Political Ruminations

Jake Tapper Echoes Republican Lies on Solvency of Social Security Program

Karoli (of Crooks and Liars) decimates claims that Jake Tapper made today about Social Security on ABC’s ‘This Week’, emphasis mine:

Social Security is a retirement plan. It is not an "entitlement" in the sense that we're a bunch of little piggies with our snout in the bowl snuffling for more. It is part of the tools we have used for our entire working lives to plan for retirement. Start with that. Calling Social Security and Medicare "entitlements" is a right-wing frame intended to make them sound like some kind of handout. They are EARNED. They are earned with the sweat of every working person's brow. Someone should tell Tapper that.

Next, lose the whole nonsense whine about the baby boomers. Boomers' retirement benefits under Social Security were accounted for and funded from the Reagan Administration forward. No one but Jake Tapper, evidently, is surprised that baby boomers are retiring now. This, by the way, is why some of us in that generation have to wait until we're 66 or 67 to retire. We were staggered in order to extend the life of the fund without forcing higher payroll taxes.

It should also be known that if the wage base upon which Social Security benefits are funded had been raised instead of frozen for several years, there would be more money in the fund. However, Tapper is simply incorrect about it being "out of money in 20 years."

That's false. As in a total falsehood, as in a lie, Romney-style. Tapper should have to retract that publicly and apologize for his scare tactics.

Here, straight from the 2012 Trustees' report, is the projection on Social Security:

After 2020, Treasury will redeem trust fund assets in amounts that exceed interest earnings until exhaustion of trust fund reserves in 2033, three years earlier than projected last year. Thereafter, tax income would be sufficient to pay only about three-quarters of scheduled benefits through 2086.

So no, Jake Tapper. Social Security is not "bankrupt" in 20 years. I would like for you to find one other government program that is able to provide full benefits through 2033, and 75% through 2086 without any change to it. Just one. Go ahead.

Why is it that it is so rare for major media news people to actually understand the issues about which they report? It boggles my mind that these people are even allowed to speak about the most important issues because they usually manage only to completely misinform the American public. And I’m not even talking about Fox Cable News, which is, of course, the worst.

This is why I can no longer stand to watch the Sunday shows.

Morning Quote: National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

From its “State of the Climate Global Analysis” for June 2011-June 2012, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) on how abnormal the last year has been in terms of climate:

“ During the June 2011-June 2012 period, each of the 13 consecutive months ranked among the warmest third of their historical distribution for the first time in the 1895-present record. The odds of this occurring randomly is 1 in 1,594,323. ”

We need to ask the media why they have allowed the global warming deniers to silence them. And, oh, by the way, the changes are not reversible.
Via Think Progress

Morning Quote: Sarah Palin

Apparently the ignoramus Sarah Palin believes that she has a superior understanding of the Constitution as opposed to President Obama, or so she says in an interview on Fox News:

“ I would like to see governors be tough and opt out of this and exert “our” 10th Amendment rights and tell President Obama – who does not understand the Constitution, he even being a Constitution lecturer and supposed scholar in our Constitution – not understanding, probably never reading, nor absorbing the 10th Amendment to understand that states have rights. ”

I can’t think of much that’s more pathetic than this ignoramus big mouth rube trying to intimate that she understands the Constitution while President Obama, a Constitutional scholar, does not. News Hounds does a great job of tearing apart the entire interview , so make sure you go read it!

Morning Quote: Jay Carney

Press Secretary Jay Carney offers some advice to reporters on Air Force One:

“ I simply make the point, as an editor might say, to check it out; do not buy into the BS that you hear about spending and fiscal constraint with regard to this administration. I think doing so is a sign of sloth and laziness.”

Mr. Carney is right, and in fact, he very much understated the problem with our media. Meanwhile, in his column on Huffpost, Bob Cesca, puts the lie to the right wing claim that President Obama is a tax and spend liberal.

Press is Silent on Mitt Romney's Tax Havens

Economist Kenneth Thomas on the media silence regarding Mitt and Ann Romney’s offshore accounts:

Obama Campaign Maps Romney's Tax Havens, (Almost) No One Notices

If a tree falls in the woods and no one hears it, did it really happen? That's what you've got to wonder in the wake of this week's (non-)coverage of Mitt Romney's tax haven use.
Via Tax Research UK, The Hill reports that the Obama campaign has published a handy map of presumptive opponent Mitt Romney's tax haven holdings around the world. So Tax Research UK obviously noticed. But a search ("Romney tax havens map) of the premium Nexis database shows virtually no one else did. Agence France Presse ran a story the same day (May 1) and India's The Pioneer mentioned it in a story on May 4, but that's the sum total for the week. Running the same search on Google yields the Tax Research UK article and one at The Political Carnival, plus Bob Cesca picking up The Political Carnival and then Political Ruminations picking it up from him.
Where is the U.S. press on this?

