Are there any fact checkers at the New York Times?
Since they’ve allowed some glaring mistakes by Paul Krugman (see here and here), I guess the answer is no.
But some mistakes are worse than others.
Consider a recent column by David Stuckler of Oxford and Sanjay Basu of Stanford. Entitled “How Austerity Kills,” it argues that budget cuts are causing needless deaths.
Here’s an excerpt that caught my eye.
Countries that slashed health and social protection budgets, like Greece, Italy and Spain, have seen starkly worse health outcomes than nations like Germany, Iceland and Sweden, which maintained their social safety nets and opted for stimulus over austerity.
The reason this grabbed my attention is that it was only 10 days ago that I posted some data from Professor Gurdgiev in Ireland showing that Sweden and Germany were among the tiny group of European nations that actually had reduced the burden of government spending.
Greece, Italy, and Spain, by contrast, are among those that increased the size of the public sector. So the argument presented in the New York Times is completely wrong. Indeed, it’s 100 percent wrong because Iceland (which Professor Gurdgiev didn’t measure since it’s not in the European Union) also has smaller government today than it did in the pre-crisis period.
But that’s just part of the problem with the Stuckler-Basu column. They want us to believe that “slashed” budgets and inadequate spending have caused “worse health outcomes” in nations such as Greece, Italy, and Spain, particularly when compared to Germany, Iceland, and Spain.
But if government spending is the key to good health, how do they explain away this OECD data, which shows that government is actually bigger in the three supposed “austerity” nations than it is in the three so-called “stimulus” countries.
Once again, Stuckler and Basu got caught with their pants down, making an argument that is contrary to easily retrievable facts.
But I guess this is business-as-usual at the New York Times. After all, this is the newspaper that’s been caught over and over again engaging in sloppy and/or inaccurate journalism.
- Asserting that government schools are “starved of funding” when taxpayer subsidies actually have skyrocketed.
- Accidentally confirming that tax competition is needed to control the greed of the political class.
- Writing that the sequester will mean “deep automatic spending cuts” when the budget actually will climb by $2.4 trillion.
- Claiming that Italy is more prosperous than the United States and that there is less poverty.
- Urging a tax-increase budget agreement based on a chart showing that the only successful budget deal was the one that cut taxes.
Oh, and if you want to know why the Stuckler-Basu column is wrong about whether smaller government causes higher death rates, just click here.
[…] Claiming that budget-cutting austerity nations are doing worse than “stimulus” nations, but getting the numbers backwards. […]
[…] Claiming that budget-cutting austerity nations are doing worse than “stimulus” nations, but getting the numbers backwards. […]
[…] Like the time a column in the New York Times argued that “austerity” kills people, but the examples cited were countries where the burden of government spending was higher. […]
[…] Like the time a column in the New York Times argued that “austerity” kills people, but the examples cited were countries where the burden of government spending was higher. […]
[…] Times argued that “austerity” kills people, but the examples cited were countries where the burden of government spending was higher. Or the time that The Washington Post said that a $71 billion increase in Medicaid spending was […]
[…] Like the time a column in the New York Times argued that “austerity” kills people, but the examples cited were countries where the burden of government spending was higher. […]
[…] Claiming that budget-cutting austerity nations are doing worse than “stimulus” nations, but getting the numbers backwards. […]
[…] https://danieljmitchell.wordpress.com/2013/05/13/another-example-of-editorial-page-fiction-at-the-new… […]
[…] about columns in the New York Times, I’m normally pointing out silly examples of bias or exposing absurd mistakes (with Paul Krugman deserving his own special category for sloppiness, as seen here, here, here, […]
[…] P.P.P.P.P.S. The New York Times publishes a lot of Krugman’s diatribes, but they also make room for other fact-challenged Keynesians. […]
[…] P.P.P.P.P.S. The New York Times publishes a lot of Krugman’s diatribes, but they also make room for other fact-challenged Keynesians. […]
[…] Claiming that budget-cutting austerity nations are doing worse than “stimulus” nations, but getting the numbers backwards. […]
The same NY Times that always flogs the fake “Runaway Global Warming” and “carbon” scare is being dishonest here, too?
Why am I not surprised?
The Greek economy collapsed, so spending as a percentage of GDP will tend to increase.
Greek government spending
http://s1313.photobucket.com/user/Zachri_El/media/greece-government-spending_zps8345cc3a.png.html
[…] https://danieljmitchell.wordpress.com/2013/05/13/another-example-of-editorial-page-fiction-at-the-new… […]
Many studies of alcoholics have shown that those who gave up drinking typically fared worse than those who kept drinking, in the few weeks after cessation. They suffered withdrawals, many with significant negative consequences. Therefore, the consensus is forming that the best overall approach is to keep drinking.
The same continuation approach is suggested to those nations who delusionaly aspire to avert decline by collectivizing individual effort.
Not to worry. The three billion emerging world souls, many of whom have not even bought their first car yet, will surely show some compassion and understanding to the less than one billion western world citizens, who are waging class warfare in order to regain their 6x prosperity advantage over the world average. Better times are coming…there is hope…