A Green Road Blog 

NewsHour and the One Percent

PBS newscast presents the upside of inequality

10/27/11

With protesters around the country speaking out against income inequality, public television's flagship newscast made time on October 26 for the pro-inequality side to be heard, featuring a guest who invoked a phony Abraham Lincoln quote to make his case.


NewsHour anchor Jeffrey Brown explained that in the segment, correspondent Paul Solman "gets a contrarian view, suggesting inequality in a free market system may not be as bad as advertised."

The guest was New York University law school professor Richard Epstein, who presented a John Stossel-style view of the economy: "Inequality creates an incentive for people to produce and to create wealth," raising taxes on the wealthy would harm the economy, and the "fundamental truth is the tax system is more redistributive than it was before... and the regulatory burden on the economy is vastly greater." PBS should have disclosed that Epstein is also a director at Global Economics Group, a corporate consulting firm that advises on issues like financial regulation and employment law.

When asked if the top one percent have too much control over the political system, Epstein replied:

The piece closes with Epstein invoking Abraham Lincoln:

I'm going to quote Abraham Lincoln, because I like to do that--which is, he said, quite rightly, that you do not make the poor rich by making the rich poor.

The NewsHour should, at the very least, tell its viewers that this quote is a well-traveled hoax. It's been falsely attributed to Lincoln for the better part of a century, and has been debunked almost as long. The New York Times (8/19/92) andCNN (8/19/92) pointed out that Lincoln hadn't said those words when Ronald Reagan misquoted him in a 1992 speech. In 1996, Rush Limbaugh admitted that he too had falsely attributed the quote to Lincoln (Extra!, 4/10).

Even better, the NewsHour could explain to viewers why it's so eager to present segments that portray economic inequality as no big deal. Brown's introduction called this a "contrarian" view, but defending inequality is hardly contrarian in elite media--including on the NewsHour. 

On September 21 Solman presented a segment featuring American University economics professor Robert Lerman, who was critical of a previous NewsHourbroadcast for apparently being too one-sided: "It would be nice if there was more equality, but let's not overdo it." Lerman's point was that seniors enjoy vast riches in the form of Social Security and Medicare (FAIR Blog, 9/23/11). The segment included a visit to a nursing home, where Solman informed one resident that "Medicare is like a stash of wealth that you're now drawing on."

Public broadcasting is supposed to be dedicated to showcasing viewpoints that "would otherwise go unheard" in commercial media. Voices championing inequality are heard loud and clear in the corporate media; public television should be doing something different.

ACTION:
Tell the PBS NewsHour to issue a correction explaining that guest Richard Epstein invoked a false Abraham Lincoln quote to support his pro-inequality argument. And ask the show why it is so eager to feature one-on-one interviews with guests who downplay--if not outright celebrate--economic inequality.

CONTACT:
PBS NewsHour
onlineda2@newshour.org
Phone: 703-998-2150

Watch PBS to see this show.. or go online for more links, information, video, photos and more...

Dr. Linda Peeno, MD Medical Director for Humana testimony before Congress in 1996
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DoqpPwvUoP0&feature=related

Dr. Linda Peeno MD eleven years later; she says nothing has changed, except that it has gotten MUCH, MUCH WORSE. 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TqSshZZMHGA

Jeering, mean-spirited, healthy people who are against universal healthcare for all, have NO idea that they could end up having their health issue kicked out, by some death panelist just like this woman some day.  

Think it cannot happen to you? A once healthy woman who appears to be in her late 30's or 40's, who has worked hard her entire adult life and DID NOT take on an"irresponsible mortgage" has now been diagnosed with not one, but two debilitating, auto-immune diseases and fears she will lose her house because she has to decide between paying for her prescriptions that run $389 every 2 weeks or pay her property taxes.  This video is a national disgrace!! Click on Link below.... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QkrW22u7SwU  

Whistleblower: Wendell Potter, senior executive with Cigna for 15 years. Powerful pictures and story illustrating the sad, deplorable condition of our disease care system by an EXECUTIVE WITHIN HEALTHCARE INDUSTRY... Our system is BROKEN, completely and absolutely. BILL MOYERS JOURNAL | Wendell Potter | PBS  37 minutes, well worth watching. 

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7QwX_soZ1GI

Source; 

Dandelion G. share

---------------------------------------

Another kind of 'death panel'; "The numbers are simply staggering: Every year 1.5 million people are sickened or severely injured by medication mistakes, and 100,000 die. And yet all of those deaths are preventable. What’s the answer? We have to protect ourselves. Here are the ten medication mistakes experts say are most likely to kill or cause serious harm." http://www.care2.com/greenliving/10-common-medication-mistakes-that-can-kill.html

My comment; the medical industry causes enough deaths to equal a fully loaded 747 jumbo jet crashing EVERY DAY, killing everyone aboard; about 400 people, yet few are upset, crying or asking for any change. Terrorists are not the enemy.. They only killed 3,000 on 9/11, compared to 100,000 per year from this direct cause... they are amateurs.  We do not need a death panel, as we already have it, with the Big Pharma industry causing all of these deaths... 

The answers to prevent all of these needless deaths and millions of people suffering are out there. Switch to safe, non toxic, no side effects natural health modalities as laid out in the group here on Care2; Nature Provides.. http://www.care2.com/c2c/group/natureprovides

My note; Republicans are winning the war on liberals via the use of war and debt, as their neo conservative think tanks laid out many years ago.  Their plan is to force social programs to be eliminated by racking up huge war debts and the interest that must be paid on that debt. because there is less money left over for social programs, they must be "sacrified" for the war. They are succeeding. Social programs nationwide are being cut each year.

George W. Bush is trying—yet again—to slash funding for NPR and PBS. This week, Bush proposed a new budget with devastating cuts to public broadcasting.¹ "Sesame Street" and other ad-free kids' shows are under the knife. So is the independent journalism our country needs.

Enough is enough. We've fought this fight before and won—but we can't afford the risk anymore. With the new Congress, we can make sure this never happens again. We need Congress to insulate NPR and PBS from the political winds.

We can make it happen if enough of us sign this petition: "Congress must save NPR and PBS once and for all. Congress should guarantee permanent funding and independence from partisan meddling." Clicking here will add your name to the petition:

;">http://civ.moveon.org/publicbroadcasting/o.pl?id=9851-2827897-RRVynBpaWcEnZdk8m67T8w&t=2

After you sign, please forward this email to your friends, family, and co-workers to keep this campaign going. We'll deliver the petition to members of Congress as they consider Bush's budget—offering a public counterpoint to this dangerous attack.

Congress can protect NPR and PBS from future cuts. The long-term solution to save public radio and TV is to:

• fully restore this year's funding
• guarantee a permanent funding stream free from political pressure
• reform how the money is spent and keep partisan appointees from pushing a political bias