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The Washington Post Wants You to Worry About Less Crowded Roads and BeachesCEPR / June 30, 2017
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Douze raisons de s’opposer aux règles sur le commerce électronique à l’OMCDeborah James / June 30, 2017
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Yet Another Piece on Jobs Lost Because Employers Don't Know How to Raise WagesCEPR / June 30, 2017
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We Are Facing an “Austerity Tax” Due to Completely Unrealistic Fears About Government DeficitsDean Baker
The International Economy, Spring 2017
Dean Baker / June 29, 2017
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Central Bankers Seem Seriously Confused About Robots and the EconomyCEPR / June 29, 2017
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Thomas Friedman Whines About His Lost TPPThomas Friedman, who is legendary for his boldly stated wrong assertions, got into the game again making absurd claims about the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) and the great loss the U.S. suffers from it going down. Friedman tells readers:
"It was not only the largest free-trade agreement in history, it was the best ever for U.S. workers, closing loopholes Nafta had left open. TPP included restrictions on foreign state-owned enterprises that dumped subsidized products into our markets, intellectual property protections for rising U.S. technologies — like free access for all cloud computing services — but also anti-human-trafficking provisions that prohibited turning guest workers into slave labor, a ban on trafficking in endangered wildlife parts, a requirement that signatories permit their workers to form independent trade unions to collectively bargain and the elimination of all child labor practices — all to level the playing field with American workers."
This is of course wrong. First, and most importantly, all the provisions on items like human trafficking, child labor, and trading in endangered wildlife depended on action by the administration. In other words, if the TPP had been approved by Congress last year we would be dependent on the Trump administration to enforce these parts of the agreement. Even the most egregious violations could go completely unsanctioned, if the Trump administration opted not to press them. Given the past history with both Democratic and Republican administrations, this would be a very safe bet.
In contrast, the provisions on items like violations of the patent and copyright provisions or the investment rules can be directly enforced by the companies affected. The TPP created a special extra-judicial process, the investor-state dispute settlement system, which would determine if an investor's rights under the agreement had been violated.
CEPR / June 28, 2017
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A Job-Killing Robot for Rich PeopleDean Baker
Jacobin, June 27, 2017
Dean Baker / June 27, 2017
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Prescription Drug Spending is Consuming a Bigger Share of WagesPrescription drugs are a large and growing share of national income. While it is generally recognized that drugs are expensive, many people are unaware of how large a share of their income goes to paying for drugs because much of it goes through third party payers, specifically insurance companies and the government.
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) produce projections of national expenditures on prescription drugs through 2025, along with historical estimates dating back to 1960. As shown below, prescription drug spending from 1960 to 1980 was equivalent to about one percent of total wage and salary income. In the years leading up to the passage of the Bayh-Dole act in 1980, wage income was rising faster than spending on prescription drugs. As a result, the share of wages spent on prescription drugs was actually falling, reaching a low in 1979 of 0.86%.
Dean Baker and / June 27, 2017
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Un impuesto sobre las transacciones bursátiles: la mejor solución a la desigualdad de rentaDean Baker
ATTAC, 7 de junio, 2017
Dean Baker / June 26, 2017
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State of Play in the WTO Toward the 11th Ministerial in ArgentinaDeborah James / June 26, 2017
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The Data Defying Job-Killing Robot MythDean Baker
Truthout, June 26, 2017
Dean Baker / June 26, 2017
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The Skills Gap: Blaming Workers Rather than PolicyDean Baker
The Hankyoreh, June 25, 2017
Dean Baker / June 26, 2017
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Can We Get Some Real Intelligence to Talk About Artificial IntelligenceCEPR / June 25, 2017
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The Closing of Retail Stores: Where are the Cheerleaders for Trade?CEPR / June 25, 2017
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Disrupt the Disrupters: Uber’s Comeuppance is the Moment for the U.S. to Finally Start Regulating the So-called Sharing EconomyDean Baker
New York Daily News, June 25, 2017
Dean Baker / June 25, 2017
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Insulin Is Expensive Because the Government Makes it ExpensiveCEPR / June 25, 2017
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The I.R.S. Outsources Debt Collection Because How Else Could People In Financial Industry Survive?CEPR / June 24, 2017