FAIR’s new alert takes CBS Evening News to task for relying heavily on CEOs associated with the corporate-backed Fix the Debt campaign in their recent reporting about the so-called “fiscal cliff.”
If you’re sending an email to CBS, please consider pasting your message in the comments section below.
I wrote CBS just now:
“Enough already with the fiscal cliff. Everything was supposed to go bust if we didn’t bail out wall street.
Well, we bailed out wall street, and WE STILL WENT BUST.
Enough with the bs and lies and your “entitlement busting” CEO “experts” (the most entitled people I know!)
It is time for parity, peace, transparency and authenticity.
This drama mongering is old.
Start the GOOD NEWS CHANNEL, why don’t you?
People are hungry for it, and sick of the secrets, lies and misinformation.
valerie gilbert
nyc
I was shocked and disgusted to find CBS News giving Lloyd Blankfein carte blanc time on your news program to lecture Americans to cut entitlement programs. He offered inaccurate statistics. He was not questioned or challenged. You presented no alternative viewpoint. Your behavior and lack of journalistic standards was personally revolting to me. This man and others like him helped to crash the economy. It’s an insult to your viewership to present a segment like this. We’ve had to endure the lies and spin from the political campaigns for the last two years. Now the News programs? My wife and I watch the CBS morning show every day. I’m so disgusted, I don’t want to watch you anymore. We started watching you when NBC fired Ann Curry. Is there a single TV news channel that has any pedigree anymore? It’s not a matter of me disagreeing with someone who is interviewed. But why am I explaining to you what your job is? If you want to be advocacy television call yourself 60 Minutes. Not news.
“Pathetic Court Reports Pure Embarrassment To Semiconscious Entities”
Your discussion of the “fiscal cliff” should include experts who aren’t entitlement-busting CEOs.
You’re an utter disgrace to journalism. You’re killing it. You know that, don’t you?
In eternal despite
XXX
“Our species needs, and deserves, a citizenry with minds wide awake and a basic understanding of how the world works.”
– Carl Sagan
“Knowledge will forever govern ignorance, and a people who mean to be their own governors, must arm themselves with the power knowledge gives. A popular government without popular information or the means of acquiring it, is but a prologue to a farce or a tragedy or perhaps both.”
– James Madison
Giving someone like CEO Lloyd Blankfein of GoldMan Sachs as an expert of how to deal with the Fiscal Cliff seems to me as if CBS wants to go into the comedy business along with Jon Stuart of the Daily Show. After all we the People if your memory is a bit short had to bail these idiots out with our tax dollars. Now all of a sudden Blankfein is smart again to come up with this so called brilliant claim that Social Security is to blame?. That Senior Citizens who basically would be out in the streets except for Social Security is fine as long as we control the Fiscal Cliff.
As far as Corporations are concerned nothing should be changed. Lets keep the tax breaks for Corporations as they’ve been. The same old status quo.
CBS Evening News what in the world is wrong with you? Or better yet are you so controlled by the Corporations that you no longer know what the word ‘Journalism’ means? Your basis for News seems to be on the same level as FoxNews. Unless you chnge your ways I will no longer watch your brand of non-journalism again.
Slowly but surely, the only News Station that people will be turning into will be either or both the Daily Show or the Colbert Report. CBS News, shouldn’t you be ashamed of yourself.
SUBJECT: Please balance reporting on so-called ‘fiscal cliff’!
Dear CBS:
You’ve recently had a slew of wealthy CEOs on voicing their opinions re the need for cutting the safety net. None of those people would ever NEED that net. Please talk to and folks to would and do, and to the people who work with and/or represent them.
Best, MichaelG
Giving someone like CEO Lloyd Blankfein of GoldMan Sachs as an expert of how to deal with the Fiscal Cliff seems to me as if CBS wants to go into the comedy business along with Jon Stuart of the Daily Show. After all we the People if your memory is a bit short had to bail these idiots out with our tax dollars. Now all of a sudden Blankfein is smart again to come up with this so called brilliant claim that Social Security is to blame?. That Senior Citizens who basically would be out in the streets except for Social Security is fine as long as we control the Fiscal Cliff.
As far as Corporations are concerned nothing should be changed. Lets keep the tax breaks for Corporations as they’ve been. The same old status quo.
CBS Evening News what in the world is wrong with you? Or better yet are you so controlled by the Corporations that you no longer know what the word ‘Journalism’ means? Your basis for News seems to be on the same level as FoxNews. Unless you chnge your ways I will no longer watch your brand of non-journalism again.
Slowly but surely, the only News Station that people will be turning into will be either or both the Daily Show or the Colbert Report. CBS News, shouldn’t you be ashamed of yourself.
Dear CBS Evening News:
Why are you using all CEOs to talk about this so-called “fiscal cliff” which is really a bunch of malarky to begin with. How is that fair? They are all going to say the same thing. Why not use a Robert Reich or Paul Krugman? SHAME ON YOU!
I’m outraged.
Fondly,
Lulu
Dear CBS, Much as I love watching The Mentalist and The Good Wife, I know when I watch them that they are fiction. But when I watch the news, I really would like to hear the facts interpreted by someone other than corporate CEOs like Lloyd Blankfein and David Cole, who are obviously pushing for a cut in the entitlements that working people have paid into over many years. When did you last give voice to someone who wants to cut our outrageous spending on military operations? When did you last point out the extremes of wealth inequality that have only grown in recent years? Or the reasons why those inequalities keep growing? You know, much of your audience is not stupid. These days we can get solid information about such matters on line. Beware, TV news may become a dinosaur.
Helen N. Hanna
I just wrote to CBS Evening News:
It is disgusting to see Lloyd Blankfein pontificating on anything, let alone financial matters, after his company received tens of billions of our tax dollars to save its ass from its own bad bets. And twice
in one week! If there were justice in this country, he and his ilk would be in jail for fraud.
What is the matter with you people? Are you so intent on promoting Pete Peterson’s propaganda that you can’t offer a truthful point of view? Do you want to see the total destruction of our society?
Does Mr. Blankfein own a piece of you? Edward R. Murrow must be convulsing in his grave.
