The convention in mainstream journalism is that the new stories give you the facts, and the columnists give you their opinions (hopefully backed by facts). But in the coverage over the debt ceiling and budget debates sometimes you’re better off heading straight to the columns. Today offers a good example. In the Washington Post (7/15/11), Ezra Klein lays out the political dynamic that is rarely explained. As Klein writes, the White House has decided to
offer Republicans a deal that is not only much farther to the right than anyone had predicted, but also much farther to the right than most realize. In addition to the rise in the Medicare eligibility age and the cuts to Social Security and the minimal amount of revenue, it would cut discretionary spending by $1.2 trillion, which is an absolutely massive attack on that category of spending.
In the New York Times (7/15/11), Paul Krugman writes:
President Obama has made it clear that he’s willing to sign on to a deficit-reduction deal that consists overwhelmingly of spending cuts, and includes draconian cuts in key social programs, up to and including a rise in the age of Medicare eligibility. These are extraordinary concessions. As the Times‘s Nate Silver points out, the president has offered deals that are far to the right of what the average American voter prefers –in fact, if anything, they’re a bit to the right of what the average Republican voter prefers!
The conventional coverage–which pits Obama’s offer against Republican intransigence–tends to gloss over these facts. The front-page article in the Times today by Jackie Calmes explains the debate as being between Obama’s desire to raise taxes on the wealthy and cut the deficit, while Republicans prefer “smaller government” and lower taxes. It quotes Sen. John McCain saying that the “president keeps talking about spending more money”–with no explanation that Obama is actually proposing to reduce non-security domestic federal spending as a percentage of GDP to its lowest level in 50 years.
These are the limits in the media debate. The fact that the public would seem to prefer an entirely different type of budget deal is a non-factor. The fact that such plans exist–the People’s Budget of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, for instance–is all but ignored by the corporate media. Senate Democrats have floated a similar plan. A competent press corps would cover these proposals, if only for the sake of telling citizens that such options are available–that reducing the long-term deficit is possible without slashing spending on programs that people support.
But the media would much prefer a budget debate that pits Obama’s Republican-leaning plan against the Republicans who oppose that plan.
Perhaps it is time for the “media” to recognize that Section 4 of the Fourteenth Amendment requires that the debt be “respected”–it would seem that the President, a Constitutional Law Professor should instruct the Treasury to pay anyway.
Obama is nearly equally culpable as the GOP and the mainstream media for buying into myth that the debt ceiling debate really is about reducing deficit spending. The first two jokers are playing high stakes political poker with the economic future of our Nation, and the mainstream media treats it like Texas Hold’em on reality (sports) tv. Small wonder most Americans don’t know their deficit from their debt, much less their asinine Cantor from Obama’s hole card.
That such crap comes from both sides is atrocious. Obama is the most blantent Facist America has seen in Decades. Reagan was of such a class but most people seem to have forgotern this fact. He really is the dream team of the neo fascist corporate right. A worldwide colossal blunder of democracy. And a masterful advertising program. He’s the best argument for a 3rd party i could ever imagine.
Obviously to some of us on the “radical environmental action left” (REAL) suggest what needs to be cut is the police state funding, as well as the majority of weapons spending and development including new planes, ships and heavy artillery and missile systems. Along with Fema, Homeland Security, the FBI & CIA, NSA and every other 3 letter organization except social and educational programs.
We need to end the war against non Pharmacutical drugs and that, The alcohol, tobacco and Pharmacutical companies lobby so insistently for, including emptying the prisons and restarting the National conservation core ought to get us on the right track.
To regain any moral standing we must end the entire prison and mercenary private murder / torture business. Start their licensing fees at 2 billion per month and raise it as necessary to get them out of business.
That ought to just about ballance the budget, what is left we can make up by cutting corporate welfare, subsidies to agribusiness, mining, forestry and BLM giveaways. Taxing the profits and income of arms manufactures and adding a $1000 fee for every $10,000 of weapons exported might also help to ballance the budget. as well as raising the price of lumber and gas to reflect the actual costs to the environment.
We need to lower the social security and retirement age so to stimulate job markets and the economy. The ageist bias in our society will not go away, the least we can do is subsidize people who cannot get hired again because they are over 45 and might use health plans. Once they don’t have to worry about a roof, they will likely start businesses and feed, not bleed the economy.
If after that we decide to tax say 90 percent of the income of .05 percent of the population (who will still only pay less than 50 thousand due to shelters etc. we very well may ballance the budget.
The fact that the pentagon would no longer be able to wage terrorist strikes across the globe might improve national security to unprecedented heights as well as create a global movement toward demilitarization. As well as show the world that we are not actually the “Great Satan” we have been acting like for the past 65 years.
As you have pointed out, there is NO room for such thinking, much less policy’s in the whorehouse of Capitol Hill, The truth be, we are screwed and only citizen action will change anything, and that will likely make the police state apparatus more evident and entrenched than it already is. Get REAL. get active!
FTA: These are the limits in the media debate. The fact that the public would seem to prefer an entirely different type of budget deal is a non-factor. The fact that such plans exist–the People’s Budget of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, for instance–is all but ignored by the corporate media. Senate Democrats have floated a similar plan. A competent press corps would cover these proposals, if only for the sake of telling citizens that such options are available–that reducing the long-term deficit is possible without slashing spending on programs that people support.