“Where is the U.S. press on this?”

Is the answer that the tax havens of a U.S. presidential candidate aren't important?

Not so much.

The real truth is the same as it always is in this country: our corporate media, which our founders considered important enough to convey constitutional protections upon, tries very hard, and with great success, to ignore stuff which isn't to the liking of their corporate owners. And that simple truth is devastating for any democracy.

Fox News Channel "The Five" Lacking Serious People

Political pundit Bob Cesca describes the show and the panelists of said show, “The Five” (airs on Fox News Channel):

“The Five” — an obvious cable news knock-off of The View (and all of its imitators) in which four conservatives and one liberal (for balance) snark about the issues of the day. If Fox News was trying to create a show that would augment the intellectual stature of the usually moronic Fox & Friends, they totally succeeded.

The moderator of the show is serial race-baiter Eric Bolling and the panel consists of a Lazy Susan of cackling simpletons. Greg Gutfeld, whose previous credits include both Fox News Channel’s overnight show and The Huffington Post where he blogged about his calf muscles and made hilariously smart cracks about Cenk Uygur’s name, is evidently the designated jokester, dickbag and misogynist of the group. There’s also former Bush press secretary Dana Perino and legal analyst Andrea Tantaros. “Democratic strategist” Bob Beckel, who recently said “fuck” on the Hannity show, is the token liberal and, in keeping with Fox News policy, makes really weak points and often appears to be drunk. A perfect target for the conservatives on the panel.

Just in case you were wondering.

Adding...“a Lazy Susan of cackling simpletons” –bwahahahahaha

TPM’s “Obama Mangles U.S., World History In Energy Speech” Grasping at Straws

The web site ‘ Talking Points Memo’, better known as TPM, has long been a Liberal stalwart, a go-to site for a left wing point of view. Apparently no more.

A former reporter for the the right wing paper, The New York Sun, Benji Sarlin, blasted readers with a HuffPo type headline “Obama Mangles U.S., World History In Energy Speech” today, a headline that was false and intended solely to garner clicks, primarily from right wingers.

Sarlin explains:

President Obama got a laugh out of a Maryland audience on Thursday when he mocked the Republican Party in a speech, comparing their skepticism of alternative energy to the “Flat Earth Society” in Christopher Columbus’ day and President Rutherford B. Hayes’ apparent dismissal of the telephone. But while Obama thinks the GOP is in need of a science lesson, he may need to bone up on history himself.

In mocking the GOP, Obama cited an anecdote about Hayes in which, upon using the telephone for the first time, he said, “It’s a great invention, but who would ever want to use one?”

“That’s why he’s not on Mount Rushmore,” Obama said. “He’s explaining why we can’t do something instead of why we can do something.”

In painting his energy critics as being mired in the past,  President Obama made a joking comparison with a predecessor,  the 19th President of the United States Rutherford B. Hayes.

The quote itself is often cited, is listed on Wikiquote, and was intended by the president to be humorous, a quality which Mr. Sarlin is apparently unfamiliar with. President Obama:

“One of my predecessors, Rutherford B. Hayes. He said “It's a great invention, but who would ever want to use one?” talking about the telephone. That's why he's not on Mount Rushmore. He's explaining why we can't do something instead of why we can do something. The point is there will always be cynics and naysayers who just want to keep on doing things the same way we have always done them.”

President Obama also made a quip about  Columbus and the flat earther type wingnuts:

“If some of these folks were around when Columbus set sail, they must have been founding members of the Flat Earth Society,” Obama said. “They would not have believed that the world was round.”

Mr. Sarlin, I dislike having to disillusion you, but the majority of Americans still believes that during Columbus’ time most people thought that the earth was flat.

A reader offers an explanation for the outrage seen in the comment section:

“I think the nerve you've struck is that the substance of the "error" doesn't in any way match the language and primacy which you've shown it, to the point of being absurd. Obviously that's an editorial decision, and some thought goes into it. But this was so obviously a bad call, that it makes some of your long time readers here question what has happened to this site. Perhaps, it's time you guys, y'know, 'boned up' on some journalism.”

My contention is that anecdotal cracks regarding technologically impaired presidents such as Rutherford Hayes,  and flat earth societies used as a rhetorical device for laughs/humor, using generally/widely accepted, albeit erroneous, beliefs, does not qualify as a "mangling of history”.

