The Economics of Crazy

It is striking that many people feel the need to claim that Donald Trump has some coherent economic plan for the country. It’s understandable that...

previous day 20

Dean Baker

Stop Pretending Trump Has a Coherent Economic Strategy

tuesday 3

Dean Baker

No, Economists Didn’t Get It Wrong On Trump’s Tariffs – OpEd

A threatened tariff that is never implemented does not hurt the economy as much as a threatened tariff that is

26.10.2025 3

Dean Baker

Treasury’s $2 Trillion Payment to Trump? It’s Very MAGA

Trump hasn’t taken $2 trillion from taxpayers yet, but we should be prepared for that possibility. The story, which cannot possibly be given too...

24.10.2025 2

Dean Baker

Road Map to the Shutdown

Since there is a lot of confusion surrounding the shutdown, I thought it would be useful to go over some of the main points as I understand them. I...

23.10.2025 1

Dean Baker

Blame The Rich, Not The Boomers For Economic Inequality – OpEd

A recurring theme in policy circles over the last three decades has been that young people should blame their economic

23.10.2025 2

Dean Baker

Blame the Rich, Not the Boomers for Economic Inequality

A recurring theme in policy circles over the last three decades has been that young people should blame their economic problems on older people. The...

22.10.2025 30

Dean Baker

Shutdown 101: Why It's Continuing and What's at Stake

21.10.2025 3

Dean Baker

Still No Jobs Report, But the Labor Market Doesn’t Look Good

Donald Trump refuses to release the September jobs report. While the ostensible reason is the government shutdown that began October 1, two days...

21.10.2025 20

Dean Baker

The Trump Boom: a Legend in His Own Mind

When I was growing up in Chicago, a local AM radio station had a disc jockey named Larry Lujack. The introduction to his show called him “a legend...

20.10.2025 40

Dean Baker

The AI Bubble and Counterfeit Money

I heard people who read the column I wrote last week on the AI bubble complain that, by rooting for its collapse, I was hoping for the failure of the...

15.10.2025 10

Dean Baker

Would Trump Use Nuclear Weapons? – OpEd

By Jonathan Power I’m just out of the cinema having seen Kathryn Bigelow’s masterful film, A House of Dynamite, about a

15.10.2025 6

Dean Baker

The Tariffs Trump Promised, But Didn’t Deliver, Didn’t Hurt The Economy – OpEd

A threatened tariff that is never implemented does not hurt the economy as much as a threatened tariff that is

15.10.2025 2

Dean Baker

The Tariffs Trump Promised, But Didn’t Deliver, Didn’t Hurt the Economy

A threatened tariff that is never implemented does not hurt the economy as much as a threatened tariff that is actually implemented. That simple point...

14.10.2025 10

Dean Baker

The AI Bubble And Counterfeit Money – OpEd

I heard people who read the column I wrote last week on the AI bubble complain that, by rooting for its collapse,

14.10.2025 3

Dean Baker

Right-Wing Moguls Dominate Social Media. One Legal Fix Can Help Stem the Tide.

10.10.2025 4

Dean Baker

Health Care Cost Growth Slowed Sharply After Obamacare – OpEd

The Trump gang, who invented pet-eating immigrants to help win the election, are also inventing crazy stories about Obamacare wrecking

07.10.2025 2

Dean Baker

Health Care Cost Growth Slowed Sharply After Obamacare

The Trump gang, who invented pet-eating immigrants to help win the election, are also inventing crazy stories about Obamacare wrecking the health care...

06.10.2025 10

Dean Baker

Thoughts From The US Shutdown – OpEd

As we go through Trump Shutdown IV, I had a few thoughts to share. Montana Senator Steve Daines – Truth

04.10.2025 3

Dean Baker

The Fast Food Index Is Looking Bleak – OpEd

For the last several years I have relied on real (inflation-adjusted) spending at fast food restaurants as a useful gauge

03.10.2025 2

Dean Baker

The Fast Food Index is Looking Bleak

In 2021, 2022, and 2023, real fast-food spending was growing at an average annual rate of 5.4 percent, considerably faster than the 2.9 percent growth...

02.10.2025 10

Dean Baker

US Economy Grew At A 1.6 Percent Rate In The First Half – OpEd

Some folks have gotten a bit carried away with the revisions that put the second quarter growth rate at 3.8

02.10.2025 3

Dean Baker

The Economy Grew at a 1.6 Percent Rate in the First Half

Some folks have gotten a bit carried away with the revisions that put the second quarter growth rate at 3.8 percent. That does look impressive in...

