Tuesday, March 03, 2009

Dim Sum

I'm afraid these three little dumplings I'm serving for a luncheon snack just might make you throw up........

The world is trying so very hard to awaken our partisan political leaders from their slumber. These aren't Republicans slamming the new President. These are real experts trying hard to get through the wall partisan rhetoric. Please turn off the politics long enough to listen.

1.
The Wall Street Journal: The Obama Economy - "Americans have welcomed the Obama era in the same spirit of hope the President campaigned on. But after five weeks in office, it's become clear that Mr. Obama's policies are slowing, if not stopping, what would otherwise be the normal process of economic recovery. From punishing business to squandering scarce national public resources, Team Obama is creating more uncertainty and less confidence -- and thus a longer period of recession or subpar growth."

"What is new is the unveiling of Mr. Obama's agenda and his approach to governance. Every new President has a finite stock of capital -- financial and political -- to deploy, and amid recession Mr. Obama has more than most. But one negative revelation has been the way he has chosen to spend his scarce resources on income transfers rather than growth promotion. Most of his "stimulus" spending was devoted to social programs, rather than public works, and nearly all of the tax cuts were devoted to income maintenance rather than to improving incentives to work or invest."

The entire article is so very important. Click over and read it all.

2.
James Cramer on CNBC: It’s Amateur Hour at Our Darkest Moment - “Until the Obama administration starts listening, until they start paying attention to what you’re watching – to the stock market, until they realize that their agenda is destroying the life savings of millions of Americans – then all I can give you is caution."



3. I spent the morning watching U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke's testimony before the Senate broadcast live by both CNBC and FBN. It was riveting. Bernanke does support the Obama stimulus plan but simply couldn't warn Congress often enough that the deficit must be reigned in and quickly.

One very sad and telling moment was when a Democrat made a labored effort to place the deficit blame on President Bush. Bernanke was calm and patient and respectful, but made it very clear the Bush deficits were minor in terms of economics and in relationship to the GDP and income tax revenue. The Obama deficit is an entirely different matter.

But my point here is that after watching the testimony I switched back to MSNBC where the headline and virtually every story was the "Rush Limbaugh battles Michael Steele for the soul of the Republican Party" story worthy only of Entertainment Tonight and not a major news network. I watched for 30 minutes and the story was repeated SEVEN TIMES!!! No joke. Bernanke's testimony was never mentioned.

I couldn't believe me ears. To give some credit to MSNBC, Pat Buchanan tried to simply dismiss the "controversy" for the complete non-story it is and tried his best to spread the warning of the coming economic disaster.

But I then had to check the other two cable news networks. I dutifully watched FOX for 30 minutes and heard a great interview with Gov. Tim Kaine, the Chairman of the DNC. Kaine's honesty and candor were refreshing. The interview was intelligent and timely. And neither Michael Steele nor Rush Limbaugh were mentioned even once. And Rush was never mentioned during the entire 30 minute break.

Then I switched to CNN. CNN was covering the Bernanke testimony and the economic situation. They also covered several other news stories, most importantly a building collapse in Cologne with devastating images. But Rush Limbaugh never got a single mention.

I have often criticized FOX NEWS as being a Republican outlet. But, at its very worst, FOX has never come close to the complete journalistic sellout of MSNBC. They are doing a grave disservice to their viewers.

12 comments:

Unknown said...

So you got news coverage from Fox and CNN and sensational coverage from MSNBC.

According the the LA times Fox News averages 2.4 million viewers in prime time between Jan. 26 and Feb. 22, CNN was second place with 1.2 million viewers while MSNBC posted an average of 949,000.

Maybe there is a reason for this...

Kentucky Rain said...

Wizard you picked your sources for this piece most carefully. The WSJ has long been a Republican tool and James Cramer is little more than a loudmouth who does well advising the individual investor or small business but when it comes to telling the President and his serious team of experts how to do business I think I will pass. I will never understand wh so many little fish want to try and tell the big fish where to swim. Don't they get it? They are little fish.

Finally Wizard the deficit problem does belong to Bush. The Republicans controlled Congress for 14 years and the WH for the last 8 years. The last 8 years have been a national nightmare not only for America but also for the world.

I really enjoy your views except when it comes to your defense of Bush. It is beneath you.

Finally we must have been watching MSNBC at the same time today as I agree with you. I try to switch between CNN and MSNBC. I would never watch Fox. It is as biased and unbalanced as they come. There is no station in America that can come close to its partisanship, not even MSNBC.

Stella by Starlight said...

Bernanke was calm and patient and respectful, but made it very clear the Bush deficits were minor in terms of economics and in relationship to the GDP and income tax revenue. I consider that statement as pandering partisanship.

Bush bankrupted the country. The financial market crashed under his watch, not President Obama's. Why was there no oversight for the military contractors? Halliburton lost billions, and that's from The American Conservative in 2005.

The United States invaded Iraq with a high-minded mission: destroy dangerous weapons, bring democracy, and trigger a wave of reform across the Middle East. None of these have happened.

