In recent days I’ve engaged in numerous conversations with assorted people in Vancouver about the so-called “shutdown” of the U.S. government. In almost every single case, these people had no idea that the “big fight” was mostly about the U.S. government increasing the debt limit to borrow even more money. The people I was talking to seemed completely mystified when I explained this. Giving them the benefit of the doubt that they’re of above average intelligence, a natural question to ask is why do they not know this simple fact?
There’s only logical answer: The sources by which they’re getting their information are not telling them. Given that in many cases, their TVs were tuned to CNN or CBS or NBC or ABC, one has to wonder why these news organizations are not clearly spelling out the opposing views on the subject?
The Ottawa Sun’s Anthony Furey recently published two related columns on the subject. They’re both worth a careful read and this conversation between Furey and Charles Adler is well worth a listen.
Our so called, conservative radio station, CJME in Saskatchewan is just as pathetic. Their News Dept. and the woman in the afternoon go straight to CNN and Huffington Post for news and stories and push the same angles, positions and agendas, never bringing in the opposite point of view or countering Hufpo stories. I’m sure that woman doesn’t even think there’s another, opposing position. It’s just so easy, read CNN or Hufpo and regurgitate, there’s no sense of journalism about it. Read and repeat.
Mills so bad, she still thinks Obama is winning the PR effort with this gov’t shutdown.
The Dems wanted this shutdown. When the 1995 shutdown happened they gained lots of seats in the House of Representatives, and this was designed to do the same for them.
We are shut down because a Continuing Resolution (CR) wasn’t passed. We need a CR ’cause our budget wasn’t passed before Oct 1. The budget isn’t close to being finished because the House and Senate versions are very much different, and I can’t find anyone who is working on a compromise.
At about Oct 17, our national debt will exceed our authorized debt limit. Now, we can in fact pay for debt payments after that, since we are (believe it or not) bringing in more tax cash every day than anytime in our gov’t history. What would need to happen are even more drastic cuts than what we currently have, even more drastic than the “Sequester” cuts that are still on the books.
How bad is it? We could shut down everything but Medicare (old people medical), Medicaid (poor people medical), Social Security (old people pensions mostly) and paying interest on the debt, and still not balance the thing!
Complicit Misdirection or Pure Ignorance?
What difference, at this point, does it make?
We need to treat journalism like drunk driving. The evil consequences are too severe to allow people the excuse that they were too drunk to make the right decision to not drive or they were too stupid not to become journalists.
I believe the media is not clearly spelling out the opposing views because, as you ask in the thread caption, it is pursuing complicit misdirection.
Our whole society is so infused with the “free lunch” and “free phone” mentality and the media is actually driving this that the impending financial collapse and the simultaneous assault on personal freedoms is being almost totally ignored. Anybody that is warning about this is vilified. Even our so-called conservative governments are part of the problem as to get elected they have to promise more free lunches.
The lies of the Marxist utopia have been swallowed hook line and sinker, and the media and the educational system are totally complicit in this.
We will eventually face the same financial and public unrest firestorms that Greece and other European countries are going through. Our national strengths will decline, as did Rome’s, and others will take our place, or even worse, be able to impose their ideology on our societies.
The brokest nation in history, on the verge of default, about to . . . . become a dictatorship via a declared “emergency” of one sort or another . . . is rapidly morphing into the thing that they spent 1941 to 1945 defeating. The media is too complacent and too ignorant to give thought to what’s happening, and is too enraptured by leftist influence to report it objectively.
Put your faith in precious metals like brass, Pb and Fe/Cr/Ni.
CJAD in Montreal always has journalists from CBS or other liberal U.S. journalists talking about those crazy Tea Party people and the insane Ted Cruz. Meanwhile they don’t report that Obamais at 37% in the latest polls (NPR reported this).
The “Fourth Estate” has lost all credibility and can no longer be trusted, whether it be print, radio or visual. At one point in time most journalists prided themselves on at least appearing to be independent but the left in their slow, methodical and often secretive march to dominate western culture now takes pride in their domination of the media that at one time was meant to inform and now sees their role as an agent of propoganda. It’s been obvious in all levels of education for some time and is now becoming obvious in the media and entertainment industries. Time to start stock piling the bunker and buying weapons.
