Dean Baker

The amount of misinformation about the economic crisis is truly incredible. It’s comparable to being in the middle of a hurricane and hearing the weather report say that it is bright and sunny. We are in the middle of an economic crisis because Alan Greenspan and Ben Bernanke either could not see an $8 trillion […]

The models that show that restrictions on greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions cost jobs are full employment models. The story in these models is that restrictions on GHG make the economy less efficient, thereby reducing labor productivity. Lower labor productivity causes wages to fall, which means that fewer people are willing to work. Therefore, restrictions on […]

Any article that is trying to honestly discuss China’s contribution to restricting greenhouse gas emissions would point out that China currently emits about one quarter as much per person as the United States. This NYT article flunks the test, failing to convey the most basic information to readers. –Dean Baker

The Washington Post ran another front page editorial in which it complained that “the dollar is down.” Of course getting the dollar down is the only way to reduce the size of the trade deficit. This should be a conscious policy of the Obama administration. It is not obvious why anyone would complain about this […]

David Leonhardt told readers today that President Clinton’s deficit reduction package: “helped make possible the 1990s economic boom.” The basis of this assertion is not clear. The two main components of the boom were an uptick in productivity growth and a stock market bubble that fueled a consumption boom, which drove the economy in the […]

Okay, that may be overly generous, but he is correct to point out that the health care bills before Congress will increase security while doing little to contain costs. Where Brooks misses the mark is that health care was already a huge drain on the economy (ever hear of General Motors or Chrysler?). Some aspects […]

Retail sales normally grow year by year, just like the economy. However last year, as the economy was tumbling into recession, retail sales during the holiday season fell by 3.4 percent, according to the National Federation of Retailers. The NYT tells us that this year is not expected to be as bad, with sales falling […]

Andrew Ross Sorkin seems badly confused about the Fed and bank obligations in his NYT column this morning. When it comes to the Fed, he warns against the idea of making the institution more transparent and accountable to Congress based on warnings from Senator Judd Gregg: “Congress has demonstrated time and again its inability to […]

That is what one can logically conclude from his complaint that 43 percent of federal government expenditures go to Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid, programs that disproportionately benefit the elderly. The reason that a disproportionate share of government spending goes to these programs is that a disproportionate share of tax revenue is dedicated to these […]

The NYT published a column by Edward Niedermayer, the editor of the Web site The Truth About Cars, which claimed that the government was unlikely to recoup much of its investment in General Motors. The piece dismisses the idea that GM stock could ever reach the $66.9 billion level needed to recoup the government’s investment: […]