I couldn’t help but notice that Sumner Redstone and Leslie Moonves gave that slimeball Lloyd Blankfein – who, along with his fellow banker slimeballs, made 14 trillion in American wealth disappear by creating the financial meltdown – a soapbox the other day, where he claimed that people have to expect cuts to the future benefits they’ve worked for because we can’t afford them. Who the hell does that piece of dirt does he think he is, some kind of financial genius? It’s very obvious that he and his dirtball buddies are not. If they were, this country wouldn’t be in the financial mess that it’s in today. I know I can’t stop Redstone and Moonves from putting their rich buddies on your channel, but whenever I watch CBS from now on, I’ll write down a list of all your advertisers, and boycott every single one of them and ask friends and family to do the same.
Les Gibson
Hi!
Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein. The guy to tell us we’re not getting our entitlements. Goldman Sachs? CEO? I feel Bush whacked. C’mon. Let’s hear the story, the possibilities from someone with no golden parachutes in the fire. And by the way, I don’t hear discussions of how the privileged and their multiple million buck bonuses are making many of us angry. Especially when we hear people like Lloyd Blankfein tell us we’re not getting our entitlements.
Peace,
Lawrence Jacksina
I can’t believe how one-sided you are when you have “experts” discuss the fiscal “cliff” – all wealthy CEO’s. Everyday Americans have suffered and given up too much over the past 30 years, and the very wealthy have seen their incomes SOAR, and their tax rates PLUNGE.
It is time to hear from those who do not believe that do not believe that cuts to entitlement programs, AND Social Security and Medicare (which are NOT entitlements) will fix our economy, and will, rather, hurt it. Let us hear from them.
The Institute for Policy Studies recently issued a report (11/13/12 ) explaining the corporate interests behind the debt campaign. Report co-author Sarah Anderson told Democracy Now! (11/13/12) that Fix the Debt is “really just a Trojan horse. They’re pushing for the same old tax breaks for corporations that they’ve been pushing for for about a decade.”
Now is the time for the people to hear from BOTH sides! Our country counts on our journalists and other media to keep us informed. Please, do your job.
Regards,
Jackie
Arvada, CO
Dear CBS News Folks,
Your recent use of multimillionaire CEOs opining the fiscal evils of Medicare / Medicaid / Social Security are disheartening to me, and to probably most viewers. It is clear to me that these guys don’t have a clue about how these programs are funded; that current recipients have contributed to the funds throughout their working lives and most are dependent on the monthly (or as needed, in the case of defined health benefits) payments from these programs.
In general, paying taxes – which most of us working folks do – allow us to live in a civilized society and care about each other as a matter of public policy. Judging from the high visibility afforded these CEOs, Lloyd Blanknfeins and David Cote, the Romney sound-alikes, CBS News is transforming itself into FOX News, partisan, unfair and at times, simply dishonest.
It is a sad state of affairs for television news. It is unhelpful to our democracy. You can, and should do better.
Respectfully,
Joe Lendvai
Brooklin ME
This is a response to Lloyd Blankfein’s comment that benefit cuts are necessary. At some point in the future, it will be useful to discuss tweaking social security, medicare, etc. But it’s useless to have this conversation while investment banks are still permitted to suck wealth out of the main street economy via their exotic derivatives. Their financial instruments are legal, but unethical. We had a melt down of the financial industry in 2008. President Bush, and later, Obama bailed out the industry with 16 trillion dollars of taxpayer guarantees (exposed by Barney Sanders and Ron Paul.) It is unethical to squeeze the benefits out of working people in order to allow the super wealthy to continue their casino style financing.
Why don’t you have Naomi Klein, or Max Kaiser on the air to provide honesty, fairness and balance to the comments made by investment bank CEOs?
thank you, Frank
Frank Riccio
frankriccio@embarqmail.com
I understand that you have decided the best way to inform viewers about the impending “fiscal cliff” is to let corporate CEOs affiliated with the Fix the Debt campaign recommend cuts to Social Security and Medicare. This is a terrible disservice to the American people. The Fiscal Cliff was created to force congress to deal with the deficit. The solution to the problem, as Obama has stated from the beginning, should be balanced. He originally suggested a 50-50 split between increased revenue and decreased spending. Krugman, in the New York Times, suggested that the split should be more like a increasing revenue by 3% of GDP and decreasing spending by 1% of GDP. He as well as James Galbraith, Stephanie Kelton, Bruce Bartlett and many other, point out that the problem with the economy is more a problem of jobs and production than of too much spending on entitlements. They further point out that cutting entitlements will create another, even worse, recession. The spending cuts that should be made should come from reducing subsidies to major corporations that should be getting them. The Coal and Oil industries are one such place to cut.
The disastrous thing about CBS doing a bad job is that people believe that CBS is a source for information that allows them to have a good understanding. You should really eliminate Lloyd Blankfein as source of information about the budget problems and replace him with people who will give a better explanation such as the people I named above, Paul Krugman, James Galbraith, Stephanie Kelton or Bruce Bartlett. If you don’t replace Blankfein, you should at least add one of the others.
Dear CBS Evening News,
Over the past week, you have insistently highlighted the viewpoints of a coalition of CEOs and conservative politicians affiliated with the corporate-sponsored “Fix the Debt” campaign that the US’s social safety net must be dismantled in various ways to solve budgetary problems, people like Blankfein, Simpson, Bowles, and David Cote. You have not pointed out the affiliations and interests of these individuals, rather promoting them as neutral observers stating what must be done. It would rather behoove your viewing public if you took a step back and provided a more neutral viewpoint, rather than promoting without comment or examination the views of a corporate coalition ideologically devoted to destroying New Deal and Great Society programs in favor of “smaller government.”
I would like to request you provide some context, less alarmism over the misnamed “fiscal cliff,” and some other viewpoints.
Thank you,
Jeffrey Carlson
CBS Evening News:
Your coverage of the fiscal cliff and, in particular, possible cuts to our earned benefit programs such as Social Security is transparently biased with excessive voices from the conservative side.
Let us hear the other side which I find much more believable. Let us hear Nobel Laureate Paul Krugman and others who offer views not so aligned with the super-wealthy.
I want some real journalism – not right-wing PR.
