Economic Policy

You probably didn’t know that Mitt Romney was ill and in need of saving, but of course neither is Social Security, according to the projections from the Congressional Budget Office. But that doesn’t stop the Washington Post from talking about “saving federal health and retirement programs from insolvency.” The projections show that Social Security will […]

USA Today decided to get its entry in the summer horror flicks out early, The Return of the Granny Bashers XCIV tells readers how the affluent elderly are ripping off their children and grandchildren by collecting Social Security and Medicare (ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!). This horror story is so chock full of misleading information that it’s difficult for […]

That’s the question millions (okay thousands) of NYT readers should be asking of an article that claims employers are now unhappy with immigration bill that they helped craft. The article asserts that employers complain that the bill will not “cure the severe labor shortages they foresee in the coming decade.” Unless the reporter who wrote […]

On Tuesday I will be giving a couple of talks in the SF area. This is both an advance excuse in case I miss some blogging on Tuesday and Wednesday and also an invitation to any interested BTPers in the area. At 1:00 on Tuesday I will be speaking on my new book, The United […]

You can get the latest data on how the U.S. measures up in mandated vacation time and holidays in this new paper by CEPR researcher Rebecca Ray and economist John Schmitt. –Dean Baker

A NYT article on the opposition to independence among immigrants to Quebec, tells readers that “economists say Quebec has little choice but to embrace the immigrants because of a plummeting native birthrate that would otherwise reduce economic growth.” It then cites an economist with the Conference Board of Canada as saying that any growth in […]

That’s what policy experts say, according to the Washington Post. The context is the proposals that have been put forward to ensure that food products that we import from China and other countries are safe for us and our pets. The point that the article makes is that improved regulation will hurt many importers and […]

The Washington Post had another editorial in which it argued that without immigration, we would face “a critical shortage of low-skilled labor in construction, landscaping, hospitality and other industries.” While I have pointed out the flaws in this reasoning before, clearly the Post’s editorial board is not going to listen to me. So, Beat the […]

I was very impressed last week when the Post managed to discuss the trade debate in Congress without once referring to the propsective trade pacts as “free trade” agreements. Unfortunately, the turn to more accurate and neutral descriptions of trade deals has not carried through to other articles. In today’s piece on the immigration deal […]

Someone should ask the Post’s editorial board that question. The Post’s editorial on the new immigration bill comments on the “annual flow of 400,000 to 600,000 low-skilled workers needed to satisfy the demand for labor.” Wages in the jobs typically filled by these immigrants (custodians, restaurant workers, nannies) have been stagnant or declining over the […]