Alan Blinder

An elitist economist is insulting his readers by doubling down on the much-criticized notion that spiking inflation is only “transitory.” 

Mississippi Republican Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith won a run-off election against Democrat Mike Espy, an African-American who served as agriculture secretary during the Clinton administration. But both before and after the Republican victory, the paper dwelled on racial wounds that the sitting senator had apparently reopened during her campaign. A sports story made the ridiculous claim that Hyde-Smith…

More unseemly eagerness in Thursday’s New York Times to use the tragic murders in Parkland to help Democrats gain Congress, while weakening constitutional rights. Reporter Alan Blinder went to Helena, Montana searching out “red state” voters willing to reject the “iron rule” of supporting the National Rifle Association,  which is "hard line," shows "belligerence," and demands "lock-step loyalty."

The front page of Sunday’s New York Times provided yet another entry in the bulging file of Times articles that brim with optimism about Democratic prospects and dousing the hopes of Republicans. Alexander Burns and Alan Blinder reported that “G.O.P. Braces As Statehouses Are Put in Play -- Energized Democrats Sense Momentum.” Burns and Blinder promised a bumpy ride in the 2018 midterms for the…

Air conditioning: Great for prisoners, bad for the environment? That’s the unwitting and contradictory takeaway from Tuesday’s New York Times. The lack of air conditioning in some Southern prisons led the National section. Alan Blinder fretted: “In U.S.’s ‘Sweatbox’ Jails, a Constitutional Clash Over Air-Conditioning.” But the same day's Science section asked rhetorically: "...can I use my air-…

The New York Times still has the racially hostile, bathroom-bigoted state of North Carolina on its mind and in its political crosshairs. Tuesday’s full-court front-page press coverage of the ongoing LGBT-rights and bathroom-access controversy was joined by some hand-wringing about a recent GOP court victory that will tighten previously loosened voting rules, an action that liberal groups (and the…

Carolina was in the mind of the liberal New York Times this weekend. The state’s Republican governor Pat McCrory recently signed religious freedom legislation that included a provision stating people in government buildings must use the restroom associated with their biological sex, the one on their birth certificate. In other words, the way public bathrooms have always worked. The Times,…

One could spend hours critiquing the horridly written, agenda-driven Friday evening (Saturday print edition, front page) story at the New York Times about Marilyn J. Mosby, the state’s attorney for Baltimore. On Friday, she announced the indictment of six police officers in the death of Freddie Gray. Earlier Sunday, "Open Blogger" at the Ace of Spades blog provided the Cliff's notes version of…

NPR ombudsman Edward Schumacher-Matos has demonstrated he's not interested in the argument that NPR has a liberal bias. But he has repeatedly addressed listeners who are angry NPR favors Republicans too much, or fails to pounce immediately on leftist PR stunts like Occupy Wall Street. On Wednesday, his post began: "Arthur Price of New York City asked this provocative question: 'Is it my…

Most economists are not susceptible to partisanship in their work, a new scholarly study finds. But anyone who reads Paul Krugman's columns in the New York Times will hardly be surprised to learn he is a glaring exception to the study's findings. He consistently changes his fiscal views depending on the party in power."Krugman has changed his tune in a significant way regarding the budget deficit…