Dean Baker
Dean Baker
Dean Bakeris an American macroeconomist and co-founder of the Center for Economic and Policy Research, with Mark Weisbrot. He has been a senior economist at the Economic Policy Institute and an assistant professor of economics at Bucknell University. He has a Ph.D. in economics from the University of Michigan...
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Normally when you talk about housing bubbles bursting, you're talking about a specific local market. But we've never had a nationwide run-up in home prices like this. I don't think it's realistic to think the decline won't also be national. I think a 15 percent nationwide decline is very plausible. In many bubble areas, could be looking at 20-25, maybe 30 percent declines.
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These monthly numbers are very erratic. It can be that this is a sign (of the bubble bursting), but I would never make too much of one month's number. Especially since the other timely data we get, the mortgage applications for home purchases, have still been pretty high.
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It's just prudent to have a chemical safety program, ... We don't want to have a sterile leaning environment, we want kids to have a rich learning environment while keeping them safe, that's the same issue every school faces.
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He consciously promoted the housing bubble as a way of boosting the economy.
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Historically, rent prices and sale prices have moved together.
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Clearly, housing is going to be a drag on the economy; the question is how much does housing slow and how quickly.
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He was the one who had the courage to let the unemployment rate fall. Very few people thought the unemployment rate could fall that low.
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If Medicare could negotiate directly with drug companies it could save the federal and state governments hundred of billions of dollars and cut insurance premiums.
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Things do seem like they're out of line, but of course I've been seeing warning bells for several years.
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On this policy, the district is already in compliance with the requirements and has been for a couple of years, ... This policy just formalizes it.
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The idea that we have to make cuts imminently because of the Baby Boomer generation is simply not true. We knew about Boomers and adjusted the program accordingly. Greenspan is really off the mark.
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I think Alan and really played a unique role here. He certainly expanded the power of the Fed, in the sense that he came to be the all purpose authority on economic matters -- he was commenting on trade policy, tax policy.
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Home prices are going through the roof, forcing people to turn to exotic loans and unorthodox financing. These people have no room for error.