Economist Dean Baker Smacks Down the WaPo's Elite Indictment of Bernie

[Fawke Em]

While there is much here that is misleading, it’s worth focusing on the central theme. The piece tells readers:

"The existence of large banks and lax campaign finance laws explains why working Americans are not thriving, he says, and why the progressive agenda has not advanced. Here is a reality check: Wall Street has already undergone a round of reform, significantly reducing the risks big banks pose to the financial system. The evolution and structure of the world economy, not mere corporate deck-stacking, explained many of the big economic challenges the country still faces. And even with radical campaign finance reform, many Americans and their representatives would still oppose the Sanders agenda."

If we can confront the Post’s “reality check” with real-world reality, it is worth noting that the largest banks are in fact much larger than they were before the crisis, as a result of a wave of mergers that was approved at the peak of the panic. Furthermore, the industry as a whole is getting bigger, not smaller. It was under 17.0 percent of national income in 2007; last year it was almost 18.0 percent.

There has been research in recent years from both the Bank of International Settlements and International Monetary Fund showing that a large financial sector is a drag on growth. For this reason, Sanders’ proposal for a financial transactions tax, which would be a big step towards downsizing the industry, would be well-received by a more reality-based newspaper.

http://fair.org/home/washington-posts-wild-swings-at-sanders/

[SusanCalvin]

1. I have a lot of respect for FAIR. nt

[Fawke Em]

2. ...and Dean Baker.

Dean Baker is one of few economists who predicted the crash of the housing bubble of 2007-2008. He warned about the crisis and the government policies in several media interviews from 2002 to 2005 [9] Basing his outlook on house-price data-sets produced by the US government, Baker was among the first economists to assert that there was a bubble in the US housing market in August 2002,[10] well before its peak in December 2005,[11] and one of the few economists to predict that the collapse of this bubble must lead to recession, and his prediction for when this recession would hit was only out by one quarter.[12][13][14][15][16]

With regard to the housing bubble, Baker has been critical of the man who was chairman of the Federal Reserve at the time, Alan Greenspan.[17][18][19]

He has been critical of the regulatory framework of the real estate and financial industries, the use of financial instruments like CDOs, and the performance and conflicting interests of US politicians and regulators.[20]

Baker opposed the US government bailout of Wall Street banks on the basis that the only people who stood to lose from their collapse were their shareholders and well-paid CEOs. Regarding any hypothetical, negative effects of not extending the bailout, he has explained, "We know how to keep the financial system operating even as banks go into bankruptcy and receivership,"[21] citing US government action taken during the S&L crisis of the 1980s.[22] He has ridiculed the US elite for favoring it, asking, "How do you make a DC intellectual look less articulate than Sarah Palin being interviewed by Katie Couric? That's easy. You ask them how failure to pass the bailout will give us a Great Depression."[23]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dean_Baker

[libdem4life]

3. Yep...it's a war of words. Funny, they also published a very pro-Bernie piece, too

Maybe playing both sides against the middle? Smart. Not.

[Tommy2Tone]

4. None of this will matter

If he were to become the candidate the right wing in concert with the media will destroy him on tax increases and he will spend his whole time explaining. If your explaining your losing.

[SusanCalvin]

5. They'll try.

Things are different now. They may not succeed.

On edit: Bernie's done pretty well with explaining so far. Draws pretty big crowds.

[Tommy2Tone]

9. So does Trump with crowds

His own state of Vermont, the most liberal state in the union gave up on single payer. Bernie is just playing fantasy and his backers are buying it. Never a chance of it happening. He's being given credit of talking about programs that will never happen.

[SusanCalvin]

10. Sigh...

Vermont is too small a pool for single payer. So, granted, it was doomed in that scenario. Let's try a larger pool. Like the rest of the industrial world.

[Fawke Em]

6. I'd rather be explaining that be the subject of an FBI investigation.

[DJ13]

8. Ouch!

[Fumesucker]

7. We know Hillary won't have to explain anything

[Tommy2Tone]

11. Oh yea they are so easy on her.

They have been throwing shit at the Clintons and to date not one bit of it proved. The worst is some of the Bernie fans who sling it with the right wing.

Bernie will destroy the party but I get the sense that most people here that support Bernie don't care.