Bruce Robinson – middle class and tired of this ongoing class war
I wrote:
Dear CBS News,
Why should I care the slightest bit what a bunch of multi-millionaire CEO’s think about the upcoming “fiscal cliff” and how we should deal with it? You know and I know that “entitlement” programs like Social Security and Medicare don’t add a single dime to the deficit. Perhaps you should be reporting on why people like Lloyd Blankfein, David Cote, and Scott Pelley are so adamant about “reforming” these programs; programs they can’t possibly ever benefit from, nor relate to anyone who might. Why not report their association with with the “Fix the Debt” campaign, and how all they’re really after is the tired old broken record of lower taxes for corporations. Throw in that corporate America has posted record profits over the last several years.
A long, long time ago, Alan Greenspan showed Ronald Reagan that the Social Security fund was endangered by the mass retiring of the baby boomers, and convinced him the deduction rates should go from 8% to 15% to accommodate the demand. And it would have if every President since, including Reagan, hadn’t raided the fund for whatever bullshit reason they had. That should be news. Social Security is fully funded for a couple more decades; there’s no need to do any reform other than to bolster the program. But there are too many politicians that want to get their hands on this Treasury fund, and too many corporations that want the short-term savings. Fat-cat CEOs have no place telling the rest of us what we need or don’t need, what or what not to “expect,” or what is or is not good for our country.
Shame on you for giving these political activists a national megaphone. Perhaps your weary of being labeled ‘liberal’ that you’ve over-corrected to the other side of the road. If I want Republican-slanted business or economic reporting, or corporate cheerleading, I’ll watch CNBC. Perhaps Jeff Glor should send them his CV. I look to you for comprehensive news.
Here’s my email to evening@cbsnews.com.
To whom it may concern:
I’m upset at your recent decisions to feature comments from Wall Street moguls like Lloyd Blankfein regarding the “fiscal cliff” and the impending budget decisions in the new year. People like Blankfein have no credibility when it comes to the effects of cuts in Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid on lower-income Americans. As some have noted, reducing the Federal deficit is important, but should take a back seat to getting money into the hands of those suffering most from the economic downturn of the last four-plus years. How about a voice from those who counsel a different course, say from former Labor Secretary Robert Reich at UC Berkeley?
How absurd can you get – CEO’s pontificating on SS, Medicare, driving this country over a cliff?
How about Wall St roulette, where the pit bosses gambled with the wealth of middle class Americans?
How about TWO UNFUNDED WARS OF CHOICE STARTED BY REPUBLICANS?
How about 30 years of ‘trickle down’, that DIDN’T?
How about tax breaks for the ‘job creators’, who’ve created nothing but larger deposits in their off shore havens?
How about the corporations who’ve seen some of the most profitable years while the US has suffered, and THEY DIDN’T PAY TAXES?
How about you get someone besides a pompous, entitled THIEF to REALLY EXPOSE why this country ‘doesn’t have the money’ for social programs that help keep people from poverty?
You have a job to do as ‘journalists’ – DO IT. Stop treating these selfish, greedy bastards as ‘experts’ in anything but buying the government of this country and robbing us blind.
CBS NEWS: your discussion of the “fiscal cliff” should include experts who aren’t entitlement-busting CEOs.
On November 19, Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein was tapped for his apparent expertise in long-term budget forecasting. His message was simple: Benefit cuts are necessary. “The entitlements, and what people think that they’re going to get, because it’s not going to–they’re not going to get it,” he asserted.
Blankfein offered more specifics, explaining that
Social Security wasn’t devised to be a system that supported you for a 30-year retirement after a 25-year career. So there will be certain things that the retirement age has to be changed, maybe some of the benefits have to be affected, maybe some of the inflation adjustments have to be revised.
It’s hard to know what he’s talking about when he refers to a “25-year career.” Perhaps some Goldman Sachs employees retire in their early 40s, but most workers do not–and they certainly don’t get Social Security retirement benefits when they do so. But Blankfein derives a straightforward moral from this dubious talking point: These benefits must be cut “because we can’t afford them.”
On November 21, CBS Evening News experts this time were Erskine Bowles and Alan Simpson, who co-chaired a 2011 White House debt commission. The chairs issued a report, based on drastically shrinking the federal government
That was followed on the broadcast by another segment with Goldman Sachs’ Blankfein, who told anchor Scott Pelley:
Look, if we go over the fiscal cliff it will be very bad, hugely bad–hugely negative for the stock market, which is, you know, a source of people’s wealth, people will feel poor.
Of course, many people don’t consider the stock market a source of their own wealth. And 50 million Americans already “feel poor” because they are.
I’m sick of this obsession with “fixing the debt” instead of “fixing unemployment and poverty” — Of course these guests want to cut social solidarity programs — they might have to pay their fair share in taxes.
How about some actual economic experts? Or politicians working for the “general welfare” instead of “the corporate welfare.” Like Alan Grayson or Elizabeth Warren.
thank you for your attention.
Margaret Copi
3426 Adell Ct, Oakland CA 94602
This isn’t a News show any more. Propaganda and lies.. I’ve lost all respect for your station. I won’t be writing much more to y’all ‘cuz I will be watching another channel.
I miss Walter.
I wrote “Your discussion of the “fiscal cliff” should include experts who aren’t entitlement-busting CEOs.”
Herbert Tillman revtillman@gmail.com
6:46 PM (13 minutes ago)
to evening
Dear CBS news.
I am very disappointed in your decision to have bias CEO’s on your news cast who are entitlement=busting CEO’s. your viewers deserve to hear both sides of the issue. you are quickly turning into FOX news. I plan to contact your sponsors to voice my concerns.
To whom it may concern at CBS news:
Why do you keep drudging out the opinions of Goldman Sachs CEOs who by rights should be in prison to begin with? Why don’t you also bore us with the budget opinions of the Mafia and various illegal drug cartels while you’re at it? May I point out that Social Security and Medicare aren’t even part of the overall budget to begin with or did you miss that minor detail as you kissed up to all these rich Wall Street crooks?
Please spare me your adoration of criminals. Keep in mind that Goldman Sachs violated the law when they applied for a loan in Germany while they were already walking to the bankruptcy court in the US. I hope you bothered to find out that it’s illegal for anybody to incur new debts while engaged in bankruptcy procedures. Your good friend Willard Romney, on the other hand, also has a warrant out for his arrest, in Italy to be precise, over his shady business practices.
Only in the US is it possible for such obvious criminals to run for public office or to be paraded around by TV jerks like you as financial advisors for the country. Get over your boot-licking of the rich and come down to earth for a change before someone prosecutes you for treason.
CBS has been promoting the views of CEOs who want Congress to make deep spending cuts to middle class programs like Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid. However, when it comes to the so-called “fiscal cliff,” CBS listeners haven’t heard from the geeks – the ones who get things right by using math and science instead of financial or partisan self interest. Remember that election we had a few weeks ago? And that little storm named Sandy? Now, 350 economists and academics, including Nobel Prize winners, are warning that cutting government spending is the exact opposite of what should be done while our economy is still recovering. They say we must keep focused on creating more jobs, and that austerity is a prescription for Depression.
If you want to follow in Fox news footsteps, and look like know nothings, keep pushing the tea party line with the ‘Fix the Debt’ CEOs whose companies got us into this mess, and who prefer to keep their own handouts. If however, you’d like to do some credible reporting, and actually inform the public, perhaps you’d like to invite a few real experts, with both history and statistics to back them up, and without vested financial interests. You’ve been mining the fixthedebt.org group for your ‘news’, how about trying the other side of the story – jobsnotausterity.org? You might learn to distinguish lazy slogans like ‘fiscal cliff’ and ‘fix the debt’ from what the average American already experiences – that the increasing economic gap is undermining our democracy, and will not be resolved by the top 1% who benefit most from it.
Fix your dialogue at CBS, and give us real news – at least half the time.
Here’s my note I sent–hope you don’t mind I borrowed from your excellent text!
To whom it concerns–
I am writing to ask–does CBS actually believe in journalism? In this case, I refer to the recent interviews, beginning November 19, 2012 that were decidedly one-sided.
People at CBS decided the best way to inform viewers about the impending “fiscal cliff” is to let corporate CEOs affiliated with the “Fix the Debt” campaign recommend cuts to Social Security and Medicare, relying on no less nor vile a hypocrite than Goldman Sachs’ CEO Lloyd Blankfein. His message was simple: Benefit cuts are necessary. “The entitlements, and what people think that they’re going to get, because it’s not going to–they’re not going to get it,” he asserted.
Yet he appeared oblivious to the lavish entitlements he and his crooked company received, let alone the absurd level of executive pay that is placing our nation in jeopardy as the divide between wealthy and poor widens to an unprecedented and dangerous degree. Yet the people at CBS blithely rely upon the uncontested word of the CEO of a company that clearly contributed mightily to the disaster of 2008 (see, e.g., (1) and, for how they got away with it (2); you might note that these articles are actually what journalism is about.)
As FAIR notes, the following night, anchor Scott Pelley had a new expert: Honeywell CEO David Cote, who warned that the country’s debt load meant that “we’ve got to do something.” Why should viewers care what Cote says about any of this? Pelley explained that he “knows about fixing finances. He pulled Honeywell out of a slump.” This is laughable considering what a booster for a bailout Cote was (see (3)) from a company that is no stranger to corruption (4). Pelley should know better as he might even be able to pass himself off as a journalist from time to time–but this puff piece casts that role in some serious doubt.
Yet the views of people suggesting debt is NOT the primary problem, such as Stiglitz or Krugman, were not there. Uncontested! The profound failure of Europe’s desperate “austerity” measures are ignored.
The drumbeat of propaganda beat ever louder with another segment with Goldman Sachs’ Blankfein, who told anchor Scott Pelley:
Look, if we go over the fiscal cliff it will be very bad, hugely bad–hugely negative for the stock market, which is, you know, a source of people’s wealth, people will feel poor.
As FAIR notes, a lot of us don’t consider the stock market a source of wealth. And 50 million Americans already “feel poor” because we are–people like me who work but cannot afford health insurance, for example. To the extent many are vulnerable to the putative (and unproven) risks to stock value from increasing taxes on the wealthy and making corporations pay their fair share, it is PRIMARILY due to the deep corruption of companies like Goldman Sachs and other financial players who were the proximate cause of the fiscal disaster of ’08 and not only got away with fraud and lies without prosecution but were rewarded handsomely with huge bailouts! The failure to address “too big to fail” and restore Glass-Steagall, etc., is probably a much bigger risk to stock market value, not to mention what fresh hell these companies are creating as suggested by the JPMorgan scandal (5). The errors of that recent past have not been corrected (and any “settlements” have, while large looking, been little more than a cost-of-doing-business).
Blankfein added: “To me, whether the tax rate is 2 percent lower or higher or the cutoff age on some entitlement is one year less or more is secondary or tertiary to the fact that this country is focused on its future.”
A cut in Social Security or healthcare probably is “tertiary” to a guy who makes millions of dollars every year. Which makes his perspective a peculiar one to highlight twice in one week. And no one bothered to ask him why this plutocrat and quite probably criminal would complain about a 3% raise in his tax rate?
Yet this at the least out-of-touch character has the temerity to suggest our society should be “…one where the safety net would be more porous and lower to the ground” (6).
Some of those pushing the “cliff” crisis seem more interested in making some permanent cuts to programs like Social Security and Medicare–which would have far more serious consequences for Americans than the “fiscal cliff.” Among those advocates are the business interests behind the Simpson/Bowles Fix the Debt campaign. All of the CBS fiscal experts featured last week were affiliated with this group. That pretty much sinks CBS to the level of Fox News.
There are critics of this plan yet they are silenced by their absence–why? Because your company is part of the problem and deeply embedded in the corruption. And it would seem your reporters have been forced to abandon any last pretense of journalistic integrity, probably in no small measure brought to us by the pressure of companies like Westinghouse whose profit interests are aligned with those of people like Blankfein.
Your discussion of the “fiscal cliff” should include experts who aren’t entitlement-busting CEOs. Maybe interview someone like Matt Taibbi (7).
Further, as FAIR notes: The Institute for Policy Studies recently issued a report (11/13/12 ) explaining the corporate interests behind the debt campaign. Report co-author Sarah Anderson told Democracy Now! (11/13/12) that Fix the Debt is “really just a Trojan horse. They’re pushing for the same old tax breaks for corporations that they’ve been pushing for for about a decade.”
The PEOPLE are not the criminals here and do not deserve to be constantly attacked and demeaned by assaults on social security, Medicare and Medicaid (though if we just expanded Medicare to all, we wouldn’t NEED Medicaid’s strange, incompetent patchwork). The absurdity of that cruelty coming from suspicious and specious plutocrats should be obvious to you.
