quote:Originally posted by excelman:
Fox news? Faux is more like it. Fox is NOT news, it is the propoganda wing of the Republican party.
I get news from CNN , and at night I watch John Stewart. Enjoy Stewart most.
As best as I can figure out, from what I saw, was the media shifted to the right when Reagan got elected. They slowing began purging the liberals, claiming a shift in America to the right. There was no real shift, it was manufactured, but they then stacked the airwaves, morning, noon and night, with right wing wackos. I can remember at one point when you would turn on the radio and it would be G. Gordon Liddy followed by Oliver North and so forth. Twenty four hours of the right wing.
Did you see how they did away with free form radio and I remember when the top 40 station in NYC, WABC, went to all talk.
That means that kids growing up in the 80's and 90's had nothing else to listen to and watch but the Right Wing Media, and it was labled "Liberal Media," but it wasn't and still isn't liberal. Of course they have a few token liberals scattered here and there so it's not so obvious but plenty of right wing and wishy washy centerists that are called liberals. These centerists are always weak, indecisive and usually have little facts and say things like "But it's wrong." We are also saturated with cop programs and movies that always show the cops to be right and usually have to "break the law " to catch the bad guy. They are usually victims of Liberal courts. It's to condition society for the police state.
I followed the alternative press since the 70's and began reading the Nation and the Progressive in the 80's so I always got the truth. I saw how the corporate media was lying then but it still had some good investigative and independent minded journalists that exposed good stories and the whole media took the credit.
Once again we are allowing "conventional wisdom" or the corporate media to set the Frame and when you try to work within it you will come up empty.
There are "pendulm swings" throughout history but the Keynesian view was not the failure it was declared to be in the corporate media. Although it could have served the poor better it did certainly serve the middle class and wealthy who enjoyed a good standard of living after WW2. The best in history I believe, one one of the best.
The real failure or break down was the laissez- faire that led to Robber Barons, monopoly's, obscene loppsided wealth gaps and finally a total collapse and the Great Depression. (see any similarities with today?)
If you look at the numbers of the Carter Presidency, which was declared to be a failure, and the Reagan Presidency, declared to be a success, they were about the same. But Reagan ran up a record debt for the time, over saw high unemployment, the robbing and collapse of the S&L Banks, a Stock Market Crash in 87 or 88, (I forget) and the eroding and loss of the back bone of America, our family farmers and our manufacturing base to agribusiness, "outsourcing" and corporate globalization.
Carter's Presidency was basically stable until the "manufactured" oil shortages of 79 (I think it was) destabilized the economy. Carter was bringing peace to the Middle East and devloping alternative energy programs and giving tax breaks and incentives to companies to develop alternative energy sources and people to use alternative energy sources. He even put solar panels in the White House.
The oil corporations, along with the Military Industrial Complex and our corrupt puppets, like the Saudi's, saw the threat to their wealth and power and conspired to create a phony shortage. A willing corporate media went along and fanned the flames of propaganda. Carter wasn't perfect but this was a manufactured crises. Also, it wasn't the first time we had experienced a recession, the Ford recession was just as bad, but the corporate media, along with the right wing, made a full court press declaring the end of liberal type politics and made Reagan, the former right wing wacko governor of California, look like a "new comer" and outsider" shinny knight riding in to the rescue with all these "new ideas." Of course it was just the same old let the rich rob the people wrapped up in glowing double talk and spin.
Reagan was the first to introduce "Globalization" and even began giving manufacturing companies tax breaks to relocate in Central America. That's why we had a war down there. To destroy any unions and social movements that might demand fair wages and oppose sweatshops. The corporate media labeled them a communist threat.
Reagan also declared war on unions when he broke the Air Traffic Controllers strike which the media made him look like a great strong leader standing up to "special interests." His policies help bring about the stagnation and decline of wages for working people, which was basically a war on working people. Of course the corporate media praised all the Wall Street Traders and Brokers with headlines and front page pictures, as they do today, and blamed working peoples problems on wanting "too much money and benefits." Instead of saying everybody's' standard of living should be raised to union levels it declares that unions need to give back and lowered to be in line with the rest of us. it's called a "Race to the Bottom."
American history is filled with recessions where the American people paid the price of the Market "simply taking it's course." It's like being sick and not taking medicine but simply allow it to "run it's course." The wealthy never pay the price and always get the medicine.
Lincoln also believed it was the governments role to help pave the way for economic stability and success and the need of the labor force to produce.
I believe it is the governments responsibility to serve all it's citizens and to see that a fair economic system is in place that serves all it's citizens. And that all have a decent standard of living.
The 80's generation were tricked by Wall Street Hustlers, the corporate media, and the government. They bought the supply side nonsense and they also bought into the market hoping to cash in but we saw the Market Crash in 87 and again at the end of Clinton's term, and we saw what companies like ENRON and others did. Swindled them big time. Some people did OK or made money if they really knew what they were doing but many did not and lost.
As I understand it the big market boom of the 90's, when everyone thought they were making so much money, was phony and basically all on paper. It finally caught up with them in 99 and 2000 but then people turned to the housing boom and again the market was manipulated and driven up. The Housing Market is now crashing and people over paid for their homes and are in jeopardy of losing them. Our jobs continue to be sent over seas and wages remain stagnate. People are deep in debt and can't even go Bankrupt, so they are stuck in Debt Slavery.
The New thing now is "Privatization" were they tell us business can run our resources better, give us better Service and save money by paying people less. And to top it off they are being sold to foreign corporations.
Sure, that sounds logical. And where's all that anti immigration talk we hear from Dobbs, Buchanan and others about that?
Just think of the friendly service we see at our local grocery and other retail stores and such where people are over worked and under paid. And if you have a complaint you can call our menu and talk to a computer or a representative in India.