Dean Baker

Those of you who remember Paul Krugman’s often harsh criticisms of Obama during the election campaign might be surprised to read Howard Kurtz’s media column which puts him first among the disappointed former Obama cheerleaders. Krugman has certainly been critical of Obama’s performance in office, but this is only news for Kurtz, not people familiar […]

Somehow, this line passed without ridicule at the WSJ. Maybe Mr. Bernanke missed it, but his independent Fed gave us the largest financial and economic crisis since the Great Depression. Does anyone really think that things would have been worse if the Fed had been more accountable? Last fall, Mr. Bernanke told Congress that the […]

In his column today, Robert Samuelson held out the hope that the prospect of large deficits might: “trigger a flight away from the dollar on stock, bond and foreign exchange markets.” Of course a lower dollar is the only plausible mechanism for bringing the trade deficit down to a manageable level. In fact, the large […]

This is very fashionable to say in all the news coverage on Japan (a “worrying rise of the world’s oldest population,”according to the Post), but it’s not clear what it means. The concern is that Japan will not have a large enough workforce to support its dependent elderly population. There is no evidence of that […]

The NYT had a front page piece telling readers that the government is profiting on last fall’s bailout of the banks. The tally to date presented in this article is a bit misleading. The banks that borrowed money were in very different conditions. Some were hopelessly insolvent, while other were fundamentally sound. The ones that […]

One often repeated comment in the health care debate is that doctors/hospitals can’t get by on Medicare’s compensation rates. They argue, as reported in the Post today, that if a large public plan offered Medicare-type reimbursement rates, they would be forced to just abandon public sector programs and work for rich people. That should be […]

The Washington Post Outlook section had an interview with David Walker. It introduces the piece by telling readers: “This time last year, David Walker — who quit his job as U.S. comptroller in March 2008 to sound the alarm about rising national debt — was being called ‘Chicken Little.’ Now, not so much.” I would […]

One of the main causes of the severe downturn is the plunge in consumption that has resulted from the loss of more than $6 trillion in housing wealth. The NYT has a front page piece on this topic today. It’s worth noting that the rise in the saving rate is probably even larger than the […]

The United States pays more than twice as much per person for health care as other wealthy countries, with no obvious benefits in terms of outcome. President Obama has proposed a series of reforms, including more emphasis on prevention, in order to bring our costs more in line with the rest of the world. While […]

Reuters has a nice piece pointing out that Kenneth Feinberg, President Obama’s pick to monitor compensation at bailed our firms, is himsefl no stranger to multimillion dollar paychecks. –Dean Baker