Mr. Sarlin, I sincerely hope that your editor has enlightened you because your regular readers certainly tried in your comment section, and I think that if you are unable to do better, Josh Marshall would do best to kick you to the curb.

UPDATE: If you were as angered by Sarlin’s piece as I was, be sure to catch the Bob and Chez Show (podcast-also on DC radio) as Bob Cesca  had some pretty harsh words for TPM/Sarlin’s piece.

Paul Krugman on Lies and Liars

Paul Krugman on the lies and the lying liars:

“Back in 2000, George W. Bush made a discovery of enormous consequence: you could base a whole political campaign on claims that were flatly untrue, like the claim that your big tax cuts for the wealthy went to the middle class, or the claim that diverting Social Security funds into private accounts would strengthen the system’s finances, and reporting would never point this out. That’s when I formulated my doctrine that if Bush said the earth was flat, headlines would read Views Differ on Shape of Planet.

All indications are, however, that Campaign 2012 will make Campaign 2000 look like a model of truthfulness. And all indications are that the press won’t know what to do — or, worse, that they will know what to do, which is act as stenographers and refuse to tell readers and listeners when candidates lie. Because to do otherwise when the parties aren’t equally at fault — and they won’t be — would be “biased”.

This will be true even of those news organizations specifically charged with fact-checking. Yes, they’ll call out some lies — but they’ll also claim that some perfectly reasonable statements are lies, in order to keep their precious balance. This is already happening: as Igor Volsky points out, one of the finalists for Politifact’s Lie of the Year is a Democratic claim — that Republicans want to abolish Medicare — that happens to be entirely true.”

Read that last paragraph carefully. It is almost surreal that Politifact has fallen for the “biased” nonsense to the point where they can call the claim “Republicans want to abolish Medicare” a lie of the year. Or a lie at all.

In point of fact, the liars here are not only the Republicans, who absolutely want to end Medicare and continuously spin and lie about it, but now Politifact, who spreads the lie for them.

Think Progress has the background on the Politifact claim.

My head is spinning.

Adding......John Cole on the Politifact lie:

America turns off the lights, goes to bed, leaving their Mercedes in the driveway. While we sleep, the Republicans sneak into the car, drive it off, and sell it, but they keep the Mercedes hood ornament. They then split the proceeds between their rich buddies, and go out and find a Ford Pinto up on cinderblocks in a field, with the grass growing through the floorboard. They place that in the driveway, cleverly glue the Mercedes ornament onto the front of the Pinto, and sneak off into the night. The next morning, America and Democrats are screaming- “What the hell happened to my car.” Republicans say- “What are you talking about, there is your Mercedes right there, we just modernized it and fixed it up a bit for long-term financial stability,” and point at the Pinto.

Then, the rocket scientists at Politifact drive by to take a non-partisan look at things, see the Mercedes symbol on the front of the car, and tell us all we’re lying about the Republicans stealing our Mercedes.

Morning Quote

Olbermann called out Jessica Yellin, CNN’s Chief White House Correspondent (hard to believe she is that) for this utterly stupid comment, emphasis mine:

“If this is as dire as the White House says it is, and as it would seem the capital markets are suggesting it is, why not just give the Republicans want they want? Why not just cave and say, "you know what? You want only cuts, fine. To save America and save the economy, we'll give you cuts, we'll raise the debt ceiling, and we'll fight another day on the other issues that matter to Democrats.”

Watch:

Moronic Quote of the Week

Mark Halperin, the former Palin worshipper, columnist hack for TIME magazine, regular contributor to MSNBC, and all around Conservative media jerk, called President Obama “a dick” on Morning Joe today:

MSNBC has suspended Halperin indefinitely, he has apologized both on air and on Twitter and has said that he “deeply regrets it”, but hey, I’m pretty sure Mark Halperin only regrets getting caught, and thus suspended.

In my view, Halperin has always been the dick in the room.

Media and Democracy

From Bob Cesca’s excellent piece on hard news vs. “underpants” news:

Information is the life blood of democracy. The democratic process depends upon our active participation, and whenever real information is replaced with nonsense, democracy suffers due to an ignorant public.

This is the crux of the matter.

Our corporate overlords have an overwhelming interest in keeping the general populace ignorant of the true state of our “Democracy”.

As a currently relevant example, I would go so far as to say that if it were not for online, non-traditional media, Paul Ryan would very likely get his damn budget with out much in the way of pushback from traditional media.

The state of our media is one of the most important issues facing us in our time.

