Monday, November 22, 2010

MORE FOX NEWS DISINFORMATION

"Don't you see that the whole aim of
Newspeak is to narrow the range of thought?...
Has it ever occurred to you, Winston, that by the
year 2050, at the very latest, not a single human being
will be alive who could understand such a conversation
as we are having now?... The whole climate of thought
will be different. In fact, there will be no thought, as we
understand it now. Orthodoxy means not thinking —
not needing to think. Orthodoxy is unconsciousness."

- George Orwell, 1984, Book 1, Chapter 5


Why think for yourself when Fox News is there to do your thinking for you ...

I've been saying for some time now that to help grow the economy that tax cuts for the rich are the least effective tax policy. The data is not only strong but it comes from the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO). Still, in their continuing effort to narrow America's "range of thought", Fox News likes to disagree.

In their latest snippet of disinformation host Neil Cavuto forcefully accused his guest, Democratic strategist Chris Hahn, of lying when Hahn said of the Bush tax cuts, "For every dollar you spend in tax cuts, you get back 30 cents to the economy."

As Media Matters put it, the figure Hahn cited is not only accurate but well documented. Here are the numbers from the CBO ...




... and from Moodys.com (as cited in front of Congress April 10, 2010 by Mark Zandi, chief economist for Moody's Analytics, and a former economic adviser to John McCain's presidential campaign).



 
At the end of the day, looking to Fox News as a reliable source of information is akin to claiming that Arnold Schwarzenegger is a talented actor, or that World Wrestling Entertainment is a competitive sport.

Seriously, check out this Fox /Glenn Beck piece, which Jon Stewart does a good job of picking apart (starts at 2:30).
 
- Mark

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