Can’t count how many times I heard Republicans state today that the polls show that 80% of Americans want to cut spending and not raise tax rates an anyone. Every poll I’ve seen in the last week has shown that over 70% of Americans want to raise taxes on the wealthy and leave Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid alone. The Republicans are just making up their own facts. I heard John Kyl make the same assertion and we know how bad Kyl is at percentages. I recall when he said that “90% of Planned Parenthood’s work is abortions”..when in fact it was 3% and then his famous statement “he didn’t mean what he said to be taken as fact”. I probably wouldn’t mind their lying so much, if they’d add that same disclaimer that what they say shouldn’t be taken as fact.
dean baker has a good piece up at the guardian on the basic economic illiteracy of the corporate media covering the freakout over the debt…
“As survey after survey shows, the vast majority of the public are incredibly ignorant of the most basic facts about the budget and the economy. If we treated their teachers in the media the way the educational reformers treat public school teachers, few economics and budget reporters would have jobs. ”
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/cifamerica/2011/jul/11/social-security-debt-ceiling-talks
Donna, The polls are quite interesting, and you’re right that Republicans make stuff up. You’re right that vast majorities in 3 polls I saw, (60 Minutes/Vanity Fair, Public Policy Polling and Quinnipiac University) all said even among Republicans, 56% favor taxing those with incomes of $1mil or more. Then there’s the Gallup poll. In order to get LESS than a majority of respondents to favor taxing the rich, they carefully worded their poll to ask if government should REDISTRIBUTE wealth by HEAVY taxes on the rich? To this, 49% said “should not” and 47% said “should.” I say the 39.6% the wealthy paid under Clinton is not a heavy tax, considering Americans were happy to pay a top rate of 70% from 1964 -1982.
Why are the writer and the posters here so inflamed over what is obviously the result of simple cause-and-effect?
Corporations force our “elected” representatives to do what is in THEIR best interests, not the best interests of the people. If those representatives did not do so, they would lose their corporate financing come election time.
Being the corporations don’t want to be made to look politically incorrect, and need to cover up their profiteering over immigration, the debt, our imperialist wars, and other fatuous institutions of The Empire, it is quite simple that they will instruct their minions in Congress and the Executive to follow Corporate orders. It is really that simple.
And that is the story behind ALL of these stories on fair.org, mediamatters, freepress, and other organs of Leftist, objective, non-corporate funded organizations. It’s the Corporations/Politicians/Military versus The People. That will not change until the institution of corporation is abolished and replaced by publicly-owned resources managed by open, democratic, transparent leadership.
These websites are establishing a pile of incriminating evidence against the wealthy elite who hide behind their corporate veils and off-shore banking accounts. One day — hopefully soon — the prosecutors will win a very cut-and-dried case against these crooks and put them away forever.
Only in washington does a leader promise massive cuts(to future spending)and count it as actual money saved.And of course the whole idea of such a thing is preposterous since there is no mechanism to hold anyone to such a deal.
Look you don’t have to understand much to see the government is spending more than they take in.I heard Obamas speech a few nights ago.At first he was saying the right things.Then……….he starts talking about spending and pie in the sky ideas.I suppose we COULD inch up the tax rate to pay for some things.Lot of good it would do.Ten seconds later the faucet would be turned on, and the money would be spent in a heartbeat.Then we could ratchet up the taxes and away we go.
Goldman Sachs has just downgraded all figures concerning recovery,and Americas economic future.Reminds me of the Obama bumper sticker I see driving about.It says HAD ENOUGH YET!
Really anyone who pulls the lever for this train wreck(Obama)should have his hand rot off.I just spent two hours going over the numbers and I am sickened . Maybe i am just so disgusted at this moment with you sheeple. But to all you libs who have been shoveling this ….. really,really just shut the f#%ck up.Give us some silent time to mourn the passing of this country.Your spending is going to be cut off.Along with everybody else. These figures are cataclysmic.
GS lowered growth projections. They are not predicting recession, let alone contraction at this point.
The lower numbers were caused by decreased consumer spending. It’s still a demand problem as GS’s Jan Hatzius explains “One key question in coming months is whether final demand recovers to the 2 percent to 2-1/2 percent pace that is probably necessary to keep GDP growth near trend and prevent the unemployment rate from rising more noticeably. ”
There were outside factors as well. “The double whammy of supply disruptions [after Japan’s earthquake] and the oil price shock has hit consumers very hard,” said economists at Bank of America Merrill Lynch.
Reuters notes: “A combination of bad weather and high commodity prices slowed economic activity in the first three months of 2011.”
B.s
If you are trying to grasp at straws that was a good effort.
Thanks for the great post above. I can relate on it and I would like to share my comment – Don’t let yourself be tricked by the never ending marked-down items and be carried-away whenever you see a lot of auction merchandise and suppose that in case you don’t spend money on them now, you will regret it your whole life. It can be simpler to swipe a credit card than having to pay in cash but paying out in cash will let you invest on the things which are within your budget plan. Developing a sensible practical experience with the general aspects of good and bad debts can certainly help prevent you from drowning in it through your lifetime.