Yet they have the nerve to go after Rep. Weiner

This - “Ohio Congressman Is Convicted in Sex Case, but Aide Says He'll Run for Re-election”, emphasis mine:

E. Lukens, Republican of Ohio, was convicted today in a case in which prosecutors said he had sex with a 16-year-old girl.

A jury deliberated for one and a half hours before finding him guilty of contributing to the delinquency and unruliness of a minor at his apartment in Columbus on Nov. 6. The offense, a misdemeanor, carries a maximum sentence of 180 days in jail and a $1,000 fine. He will be sentenced after a presentencing investigation.

LA TIMES Complains About Term “Lamestream Media”

Writer Paul Whitefield, of the LA Times, wrote (he intended this as criticism for those who constantly call the mainstream media by less flattering names, such as “lamestream”):

By regularly demonizing major, reputable media outlets, some political leaders have taken us to a very dark place, a place where people don't believe anyone: not the media, not the government, not elected officials. And that's a bad place to be.

Well, yes, it is a “bad place to be” but we the people did not get there by ourselves nor did we get there by listening to the right-wing decry the “lamestream media”. We got there because the curtain parted, and we finally see the Wizard in all his nakedness with his inglorious attributes of greed, corruption and narcissism.

I mean, are there really any “major, reputable media outlets” left? I can only think of maybe one. But only certain writers for that publication. And even on that one that I still consider 95% reliable, I always question, and frequently look for verification from other sources. And some of their writers I just won’t read.

I feel that way not because I listened to Palin, or some other loser decrying “lamestream media”, but because I have learned over the past few years that our media is not objective, and thus can not be counted on to present the facts in a truthful or secondarily important to me, objective light. After all, our mainstream media is entirely corporate owned. 

Whitefield goes on to further blame terms such as “lamestream media” for the lack of confidence in our media:

that's the real problem, because that's what this "lamestream media" nonsense has done: Too many people see political motives in everything; too many people believe anything but the truth.

Someone should remind Palin and her ilk of what Thomas Jefferson said, that given a choice between government without newspapers and newspapers without a government, he'd choose the latter.

Really, Mr. Whitefield? Really? It isn’t just Palin or the right-wing who see the media as lame. And what should we see when we look at corporate owned media?

It isn’t the term “lamestream” or any other derogatory term that has undermined our confidence in media.

It is the incompetence, and the corruption that much of the media exhibits or partakes in that is the cause of our disenchantment with media. It is the media’s participation in the ridiculous “both sides meme”, and their willingness to play simpering, stupid idiots for the dollars of their sponsors and the coffers of their corporate owners.

It is why people read the blogs, preferring them to more mainstream sources, particularly for political news. It is why I and many others blog. It is not, however, that we've been sucked in to the idea of the "lamestream media" as promoted by right-wingnuts such as Sarah Palin.

Murdoch’s Tabloid Punks Mainstream Media

In the realm of the bizarre and stupid, did you happen to see the media blitz about the mom who was purportedly giving her 7-year-old daughter Botox injections? I did, I fell for it, and I was utterly furious at the mom, yelling at her on my television during an ABC broadcast.

Watch:

Today we learned that it was a scam, a hoax, a media invention. Media punking media. You’d think that the media would learn to investigate more carefully. From TMZ via Chris Weigant, emphasis mine:

TMZ has obtained a sworn declaration written by Sheena Upton, who claims she was recently approached by the British tabloid, The Sun, and asked "to play the role of Kerry Campbell" for a story called "I Give My 8-Year-Old Daughter Botox."
Upton now confesses The Sun paid her $200 adding, "I was provided with the story, instructions and a script to follow for a recorded interview."
After the story ran in The Sun, Upton says she was approached by "Good Morning America" and "Inside Edition" and claims she was offered  "a large fee" to appear on camera.  She went on both shows and re-told her story.
After the interview, child welfare officials took Upton's daughter away.
Upton now admits in her declaration, "The truth is I have never given my daughter Botox, nor allowed her to get any type of waxing, nor is she a beauty pageant contestant."
Upton says professionals agree with her declaration, because on May 17, she took her daughter to the UCLA Medical Center and says, "After my daughter received a full medical exam, the results indicated that she has not ever received treatments including Botox or other such injections."
We're told the UCLA reports were forwarded to child welfare officials, who then returned Upton's daughter to her, with the provison that a cousin would stay with her and the child for the time being.

I would be remiss if I didn’t point out that the owner of “The Sun” is none other than Rupert Murdoch, also the owner of the much despised right-wing message machine, Fox Network.

