Dean Baker

The Washington Post editors, along with most of its columnists, have long advocated cutting and/or privatizing Social Security. Unfortunately, this position infects their news reporting as well, as illustrated with a front page story discussiong the alternative minimum tax. The article lists a set of “ticking time bombs set to explode soon after the 2008 […]

The New York Times continues its crusade to cut and/or privatize Social Security by again referring to efforts to restore the long-term solvency of the program. Since the program already has long-term solvency (through the year 2046, according to the Congressional Budget Office), this is a phony problem. Of course it’s fine that people want […]

You’ve heard it here before, but those who want to hear my rant again can find it at Lame Duck Hunt. –Dean Baker

I have been told by people who know such things that the Dems are looking at ways to allow Medicare to negotiate prices with the drug industry, without offering its own plan, that actually would be meaningful. For example, it could negotiate a set of prices that would apply to all the insurance plans included […]

One of the items on the Democrats’ “100 hours” agenda is reforming the Medicare prescription drug bill. The bill passed by the Republican Congress prohibited Medicare from offering its own plan. This denied seniors the benefits of Medicare’s lower administrative costs (@ $5 billion annually, or $200 per enrollee, according to CBO) and it means […]

In a short piece on the Democrats’ top agenda items, one of their reporters discussed their plan to raise the minimum wage. In noting the objections of small businesses, he said that they are worried that a higher minimum wage would raise costs and force them to lay off workers. Well, maybe they are concerned […]

It just keeps getting worse. The NYT’s “Economic Scene” is giving advice on investment based on the assumption that income tax rates may increase by 80 percent (that’s percent, not percentage points) in the future. What is the basis for this projection? The basis is deficit projections that assume that per capita health care costs […]

The NYT told readers today that reducing the alternative minimum tax (AMT) would “involve a loss of hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue.” Hmmm, where could we find that money? Actually, they meant hundreds of billions — that’s what the bill would be over a ten year budget horizon. Depending on the exact fix, […]

New York Times economic columnist David Leonhardt seems to do a Jekyl and Hyde routine, alternating insightful analysis with painful renditions of the conventional wisdom. Mr. Hyde is out in all his glory today. First, he talks about the solution to the Social Security crisis (while correctly noting that Medicare poses a much bigger problem). […]

We’ve all heard about the problem posed by “takings,” when the government passes regulations that prevent property owners from developing their land. Well, the NYT has a piece about efforts by Maine residents to prevent a property owner from doing what she wants with her land, but it never discusses it in the context of […]