Dean Baker noted something in a post late last night. He was talking about the latest Robert Samuelson column over at the Washington Post, Who’s Not Bargaining in Good Faith? Baker does this at least once a week. It seems that Samuelson can hardly open his mouth without making him apoplectic. And with good reason.

Samuelson wrote an attack on the horrors of inflation, The Great Inflation and Its Aftermath. In 2008. Bad timing? I don’t think so. I would call it poor thinking. He is very good at sounding knowledgeable and reasonable while spouting complete nonsense. In his book, for example, he claims that the high level of government spending caused the inflation of the 1970s. But then this inflation was fixed by Paul Volcker with monetary policy. Somehow, this is due to Ronald Reagan, even though Jimmy Carter appointed Volcker, and Volcker’s anti-inflation policies were one of the reasons that Carter lost re-election. Regardless, Samuelson’s “keep inflation low and don’t give a fuck about unemployment” philosophy has been shown to be the cruel battle cry of the elite. It deserves more than scorn; it deserves indifference.

In Samuelson’s column, he says, “The Administration on Aging reports that in 2010, 25.9 percent of households headed by someone 65 or older had incomes exceeding $75,000.” This one is a softball, which Baker hits out of the park:

This isn’t the first time that Baker has noticed this disconnect. And it doesn’t just come from Samuelson. The elite seem to have divided the world into two parts: their friends (people like them) and everyone else. Any discomfort for their friends is unacceptable. And no discomfort for everyone else is too great.