Quote of the Day

On CNN today, acclaimed historian and author, Douglas Brinkley called on NBC to drop Trump’s show from it’s lineup or face a loss of corporate sponsors and massive boycotts. Via Think Progress:

We don’t have to blame “the media” for dealing with this issue. We have to blame NBC Entertainment. They need to dump Trump from his primetime news show. He’s a poison toad on the airwaves. What corporate sponsor is going to be buying ad time for Donald Trump’s show. Any company that goes into Trump and is willing to pay is going to find consumer boycott like they’ve never seen before. If you are going to do what Trump did and go after the President of the United States in such a grotesque and disingenuous way you better cough up the goods. Today the Obama administration has shown what a charlatan Donald Trump really is.

Watch:

I could not agree more! The new battle cry should be “Dump Trump”!

Current corporate sponsors of Trump’s “Celebrity Apprentice” include the following, from Think Progress:

Corporate sponsors of “Celebrity Apprentice” currently include: Enterprise Rental Car, Clorox, Sprint, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Walt Disney, and Groupon.

Protesters March on Koch Industries Office in DC

2000 of them! From Think Progress:

Though they don’t want you to know about it, the billionaire Koch brothers are bankrolling a massive campaign to roll back progressive achievements, and today, labor, civil rights, and climate activists turned out at dozens of rallies across the country to demonstrate against the Koch’s secretive influence in American politics and to stand up for labor and civil rights.

In Washington, D.C. today an estimated 2,000 protesters marched on Koch Industries’ Washington D.C. offices and attempted to give Charles and David Koch an invitation to come out and speak with the protesters. Not surprisingly, the building’s doors were locked and no one was allowed inside. However, a representative from the real estate company which managed the building told an handful of organizers who attempted to deliver the invitation, “I’d be here with you guys if I wasn’t working right now.” Noting that he works for the building, not Koch, he said, “I don’t want to be here.”

Watch:

Of note. The so called “liberal” media was absent. Nothing new or unusual about the failure of media to cover liberal events, but it is certainly worth noting each and every time they ignore us.

Last Thursday, tea party activists rallied on Capitol Hill to pressure Republican lawmakers to cut government spending. Crowd estimates ranged from “dozens” to “fewer than 200,” yet the event attracted dozens of reporters and significant media interest, producing hundreds of stories in local and national press. At today’s rally, which was ten times bigger than the tea party one, ThinkProgress spotted three reporters — none from mainstream publications.

VIDEO: Jon Stewart Takes on Corporate Tax Dodger GE

In for it are GE for its stellar record of paying zero dollars in U.S. taxes at the same time that they outsourced our jobs overseas, President Obama for appointing GEs CEO to head up the jobs panel, and NBC for its lack of coverage on GEs (NBCs parent company, along with Comcast) propensity for tax dodging.

Watch:

Correction

I was contacted by Terry Stanton, Public Information Officer for the Michigan Dept. of Treasury yesterday, regarding a report originating with WXYZ that I quoted here.

He advised me that WXYZ had gotten the facts wrong, that he had also advised them of this, and that he would like both of us to remove or correct the articles.

WXYZs original statement:  "Vulnerable cities like Ecorse, Highland Park and Pontiac could get Emergency Financial Managers. This problem is so serious across this state, more than 60 communities are on a Michigan Department of Treasury special watch list.  Hamtramck is once again in danger."

Mr. Stanton’s clarification: “The Cities of Ecorse & Pontiac are currently under authority of an Emergency Manager.  Highland Park, while no longer under an EM, is still under a financial emergency declaration.”

After doing some fact checking, I found that three cities and one school district are currently under EFM management:

Only Pontiac, Benton Harbor, Ecorse and the Detroit Public Schools have state-appointed emergency financial managers in place, and critics say the current law isn't strong enough to do much good.

The cities of Highland Park, and the village of Three Oaks no longer have EFMs, although they remain under the declaration of a financial emergency.

While I’m talking about these cities, allow me to digress a moment and go where several others already have, and point out that the cities which currently have EFMs are all places where minorities are the majority. So yes, I have very few doubts that the decision to install EFMs in these cities is in part, racial

Additionally, Mr. Stanton had this to say about the “special watch list”, emphasis mine:

In addition, the department (Treasury) does not have a "special watch list" as was reported.  We are aware that some local units of government are facing very trying financial circumstances.  Following the bill signing yesterday, State Treasurer Andy Dillon noted that we are currently aware of "less than ten" municipalities and school districts that may experience additional difficulties in the weeks and months ahead.  However, we do not have a "special watch list."

I have to say, without being at all surprised by it, it at least appears that WXYZ once again did not do their homework, and, as of yet, they have not made a correction or removed the article.

Finally, if you have any information to the contrary, such as knowledge of the existence of such a watch list, please contact me at nscATpoliticalruminationsDOTcom.

