Outrage at ProPublica Tax Leaks Underscores Their Importance
The political and media class are fuming at ProPublica and whomever leaked billionaire’s tax information.
‘Some of Our Most Profitable Companies Are Not Contributing to Our Basic Needs’
“We have a corporate tax code that is just riddled with loopholes that enable companies like this to get away with avoiding taxes, in ways that really leave regular people responsible for a larger share of our tax payments.”
‘The System for Building Wealth Is Designed for White Wealth’
“The notion that you have to have a law say, “We discriminate against Black people,” before we can find the law actually discriminates against Black people, defies logic and history.”
‘Divisive’: How Corporate Media Dismiss Ideas Unpopular With Elites
New York Times columnist Paul Krugman (Twitter, 12/29/20) described a $2,000 Covid relief check as “divisive,” even though 75% of Americans (and 72% of Republicans) wanted the government to prioritize another universal payment. All too often, words such as “divisive,” “contentious” or “controversial” are used merely as media codewords meaning “ideas unpopular with the […]
Dorothy A. Brown and Amy Hanauer on Tax Unfairness
While recognizing that it’s not the sole source of inequality, there are things we can do about blatant, enduring and powerful unfairness in US tax policy.
New York State Hands Billions Back to Wealthy Investors—and NYT Doesn’t See a Story
The New York Times has failed to write about the fact that New York state has billions of dollars that could pay for roads, schools and services, but instead is handed back to wealthy financiers.
‘We Structure the Market to Create Inequality’
“Just as we know that trickle-down, giving money to the rich, doesn’t help—we know long-term unemployment hurts. A lot of the people that are unemployed six, eight, ten months, they may never work again.”
Lisa Gilbert on Lame Duck Trump, Dean Baker on Trickle-Down Economics
While we await the day that Trump’s face and voice are no longer at the top of every newscast, it ain’t over til it’s over. And harms he does as a lame duck are harms nonetheless.
Media Owned by Wealthy Are Quick to Tell You Wealth Taxes Are a Bad Idea
Corporate media—whose owners are overwhelmingly from the class that would be paying a wealth tax—are returning to throw cold water on the idea.
‘There Is a Different Set of Rules for Someone Like Donald Trump’
“You can’t say that Donald Trump is just doing whatever the law allows; Donald Trump was part of why this is in the law.”
NYT’s Look at Democratic Tax Plans Is an Orgy of Really Big Numbers
Election Focus 2020: The New York Times gives a a true orgy of really big numbers in the form of trillions of dollars of additional taxes and spending, providing readers with no context that would let them know how much impact these taxes are likely to have on the economy and/or their pocketbooks.
Papers Owned by Oligarchs Unsurprisingly Oppose a Wealth Tax
Election Focus 2020: FAIR took a look at news coverage and editorials about the wealth tax from Bezos’ Washington Post, and Rupert Murdoch’s Wall Street Journal, to see if these oligarch-owned newspapers would defend their billionaire owners’ material class interests.
Corporate Journalists Push Tax Attack on Medicare for All
Election Focus 2020: Centrist think tank Third Way commissioned an August poll on how to turn people off of Medicare for All, and one of the strongest tactics turned out to be emphasizing what the plan would cost taxpayers. Lo and behold, the tax line has become a central focus of media coverage of Medicare for All.
‘It Was a Remarkably Successful Grassroots Campaign to Target Amazon’s Credibility’
“Somehow, when it’s giving money to a large corporation, that’s suddenly, ‘Well, this isn’t really an expense or a giveaway. This is an investment.’”
Neil deMause on Amazon’s Retreat, Nina Besser Doorley on Women’s Healthcare Restrictions
Surprisingly, some media followed the lead of community organizers and questioned the Amazon deal—questions Amazon pulled out over rather than engage.
‘The Distribution of Income Depends on How We Structure the Economy’
“We could disagree, is 70 percent the right rate, but to act like that’s just impossible, we’re going to see our economy collapse—that’s nuts.”
Sarah Aziza on Saudi Repression of Women, Dean Baker on Taxing the Rich
One would hope that reports that Saudi Arabia under Mohammed bin Salman is torturing women political prisoners would be sufficient to upset the narrative of a “young and brash” reformer.
WaPo Misses the Story: Either Scott Walker Doesn’t Understand Taxes or He Lies to Fifth Graders
Scott Walker either does not understand how our income tax system works, or is deliberately lying to advance his agenda.
Reporting on Medicare for All Makes Media Forget How Math Works
Scary headlines missed an important point about a new study: In terms of total spending on healthcare, Sanders’ Medicare for All plan is actually projected to cost $2.1 trillion less than projections of spending under the current US healthcare system.
Extra! April 2018 Soundbites
NPR Brings You the Unheard Voice of Rush Limbaugh…Boosting Trump’s Tax Bill With ‘Bonus’ Hype…NYT: Don’t Be Misled by Claims That CEOs Are Rich…Israel’s ‘Retaliatory’ Bombing of Syria for Shooting Down an Israeli Bomber…From ‘Sidelines,’ US Controls 1/4th of Syria…‘Anti-Propaganda Warrior,’ You Have a Mission Closer to Home…Pro-Capitalist Times
