged just 1.5 percent annually over the last two and a half years. At the least, this is a very serious cyclical slowdown, if it does not […]

The Washington Post has an article discussing plans for “wage Insurance.” This is a set of proposals which would provide workers who lose their job and take a new job at lower pay a wage subsidy for a number of years (usually 2-4 years) Many proponents of the Clinton-Bush trade agenda have argued that wage […]

A segment on Marketplace radio this morning reported that the European Union (EU) has the same standard of living that the United States had 25 years ago. The piece was generous enough to note that much of the gap is due to the fact that the EU just admitted 10 countries from Eastern Europe that […]

Microsoft apparently is frightened by the free market. (With their software, who would blame them.) According to the Financial Times the company plans a major crusade against Google over its “cavalier” approach to copyrights. This is an interesting story. Regular BTP know that I consider copyright a very expensive form of protectionism which is an […]

The NYT had an interesting piece this morning about possible plans by China’s central bank to diversify its massive holdings out of U.S. treasury bonds in order to get a better rate of return. At one point it tells readers that developing countries have built up huge reserves in order to keep down the value […]

The NYT uses the term “free trade” three times in an article about President Bush’s tour of Latin America. Do they pay reporters by the word? Once again, “trade” is more accurate and saves space, trees, and energy. Doesn’t the NYT know about global warming? –Dean Baker

The NYT reports on the problems facing New Century Financial and some of the other financial firms that specialized in issuing subprime morgages. Those who were concerned about the prospects for the dealers of mortgages that seem likely to go bad, and leave homeowners out on the street, will be happy to know that they […]