Fox News Morons

This.

Right Wing Hack Amity Shlaes on GPS With Fareed Zakaria

I really hate this, because in general, I have a lot of respect for Fareed Zakaria, but Amity Shlaes of the routinely misleading statistics and assorted and sundry Republican nonsense dissemination?? That certainly could put a very large crimp in your credibility, Mr. Zakaria. 

Digby:

If you get a chance to see Amity Shlaes on Fareed Zakaria's GPS on CNN today, don't miss it. This mendacious twit has no business on respectable television show, and least of all Zakaria's which hit a low point by having her on today. He validated her lies by presenting her as a serious person and somebody should make him answer for it.

I agree with Digby.

Morning Quote: Paul Krugman

Krugman on the media blackout of the protests occurring in Wisconsin, and on Saturday, in 65 other cities all over the country:

I don’t watch cable news, or actually any kind of TV news. But I gather that there’s a virtual blackout on the huge demonstrations in Wisconsin, except on Fox, which portrays them as thuggish and violent.

What that makes me think of is January-February 2003, when anyone watching cable news would have believed that only a few kooks were opposed to the imminent invasion of Iraq. It was quite spooky, realizing that hundreds of thousands of people could march through New York, and by tacit agreement be ignored by news networks whose headquarters were just a few blocks away.

And it’s even more spooky to see it happening all over again.

It seems surreal.

Morning Quote

Jason Easley, in an article berating the cable news networks for their almost complete lack of coverage of the protests in Madison, Wisconsin, and in 65 other cities in the U.S. on Saturday:

A protest was held today that was bigger than anything that the Tea Party has ever done, but you wouldn’t know it if you were watching TV. There is something seriously wrong with a news gathering and reporting apparatus that devotes more live coverage to the protests in Egypt than protests in Wisconsin. Egypt was a big story, but the a fight for the very survival of the middle class should not be ignored.

Image courtesy of @kevinjk

Robert Kuttner on the Both Sides Meme

But the media are infatuated with the idea that excessive partisanship is a symmetrical problem. If only the Republicans and the Democrats would meet each other halfway, the nation's ills would be solved. It is hard to watch the Sunday talk shows without seeing one interviewer after another demanding, why can't you people just compromise?

There are two problems with this formulation, one tactical and the other substantive. The tactical problem is that the Republicans and Democrats aren't playing the same game. So if the Democrats meet the Republicans half way, the Republicans only demand that they do it again. House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi is identified as media enemy number one because she rejects this nonsense. [.....]

Is Social Security Really a Ponzi Scheme?

|Yesterday, The New York Times printed a letter to the editor regarding Social Security and Medicare, along with the FICA tax used to fund them both. Most surprising to me, was the fact that they printed a letter which called Social Security a “Ponzi scheme” without any attempt to refute that statement.

Now I’ve heard it called a Ponzi scheme many times, but always by Republicans on forums and blogs. It is known to be a major Right Wing meme. I have never seen it called that in a major, supposedly objective, newspaper. So, what is a Ponzi scheme, and is our Social Security program an actual Ponzi scheme?

In layman’s terms, A Ponzi scheme is one in which early investors make a lot of money, while later investors tend to get ripped off.

Today’s recipients of Social Security and Medicare are the people who paid in to it/invested in it, yesterday. If you’re paying in to it today, and you are unable to collect Social Security when eligible due to the lack of funding available, then it could conceivably be called a Ponzi scheme. But this hasn’t happened, and with proper planning, it won’t happen.

Social Security is solvent/fully funded for at least 25 more years. Do we need reform to ensure that the funding is there for future recipients? Yes. But saying that it’s a a Ponzi scheme is highly misleading.

From the Economic Opportunity Institute [pdf][emphasis mine]:

Even with the economy in recession, Social Security currently operates at a surplus. And the program is projected to have ample funding to serve future generations, including:

~ Baby-Boomers: Social Security has been collecting extra payroll taxes for the past 25 years to prepare for the retirement of the baby boom generation. For example, in 2008 Social Security took in $49 billion more in payroll taxes and $131 billion more in interest
and other income than it paid out in benefits and expenses.

~ Gen-Xers, Gen-Ys and Millennials: Even if Social Security’s Trust Fund is spent down during the baby boomers’ retirement years, because benefits actually go up a little faster than inflation, Social Security payroll taxes alone will finance benefits for later retirees worth more than today's seniors receive.
Meanwhile young workers can rest assured that if anything happens to them, their families will receive survivors or disability benefits.

Adding..... an excellent article by Dave Johnson re Social Security and the lies perpetrated by the Right Wing.