But then–again, that actually requires elements missing from your broadcast: integrity, honor, intelligence, common sense–and perhaps most importantly–journalism.
Sincerely,
George M. Carter
Brooklyn, NY
718-622-0212
References:
(1) http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/04/16/goldman-sachs-fraud-expla_n_540938.html#s81812&title=Goldman_Creates_A
(2) http://www.aljazeera.com/news/americas/2012/08/2012810114857984434.html
(3) http://gawker.com/5057604/honeywell-ceos-memo-call-congress-to-urge-bailout
(4) http://www.dailykos.com/story/2011/10/11/1025228/-Another-Tale-of-Corporate-Corruption
(5) http://voices.yahoo.com/jpmorgan-chase-admits-bigger-failure-11515346.html
(6) http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-18563_162-57552173/goldman-sachs-ceo-entitlements-must-be-contained/
(7) http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/the-people-vs-goldman-sachs-20110511
How dare you allow Wallstreet’s Welfare King Lloyd Blankfein to lecture REAL WORKERS about “entitlement” programs that they are absolutely entitled to because they paid into them for decades! Lloyd who made $16.1 million and greatly enjoyed the $100K cap on payroll taxes, so that his $16 million salary was exempt and virtually tax free?! While an overworked, underpaid single/widowed mom like me is forced to fork over nearly SIXTY-FIVE PERCENT (65%) of my poverty level salary in ever escalating payroll, NY state, propery and school taxes… not to mention gas, sales and other assorted taxes?! Either make Lloyd pay on payroll taxes on his full salary, or let me pay the same paltry percentage he pays!! Why is Mr. Blankfein entitled to keep so much more of his salary than a real worker such as me?!
After all, what is a CEO actually worthy as a human being? I challenge any of them to try and do what I do each and every day with great aplomb. I guarantee they could not possibly do my highly skilled, incredibly stressful job, much less all of the house work, yard work, food shopping, cooking, cleaning, laundry, etc., that I also do, while mentoring young Ballerinas during my “free” time… while having raised a Rhodes finalist, Fulbright recipient, who just graduated cum laude from Columbia, after we lost her dad the week she turned nine… a beloved dad whose death left us in debt, which I paid off!!
So enough is enough! What’s fair is fair!! Either tax the Whining Wimps of Wall Street – or let me pay the nonexistent rate they pay – and stop balancing the budget on my poor old over-burdened and nearly broken back!!!
Most of all, stop calling the Social Security that I and my employers have paid into for decades a “benefit”. It is NOT a benefit, it is an investment or savings plan, as you will, which I was forced to contribute to. Consequently, it fully belongs to me and I will not allow rich parasites like Lloyd Blankfein to suck it from me as they’ve sucked my life’s blood and potential savings through decades of unequal pay/barely compensated work… hard work, highly skilled work, work which they are NOT capable of performing!
More than that, as PAUL BUCHHEIT wrote FOR BUZZFLASH AT TRUTHOUT today:
It’s Not Public Workers
Start with local government, whose 14 million employees make up almost two-thirds of the public payroll, according to Census Department data. They make up 11% of the total U.S. workforce but receive only 10% of the total compensation. Their average salary is $43,000.
State government employees make up 3.6% of the U.S. workforce and receive 3.9% of the total compensation.
Federal employees, who make up just two percent of the total U.S. workforce, do considerably better, earning an average of $68,000. Their pay advantage is largely due to higher education levels and more advanced professional skills. The Economic Policy Institute, Bureau of Economic Analysis, the Congressional Research Service, and Congressional Budget Office all acknowledge this. 44% of federal jobs are professional positions (lawyers, economists, engineers), compared with 32% in the private sector. Close to 50% of full-time federal and state and local government employees have college degrees, compared to 35% for private employees.
Overall, Census Department data reveals that government employees earn about 1% more than private sector employees. With all retirement benefits included, the 21.4 million government employees make up 16.7% of U.S. employees and receive 20% of the total compensation.
It’s Not Union Members
After years of declining numbers, union employees make up about 12% of the workforce, but their total pay (14.8 million union employees with a $47,000 median salary) amounts to less than 12 percent of wages, as reported by the Census Department.
Unions are sometimes accused of excess, when in fact they keep employees from falling into substandard wage conditions. According to the State of Working America, the union wage premium exists, but it’s a modest 13.6%.
Unions also provide a degree of stability for a shrinking middle class. Retirement funding, however, is actually much less than perceived by union critics. The Pew Center notes that the latest available annual pension contribution by the 50 states amounted to just under $60 billion, which is about 1% of wages as reported by theCensus Department.
Finally, unions promote equal opportunity. A recent study at Harvard and the University of Washington concluded that “the decline of organized labor explains a fifth to a third of the growth in inequality.”
It’s Not, for the Most Part, Even the Private Sector
The average private sector worker makes about the same salary as a state or local government worker. But theMEDIAN salary for U.S. workers, 83% of whom are in the private sector, is almost $14,000 less, at $26,363.
This striking difference reveals the degree of inequality in private industry, and leads us to the conclusion:
CEOs and Financial Managers take much more than their share.
Corporate executives and financial employees make up just one-half of 1% of the workforce, but with nearly a trillion dollars of annual income (11.3% of $8.12 trillion), they make more than ALL 15 million unionized workers in the United States, and almost as much as ALL 21 million government workers. Much of their income derivesfrom minimally-taxed capital gains. Meanwhile, the great majority of their private company employees toil as food servers, clerks, medical workers, and domestic help at below-average pay.
While unions and government jobs promote stability and security, private industry, which is driven by the profit motive, leads to a “winner-take-all” philosophy that is steadily splitting our country in two.
Have They Earned It?
Again, consider the facts:
1. They’ve destroyed jobs. According to Newsweek, “the CEOs of the 50 firms that laid off the most workers since the onset of the economic crisis took home 42 percent more pay in 2009 than their peers did — largely because cutting workers boosts short-term profits.”
2. They’ve made the country less productive. As noted by Frontline’s Money, Power, and Wall Street, the financial industry is almost double the size of the manufacturing sector.
