Article • Dean Baker’s Beat the Press
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The NYT tells us that there is “heightened public concern over spending.” How does the NYT know this? What does it mean? Has the public checked the amount that we are spending in Afghanistan? Has it noted the cost of government payments to first-time homebuyers?
Does the public know that — according to the methodology used by President Obama’s administration — each billion reduction in spending will lead to the loss of roughly 10,000 jobs? Therefore, according to the Obama administration’s assessment, when Democrats in Congress claim that they are cutting spending (as claimed by Representative Chris Van Hollen in this blog post) they are making plans to throw people out of work.
It would be helpful if the NYT devoted more space to the meaning of policies rather than gossip about who says what.