When the final page is written on America’s catastrophic imperial venture, one word will dominate the explanation of U.S. failure—corruption.


Cheney was worth $10 billion by 2005 from his Halliburton stocks. Rep. Henry Waxman did all he could to bring the "administration" to conduct oversight.

I know you're concerned about the financial destruction of America, but please put the blame where it belongs.

Unknown said...

Mike, your opinion that Fox is biased and MSNBC just shows a lack of information.

Lets take http://www.cmpa.com/ they monitored the news channels and found Fox to be the most fair in coverage.

http://www.cmpa.com/releases/07_12_21_Election_Study.pdf

The large audience share says they are doing something correct.

Stella, please, just move on. The stock market dropping has been in Obama's camp. Peoples futures have been destroyed, retirement savings wiped out!!

Even your Libertarian example monies pales when put against the spending and proposed spending with NO way to pay that back. So yes put the blame where it belongs Bush spent way too much money. Obama has outspent 8 years in one month...

Maybe Madmike is right. Maybe Obama's plan to have the nation grow at a faster rate then ever before starting next year will happen. I will gladly eat crow. I mean, what is happening to the financial market, our freedoms and our evaporating future is what the American Voter wanted... Right?

Will "take no prisoners" Hart said...

Obama's statement today that the stock market is "gyrating" is beneath him. The stock market is PLUMMETING and he knows it. I mean, I know that the situation is damaging to him and all, but a leader is a leader and I didn't get that from him today. Sadly.

Bob Keller said...

Stella, I am so thrilled to see you and MadMike back here in Wizard Land. But hey, I am not defending Bush. Bush is history!! The tragedy of spending all your time blaming Bush is it blinds you to the unfolding tragedy that is happening today, not just on Obama's watch but under his specific direction.

Bush's largest deficit was 480 billion dollars. It seemed big at the time that we Democrats did absolutely nothing to reign it in (remember we controlled both houses of Congress in 2007 and 2008).

But Obama's deficit will probably top 2 trillion dollars this year alone with well over 1 trillion next year. By 2012 THE INTEREST ALONE on OBAMA'S 4 year insane spending will actually be larger than Bush's entire deficit.

You simply have to be blind with Bush Derangement Syndrome to not see what is happening. I genuinely don't care about Bush. He's not the President and he doesn't control a damned thing.

It is Barack Obama who pushed through the most reckless and dangerous doubled barreled spending packages in history.

As the Obama flood of debt and waste drowns every home in America you simply can't pull out a measuring cup and say this 16 ounces of water was caused by Halliburton and have any credibility at all. You better be building a life raft and demanding Obama turn off the water.

Bob Keller said...

Will "Take No Prisoners" Hart is absolutely correct!! Is it possible Obama is really blind to the tragedy before his eyes?

This is the equivilant of 100 Hurricane Katrinas and Obama is in Air Force One doing a fly by...... at 35,000 feet..... above the clouds and rain.

Somebody needs to show him a DVD of recent news television (no MSNBC allowed).

Stella by Starlight said...

Lee, OMG, I like you so much, but I'm not a Libertarian. Please tell me you were kidding. I'm devastated. Libertarians don't want to spend any government money on social programs—more so than the GOP. Besides, Bob Barr and Wayne Allen Root are creepy. Blecch!

Wizard, you're always so kind. Thank you.

Stella by Starlight said...

I agree with all of you about impartial news: FOX is conservative, MSNBC is liberal.

Give me CSPAN: no commentary, no talking heads, just pure, unadulterated news.

BTW, Wizard and Lee, I'm working crazy hours for a new job. I like it, but it sure cuts into my blog time. (~sigh~) I have to admit that you and Lee always keep me thinking. I, too, am concerned (that's a mild term) about the economy.

Perhaps we can all agree that two administrations spent far too much money.

Kentucky Rain said...

Wizard the fact is that Obama is brilliant, as are those surrounding him. He would not throw us under the bus with reckless spending. He has been most careful in explaining the effects of the stimulus and the new budget. Why would you possibly think that a man such as this would intentionally say "Screw America. Let's spend her into bankruptcy. That is a sure way for me to get re-elected."

Come on Wizard you know better than that, and so do you Will.

Will "take no prisoners" Hart said...

There was a nonpartisan economist on Anderson Cooper (a fair host on a fair network, I think) last night. He said that only one third of the stimulus package is actually stimulative, and even that part won't ( alot of it, anyway) kick in til 2010, 2011. This isn't partisan, double-m. BUSH STUNK!! No question about it. But Obama is starting to make Bush and Paulsen look like pikers here. Obama needs to stand up, not just to Limbaugh (who I agree is a bozo) but to Nancy Pelosi, too. If he can summon wherewithall to do that, then, yes, he can be truly great. I, for one, am rooting for him.

Bob Keller said...

Obama's intentions are very good, but he is making a series of serious, possibly fatal, mistakes and misjudgements.

The FACT that Obama doesn't intend to "throw us under the bus" doesn't mean we won't end up there. And it certainly won't save us as the bus rolls down the road and crushes our nation and sends us into intensive care.