3. They’ve taken massive bonuses for their failures. Again from Frontline’s Money, Power, and Wall Street: Since the crash of 2008, banks have paid out more than $80 billion in bonuses.
As an analyst pointed out on the Frontline documentary, the rise of financial derivatives led banks to start trading for their own gain, and not for their customers. So yes, they’ve earned something. Our lasting contempt.
i sent CBS an email…
Good Evening….recent coverage of the so called “Fiscal Cliff” misses even handed , or fair reporting.
Views opposed to those held by CEO’s ….like those By Simon Johnson, Moyers & Company which would inform the public and open public debate. Myopic coverage skewed to the view of rich people is a disservice to our democracy. Please take the time to remove the spin and report the facts. If that is too difficult ask Ralph Nader to explain it to you. His voice would work every bit as well and the CEO’s you have promoted so far. Thanks and please remember the truth is good for your ratings…… from Hamden, CT
yours truly Eben Ross
Your discussion of the “fiscal cliff” should include experts who aren’t entitlement-busting CEOs.Stop the fear mogering
I just sent the following to CBS per your email. Thanks for keeping me updated and informed.
“Hello,
Just curious as to why only CEO’s were present on the show to talk about benefit cuts to Social Security, Medicare, etc. I think there are probably a whole lot more people with an interest in these subjects – probably very smart people – who would consider the CEO’s you presented as mistaken. Perhaps even flatly wrong.
Please consider having a panel with a bit more representation of the general populace in the future. It would be much appreciated.
Democracy Now, comes to mind as does the Institute for Policy Studies. The Center for American Progress is yet another. The CEO’s presented a case for cutting benefits – mine, for the sake of business. No alternatives were shown by you. Really, we need a bit more balance here.
Thank you for your consideration,
Dear Sir or Madame:
Our country deserves to know the truth. CBS’ discussion of the “fiscal cliff” should include experts who aren’t entitlement-busting CEOs. Responsible journalism demands that all sides of an issue be shown, and in order to provide citizens with an objective view, fear-mongering to manipulate a reaction needs to be squelched. Certain parties with vested interests seem to be steering the ship, and that just won’t do. Please ensure your reports regarding the ‘fiscal cliff’ are just that–reports, facts.
Thank you for your time and commitment to providing the most objective source of news possible.
Best Regards,
Aleks K.
Dear CBS News Geeks,
You couldn’t have chosen a more biased spokesperson for the ‘fiscal cliff’ discussion than Lloyd Blankfein. His ‘the sky if falling if we don’t rein in SS and Medicare’ was laughable. He really thinks we’re going to believe his nonsense? And who does he think works for 25 years and retires for 30?
Get some balance and interview Sarah Anderson of The Institute for Policy Studies. They recently issued a report (11/13/12 ) explaining the corporate interests behind the debt campaign. She told Democracy Now! (11/13/12) that Fix the Debt is “really just a Trojan horse. They’re pushing for the same old tax breaks for corporations that they’ve been pushing for for about a decade.”
So who’s side are you on, CBS?
Your discussion of the “fiscal cliff” should include experts who aren’t entitlement-busting CEOs. We’ll be watching.
Anna Galvin
Andover, CT
Subject: Outrage
There once was a time when the news desks of the three national broadcast companies were a source of pride here in America.
Not anymore.
Lloyd Blankfein?! Could you even find anyone more out-of-touch with the American people to deliver important information to them on an issue we will all be facing TOGETHER as one nation, one people?
The CEO of one of the worst culprits of the financial debacle of 2008?
He might be able to give us insights on where the markets will be heading in the next year – but we all know Goldman-Sachs doesn’t share the best, most accurate information on investing with their clients or anyone else outside their hallowed empire for that matter.
Who, just tell me who – signed–off on allowing him to provide advice on how to balance our nation’s federal budget?
My god, first they said it was cable that was draining the intellectual capital of the nation’s three major nightly news programs, then it was the internet.
Now it’s just plain and simple poor judgment.
Sad.
Most sincerely,
Jeannie M. McGuire
Message to CBS:
Your reporting on the “fiscal cliff” has been very one-sided. You should interview Richard Wilkinson of Nottingham University. He’s done a very interesting study on the effects of the ever widening gap between the rich and the poor. During the Eisenhower through Nixon administrations the top bracket was at least 70%, more than double what it is now. It’s ridiculous that, due to a stupid pledge, billionaires are paying lower tax rates than I am. How can anyone do enough work to earn a billion dollars? That’s a staggering sum! I grew up with the awareness that there are some very wealthy people known as millionaires. They’re comfortable. They’re set for life. A billionaire is set for a thousand comfortable lifetimes. But he can only live one.
When we first started hearing about billionaires not many of us were as stunned as we should have been. After all, it’s the next big number after million that takes the “aire” suffix. The question is, where did those billions come from? The same people who are up in arms because their tax dollars are going to help poor people or sick people don’t question why their wages are stagnating while the people at the top are making enough to feed a medium sized nation on caviar. The fact that these people don’t have as much as they’d like is easy to blame on that dirty word, “taxes”. If our money is taken out of our hands before we get it because we’re not paid enough while each of those at the top are as rich as a thousand millionaires then we don’t even know we’ve been screwed so we get mad at the people who are screwed even worse because they get some of the money taken from us through that filthy 3-letter word, “tax”. This makes no sense when you look at the whole picture. As Robert Reich (an expert you should feature prominently in your coverage of the “fiscal cliff”) pointed out, the wealthiest 400 Americans have more money than the poorest 150,000,000 Americans. If I’m not mistaken .0002666% expresses the ratio of 400 to one hundred fifty million. So things are way out of hand and it’s not because we have to help poor and sick people. The 1% vs 99% figures you hear bandied about don’t give the real picture.
Social Security is sacred. We don’t have to cut SS if we raise taxes on billionaires. To be sure, some amount of trickle down does happen but not so much from billionaires.
I can make this real simple. You take one guy with a billion dollars over here. Over there you’ve got 2000 guys who each have a half a million dollars. You following me so far? We’re talking about the same amount of money here and there. Where is the most money going to trickle down into the economy from? The one guy with a billion dollars or the 2000 guys who each have a half a million dollars? No matter how profligate the billionaire is he’s not going to buy 2000 cars. You following me? A compromise might be in order. Raise taxes on incomes over $500,000.00. Grover Norquist will go down in history as the biggest sycophantic fool to ever set foot in the Capitol building! Don’t you follow him onto that same shameful page in history. I want to see the quality news coverage of the Cronkite days.
