Dean Baker - Latest News [Page 3]
US Economy Loses 83,000 Jobs
Tuesday, 8 April 2008, 9:46 am | Dean Baker
The establishment survey showed the economy losing 80,000 jobs in March, the third consecutive month of job loss. The private sector lost 98,000 jobs, the fourth consecutive decline in private sector employment. Overall, the private sector has lost 296,000 ... More >>
The Welfare King of the 21st Century
Tuesday, 1 April 2008, 2:28 pm | Dean Baker
To help advance his 1980 presidential campaign, Ronald Reagan invented the "welfare queen;" a woman who drove to pick up her check every month in a Cadillac. This mythical figure helped galvanize support among working class whites who felt that their tax ... More >>
Dean Baker: Financial Meltdown
Tuesday, 25 March 2008, 2:35 pm | Dean Baker
Progressives usually fight for the interests of those at the middle and bottom at the expense of those on top. However, during this period of unprecedented financial crisis, when the Wall Street rich are begging for the helping hand of the government, ... More >>
Bear Stearns in Bankruptcy
Tuesday, 18 March 2008, 10:00 pm | Dean Baker
According to the current plans being crafted in Washington, you will. Bear Stearns, one of the longstanding giants of Wall Street investment banking, is now on life support, the victim of its own excessive greed and bad judgment. Apparently, the ... More >>
Dean Baker: Does Ben Bernanke Have to Go?
Wednesday, 20 February 2008, 11:33 am | Dean Baker
Does Ben Bernanke Have to Go? By Dean Baker t r u t h o u t | Perspective http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/021808A.shtml More >>
Dean Baker: Ben Bernanke, Supernanny?
Wednesday, 30 January 2008, 11:26 am | Dean Baker
We all know the story of the "nanny state." That is what conservatives call a government that ensures people have basic necessities like decent childcare and decent health care. Conservatives deride the idea the government should have to provide such services. More >>
Adjustment Assistance and Globalization
Tuesday, 6 November 2007, 11:49 am | Dean Baker
As Congress debates a new set of trade pacts, there is an effort to expand trade adjustment assistance as a political quid pro quo. The logic is that new trade deals may cause some number of workers to lose their jobs, but additional adjustment assistance ... More >>
Success of Amazon: Welfare as We Should Know It
Thursday, 1 November 2007, 7:51 pm | Dean Baker
Last week, the business press reported Amazon.com had record third-quarter profits as its stock price approached dot.com bubble peaks. We should all be joining in the celebration of Amazon's success because, as taxpayers, we deserve most of the credit. More >>
Hostage Taking Bankers and Subprime Borrowers
Tuesday, 23 October 2007, 10:41 am | Dean Baker
There is little public support for using taxpayer dollars for protecting the richest people in the country from bad investment decisions. For this reason, when the government goes to help out those rich investors who cannot fend for themselves, it must come ... More >>
Pete Peterson Doesn't Need His Social Security
Tuesday, 16 October 2007, 12:25 am | Dean Baker
He has said so himself many times. Peter Peterson first came to national prominence more than three decades ago as commerce secretary in the Nixon administration. However, he is far more widely known in his reincarnation as a crusader against Social Security ... More >>
The Entertainment Industry Police Crackdown
Tuesday, 9 October 2007, 11:54 am | Dean Baker
Last week, a jury determined that Jammie Thomas, a single mother living in Minnesota, should pay $222,000 to the recording industry for allowing other people to download 24 songs off her computer on a file-sharing system. That's a pretty steep fine for ... More >>
From WMDs to Social Security: More Bush Stories
Tuesday, 2 October 2007, 9:09 pm | Dean Baker
You remember George W. Bush, the guy who tricked the country into a never-ending war in Iraq with stories about Saddam Hussein's weapons of mass destruction and links to Osama bin Laden. Well, he still has 16 months left in the White House and he's ... More >>
Save Subprime Borrowers, Not Bloated Bankers
Tuesday, 21 August 2007, 10:11 am | Dean Baker
There is a simple and direct way in which the federal government can help out millions of moderate-income families struggling to keep their homes: They can simply change the rules on foreclosure to allow moderate-income homeowners the option to remain ... More >>
Baker: Rising Mortgage Debt, Weak House Prices
Sunday, 10 June 2007, 7:00 pm | Dean Baker
The quarterly Flow of Funds data from the Federal Reserve Board show that homeowners are still taking on mortgage debt at a healthy pace even as their homes have largely stopped appreciating in value. Homeowners increased their mortgage debt at a 5.4 ... More >>
Dean Baker: The Peace Weenies Were Right
Thursday, 24 May 2007, 4:21 pm | Dean Baker
Last week I was struck to see a well-respected centrist foreign policy analyst discuss President Bush's "surge" as a serious policy for bringing stability to Iraq. This sight was striking, because at this point it is very difficult to imagine the surge ... More >>
Dean Baker: The IMF - A Sandbox to Play In
Wednesday, 11 April 2007, 4:07 pm | Dean Baker
Shortly after protests in Seattle nearly shut down a round of negotiations for the World Trade Organization (WTO), a group of academics, trade negotiators and business people met in Washington to figure out a way to reduce the hostility to their trade ... More >>
Dean Baker: The Housing Bubble Starts to Burst
Wednesday, 7 March 2007, 9:37 am | Dean Baker
Is there anything as beautiful as the sound of surprised economists in the springtime? I haven't had this much fun since the NASDAQ started to deflate seven years ago. More >>