Posted on 08/31/2006 6:47:07 AM PDT by governsleastgovernsbest
by Mark Finkelstein
August 31, 2006 - 09:27
If the Today show were ever to air the opinions of a think tank founded, say, by a former Reagan administration official and free-market economist Milton Friedman, and funded by large corporations, it's inconceivable that the show would have failed to identify the organization's conservative leanings.
Yet Today didn't feel the need to do the obverse when relying extensively on a liberal think tank founded by a former Clinton official and far-left economists and largely funded by Big Labor.
From a New York Times editorial to a Boston Globe political cartoon, the MSM has been beating the drum this week to talk down the economy in the face of more good economic news. The liberal theme du jour has been that wages haven't risen along with corporate profits.
Doing its bit this morning, the Today show weighed in with a segment it entitled "Work More for Less Pay."
Today relied heavily on comments from an Economic Policy Institute spokesman. But NBC/Today failed to disclose that the EIP is a highly-partisan, largely union-funded operation. It was founded by leftist Clinton Labor Secretary Robert Reich and other left-wing economists including Lester Thurow and hyper-partisan Boston Globe columnist Robert Kuttner. Matt Lauer introduced the segment, narrated by NBC's Kevin Tibbles, by stating that "a rising tide is not lifting all boats."
A clip then popped up from the Economic Policy Institutes's Jared Bernstein: "Among economists, the mantra is 'higher productivity rates automatically lead to higher living standards.' But in fact that is not occuring."
Then it was on to that least-reliable of indicators, one family's anectdotal evidence. We were introduced to an "All American couple," the Whittingtons of Chicago, who are "feeling the pinch." Tibbles told us "for Lisa, a food consultant, even replacing the broken oven has to be put on the back burner."
We then heard from a human resources expert who promoted a little class warfare: "the top 1% of wage earners are living well, and the rest of American workers are really beginning to feel the pressure. . . They're asking themselves appropriately, if the economy is doing well, why am I not sharing in that?"
Tibbles then offered this pearl of street-corner socialism: "The problem facing workers today, say some economists [wonder who they could be?] is that many companies are more interested in keeping Wall Street happy than in sharing their success with employees."
Then it was back to the EPI's Berstein: "You've got [workers] creating a bigger economic pie, as it were, but the slices they're getting are being cut ever smaller." Sounds like more of Marx's surplus value theory of labor of which the New York Times is fond.
Today Show/NewsBusters failure-to-disclose ping.
Just part of the fall propaganda push to try and get dems back into power this election. They could not be more obvious.
Yep - The worst economy since the Great Depression!
Thanks governs. I was wondering what the back story was to EIP.
When I was watching it, I wondered if you would write it up. The sement was a real barf-o-rama.
sement=segment
Thanks, IS. This really was one of the more one-sided segments in recent Today history, which is saying a lot.
Robert Reich is a pompous little jerk.
Certainly Today should have disclosed that a bunch of left wingers were behind the 'thinktank'.
However, everyone on here is ignoring the substance of the story, and I think this is more important than the disclosure.
Is the study accurate?
Does it matter?
I suspect it's accurate, and I think it's very important. You can't expect Ford & GM to continue their ridiculous employment practices, but some of our most profitable corporations are not passing anything on to their employees. No, government shouldn't step in, but I am discouraged by their failure to reward at least their more productive people.
Uh - you might want to check out this thread before assuming anything the left says has any truth to it.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1693193/posts
GMTA. I've already posted an Update in my original NewsBusters item with a link to that precise article!
Looks like the Today Show used my FALSE rule.
You're ahead of the times!
What's funny is that I remember the acronym, but not its meaning.
From A Leftist Source Exclusionary rule (FALSE)
Thanks. I spaced it.
Thanks for the link!
I don't accept what any of what 'MSM' reports until I see evidence. But here's new evidence!
I'd like to see a lot more though. We do business over a large geographic region in multiple industries, and although our business is way up, we see businesses all ove the place closing due to foreign competition or moving to other countries. It seems that high paying manufacturing jobs are being replaced by jobs at Wal-mart, McDonald's, and Holiday Inn Express. And I don't even want to think about what our economy will do if the auto industry tanks.
I can think of more than a few FReepers who regularly utilize your rule -- even after being caught repeatedly.
Rush mentioned an economist for the NYT that had written a similar article a few days ago, but has had to backtrack (never a retract)with the new job figures coming out, showing a huge gain in income, indicating the longest sustained improvement since WWII.
I guess the Today show should waited for the new job figures before writing their script.
Here's a good place to start.
we see businesses all over the place closing due to foreign competition or moving to other countries
Maybe you can show us how competition hurts our economy.
It seems that high paying manufacturing jobs are being replaced by jobs at Wal-mart, McDonald's, and Holiday Inn Express in professional business services, which pays more than manufacturing.
There, I fixed it for you.
And I don't even want to think about what our economy will do if the auto industry tanks.
The auto workers will find jobs with other auto manufacturers who produce a product consumers want to buy. Of course, they probably won't have a union to shake down the employer and protect their incompetence.
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