Dave Easley
CBS Evening News
Your recent parade of “experts,” the grossly overcompensated CEOs pedaling the lie that Social Security benefits contribute to the national debt, is a gross national disservice. This and everything else they have to recommend for our national budget is nothing more than a continuation of the political campaign against our social safety-net that the top 1 percent has been waging for the past 70 years. Such blatant propagandizing against the broad public interest creates the appearance that CBS News is working to move past irrelevance and compete with Fox News to be a source of malicious public misinformation.
Please give equal time to some real experts who don’t find Social Security benefits to be merely “tertiary.” Find a few of those who understand that sacrificing parts of our social safety-net to appease the “fiscal cliff” will only push many thousands of less well compensated Americans over the edge and do nothing for our national debt.
Mike Smith
Seattle
CBS Evening News Decision Makers,
No good will come of lieing to the public about “fiscal cliff” and what is “necessary” to fix it.
Discussion of the “fiscal cliff” should include experts who aren’t entitlement-busting CEOs.
—Henry A. Schwartzman
How much did the corporations spend to try to defeat Obama? It says how much they are willing to waste to get their way, which is to put all the burden of the GOP’s wars and tax policies on the backs of the 99%.
Greetings.
CEOs will certainly give one viewpoint–the same viewpoint that tried and failed to buy the recent election, having gradually built a Supreme Court that would encourage such an undemocratic way of choosing our leadership. Those who fear a “One World” concept under the United Nations should also fear a “One World” concept of Dollar-a-Day labor under a corporate oligarchy.
This program would blatantly support one small but loud sector of the Republican party. This sector intentionally puts the cart before the horse–the whole reason for bankrupting the country is to force the sacrifice of 20th century programs that make life endurable for many people. The speakers you have selected promote the dream that Newt Gingrich put into words in the 90s: a nation of workhouses and orphanages.
The recent election showed strongly that if it wants to be viable in a new century the GOP needs to at least pretend to distance itself from Murdock and his attack dogs at Fox. As Lindsey Graham remarked, you’re running short of ‘angry white males’. Is this really the time for CBS to slide into the same angry-white-male Fox mold?
A disgusted white male,
Herbert Maier
As a former nationally syndicated CBS tax commentator now retired, I am appalled by the depths to which you have sunk.
You choose Lloyd Blankfein, whose annual income for 2011, according to Forbes magazine, was more than $16 million, to provide his views of taxation. You choose a tax-evading Wall Street looter to discuss my area of expertise He tells you ignorant nonsense and outright, self-serving lies that you don’t contest.
Don’t any of you people even know what a journalist is and does?
Sent to CBS News:
Well, I guess CBS News no longer even attempts to show any journalistic integrity. Heard about your evening news segment on the “fiscal cliff”, where your only input on how to solve the issue came from your overlords, the uber-rich CEOs.
Brilliant – the “solution” is to cut Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid for those who need it, and not even consider any adjustments to their obscene incomes.
At least CBS now plainly shows where they get their direction from – way to emulate Fox News.
Thank God for the Internet, I no longer have to rely on broadcast “news” which has descended to infotainment.
BTW, loved the history of the decent, led by CBS “news”, where you were the first network to abandon journalistic principals so your news division could start to turn a profit. I still don’t understand how you sleep at night knowing you put ratings above fair coverage at all costs.
Grant H. Hickey
Lake Orion, MI
Subject: CEO Evening News?
CBS turns to benefit-cutting bosses for ‘fiscal cliff’ commentary
https://fair.org/take-action/action-alerts/ceo-evening-news/
Your discussion of the “fiscal cliff” should include experts who aren’t entitlement-busting CEOs.
Sincerely,
Larry Turk
Lloyd Blankfein? One of the culprits responsible for America’s crashed economy is the person C.B.S. Evening News interviews regarding the so-called fiscal cliff? Better change your name to B.S. Evening News if someone with Blankfein’s credibility is acceptable to you. How about Dean Baker, Paul Krugman, or another expert on the economy who has proven his or herself a person of integrity?
Gentlemen:
Your recent reporting concerning the Fiscal Cliff has included commentary by Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein and Honeywell CEO David Cote. It appears the “fix the debt” emphasis has focused the desire of the the wealthy to preserve the corporate tax breaks at the expense of cutting so-called “entitlement” spending. I question the motives behind the coverage since the majority of taxpayers are not members of that group so do not depend of the stock market for income and are dependent on the current deductions allowed by the current tax code in order to provide an affordable tax liability. In addition many retired people are very dependent on Security and Medicare as the major income and services needed to sustain life and have paid the associated taxes throughout their working careers.
I suggest that in order to get a balanced view of the problem, CBS also interview Sarah Anderson of the Global Economy project at the Institute for Policy Studies as well as some economists who have a more balanced view of the problems.
Sincerely,
Milo A. Fabian
(Mfabian61@Yahoo.com
Dear CBS,
The so-called fiscal cliff is a sham perpetrated by the self-same experts” you are foisting on America calling for benefit cuts.
Let me be clear: Touch our Social Security and Medicare benefits and its WAR!
Fucking morons….
CP ;>(
SENT TO CBS NEWS:
CBS needs much more balanced reporting and analysis on the “fiscal cliff” issue. Social Security is basically sound as long as Congress doesn’t loot the SS fund — which it is trying to do with (witting or unwitting) help from CBS News. Evidence? Your parade of CEOs harrumphing that SS must be “fixed” as part of the “fiscal cliff” solution. The manufacturing of a fake crisis to solve another fake crisis — all with malice aforethought on the part of this nation’s power brokers. How about reporting on THAT?
Until that happens, I am taking action by TURNING OFF your news shows. When you change, I’ll read about it. And then maybe come back. Maybe. If by then I haven’t found a preferred tv news alternative.
Bye-bye!
To those connected with CBS:
I don’t claim to know who all your CBS sponsors are, but one gets a good idea who pays your way from how your news is presented.
If you choose to inform the public on the “fiscal cliff”, you really should include experts who are not entitlement-busting CEOs.
