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The political fortunes of the Democratic Party look dim, but the current economy is not too damn bad. How to explain this seemingly contradictory economic news?

Max B. Sawicky / 01/18/2022 12:00am

Article Artículo

Economic Crisis and Recovery

Is the US Economy Operating Above Its Capacity?

If we can get the pandemic under control, the supply problems we are now seeing (along with pretty much every other wealthy country) will dissipate over the course of the year.

Dean Baker / 01/17/2022 12:00am

Article Artículo

Economic Crisis and Recovery

Where’s the Beef Prices?

The media should be giving the drop in beef prices the same sort of attention they gave to the rise in beef prices.

Dean Baker / 01/16/2022 12:00am

Article Artículo

Coronavirus

Intellectual Property

Why Pay Less? The US Strategy for Vaccinating the World

The obvious route for going from the current system to an open-source system would be to take small steps with little downside risk. This is exactly what Peter Hotez and his team of researchers did.

Dean Baker / 01/16/2022 12:00am

Article Artículo

Economic Crisis and Recovery

Is Europe’s Inflation Joe Biden’s Fault?

If we look at the inflation in a roughly comparable set of goods, in similar countries, it was actually greater than the inflation we see in the United States.

Dean Baker / 01/14/2022 12:00am

Article Artículo

Economic Crisis and Recovery

Will Seasonal Adjustments Alleviate the Supply Chain Backlog?

Even if there is no reduction in demand as shown in our seasonally adjusted data, there should be some reduction in pressure on our supply chains. We'll see how much of the backlog this will clear up.

Dean Baker / 01/13/2022 12:00am

report informe

Private Equity

Wall Street

Beware of Private Equity Gobbling Up Life Insurance and Annuity Companies

This paper is an examination of the size of retirement savings in the US; a brief review of earlier, largely unsuccessful attempts by PE firms to gain access to the savings of individuals; and, a discussion of PE’s foray into life insurance and annuities

Eileen Appelbaum / January 13, 2022

Article Artículo

Economic Crisis and Recovery

Inflation Hawks on the Path Toward an Inflation War

It would be incredibly irresponsible for the Fed to slam on the brakes, and throw millions of people out of work, to head off inflation associated with a clogged supply chain.

Dean Baker / 01/13/2022 12:00am

Article Artículo

Economic Crisis and Recovery

Vehicle Prices and Continued Supply Chain Problems Drive December Inflation

The overall Consumer Price Index (CPI) was up 0.5 percent in December, and the core up 0.6 percent. Year-over-year, the overall CPI is up 7.0 percent, core 5.5 percent.

Dean Baker / 01/12/2022 12:00am

report informe

Haiti

Latin America and the Caribbean

US Foreign Policy

World

Capacity Development for Whom? An Agenda for USAID Reform in Haiti

This paper seeks to answer the question of why, despite bipartisan commitment, reform initiatives in Haiti have been slow to take root.

Jake Johnston and Annee Lorentzen / January 12, 2022

Article Artículo

Economic Crisis and Recovery

Inflation

PREVIEW: What to Look for in the December Consumer Price Index

Rental inflation has also been accelerating. This has a huge weight in the CPI, so it’s a big deal. It will be interesting to see if this pattern continues.

Dean Baker / 01/11/2022 12:00am

Article Artículo

Intellectual Property

The Continuing Phony Debate on “Free Trade”

While the massive upward redistribution of income from our trade deals was sold on the principle of “free trade,” it has nothing to do with actual free trade.

Dean Baker / 01/10/2022 12:00am

Article Artículo

Economic Crisis and Recovery

Cheap Fun Saturday: Job Growth Under Biden and Trump

As it now stands President Biden has created 6,215,000 jobs in his first eleven months in the White House, compared to a loss of 2,876,000 jobs in the four years of Donald Trump’s presidency.

Dean Baker / 01/08/2022 12:00am

Article Artículo

Economic Crisis and Recovery

Workers

Unemployment Falls to 3.9 Percent; Wage Growth Remains Strong

The 3.9 percent December unemployment rate is better than all but five months in the 1990s boom.

Dean Baker / 01/07/2022 12:00am

Article Artículo

Inequality

Intellectual Property

A Better World

A few things about what the world might look like if we didn’t rig the market to give all the money to rich people.

Dean Baker / 01/06/2022 12:00am

Article Artículo

Jobs

Preview: What to Look for in the December Jobs Report

There is much good news in the labor market, which is likely to continue with the December jobs report. But, we are still not over the pandemic, nor its influence on the labor market.

Dean Baker / 01/05/2022 12:00am

Article Artículo

Environment

Health and Social Programs

Disaster Victims Shouldn’t Have to Run a PR Campaign to Get Federal Aid

All victims of natural disasters should be able to imagine building back better.

Matt Sedlar, Trisha Cumbra and / 01/03/2022 12:00am

Article Artículo

Economic Policy

Repealing Section 230: Giving Mark Zuckerberg What He Wants?

The better answer lies in downsizing Facebook so that what Mark Zuckerberg, or any billionaire wants, doesn’t matter so much. Taking away its Section 230 protection is an effective route to accomplish this goal.

Dean Baker / 12/31/2021 12:00am