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?

How Two Secretive Global Trade Deals Will Further Enrich the American Elite

Posted on: Apr 29, 2013, Source: Al Jazeera English

The US-EU free trade pact and the Trans-Pacific Partnership are about securing regulatory gains for major corporate interests.

Discredited Harvard Austerity-Pushers Reinhart and Rogoff Keep Lying to Protect Themselves

Posted on: Apr 26, 2013, Source: Beat the Press

They're having a bad week. But not as bad as those who lost everything to misguided austerity.

Erskine Bowles Dismisses Facts on Deficits. Perhaps Because He Collects Millions for Deceiving the Public?

Posted on: Apr 24, 2013, Source: Beat the Press

Overwhelming evidence shows that there is little obvious reason to fear higher debt levels.

Senate Unanimously Votes Against Cuts to Social Security, Media Don't Notice

Posted on: Mar 25, 2013, Source: Beat the Press

Most of the elite media have made it clear in both their opinion and news pages that they want to see benefits cut.

Minimum Wage: Who Decided That Hard-Working Americans Should Fall Behind?

Posted on: Feb 19, 2013, Source: Beat the Press

There is no economic reason why those at the bottom should not share in the gains from economic growth.

Corporate-backed 'Fix the Debt' Campaign Only Wants to Protect Wall Street

Posted on: Feb 12, 2013, Source: AlterNet

Funny how they don't seem to want a financial transaction tax.

Whaddya Know? Professional Economy Wrecker Alan Greenspan Is at the Heart of the Insidious 'Fix the Debt' Campaign

Posted on: Dec 24, 2012, Source: Beat the Press

Mr. Incompetent rears his ugly head in corporate deficit hawk coalition.

What do the Budget Thugs Trying to Gut the Safety Net Really Know About the Economy?

Posted on: Dec 11, 2012, Source: Truthout

They say we have to cut Social Security and Medicare because they say so.

Why Big Bucks Donors Don't Want President Obama to Champion Social Security

Posted on: Oct 25, 2012, Source: Comment Is Free

After stock market shocks and the housing bubble, social security more vital than ever before. But the money men hate it.

How Many Wrong Statements Can You Find in Tom Friedman's Latest Column?

Posted on: Oct 17, 2012, Source: CEPR

It's like a drinking game, without booze.

David Brooks' Debate Advice for Mitt: Say Lots of Stuff That Isn't True

Posted on: Oct 2, 2012, Source: Center for Economic and Policy Research

It's that time of year when columnists try out as speechwriters for the candidates.

Poverty: The New Growth Industry in America

Posted on: Aug 29, 2012, Source: Op-Ed News

Recent trends in poverty rates should have the country furious at its leaders.

Don't Blame Technology For The Shrinking Middle Class

Posted on: Jul 11, 2012, Source: Center for Economic and Policy Research

Some economists are arguing that high tech inevitably doomed the middle class -- but they're not telling the whole story.

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 7, 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 5, 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 6, 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 27, 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 28, 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: Mar 31, 2010, Source: Democracy Now!

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

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