Dean Baker

Listening to NPR and reading the business press commenting on yesterday’s Wall Street selloff, I repeatedly see the phrase “look to the fundamentals.” This is good advice, but I can’t imagine which fundamentals these folks are looking at, since the fundamentals seem to reassure them. When I look at the fundamentals, I see front and […]

NYT columnist David Leonhardt notes that the manufacturing sector has slid into a recession and raises the possibility that the rest of the economy might follow suit. To get insight on this topic, he talks to several people who were caught by surprise with the new signs of weakness. It’s always good to talk to […]

The Times ran an article in today’s paper reporting that governors want additional funding for the State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) in order to meet their coverage targets. According to the article, CBO estimates that it would take another $13.4 billion over the years 2008-2013. I’m sure that this number is very informative to […]

Apparently, former Federal Reserve Board Chairman Alan Greenspan has gone to the other side of the world to issue his first warnings about a potential recession later this year. In a speech in Hong Kong, he warned that the recovery is getting old and that weakening profit margins could be the first sign of an […]

According to articles in both the Wall Street Journal and the Financial Times, the Fed may no longer view the non-accelerating inflation rate of unemployment (NAIRU) as a useful tool for guiding monetary policy. The problem seems to be that they don’t know where it is and what it means. This is certainly good news […]

My guess is that they do. Which makes me wonder why market commentators don’t seem familiar with the concept. The immediate target of my wrath is Allan Sloan, who was on Market Place radio this morning celebrating the fact that the Wilshire 5000 index (the most broadly based index for publicly traded stocks) had crossed […]

That’s right folks, the world’s richest man stages a guest appearance on the Washington Post’s opinion pages, a.k.a. “the coward’s corner” for the Post’s refusal to print dissenting opinions. I mention the column to call attention to one bigtime fallacy that Mr. Gates promulgates in this piece and also to his assurances that highly educated […]

The NYT reported on Friday that the Bush administration’s working group on capital market regulation decided that there was no reason to tighten rules for financial disclosure for hedge funds. It might have been useful if they talked to some of the economists/analysts who think that there is some danger to the financial system from […]

The Washington Post does it yet again, an article on Venezuela’s influence in Latin America refers to the Bush administration’s efforts to have a “free trade” agreement with the region. Of course one of the main components of such an agreement would be rules strengthening copyright and patent protection. This is increased protection, not free […]

According to the NYT, President Bush’s health care plan would “provide tax breaks for low- and moderate-income workers to buy insurance.” Put this line in the big HUH? category. President Bush’s plan gives people who buy their own insurance the option to deduct the cost from their taxable income. This provides the biggest tax breaks […]