The OECD survey shows Americans have been dumbed down big time! Below average compared to other nations.
I blame the media and Hollywood.
http://www.sfgate.com/technology/businessinsider/article/These-Charts-Show-How-Far-Behind-US-Adults-Are-In-4879156.php
Ron in Kelowna, thanks for that link which probably explains the bizarre situation in the US better than anything. Especially telling is the widespread innumeracy in the US population:
http://www.businessinsider.com/america-young-adults-math-skills-2013-10?utm_source=hearst&utm_medium=referral&utm_content=allverticals
As a group, reporters are far less numerate than the general population and thus they are likely to not understand at all what the fight is about. Unfortunately, I suspect it’s going to take the US economy ending up like Greece for the innumerate fraction of the population to get a taste of the importance of math skills; even in this situation I’m sure this part of the population will chose to blame anything other than their own stupidity for the resulting mess.
“The “Fourth Estate” has lost all credibility and can no longer be trusted, whether it be print, radio or visual.”
That’s true, but only as far as the people who frequent the blogosphere. The average person comes home from a hard day at work, flops in front of the TV and watches the biggies in the “information” business. As a senior told me recently, “I saw it on CBC News”!
The implication was,”so it must be true”.
The MSM IS complicit in this “crime”, for want of a better term,as they are probably the most important members of what we call “the Left”. The Communists have always understood this.
Ron in Kelowna,I blame not only Hollywood and the Media, but also the education system that has lost the ability to teach skepticism and critical thinking,and merely propagandizes our young people.
The schools have created a couple of generations of sheeple who yearn for a relatively benevolent dictator,such as Obama, to run their lives.
We keep hearing the term “Democracy” being bandied about by various shills,and in relation to third-world Countries,it’s a bitter joke,as we are losing our own democracy and freedom at this very moment in history.
The worst part is, so many citizens think what is occurring is for the “good” of us all.
It’s complicit misdirection. Never forget that they get the raw news feeds and then decide which stories they will embargo to keep the portion of the public which still trusts them in the dark about what the issues really are.
It’s even worse than simple ignorance. It’s a complete disregard for the intelligence of the MSM and general public. Here is the proof:
http://www.cnsnews.com/news/article/100-days-treasury-has-kept-debt-frozen-16699396000000
Or perhaps a complete understanding of the intelligence would be closer to the truth.
As Obama stated in his speech yesterday, “Raising the debt limit does not increase the debt”. Not one trained seal in the reporter galley questioned that brilliant statement.
http://www.weeklystandard.com/blogs/us-adds-two-times-more-debt-economic-output-last-2-years_762311.html
Don Morris has it right. The media, full of bright young things from university never question the obvious problems because they involve math and balancing budgets (and that’s hard for the Barbie generation).
Robert makes the usual mistake of assuming a level of intelligence to the citizens of Vancouver that does not exist. This is a city infested with morons who believe bicycles, windmills and roof gardens can solve their problems.
Fact, I know graduates of BC universities (one with an executive MBA from UBC-unbelievably ignorant, and math-free) who when faced with an economic discussion immediately admit they “do not have that information” or Obama or Turdeau-its truly pathetic. And from what I read here no other university is turning out people able to assemble facts from various sources, process them and come to a logical conclusion then have the fortitude to discuss said issue.
“In almost every single case, these people had no idea that the “big fight” was mostly about the U.S. government increasing the debt limit to borrow even more money.”
That’s because it’s not. This is about the expiration of continuing resolution to fund government, which is an opportunity to defund or delay ObamaCare (contrary to some reports, a completely valid and intentionally designed use of the House’s powers).
The debt limit fight is a separate, though related, issue that will be coming to head in little over a week, and there are some Republicans that would raise it without negotiations to keep the focus on the CR battle.
The integrity of all media is and always was a myth.
Reporters and on-air talking heads are ALL ignoramuses and often just plain stupid. The producers and editors direct what is put into the public domain and they are all driven by the guy who signs the paycheck.
