For one, Baker's reaction isn't "surprised." It was more like, "You stupid fucking idiots" -- a polemic directed against the New York Times for disingenuous reportage. Trust me, as a devoted reader of Baker for awhile now, I can tell you he is not in the "Whoah! This is surprising!" category of commentators. He is more in the "Yep, this s what you get, dumbasses," vein.
He correctly predicted the subprime crisis, too, in early 2005. So, yeah, Dean Baker is not doing some "heavy breathing" type stuff -- it's basically more like impatience with free market ideologues and especially the media for not getting their shit right - or just plain, right-out lying about what the facts are (as in the Washington Post with its screwy NATA stats that baker has repeatedly corrected them on but which they refuse to acknowledge.).
-B.
Eric wrote:
"I'm sorry, but all this heavy breathing [...] is pretty ridiculous. I mean, is anyone really surprised by this? I would say only leftist intellectuals are. Most people know that the state is merely fulfilling its function. Duh."