Dean Baker

Co-director Center for Economic and Policy Research

Host: David Swanson

Previously Aired On: Wednesday, October 22, 2008 – Listen to the Show!
 

Dean Baker is co-director of the Center for Economic and Policy Research in Washington, DC. He previously worked as a senior economist at the Economic Policy Institute and an assistant professor at Bucknell University. His blog, Beat the Press, features commentary on economic reporting. He received his Ph.D in economics from the University of Michigan.

He has written numerous books and articles, including The United States Since 1980, Cambridge University Press, March 2007; The Conservative Nanny State: How the Wealthy Use the Government to Stay Rich and Get Richer, Center for Economic and Policy Research, 2006; Social Security: The Phony Crisis (with Mark Weisbrot), University of Chicago Press, 1999; “Asset Returns and Economic Growth,” (with Brad DeLong and Paul Krugman), Brookings Papers on Economic Activity (2005); “Financing Drug Research: What Are the Issues,” Center for Economic and Policy Research, 2004; “Medicare Choice Plus: The Solution to the Long-Term Deficit Problem,” Center for Economic and Policy Research, 2004; The Benefits of Full Employment (with Jared Bernstein), Economic Policy Institute, 2004; “Professional Protectionists: The Gains From Free Trade in Highly Paid Professional Services,” Center for Economic and Policy Research, 2003; “The Run-Up in Home Prices: Is It Real or Is It Another Bubble,” Center for Economic and Policy Research, 2002.

His book Getting Prices Right: The Battle Over the Consumer Price Index (M.E. Sharpe, 1997) was a winner of a Choice Book Award as one of the outstanding academic books of the year. He was also the author of the weekly online commentary on economic reporting, the Economic Reporting Review (ERR), from 1996 – 2006. He has worked as a consultant for the World Bank, the Joint Economic Committee of the U.S. Congress, and the OECD’s Trade Union Advisory Council. His columns have appeared in many major media outlets including the Atlantic Monthly, the Washington Post, and the London Financial Times. He is frequently cited in economics reporting in major media outlets, including the New York Times, Washington Post, CNBC and National Public Radio.

About Secretary Henry Paulson’s Bailout Plan:

Baker pointed out on Democracy Now! the current bailout can punish those responsible rather than rewarding them. It can also be done without creating new dictatorial powers for the executive branch of our government.

Congress must reject Paulson’s Plunder and enact a plan with these progressive principles from the Backbone Campaign:

A. The people who caused the problem or profited most should pay for it

1. Highly compensated executives total compensation should be capped or taxed heavily as a condition for being bailed out.

2. Tobin tax on all transactions in Finance, Insurance and Real Estate including currency transactions.

3. Government takes an equity stake, proportionate to the size of the bailout

4. Tax hedge fund managers’ income

5. Accountability – fire executives of failed companies as done in the UK, and abrogate their severance packages.

6. Impose a five-year, 10 percent surtax on income over $1 million a year for couples and over $500,000 for single taxpayers.

B. Re-regulate to prevent this from happening again

1. Direct the Federal Reserve to intervene to prevent asset bubbles.

2. Extend reserve requirements to new security categories

3. Regulate the packaging of loans so they can be evaluated, rated, and priced rationally.

4. Regulate hedge funds and private equity funds in a way comparable to banks

C. Include Main Street in the bailout and invest in a new productive economy

1. Establish a moratorium on foreclosures, renegotiating mortgages or institute a rent-to-own plan to keep people in homes.

2. Create a major economic recovery package which puts Americans to work at decent wages, in productive jobs that add value to homes and communities.

3. Invest the taxes on speculation, executive compensation, and the surtax on the wealthy in clean energy, infrastructure, education, and health care.

You can send this proposal to Congress by clicking here:

http://democrats.com/stop-paulsons-plunder

October 1st, 2008 --Previous Guests--, Dean Baker | 15 comments