01.10.2025 20

Dean Baker

The ‘Free Market’: The Fatal Error Of The Foundational Myth Of Center-Left Politics – OpEd

Noem Scheiber, the New York Times’ generally excellent labor reporter, had a lengthy background piece that really hit a nerve. The piece

01.10.2025 2

Dean Baker

The “Free Market”: The Fatal Error of the Foundational Myth of Center-Left Politics

Noem Scheiber, the New York Times’ generally excellent labor reporter, had a lengthy background piece that really hit a nerve. The piece sought to...

30.09.2025 20

Dean Baker

Slowing Global Warming Does Address Affordability

The media are often slow to catch up with reality. In decades past we could talk about addressing global warming as a trade-off where we would spend...

29.09.2025 10

Dean Baker

Shakedown Shack: The Trump White House – OpEd

Corruption is always a potential problem in government, although if we get beyond the idiocy about the “Biden crime family,”

27.09.2025 2

Dean Baker

Trump’s Attacks On Jobs Numbers Are Noise But Still Dangerous – OpEd

By now, the Trump White House has a simple strategy for dealing with what it considers bad news: Attack the

26.09.2025 3

Dean Baker

Trump’s Attacks on Jobs Numbers Are Noise But Still Dangerous

By now, the Trump White House has a simple strategy for dealing with what it considers bad news: Attack the messenger. They have pressured TV networks...

25.09.2025 30

Dean Baker

The European Union Is Working Less But Doing Fine – OpEd

There is a popular story circulating in the media that the European countries are in some sort of downward spiral,

25.09.2025 4

Dean Baker

The European Union is Working Less But Doing Fine

There is a popular story circulating in the media that the European countries are in some sort of downward spiral, hopelessly behind the United...

24.09.2025 20

Dean Baker

Learning To Love Tariffs – OpEd

I know many people have been saying in the wake of Charlie Kirk’s killing that we have to reach out

24.09.2025 2

Dean Baker

Why the Bursting of the AI Bubble Would Be Good for the Economy

It has become common in recent months for people in the business press to note both that AI stocks seem to be in a bubble and that this bubble is...

23.09.2025 50

Dean Baker

Lessons from Jimmy Kimmel: The Media Don’t Have to Be Controlled by the Rich

Like every other sane person, I was outraged at seeing Jimmy Kimmel getting fired because he was making fun of Donald Trump. (Spare me the crap about...

22.09.2025 40

Dean Baker

Why The Bursting Of The AI Bubble Would Be Good For The Economy – OpEd

It has become common in recent months for people in the business press to note both that AI stocks seem

22.09.2025 4

Dean Baker

Cheap Advice for the Fed

The question for the Fed is whether it has to worry more about inflation or a weak labor market. Last week’s data indicate both are real concerns,...

17.09.2025 10

Dean Baker

Trump, Pulte, and Lisa Cook: Rich People Lie, Consequences are for Others

A few weeks back, Bill Pulte, the Federal Housing Finance Agency Director (FHFA) and the billionaire heir to a housing construction firm, claimed to...

16.09.2025 10

Dean Baker

Japan and Korea Should Hand Money to their Exporters Rather than Donald Trump

Donald Trump has been boasting about his trade deals with Japan and Korea, where in exchange for buying down the taxes on their imports from 25...

15.09.2025 10

Dean Baker

Japan And Korea Should Hand Money To Their Exporters Rather Than Donald Trump – OpEd

Donald Trump has been boasting about his trade deals with Japan and Korea, where in exchange for buying down the

13.09.2025 5

Dean Baker

Trump Goes Full MAGA On Jobs For Black Workers – OpEd

Donald Trump has made no secret of his longing for a time when discrimination against Black people was not just

12.09.2025 5

Dean Baker

Trump Goes Full MAGA on Jobs for Black Workers

Donald Trump has made no secret of his longing for a time when discrimination against Black people was not just common, but totally legal. His...

11.09.2025 50

Dean Baker

Trump Goes Full MAGA on Jobs for Black Workers

Donald Trump has made no secret of his longing for a time when discrimination against Black people was not just common, but totally legal. His...

10.09.2025 20

Dean Baker

Fewer Immigrants Means Fewer Workers, Less Growth – OpEd

One of the releases from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) that gets relatively little attention is its annual projections

06.09.2025 5

Dean Baker

The Real Scandal Here Is Bill Pulte, Not Lisa Cook

05.09.2025 2

Dean Baker

Fewer Immigrants Means Fewer Workers, Less Growth

One of the releases from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) that gets relatively little attention is its annual projections for growth in employment...