If an editorial board ever decides to ask their audience (poll)what they want to see/hear, they are sure to be told that their audience wants more of exactly the same thing. This is because the captive and uncritical audience does not have a clue that there is more going on than what they are being told.
Pretty much anyone who does have a clue has already walked away from the mainstream/lamestream/lefty propaganda machine. They may have chosen to watch the limited counterpoints of FOX or SunTV … or migrated to on-line sources … or just tuned out altogether.
Right now, the publishers/producers of the mainstream follow the lead of of liberal political elites and their sleazy backers.
I understand it fully. And yet, it’s something that must be done, or there will be a collapse. You can’t have your solution be worse than the problem.
Yes. The US must get it’s debt and deficit under control. That is actually happening slowly. It was well on it’s way before Bush took power, decided to increase the size of government by a massive degree, fight two wars and wreck the economy. Now it’s going to take a long while to fix the destruction he caused. That means living in a deficit situation to drive the economy.
And if you really want to see government cut down in size, that means EVERYTHING should be on the table, including cuts to military spending, which is massive, as well as tax increases. That this is not something conservatives are willing to even discuss indicates that they are incapable of being reasonable.
http://nation.time.com/2012/09/25/comparing-defense-budgets-apples-to-apples/
Why do we need to “raise taxes” to cut the government and it’s spending? answer: you don’t.
Why “should everything be on the table” ,including military spending, so government spending can be cut? answer: it doesn’t have to.
The bottom line is… your entire premise is bowlshite!
The conduct of the MSM during the last two presidential elections could be seen as virtually a public relations effort for one candidate. Who can forget the heavy thick necked man, with his glasses lowered on his nose. He peered downward as he “interviewed” Sarah Palin.
Then there was the “Perkster”- Katy Couric and her “interview’ with Sarah Palin and so on.
Somebody also got a tingle down his leg, another exclaimed about the sharp crease in the chosen one’s the candidates pant leg. Quoting the the immortal bard, Robert Burns.
O wad some power the giftie to gie us! To see oursels as ithers see us.
“That is actually happening slowly”.
Wow, that’s news to anyone with a functioning brain. So why has it gone from 10 to 17 trillion in the past 5 years ? Oh, I know,….it’s Bush’s fault.
Bush tried to fight 2 wars with existing tax revenue. To no one’s surprise, 10 years of war and the accompanying military build-up was all done on the credit card. It was completely unprecedented in recent years until Obama attempted to outspend him.
The wars have cost approx. 6 trillion over 10 years and we have nothing to show for it except failure, but Obama has definitely outspent Bush with or without that being a factor. When Obama came into power there were 32 mil. on food stamps and now there are 48 mil. His incompetence on the understanding of free enterprise is his most visible failure. For a man who has never worked a day in his life he continues to show ignorance as to the consequences of being a entitled drone on the public teat. I always considered Bush to be a dim bulb in the chandelier but at least he surrounded himself with some reasonably intelligent people, where Obama felt more comfortable with like minded fools and yes men. Unfortunately , like all narcissists, he has learned nothing, as in his mind he has all the right answers.
http://www.globalresearch.ca/us-wars-in-afghanistan-iraq-to-cost-6-trillion/5350789
And if you really want to see government cut down in size, that means EVERYTHING should be on the table, including cuts to military spending, which is massive, as well as tax increases. That this is not something conservatives are willing to even discuss indicates that they are incapable of being reasonable
– John
John is entirely right here. It’s true: most conservatives want NO CUTS to the military which hasn’t won a war since WW2. And were Eisenhower alive today he’d agree with John; he’d be utterly scandalized by the massive waste here.
And I can’t believe I’m saying this, but after reading David Stockman’s must read opus The Great Deformation, taxes need to be raised too. The “Bush Tax Cuts” were a great fraud. You can’t cut taxes without an equal or greater cut in expenditures.
Hasn’t won a war since WW2 ? Did too. Not the biggest war but war never the less.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Urgent_Fury
OK, like taking candy from a baby but lives were risked regardless.