Morning Quote: NYU’s Jay Rosen Talks About Fox News

On Fox, the news exists in order to generate controversy. Controversy exists in order to generate resentment. And the resentment is what generates ratings.

Via James Joyner

Morning Quote

A really excellent comment from Bill Maher on Jon Stewart’s Sanity Rally, and the use of the ‘both sides’ meme. Video after the jump.

If you're going to have a rally where hundreds of thousands of people show up, you might as well go ahead and make it about something.

Now, with all due respect to my friends Jon and Stephen, it seems to me that if you truly wanted to come down on the side of restoring sanity and reason, you'd side with the sane and reasonable, and not try to pretend that the sanity is equally distributed in both parties. Keith Olbermann is right when he says he's not the equivalent of Glenn Beck. One reports facts, the other one is very close to playing with his poop.

And the big mistake of modern media has been this notion of balance for balances’ sake. That the left is just as violent and cruel as the right, that unions are just as powerful as corporations, that reverse racism is just as damaging as racism. There's a difference between a mad man, and a madman.

Now, getting over 200,000 people to come to a Liberal rally, is a great achievement that gave me hope. And, what I really loved about it is that it was twice the size of the Glenn Beck crowd on the mall in August. Although it weighed the same.

Of Course We Knew That Rupert Murdoch Was a Fan of the GOP

People are acting like we didn’t actually know Murdoch’s political affiliation, and some have expressed surprise upon learning that Rupert Murdoch aka News Corp., made two very large political contributions to the GOP recently. Some have even been heard to say "now we know his political affiliation".

I mean, please. It isn't like we didn't know that Murdoch, the-creepy-man- who-probably-was-the-inspiration-for-Scream, supports Republicans. Just watch Fox Network on any given day. The affiliation is clear as day, if only from the lies and talking points gleaned from the right wingnuts. This "revelation" shouldn't surprise anyone.

News Corp., the parent company of Fox News, contributed $1 million this summer to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the business lobby that has been running an aggressive campaign in support of the Republican effort to retake Congress, a source close to the company told POLITICO.

It was the second $1 million contribution the company has made this election cycle to a GOP-aligned group. In late June it gave that amount to the Republican Governors Association.

The parent companies of other media companies such as Disney (which owns ABC) and General Electric (which owns NBC) have also made political contributions, but typically in far smaller chunks, and split between Democrats and Republicans. [……]

In this clip from Countdown, Keith Olbermann names Murdoch 'Worst Person' for his two blatantly political contributions to the GOP. Now that, I can get behind. The clip starts at 1:54.

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

In closing, I can’t forget to thank our right wing SCOTUS for their activist ruling on Citizen’s United, which of course, made it possible for corporations to throw unlimited megabucks at specific parties or politicians.

Related posts on Political Ruminations...

Former President Carter Rightly Attacks Fox News Distortions; O’Reilly Defends Fox With Lies

Media Matters Documents the truth of Carter’s statements. O’Reilly once again proves his lack of credibility. Oops.

From Media Matters:

Bill O'Reilly attacked comments from former President Jimmy Carter about Fox News' race baiting and its role in promoting falsehoods about President Obama's citizenship and religion. But Carter was right: birtherism, race baiting attacks on Obama, and lies about his religion have all found a home on Fox News.

O'Reilly: "Carter can simply not back up what he says." On the September 21 edition of Fox News' The O'Reilly Factor, O'Reilly aired snippets from an interview in which Carter offered criticism of Fox for having "attempted to twist around what [Obama's[ religious faith is and whether or not he's an American" and their tendency to "inject race" into their coverage of Obama. O'Reilly then criticized Carter for "not telling the truth":

O'Reilly cropped video to hide Carter's statement that Fox "called Obama a racist" -- a clear reference to Beck. While O'Reilly claims that Carter "can simply not back up what he says" and says that "it is beneath a former president to accuse FNC of injecting race into the political process," O'Reilly crops Carter's quote to cover up the fact that he said that Fox has "actually called Obama a racist on television.”

On the July 28, 2009, edition of Fox News' Fox & Friends, Glenn Beck said that Obama "has a deep-seated hatred for white people or the white culture" and "is, I believe, a racist," a statement he subsequently claimed to stand by, in spite of growing criticism. Beck's comments were condemned by a wide variety of media figures. A year later, Beck "amend[ed]" his statement and said he meant to attack Obama's theology.

Much more about this on Media Matters. It is astounding that these morons consistently tell enormous lies, always get caught, and yet they just keep on with it.

