Sunday, August 23, 2009

News for Who?

Here's another example caught by Dean Baker at his Beat The Press web site. Here is a blatant example of how the elite define "the news":
Budget Deficits and the Theater of the Absurd at the Washington Post

The White House's 10-year economic projections show that the economy will be in considerably worse shape than the previous set. As a result, the cumulative deficit over this period will be $2 trillion larger. One might think that the prospect of millions more workers being unemployed would be news in the Washington Post. Nope, they just just talked about the budget deficit.

The article also related the budget deficit to U.S. indebtedness to China and other Asian countries. The level of U.S. indebtedness to other countries is determined by the trade deficit, not the budget deficit. The trade deficit is primarily the result of an over-valued dollar. Neither the trade deficit, nor the value of the dollar, was mentioned in the article.
For 98% of the population, the concern over a weak economy, growing unemployment is top of the mind. But for the bondholders, the top concern is debt because a growing debt implies higher inflation which means their investments shrink. So what does the press print? News for the rich. Nothing for the broad middle class. Nothing.

Is it any surprise that most people have stopped reading the newspapers?

No comments: