Stories by Dean Baker

Dean Baker is co-director of the Center for Economic and Policy Research and author of the new book, The End of Loser Liberalism?

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Crazy -- Romney Advisor Says Spiraling Inequality Is Good for the Country

Posted on May 3, 2012, Source: AlterNet

Mitt Romney's former partner at Bain Capital has written a book that reveals much about how the super-rich think -- and it's not pretty.

We're Number ... 2? Are Americans in Denial About the Country's Decline?

Posted on May 1, 2012, Source: Nation of Change

China is rapidly passing us by. But Americans - and their leaders - refuse to come to terms with what this means for our future.

Keep Getting Paid for Fewer Hours? How a Provision Congress Just Passed Could Help Rebuild the Economy

Posted on Mar 4, 2012, Source: Comment Is Free

Tucked in the small print of the payroll tax bill is a work-sharing plan that could save more than a million jobs this year.

Why the GOP Is Trying to Pin High Gas Prices on Obama (and Gullible Americans Are Falling for It)

Posted on Feb 27, 2012, Source: TruthOut.org

The Republicans are hoping to blame this rise in the price of gas on Obama's environmentally friendly policies. But here are two major problems with their story.

Does Obama Deserve Credit for Avoiding the Second Great Depression?

Posted on Feb 21, 2012, Source: The Guardian

The Obama Administration, working with Ben Bernanke at the Fed, deserves credit for preventing a financial meltdown. But a second Great Depression was never in the cards.

The Stop Online Piracy Act is Class War in Cyberspace, Enriching the 1% at the Expense of the 99%

Posted on Dec 5, 2011, Source: TruthOut.org

SOPA would require every web site in the country to become unpaid copyright enforcement officers for Time Warner, Disney and The Washington Post, among others.

How Conservatives Exploit the Myth of "Wealthy Elderly" to Justify Gutting Social Security

Posted on Nov 15, 2011, Source: AlterNet

Right-wingers somehow think that seniors with incomes under $30,000 a year must sacrifice to balance the budget.

Stealing from Social Security Is NOT a Debt Solution -- Why Do the Media Promote This Dangerous Myth?

Posted on Jul 11, 2011, Source: The Guardian

Pursuing a plan to kill social security, politicians are relying on a credulous public and compliant media to ramp up debt panic.

The Drug Market Scam: Why You Pay Way Too Much for Bad Medicine (And Bernie Sanders' Solution)

Posted on Jun 2, 2011, Source: AlterNet

Senator Bernie Sanders has introduced a bill to create a prize fund that would buy up drug patents, so that drugs could be sold at their free market price.

'Shock Doctrine': GOP Elites Point a Gun at the Middle Class

Posted on Apr 12, 2011, Source: AlterNet

Paul Ryan's attack against the middle class might have been expected to draw an outraged response. Instead, the punditry rallied around the GOP Rep.

The Deficit Hawks Are Targeting Nurses and Firefighters

Posted on Apr 1, 2011, Source: TruthOut.org

The wealth redistributed to the top 1 percent over the last 30 years is roughly enough to double the income of all those in the bottom half of the distribution.

Debts Should Be Honored, Except When the Money Is Owed to Working People

Posted on Feb 3, 2011, Source: AlterNet

Bankrupt states could tell teachers, highway patrol officers, and other public employees that they're not getting the pensions they were expecting, even if already retired.

Now There's Even a 'Progressive' Plan to Gut Social Security

Posted on Jan 20, 2011, Source: Center for Economic and Policy Research

Th folks trying to slash Social Security face enormous political opposition and have no good argument for their case. They're going to have to lie, cheat, steal to do it.

The Progressive Case Against Obama's New Oval Office Team

Posted on Jan 12, 2011, Source: Center for Economic and Policy Research

Obama's picks of Bill Daley and Gene Sperling will likely result in tens of millions of people across the country experience serious economic hardship.

Saving Social Security: Stopping Obama's Next Bad Deal

Posted on Dec 20, 2010, Source: AlterNet

We have to push President Obama to announce in advance that he will never sign a debt ceiling bill that includes cuts to Social Security and Medicare.

Tax Deal Being Sold on Fear

Posted on Dec 13, 2010, Source: AlterNet

The establishment is telling us that if Congress doesn’t approve the package Obama negotiated with the GOP, it will be the end of the world!

Deficit Hawks Ignore the Wisdom of Spending, Are Obsessed with Cutting Benefits

Posted on Nov 14, 2010, Source: Boston Review

If the current deficit were larger, we would have more jobs and growth. But many deficit hawks seem more interested in cutting benefits than economic truths.

Foreclosure Moratorium Is Only Sane Response to Shocking Wall Street Mortgage Scams

Posted on Oct 18, 2010, Source: AlterNet

The highest rates of foreclosure are on the quick and dirty loans made at the peak of the bubble.

Memo to the Tax Cut Party -- Painful Double-Digit Unemployment Doesn't Have to Continue

Posted on Oct 8, 2010, Source: AlterNet

A modest tax on Wall Street financial speculation could raise more than $150 billion a year -- money that would go a long way toward funding a serious jobs agenda.

Xenophobia And Racism in Pursuit of Social Security Cuts

Posted on Oct 5, 2010, Source: TruthOut.org

The only way that the deficit hawks can make good on the goal of reducing foreign borrowing is by slowing growth and raising the unemployment rate.

TARP Was a $700 Billion Disaster for Everyone But the Banks

Posted on Sep 21, 2010, Source: The Guardian

The same crew that tapped our pockets two years ago is eagerly pitching the line that their bailout was good for us.

Crazy Economists Are Still Defending The Wall Street Bailout As The Recession Gets Worse

Posted on Aug 6, 2010, Source: AlterNet

Economists are still spinning fairy tales so they can celebrate bank bailouts. Too bad everybody's still broke and out of work.

Why the US Is So Badly Equipped to Deal with Unemployment

Posted on Jul 20, 2010, Source: ISN

15 million are unemployed, but unfortunately none of the people responsible for the recession are in that category.

Republicans Want as Many Unemployed People as Possible, Because They Think It Will Get Them Elected

Posted on Jul 7, 2010, Source: The Guardian

From now until Nov. 2, the Republican Party will be the party of unemployment.

Ordinary Workers Would Be Fired in a Second If They Screwed Up Anywhere Nearly as Bad as the Bankers Have

Posted on May 28, 2010, Source: AlterNet

There has been little change in personnel and no acknowledgment of error at the central banks whose incompetence was responsible for the crisis.

Stop Trying to Kill Social Security

Posted on Apr 29, 2010, Source: Comment Is Free

Worried about the deficit? Wall Street is the problem, not Social Security.

Banks Could Be Biggest Winners in Obama's New Foreclosure Plan

Posted on Apr 1, 2010, Source: Democracy Now!

The biggest winners in Obama's latest foreclosure prevention plan are the banks that created this mess.

Robert Rubin Should Be Doing Hard Labor: Instead He's Trying to Resurrect Himself

Posted on Mar 9, 2010, Source: TruthOut.org

Robert Rubin put in place all the pieces that set up the economy for the disaster that we are now living through. Why can't he get off the stage?

False Profits: We Will Be Suffering from Greenspan and Bernanke's Ineptitude for a Long Time

Posted on Feb 9, 2010, Source: PoliPoint Press

An $8 trillion housing bubble fostered by the Federal Reserve has burst, and with it much of the wealth of America's middle class.

Big Banks Are Feeding Like Parasites on the Govt.'s Money

Posted on Feb 4, 2010, Source: Boston Review

Big bank CEOs like to trumpet free-market ideology, but they depend on the government for survival in good times and bad.

It's No Sure Thing: Bernanke's Confirmation Is Coming Down to the Wire

Posted on Jan 26, 2010, Source: The Guardian

It isn't Bernanke's job to bail out Wall Street at the expense of the rest of the country. It is his job to prevent the growth of dangerous bubbles. Time to go.

The Reason for 15 Million Unemployed: Poor Thinking at the Top

Posted on Dec 9, 2009, Source: TruthOut.org

It is absolutely unacceptable to have 15 million people unemployed just because the people who call the shots are too dumb to figure out how to get them back to work.

The Vampire Banks Are Back: Will There Ever Be Meaningful Financial Reform?

Posted on Nov 25, 2009, Source: CounterPunch

The halls of Congress are infected with financial industry lobbyists looking to block necessary changes to our broken financial system.

We Need Smart Solutions to Our Long Jobs Crisis

Posted on Nov 2, 2009, Source: AlterNet

All the projections show that the unemployment rate is likely to continue to rising for the immediate future and remain high for years to come.

Will People-Power Defeat the Insurance Lobby This Time Around?

Posted on Oct 27, 2009, Source: TruthOut.org

This is a case where the simple facts and persistent grassroots pressure may overcome the political power of a major industry.

Everything Is Bright and Sunny Again, Unless You Have to Work for a Living

Posted on Oct 7, 2009, Source: AlterNet

So far we've seen economic recovery for the few, while the many live in continued pain.

Will Obama's Health Care Plan Make the U.S. More Like Europe?

Posted on Aug 7, 2009, Source: Huffington Post

It might -- and that would be a good thing for business owners, manufacturing and those who are self-employed.

Our Economy Needs at Least $2 Trillion in Stimulus Spending Right Now -- Tens of Millions of Jobs Are at Stake

Posted on Jul 16, 2009, Source: The Guardian

Politicians and pundits in Washington are either too ignorant, dishonest, or scared to talk about the expenditures that this economy needs.

What's So Scary About Offering People the Option of a Public Health Plan?

Posted on Jul 8, 2009, Source: AlterNet

If the public plan is bad, then people will just stay with the options currently available in the private sector.

Why You May Be Stuck Holding the Bill for the Largest Taxpayer Rip Off

Posted on Jun 23, 2009, Source: AlterNet

The health care industry is getting money out of our pockets because their friends in Congress have made sure the money flows from us to them.

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