Dean Baker Asks a Simple Question

I enjoy how Dean Baker holds the media accountable for their hidden political agenda. Here is a posting on his Beat the Press blog that asks a very good question:

Will the Washington Post Ever Tell Readers that the Republican Medicare Privatization Plan Would Add $34 Trillion to the Cost of Buying Health Care in Retirement?

That is what the projections from the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) imply. And, just to be clear, this is the additional waste that CBO projects would result from running the program through private insurers. The figure does not include roughly $5 trillion in expenses that would be transferred from the government to seniors.

The $34 trillion figure comes to $110,000 for every man, woman, and child in the country. It is almost 7 times the projected Social Security shortfall. While the Post has devoted endless space (in both its news and opinion sections) hyping the need to fix Social Security, it has never once mentioned this much larger cost to the country projected by CBO. Instead its articles on the Republican Medicare plan have been entirely of the he said/she said variety and discussions of its political prospects.

A serious paper would discuss the substance. The Post's readers don't have more time to look into this issue than its reporters.

I continue to be amazed at how the media continues to pull of a sleight of hand on the public. They keep them busy with non-issues and trivialities while ignoring the big important questions. And the media never confronts the right wing politicians with their lies. It always gives them a pass. Tragic.