The S&P Downgrade Market Plunge Myth

By Dean Baker Huffington Post, August 15, 2011 The Wall Street crew that wants to cut your Social Security and Medicare benefits are sensing that victory is in sight. They have managed to knock jobs completely off the agenda and have made deficit reduction the near exclusive focus of economic policy in ... Read more

The Economic Illiterates Step Up The Attack On Social Security and Medicare

By Dean Baker Truthout, August 9, 2011 Standard & Poor’s (S&P) downgrade of US debt should be seen as the joke it is. The rating agency, which gave investment grade ratings to hundreds ... Read more

Reading the Debt Ceiling Tea Leaves to Predict the Future

The Worst is Yet to Come By Jack Rasmus Z Net , July 14, 2011 A few weeks ago in late June it leaked out that Vice-President Biden had secretly agreed with Republicans to $1 trillion in spending cuts in an effort to get them to agree to raise the debt ceiling. That was soon upgraded in ... Read more

Will the Ceiling Fall In? Disastrous Outcomes From an Orchestrated Crisis

By Paul Craig Roberts Counterpunch, July 29, 2011 With the world concerned about US financial credibility and the poor outlook for the US economy, now is not the time for the Republicans to grandstand on the public debt. The debt ceiling needed to be quietly raised.? ... Read more

The Weird Battle Over the Debt Ceiling

Washington, DC is Exaggerating Debt Issue to Push an Agenda to Please Campaign Contributors and Hide the Real Causes of Debt By Dean Baker Al Jazeera, July 28. 2011 Policy debates in Washington are moving ever further from reality as a small elite is moving to strip benefits that the vast majority need and ... Read more

The 6 Biggest Lies About the U.S. Debt

As Congress nears a vote on the various debt ceiling deals, let’s look at the lies and misinformation that got us into this mess. By Arun Gupta AlterNet, July 28, 2011 There is one simple truth about the discussion of the looming U.S. debt crisis: it is largely a compendium of half-truths, ... Read more

Subsidizing Profits, Weakening Social Security: The Employer Payroll Tax Cut

By Dean Baker Truthout, July 5, 2011 These days, it appears as though the main goal of government policy is to give as much money as possible to corporations and the wealthy. This is an area where there has been considerable success, with the profit share of GDP at near ... Read more

Will Tax Holiday Kill Social Security>

Ignoring liberal Dems, Obama endorses longer payroll tax holiday through 2012 By Mike Lillis The Hill, June, 29, 2011 President Obama on Wednesday reiterated his push to extend an existing payroll tax holiday through 2012 – a move denounced by liberal Democrats who fear the reduction in revenues will ... Read more

Solution to the Budget Shortfall: The ‘R.A.T.S. TAX PROGRAM’ To Make the Rich and Corporations Pay

By Jack Rasmus June 30, 2011 COMMENTARY: As the deficit-debt debates intensify it is becoming increasing clear that Teapublicans want only draconian cuts in spending, social security-medicare-medicaid and public education in ... Read more