Dean Baker

The over-valued dollar is causing the United States to run large trade deficits. The huge trade imbalance was one of the main factors that led to the bubble driven growth of the late 90s and this decade. This is why people who know economics everywhere see it as crucial to have the value of the […]

The Washington Post’s lead article this morning reported on the results of a study funded by the health insurance industry. Not surprisingly, the study shows substantial increases in health insurance costs. The study, done by the accounting firm Price Waterhouse Cooper, uses some assumptions that run counter to those of other analysts. For example, it […]

The Post attacks the excessive subsidies for home ownership. This time, they are right. –Dean Baker

Yes, Washington Post columnist Robert Samuelson does sometimes get it right and he is on the mark today in talking about the need to constrain health care cost growth. As the projections cited in his column show, rising health care costs will pose an increasing threat to living standards in the decades ahead. Changing the […]

Given the quality of the economics reporting, parents would be well-advised to prohibit their children from reading the Washington Post so that they don’t get confused on basic arithmetic concepts. The Post doesn’t want more stimulus and is willing to say anything to push its case. The lead editorial tells readers that: “government has managed […]

The Washington Post had a front page story reporting on the fact that most public and private pension funds are now hugely underfunded as a result of the plunge in the stock market. It reports that they had just assumed that their funds maintain the same rate of return as they had over the prior […]

A piece discussing the reduced access to credit for low and moderate income households is headlined: “The Democratization of Credit is Over.” The article is a reasonable discussion of the issues involved although it never mentions the fact that the loss of home equity from the collapse of the housing bubble is a major factor […]

The Washington Post told readers that: “congressional budget analysts said Friday that lawmakers could save as much as $54 billion over the next decade by imposing an array of new limits on medical malpractice lawsuits — 10 times more than previously estimated.” The Los Angeles Times headlined a piece on the same report:”medical malpractice reform […]

The Wall Street Journal reported on the growing interest of many Democrats in Congress in using a financial transactions tax (FTT) to both raise revenue and reduce the amount of speculative trading in financial markets. The article refers to the tax hypothetically as though it is something that does not actually exist in the world. […]

The New York Times is unhappy because it doesn’t seem likely that Europe’s governments will dismantle their welfare state. The problem is that people in Europe like the welfare state and democratically elected governments seem intent on putting the wishes of their electorate over the desire of the New York Times and the experts it […]