Fox and Friends Shows Map of Body Parts at Ground Zero

A new lead-in is required for Fox and Friends -- "As tasteless as they are ignorant".

Stay classy, Republicans.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It must be pointed out, over and over again, that it is utterly disingenuous of Fox Network to even speak about the community center situation since Fox Network, as part of News Corp, is owned by one of the investors in the center, The Kingdom Foundation, aka Saudi Prince Alwaleed. Yes, the second largest shareholder of News Corp is also an investor in the proposed community center that Fox Network has spent so much time denigrating.

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
The Parent Company Trap
www.thedailyshow.com

Damn it, but the clearly evident hypocrisy is gauling.

ht Bob Cesca

UPDATE: The New York Post, also owned by Murdoch and Prince Alwaleed, is also showing the map of remains.

Rush Limbaugh's Silly A$$ Red Baiting

Limbaugh, moron that he is, compares the Cold War to the fight over Park51.

Yeah, to uphold American values as documented in our Constitution, is waaaay too much for Muslim Americans to ask...

We're now fighting the mosqueovites.

. Give me a freaking break.

Virginia's Governor McDonnell Credits Conservatives for the Budget Surplus Acquired Through the Obama Stimulus Plan

Some people have taken hypocrisy and made it an art. Republican Governor Bob McDonnell is one of those.

Loudly gloating about Virginia's budget surplus of $403.2 million during a speech to the legislature, he enumerated the factors contributing to said surplus, and during an appearance on Fox Business network, he continued to claim conservative principles as the reason for Virginia's surplus.

Well it took a lot of work and a lot of bipartisan support in both houses of the legislature but I think we took a very conservative, fiscal, practical approach to budget. You can’t spend what you don’t have.

The truth is another matter.

McDonnell’s “prudence” would be a shining example for the federal government if he hadn’t relied on one important contributor: the federal government. According to a Commonwealth Institute for Fiscal Analysis report released this week, last year’s Recovery Act provided $2.5 billion in stimulus relief to “maintain crucial services for [Virginia] citizens” and “help close the state’s budget shortfall in 2010-2012.” Virginia legislators relied on $1.3 billion in enhanced Medicaid funding, $1 billion in funding for K-12 and higher education, $39 million for public safety, and $200 million in general support to reduce “what would otherwise have been a $5.4 billion budget hole.”

Selective amnesia on the part of McDonnell? Indeed.

But McDonnell has a history of selective amnesia when it comes to Recovery funds. During his gubernatorial campaign, McDonnell continually criticized the Recovery Act as a “massive” spending bill that would “do little to help the economy.” But, while in office, McDonnell heralded $24 million in federal funding to advance health information technology while sweeping the fact that it was stimulus funding under the rug. He even requested stimulus funds to cover rising health care costs and to help build a Rolls Royce manufacturing plant in Prince George County. As one Virginia legislator put it, “we wouldn’t even be talking about the surplus if it weren’t for the stimulus.” 

From a comment on Think Progress:

Do the math:

started with 1.8 billion in the hole.

Add 2.5 billion from the fed stimulus.

Equals .7 billion in the black.

Ended with .4 billion in the black.

Fiscal responsibility and conservative principles somehow swallowed .3 billion!

Via Think Progress

VIDEO - Olbermann: There is no "Ground Zero Mosque"

Precisely right. So why does our media persist in validating this false notion?

Steve Benen [emphasis added]:

I realize that Olbermann's special comments don't resonate with everyone. But even if you don't find his analysis especially compelling, pay particular attention to his description of the facts in the case of Park51 -- it's not at Ground Zero, it's not a mosque, and even characterizing it as two blocks away is generous. The community won't be "in the shadow" of Ground Zero; it won't even be visible from Ground Zero. Hell, developers aren't even calling it the Cordoba House anymore, in the hopes that a more generic name -- Park51 -- will set minds at ease.

Everything about this debate is largely a sham, cooked up by conservatives who hope to pit Americans against each other in advance of an election cycle.

The bare minimum of a sensible, constructive public discourse is a base of reality to build upon. At this point, we're not even close.

Washington Post's Dana Milbank Totally Makes Up His Headline

Robert Gibbs keeps jabbing the left

Milbank, apparently intending to capitalize on the rift created between Gibbs and a small group on the left, albeit the most critical group on the left, stuck this headline up in order to grab more hits. The story itself is just a rehash of Gibb's original remarks, and his subsequent response to the ensuing criticism. 

So, lest anyone on the left get the wrong idea, I'll save you from reading three pages of Milbank trying to stir up more trouble, and tell you that he has nothing new to say.

Damn, I hate that headline trickery. That means you, too, HuffPost.