Washington Post (3/30/17)
This week on CounterSpin: “She took the family to McDonald’s because they liked it, even though she knew they couldn’t afford to eat out. She went through more pain pills than she needed, and every few weeks, when those pills ran low, like today, she returned to the doctor for more.” That’s some of what the Washington Post thinks you should know about the mother in a family that relies on Social Security Disability Insurance. The paper is doing a series on disability benefits and so far it’s…exactly like that fragment suggests. And if you like bad data along with your mean-spirited anecdote, the Post has you covered there as well. We’ll talk with Rebecca Vallas of the Center for American Progress about the many problems and the potential impact of this kind of reporting.
Transcript: Misleading, Myth-Based Reporting Risks Giving Cover to Slash Vital Programs
(cc photo: AFL-CIO)
Also on the show: Politicians and pundits made hay with congressional candidate Karen Handel’s comment that she did not support a “livable wage.” But while the phrasing was inelegant, the Georgia Republican didn’t really misspeak—and it’s a bit rich for corporate media to claim to find remarkable a position they’ve spent plenty of time entertaining. We discussed the merits of that position on a previous show with economist Holly Sklar. She runs a group called Business for a Fair Minimum Wage, and is author of, among other titles, Raise the Floor: Wages and Policies that Work for All of Us. We’ll hear again from Holly Sklar on the myths around a living wage.
Transcript: If You Work a Full-Time Job, You Shouldn’t Be Earning a Poverty Wage
As usual, we take a quick look back at recent press, including the British elections, the 50th anniversary of the Six-Day War and the questions not asked about climate change.
By deliberate intent, going back to 1776, never in the history of our Empire has the laboring-class lower-half of society had the wealth to hire the politicians needed to gain liberty.
For the upper-half of society, including the working-class which is the middle-class, they are so blinded by a desire for wealth that they comprehend not how they enslave themselves by allowing the rich to enslave the laboring-class by poverty. For when the lower-half know that they will never be free of poverty, they have no desire to vote as all politicians are their slave drivers. Which then allows the 26% most wealthy to be the voting majority and to win all elections.
For without morality, democracy is nothing more then ownership of all the land and wealth for the 51% most greed driven and wealthy.