This would be such a refreshing change, and make your station a more credible source. Americans are not all stupid, you know. It is downright difficult to get any kind of truth from any station these days. We do not need entertainment; we do not need propoganda. We need FACTS.
It should be your sacred duty to protect those citizens who for one reason or another are gullible enough to swallow everything they hear, i.e.:please
let your journalism be pristine so as to inform without bias so we in America will have a better and informed Union.
Sincerely,
Donna L. Haidary
Elgin, IL 60123
Valerie Gilbert suggests that corporate media should start something called THE GOOD NEWS network. The trouble is, anything corporate, for-profit news organizations report will be inherently slanted to capitalism’s (profit’s) side of the story. At very least, the suffering of the 99% will be minimally reported if at all. (Heard about Honduras lately anyone?)
But Valerie and others who are interested in a genuine alternative to the same falsely dichotomous news reporting as seen through the eyes of those who only have eyes for profits and power should consider a look at The Real News Network (therealnews.org).
The Real News is funded by viewer donations only, not corporations or governments. You will hear from people who normally do not make the MSM news, people like William K Black, Michael Ratner, Gareth Porter, and others who are significant in both academia and their contributions to various non-profits in shaping and criticizing public policy.
There really IS an alternative. Do write your protest letters to CBS, then turn off your TV set and tune into therealnews.com for an honest, hard-hitting look at the events and people who drive the suffering and deaths of people the World over. (And remember to make a SMALL donation of $10 a month if you like what you see and hear! TRNN will appreciate it. This poster has no financial interest in TRNN or IWT.)
CEO’s do NOT represent the People. STOP with the drama about the “fiscal cliff”. At most it is a little slide, but serves the Media for sensational fear based reporting.
Dear CBS Evening News,
Your coverage on November 19th of the fiscal cliff was misleading and unbalanced. Reducing Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid benefits is not necessary for reducing the national debt. For example, the Congressional Progressive Caucus in 2011 released their “People’s Budget,” which reduces the debt without cuts to the social safety net. It is highly misleading to present unchallenged the view that social safety net cuts are inevitable.
I also find it curious that Lloyd Blankfein was sought out as an expert on fiscal matters, since Mr. Blankfein and Goldman Sachs played a central role in the 2008 financial crisis. It is disturbing to hear Mr. Blankfein talk about the need for working people to dampen their expectations about the social safety net when Goldman Sachs survived the financial crisis due to massive support from the federal government. If CBS Evening News wants to do a story on Mr. Blankfein, perhaps they can try to hold him accountable for his role in the 2008 economic collapse.
Hello CBS,
I hope your coverage of the so-called “fiscal cliff” will include voices that are more representative of the rest of us regular folks. The CEOs of large corporations have a definite vested interest in maintaining stock market values and ensuring that the fiscal burden gets carried by payroll deductions (that finance “entitlements”) instead of income taxes, and they are using you to get their message out.
By the way, these same CEOs are sitting on most of the substantial gains they’ve made since the meltdown. Why do they need lower taxes? They are not the job creators. They won’t do much hiring until we – the consumers – resume buying patterns that they feel like betting on. WE are the job creators.
Peter Emmel, Pittsford, NY
Please include, in your reports on the economic choices we face at this critical juncture, discussion by experts who aren’t just entitlement-busting CEOs. How about some visionaries who can imagine an economy that’s of the people, by the people, and FOR the people?
Waiting for inspiration to our leaders from our media, or are you just as sold-out as they’ve been?
A senior living in poverty, so grateful for food-stamps and medicare,
New Mexico
CBS Evening News:
Why on earth would you have the wealthiest CEO’s in the U.S. provide commentary on our social safety net programs when every citizen understands he and men in his financial position are not even remotely concerned with SS, Medicare or Medicaid since they have enough money that they have no need whatsoever for the paltry sum these programs would provide when they reach retirement age. Mr. Blankfein has no idea how most Americans live and how dependent they will be on these programs, so all he is providing is his ‘PERSONAL OPINION’ which carries as much weight as to be completely meaningless. If you are going to have anyone discuss these programs, select a public service employee who possesses first hand of the importance of them in his/her life or someone who works for these programs.
Sincerely,
To: CBS Evening News
Your interview of Lloyd Blankfein, CEO of Goldman Sachs was not news, It was propoganda. Do you want to be classed with the likes of Fox News.
Before anyone considers cutting SS, Medicare or Medicaid they first need to address the bloated Department of Defense budget, which even the Defense Department agrees with, and corporate welfare handed out freely by congress to companies making obscene profits.
Please provide a difference of opinion when you interview someone with such a biased view.
You give media a bad name.
Stan Phipps stan.phipps@gmail.com
10:19 AM (15 minutes ago)
to evening
To Whom It May Concern:
I was disappointed to see that the head honchos at CBS news seems to have decided that your coverage of the so-called “fiscal cliff” will be dominated by Corporate CEOs who seem determined to use this crisis to make the rich even richer and poor even poorer.
Social Security and Medicare can be protected rather than eviscerated by simply removing the current caps on the payroll taxes that fund them. Most middle class people pay these payroll taxes on all of their earnings. Currently, the payroll tax is capped at rather modest $142,000. If the cap is removed social security would be solvent for the next 75-years.
There is a similar situation for Medicare. The current cap is $110,000. All income above that level is sheltered from the payroll tax. Remove the cap and that greatly improves the solvency for Medicare. Why are no AARP spokespeople or others with a commitment to save the nation’s premier retirement program and health care system interviewed by CBS news to address this issue from a more progressive pointy-of-view?
Please address this failing if you expect to have any credibility as a news source as we enter a politically charged debate on the well-being of the nation’s senior citizens.
Surely, there must be some people at CBS news who understand the gravity of this situation.
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Rusty Solomon
I object to your bias coverage regarding the Fiscal Cliff. The corporate agenda is designed exclusively to benefit corporations only. Thus, corporate spokesman will never give substantial weight to protecting social security or Medicare. Goldman Sachs has zero sense of ethical corporate citizenship. You should give equal weight to the impact on the poor, the working poor, and the middle class.
Gentlemen: Please do not underestimate the feelings and intelligence of those who take the trouble to write to you. Please don’t treat us like ditto heads as Limbaugh does. Please be free of bias and give us true info from both sides. We can separate whiff from the chaff. Thank you.