05.09.2025 10

Dean Baker

The Rich Wrote The Laws So That They Get All The Money, While The Left Was Sleeping – OpEd

I endlessly hear people complaining that we should tax billionaires, which we should. But the more fundamental question that is

05.09.2025 4

Dean Baker

The Rich Wrote the Laws So that They Get all the Money, While the Left Was Sleeping

I endlessly hear people complaining that we should tax billionaires, which we should. But the more fundamental question that is rarely asked is, why...

04.09.2025 60

Dean Baker

What the Fast Food Spending Index Says About Consumer Sentiment in the US

I have been obsessing on fast food since the days when the pundits told us to ignore the data showing rising real wages, people can’t make ends...

02.09.2025 30

Dean Baker

Being a Reserve Currency is Not a Zero-One Proposition

There is a huge amount of silliness around the dollar’s status as the world’s leading reserve currency. “Leading” is the key word in that...

01.09.2025 10

Dean Baker

MAGA 2.0: Making China Great Again

In Donald Trump’s make-believe world prices are falling, the economy is booming, he is bringing peace all around the world, and gas costs less than...

27.08.2025 10

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The Economics of Crazy

Dean Baker

Stop Pretending Trump Has a Coherent Economic Strategy

Dean Baker

No, Economists Didn’t Get It Wrong On Trump’s Tariffs – OpEd

Dean Baker

Treasury’s $2 Trillion Payment to Trump? It’s Very MAGA

Dean Baker

Road Map to the Shutdown

Dean Baker

Blame The Rich, Not The Boomers For Economic Inequality – OpEd

Dean Baker

Blame the Rich, Not the Boomers for Economic Inequality

Dean Baker

Shutdown 101: Why It's Continuing and What's at Stake

Dean Baker

Still No Jobs Report, But the Labor Market Doesn’t Look Good

Dean Baker

The Trump Boom: a Legend in His Own Mind

Dean Baker

The AI Bubble and Counterfeit Money

Dean Baker

Would Trump Use Nuclear Weapons? – OpEd

Dean Baker

The Tariffs Trump Promised, But Didn’t Deliver, Didn’t Hurt The Economy – OpEd

Dean Baker

The Tariffs Trump Promised, But Didn’t Deliver, Didn’t Hurt the Economy

Dean Baker

The AI Bubble And Counterfeit Money – OpEd

Dean Baker

Right-Wing Moguls Dominate Social Media. One Legal Fix Can Help Stem the Tide.

Dean Baker

Health Care Cost Growth Slowed Sharply After Obamacare – OpEd

Dean Baker

Health Care Cost Growth Slowed Sharply After Obamacare

Dean Baker

Thoughts From The US Shutdown – OpEd

Dean Baker

The Fast Food Index Is Looking Bleak – OpEd

Dean Baker

The Fast Food Index is Looking Bleak

Dean Baker

US Economy Grew At A 1.6 Percent Rate In The First Half – OpEd

Dean Baker

The Economy Grew at a 1.6 Percent Rate in the First Half

Dean Baker

The ‘Free Market’: The Fatal Error Of The Foundational Myth Of Center-Left Politics – OpEd

Dean Baker

The “Free Market”: The Fatal Error of the Foundational Myth of Center-Left Politics

Dean Baker

Slowing Global Warming Does Address Affordability

Dean Baker

Shakedown Shack: The Trump White House – OpEd

Dean Baker

Trump’s Attacks On Jobs Numbers Are Noise But Still Dangerous – OpEd

Dean Baker

Trump’s Attacks on Jobs Numbers Are Noise But Still Dangerous

Dean Baker

The European Union Is Working Less But Doing Fine – OpEd

Dean Baker

The European Union is Working Less But Doing Fine

Dean Baker

Learning To Love Tariffs – OpEd

Dean Baker

Why the Bursting of the AI Bubble Would Be Good for the Economy

Dean Baker

Lessons from Jimmy Kimmel: The Media Don’t Have to Be Controlled by the Rich

Dean Baker

Why The Bursting Of The AI Bubble Would Be Good For The Economy – OpEd

Dean Baker

Cheap Advice for the Fed

Dean Baker

Trump, Pulte, and Lisa Cook: Rich People Lie, Consequences are for Others

Dean Baker

Japan and Korea Should Hand Money to their Exporters Rather than Donald Trump

Dean Baker

Japan And Korea Should Hand Money To Their Exporters Rather Than Donald Trump – OpEd