Can't Add It Up: Fox Still Misleading On Economy, Debt, Stimulus
Fox & Friends repeatedly attacked comments made by Democratic officials and legislators to suggest that the 2009 stimulus failed and that the Obama administration is primarily to blame for the nation's debt. In fact, economists have agreed that the stimulus promoted job growth and had positive economic effects, and several analyses have shown that most of the U.S. debt in the past decade can be attributed to former President Bush's tax cuts and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Pelosi: "If [Obama] Hadn't Taken The Actions That He Did ... The [Economic] Situation Would Be Worse." In an interview that aired on the June 5 edition of CBS's Face the Nation, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi said:
What the president has done has improved the situation from where it may have been," Pelosi said. "If he hadn't taken the actions he did, the situation would be worse. He pulled us from the brink of the financial crisis, from an economic crisis, and now we have to dig out of a deep debt. And we have to also make it clear that we're not getting into this situation again. [CBS, Face The Nation, 6/5/11 via CBSNews.com]
Fox & Friends Mock Pelosi And Goolsbee, Pin Debt On Obama, Attack Stimulus
Carlson: "How Long Can You Continue To Say" The Recession "Is Something That They Inherited?" On the June 6 edition of Fox News' Fox & Friends, the co-hosts discussed Goolsbee and Pelosi's comments about the economy. Co-host Gretchen Carlson said:
CARLSON: The argument to me is, you know, how long can you continue to say that the hard hit recession of 2007, moving into 2008 is something that they inherited? I mean at one point, at what point does it become this administration's situation that they have to take full control for, and I think we're kind of teetering right now on the fact that it is their responsibility now and the policies that they've put into place to try and fix it. [Fox News, Fox & Friends, 6/6/11]
Carlson is a typical Fox Stalinist. She spouts propaganda like a fountain:
But Economists Agree That The Stimulus Raised Employment, Had "Very Substantial" Effects
Independent And Private Analysts: Stimulus Significantly Raised Employment. As Media Matters has previously documented, many analysts confirmed that the stimulus significantly raised employment. The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO) estimated that the stimulus increased the number of people employed, as of the second quarter of FY2010, by "between 1.4 million and 3.3 million." Moody's Economy.com estimated it would have created 1.9 million jobs by 2010. [Media Matters, 9/26/10]
Economists: "The Effects Of The Fiscal Stimulus" On Economy "Appear Very Substantial." Economists also agreed that the stimulus was effective. A March 2010 study in The Wall Street Journal found that 70 percent of economists surveyed said the stimulus "boosted growth and mitigated job losses." ABC News reported on February 18, 2010, that most of the economists on its panel thought the economy "would be worse today without the big aid package." And a February 2010 survey of 203 members of the National Association for Business Economics (NABE) found that "[e]ighty-three percent believe that GDP is currently higher than it would have been without the 2009 stimulus package (ARRA)." [Media Matters, 9/26/10]
Eight Percent Unemployment Projection Made Before Data Was Released Showing "Far Worse" Economic Conditions
Initial Eight Percent Unemployment Projection Made Before Fourth-Quarter FY2008 Results. As Media Matters has previously noted, while Obama advisers initially predicted that after stimulus spending the unemployment rate would not exceed 8 percent -- a prediction made "10 days before Mr. Obama was inaugurated," according to The New York Times -- advisers later explained that this estimate was made before fourth-quarter results for the GDP were available. Jared Bernstein, then-economic advisor to the vice president, explained, "[W]hen we made our initial estimates, that was before we had fourth-quarter results on GDP, which we later found out was contracting on an annual rate of 6 percent, far worse than we expected at that time." [Media Matters, 6/9/09; The New York Times, 6/8/09]
Analyses Show Most U.S. Debt Can Be Attributed To Bush-Era Policies, Economic Downturn
Wash. Post Graphic Shows Bush Tax Cuts And Iraq Wars Contributed Most To Current Deficit. From a June 4 post on The Washington Post blog PostPolitics:
In the debate over the nation's rising debt, rhetoric trumps reality. In January 2001, the U.S. budget was balanced for the first time in decades and the Congressional Budget Office was forecasting surpluses totaling $5.6 trillion by 2011. A decade later, the national debt is larger, as a percentage of the economy, than at any time in U.S. history except for the period shortly after World War II.
[ ]...CBPP: "[V]irtually The Entire Deficit Over The Next Ten Years" Due To Bush Policies, Economic Downturn." The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities (CBPP) published an analysis of federal deficits in December 2009, which was updated on June 28, 2010, titled, "Critics Still Wrong on What's Driving Deficits in Coming Years: Economic Downturn, Financial Rescues, and Bush-Era Policies Drive the Numbers." The report noted:
Some critics continue to assert that President George W. Bush's policies bear little responsibility for the deficits the nation faces over the coming decade -- that, instead, the new policies of President Barack Obama and the 111th Congress are to blame. Most recently, a Heritage Foundation paper downplayed the role of Bush-era policies (for more on that paper, see p. 4). Nevertheless, the fact remains: Together with the economic downturn, the Bush tax cuts and the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq explain virtually the entire deficit over the next ten years.
The report also graphed the effects of Bush's policies and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan on the deficit. From the report: ( charts and citations at link).
Sarah Palin is develping quite the reputation for mangling facts and history. She usually follows up by not having the maturity or humility to admit she is wrong.
Palin said: "He who warned, uh, the British that they weren’t going to be taking away our arms uh by ringing those bells and making sure as he’s riding his horse through town to send those warning shots and bells that we were going to be secure and we were going to be free and we were going to be armed."
So while riding his horse, a reference to Revere's famous ride, he " ringing those bells and making sure as he’s riding his horse through town to send those warning shots and bells". Palin and her toadie apologists say this is correct because AFTER the famous ride Revere was captured by the British and told them in so many words they would get theirs someday. So having time to get some coaching from her handlers she says that captured incident was what she was talking about, when Revere "warned" the British. That only makes a little sense if in her original ignorant account of events she had not the referred to Revere riding his horse. One also has to ask why Revere's taunting of the British would be counted as a sincere warning by Palin. Did she honestly believe Revere was concerned for British troops. Revere's account of the night and his capture when he told off the British.
Colbert Reenacts Revere's Famous Ride To Prove Palin Right (VIDEO)
Sarah Palin was dead on when she said that Paul Revere did...whatever it is she thought he did. And to prove it, Stephen Colbert reenacted Revere's midnight ride with a bell, a musket and a mechanical horse.
"It's just like we all learned in grade school," Colbert said. "'One if by land, bells if by two, hey, British, you're warned, sailed the ocean blue.'"
"I could not have said a random string of words better," he added, referencing Palin's subsequent garbled defense that she hadn't flubbed her facts.
So, donning a tricorn hat, Colbert hopped aboard a coin-operated horse ride and showed what Palin's version of history would have looked like.
Watch the video at the link:
