RSN Fundraising Banner
FB Share
Email This Page
add comment

writing for godot

The Cable News Media, “The Greatest Economy” and the Covid-19 Pandemic

Print
Written by Leonard   
Saturday, 18 April 2020 08:24

Until the Covid-19 pandemic and the collapse of the US economy, why were most cable network news program hosts saying this is a great economy for the Republicans to campaign on?  I think they were just feeding the American people more of “Trump’s FAKE ECONOMIC NEWS,” which I believe is incompletely and falsely measured by the Dow Jones Index performance.  We need a fairer analysis, particularly before a nearing critical Presidential election.

Pre-Covid-19: Here are some facts that would indicate the opposite is true:

1)     The number of people earning less than the $30,000 poverty level in the US accounts for 49.33% of the American population. That is a ~$15.00/per hour salary, which we haven’t even passed as the U.S. minimum wage!  Not a “great economic indicator.”

https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/2019/11/06/united-states-poverty-rate-for-every-group/40546247/

2)     The total cost of the Trump-GOP tax bill is $1.9 trillion to $2.3 trillion, primarily because of the tax cuts for the wealthiest American and Corporations.  This will cause a trillion-dollar deficit next year, forcing the US to borrow even more money to balance the US annual budget and pushing the total US debt over $20 trillion.  Interest payments are becoming a major percentage of the US annual budget projected at more than $400B as interest rates rise.  Not a “great economic indicator.” https://www.nytimes.com/2018/09/25/business/economy/us-government-debt-interest.html

3)     Recent government statistics indicate more than 30% (37.5M workers) of private industry workers have no access to healthcare benefits compared to less than 10% (1.9M workers) of government workers.  Not a “great economic indicator.” https://www.bls.gov/news.release/pdf/ebs2.pdf

4)     There are more than 70 countries with lower percentages of their populations living below their own national poverty levels than the USA.  Not considered a “great economic indicator.”

5)     Trump Trade Policies: “A White House economic analysis of President Trump’s trade agenda has concluded that Mr. Trump’s tariffs will hurt economic growth in the United States and could bring forward a recession, according to several people familiar with the research.”  Massive subsidies have been given to support farmers and other vital industries.Not a “great economic indicator.” https://www.nytimes.com/2018/06/07/us/politics/white-house-tariffs-growth.html?module=inline

6)     The Dow Jones Indicator:  January 2018: 26,149 to November 2018: 25,270.  Let’s give credit to Obama for 2017 as it would certainly take a year for Trump’s new policies to take effect.  The new Trump policies should be given credit for 2018 forward performance, which show an overall decline of 3.5%.  Comparing the growth rate of the Dow under Obama & Trump this recent article shows that Obama’s Dow performance always outperformed Trump’s even before the Pandemic this year.   Not a “great economic indicator.” https://www.macrotrends.net/2481/stock-market-performance-by-president

April 21, 2020

One could go on & on and find many more indicators that support the case that Trump’s greatest economy ever is simply WH “fake news.”  The question is, why does the cable news media continue to allow this White House propaganda instead of strongly contradicting all the false statements on “greatest economy ever” parroted by a Trump cult, including Republican conservative Senators, who no longer support the long standing principles of their formerly respectable party.

When the Reagan Administration cancelled the Fairness Doctrine in 1987, which stated  that both sides of an issue had to be given equal time for debate, it applied only to public broadcast. Cable news was not covered by the Fairness Doctrine, leaving the door open for biased, partisan reporting by cable networks such as Fox News.  Let’s not quibble, whether or not the news is broadcast by public broadcast or cable, it seems clear that every news show program and host is obligated to be informed and must contradict lies that are being “broadcast” to the American & global populations, particularly during a life threatening pandemic and under a President whose fact checking reveals he has lied more than 16,000 times in his first three years of office. https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2020/01/20/president-trump-made-16241-false-or-misleading-claims-his-first-three-years/

What about now, with Americans fearing for the lives of their children, their parents and all of humanity fighting the Codiv-19 virus and/or the predicted existential threat of global warming.  It has been verified that Trump’s lack of action from late January through all of February on responding to the required national action has most likely led to tens of thousands more Americans contracting the Codiv-19 virus and greatly increased the spread of the disease across the Nation.  It’s not enough that Trump says  “I could stand in the middle of Fifth Avenue and shoot somebody and I wouldn’t lose any voters,” apparently he can also lie, deny healthcare support and be responsible for thousands of additional American deaths during this crisis and his cult-like base will not reduce their support by one percentage point.  His incompetence and political decisions have most likely caused thousands of deaths,  millions to lose their jobs, a severe drop in the US economy and a nearly 20% drop in the US stock market...but the Republican Trump cult in the US Senate continues to take no steps to curb his actions in order to support the millions of threatened US citizens.

The WH and their cohort of “news novelists & entertainment producers” are now in full scale production of a daily two hour Trump broadcast & cable reality show & TV campaign rally, full of WH fake news, blaming everyone but Trump & his incompetent appointees and their outright lies, that could lead to even more illnesses and deaths across the US. Scientists and MDs who stand on the stage, along with Trump’s Republican Cultists, have to parse their words in fear of losing their effectiveness in fighting the war against Codiv-19 or being fired like almost every government employee who has dared to contradict Trump’s inconsistencies and outright lies.  Cable and Broadcast News programs and hosts must not allow Trump to lie to the Nation without forcibly countering, real time, every one of his dangerous lies or if necessary, simply refusal to broadcast his messages.  Trump’s words are quite often more offensive than common obscenities that the networks always “bleep.”

 

e-max.it: your social media marketing partner
Email This Page

 

THE NEW STREAMLINED RSN LOGIN PROCESS: Register once, then login and you are ready to comment. All you need is a Username and a Password of your choosing and you are free to comment whenever you like! Welcome to the Reader Supported News community.

RSNRSN