Blog: Beat the Press

Okay, that is not what Benjamin Bernanke said, but that is what his logic implies. How do I get there? Well, in a speech today, Mr. Bernanke complained about the huge projected rise in entitlement spending. He pointed out that Social Security and Medicare spending together are projected to rise from 7 percent of GDP […]

One infuriating feature of business reporting is the constant cheering for a higher stock market. I have nothing against a higher market, but I know of no general public interest in a high stock market. In principle, the stock market represents the discounted value of the future profits of corporate America. If the value rises […]

One of the favorite examples of economists who argue that the consumer price index (CPI) is missing quality improvments in new goods and services, and therefore understating the increase in living standards, is the great new drugs that have been developed in the last quarter century. That is why it is interesting to read an […]

In a piece ironically titled “A Party Without Principles,” Washington Post columnist Sebastian Mallaby performed the old “Social Security and Medicare Trick.” BTP regulars know the routine well by now. The basic story is that all the projections show that the Social Security program is fundamentally sound. According to the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office, the […]

The New York Times had an editorial this morning warning about the dangers of protectionism resulting from the large U.S. trade deficit with China. This should lead to gigantic “huh” from informed readers. The United States already has a wide range of barriers that make it difficult for foreign professionals (doctors, lawyers, accountants, economists etc.) […]

Every time his column appears, David Brooks demonstrates that the U.S. economy still offers good-paying jobs for unskilled workers. His Sunday column (sorry, Times Select and therefore non-linkable) is yet another diatribe against Democratic politicians (e.g. Sherrod Brown and Bob Casey) who are opposed to trade and immigration policies that are designed to redistribute income […]

The NYT reported today that the German pharmaceutical company Bayer A.G. concealed a study from the F.D.A. that showed a drug used in heart surgery might increase the risks of strokes and death. Of course, economic theory predicts that government granted patent monopolies will create incentives for exactly this sort of behavior. Economists should be […]

The Wall Street Journal reports that a batch of good economic news might give Republican candidates a boost in this fall’s elections. Well, good economic news is generally good news for the party in power, but the reports we have been seeing lately don’t look very good. At the top of the list we have […]

The news reports on the release of revised data for 2nd quarter GDP missed the fact that output in the nonfarm business sector was revised down by 0.4 percentage points. This means that (ignoring rounding) productivity growth for the quarter should also be lowered by 0.4 pp to a 1.2 percent annual rate. At this […]

Reports on August new home sales initially touted the unexpected uptick from a 1,009,000 annual rate in July to a 1,050,000 annual rate. Fortunately, some folks noticed that the July numbers had been revised down from a previously reported 1,070,000 annual rate. Still, some reports noted the goods news that inventories of unsold homes had […]