Cooling It Down

OK. This is a daily journal, and a commentary on daily living and my search for meaning. I’m not the only one doing this. Nor am I alone in searching for meaning. That doesn’t excuse my slip from time to time into invective and cynicism, and hyperbole. But there it is; I am human and frail. I’m not admitting to error or fault, mind you, just frailty of spirit from time to time. 

That and an occasional loss of temper! If you could see me watch the news, you’d know what I mean. Family and friends have witnessed this. Rocky mostly of later years. Well, well, well. Allow me some moments to recollect. Time to repair frayed nerves and feelings. 

There. That’s better!  

Here’s the gripe. I have the distinct feeling that modern public media is trying to make amends to conservatives over the years. I know the conservatives say over and over again how liberal the media is, but in my opinion that is an old and worn out canard. The media over the past 8 to 10 years has made a concerted effort to give representation to equal voices of right and left, democrat and republican, kook and erudite.

Trouble is, I think, that the media feels that every comment by a right winger must be in the news to offset anything they feel is the opposite. But I think we need some soul searching on this point. The right and left are not evenly calibrated. Right winger people tend to see everyone who doesn’t agree with them as being liberal. And of course that messes up the truth calibration. 

Here’s how. If I’m making a centrist point of view, it is not liberal, nor conservative. Therefore, that view does not count as an offset to the right wing; or the left wing for that matter either. It is centrist. It needs to be treated as a third position. But no! The media lets the right wing point of view play. Sorry, do this with left and right if you will; but leave the other points of view out of this fray unless there is a need that emerges to do so. 

Case in point: job creation was weak in May. 69000 jobs were created instead of the 150,000 hoped for and forecasted. This was immediately carried by the media as a negative against President Obama. That somehow his policies had failed. No. That is the point being made by republicans and right wingers. They want this state of affairs to continue so voters get to think that Obama has failed and needs to be replaced. Bah!

Here’s the truth. First, government sector jobs are still contracting because tax receipts are low for every level of government in the nation. This is a lagging economic indicator. This means they must chop jobs to keep their budgets balanced. The result: private sector jobs are being created in good numbers but offset by government shrinkage. In fact, positive job growth has been evident every month for 26 consecutive months. You don’t hear that factoid reported by the media; only the democrats. The fact is still true. Job growth has been steady and positive for 26 months. What is slimming down the gains is the continuing effect of the recession on governments. They are trimming jobs to keep within their tax receipts. Unlike the federal government, other governments have to live within budgets; they don’t print money. 

The overall spending by Obama has been less than every president before him for the past 8 presidents. The deficits touted by the republicans were created by them: $1 trillion in tax cuts and still counting; $2 trillion in Iraq war costs; nearly $1 trillion in Afghan war costs; stimulus plan of almost $1 trillion, and bank bail out of nearly $1 trillion. Add to that growing number the cost of unemployment compensation and health care costs paid for by the federal government. The tally is major, but the need for all of them occurred prior to Obama taking the White House. 

Now some more thoughts: the fix to a broken economy is multi leveled via banking policy, deficit spending policy, programs to repair and replace crumbling infrastructure (technically a deficit producer) – in other words, a host of tactics and strategies the nation should pursue to get the economy working on all 8 cylinders. But much of this action was drafted by the White House and kaboshed by the republican congressional leaders. Anything they could do to frustrate the aims of the President they have done. For one reason:

They don’t want him to get any credit for fixing the broken economy so they make the job tougher if not impossible; then they blame him. 

And the media knows this is true. They don’t report it because they think it would be taking sides. They don’t even ask the rhetorical questions:

1. What caused the economic mess in the first place?
2. What economic policies should be pursued if the economy is to recover?
3. Why can’t the political wizards come up with a compromise to work together?
4. How does society put the facts together to hold the right people accountable for our collective problems?
5. When will true balance of facts, scientific method and theory come into play?

This is what makes me so short of temper! Reasonable and intelligent conversations are not held. Citizens too easily allow others to think for them. Votes are earned through misstatement and misdeed. Some voters don’t vote because they see all of the above and don’t know who to vote for! Or even if their vote will matter in the long run anyway. 

Meanwhile the media smirks during the news and continues to report the inanity because it attracts viewers and ratings. Well I’m one viewer who has shut down the news with the sole exception of local events. I read broadly on the Internet and get the sense of what is happening in national and international news. Other areas of inquiry I seek at the source. I do my homework. This keeps my mind focused and balanced.

How are you doing with all of this?

 
June 4, 2012