Right Wing Deception & Dishonesty

[BluegrassCat]

So inevitably in a political debate, people will trot out some numbers in the hope of appealing to an objective standard of reality that supports their contention. Conservative think tanks having recognized what Stephen Colbert has pointed out, that "reality has a well known liberal bias," and so the think tanks have been forced to create their own reality to support their ideological goals and those of their masters. Here's one nasty example.

The graph below, created by the Heritage Foundation, a conservative (hack) think tank, intends to show what a job-killer the Health Care bill turned to be. We can see how steeply the net change in jobs is increasing up until April 2010, when the ACA was passed. After which, the net change in jobs plateaus out, signaling that the surging job recovery must have stalled out thanks to the passage of 'Obamacare.'



Seems pretty damning, right?

But wait a second, what's with the whole net change in jobs measure? Don't most organizations usually just look at the (un)employment rate? So let's take a look at graph of the employment rate across the same time span and see if matches up to the Heritage claims.



Wow. That looks like the opposite of what Heritage was trying to say. Here we see that the passage of the ACA seems to almost match up exactly with the beginning of a steady rise in employment, not cause a flattening out of job growth.

How could these two graphs tell such different stories?

It's simple: The people at Heritage are lying douchebags who intentionally presented the data in a highly misleading manner to bolster a false partisan attack. Look at they Y-axis on the their graph. See how in January 09, the net change in jobs is NEGATIVE 750k? This means we were losing that many jobs a month, and we continued shedding jobs until about March 2010, when job creation (thanks to the stimulus) finally began.

So by starting their count when we were losing jobs and ending it when we were creating jobs, they are cynically conflating decreasing job losses with job gains. We see that once the net change crosses the zero line into the positive we remain fairly steady in job creation.

So the moral of the story, the Heritage Foundation is immoral.

[Silcc69]

I mean well isn't that were all these right wing guys get there talking points from?

[gmercer]

That first graph is fucking ridiculous. It's already displaying job losses/month on the y-axis. So the slope of that graph would be the second derivative, or job losses/month^2. Anybody that has taken calculus could see they are fucking lying. They are claiming the value of the second derivative is actually the value of the first.

[scootie]

i agree with you but the problem is no one is getting that information to the general public and that scares the hell out of me. It used to be or seemed to me that you could not just lie on Tv and no one challenge that lie. I really don't know what to make of whats going on.

[hippifried]

i agree with you but the problem is no one is getting that information to the general public and that scares the hell out of me. It used to be or seemed to me that you could not just lie on Tv and no one challenge that lie. I really don't know what to make of whats going on.

There's no reporters anymore. Just repeaters. It's only a story if there's a quote, & the quote is treated as sacrosanct. "Journalism" was tossed out the window in the '80s, with the advent of cable, & the reporters have disappeared by attrition.

[onmyknees]

You sound shocked.............and you put a lot of work into pointing this out. I'll dive into the details of your charts later, but if you're looking for examples of misleading information no need to analyze charts and graphs. It's really not that difficult, nor does it require a math degree. Simply listen to Jay Carney contort reality on a daily basis. Or here's one that sticks in my head right from the horses mouth as they say...( there are hundreds).....Recall some weeks ago when Obama traveled to the southern border, and in the hot southwestern sun proclaimed the border secure and the fence nearly complete ? That was fall down laughable....and coincidentally while he was making that proclamation, guns , drugs and wetbacks were flowing across the border like water over Niagara falls. In fact...just a mile away a drug shoot out was raging and a border agent shot. I guess if the Heritage Foundation says it....it's a lie, but if Obama tells it to you....it's gospel? A quick check of the facts shows that even eliminating the mountainous areas along the border, only 18% of the fence has been complete.
You really do make me laugh. You more than likely read the NY Times and believe every word of it, well because it's the NY Times. A quick review of today's liberal lies is all it took for me to come up with this whopper.....

I think you're barking up the wrong tree there Mr. Cat. Liberal Media Bias is the fastest growing industry in the country....maybe the only growing industry.... ...get you head out of the sand. In fact you've obviously become immune to it, because it's so rampant and unchallanged by deep thinkers like yoursef. They say when a northener moves to Florida he quickly adjusts to the heat and humidity and after a year becomes largly immune to the change in climate ....that's what's happend to you, politically speaking. You're a dupe my friend...plain and simple.

Here's today's Knee Slapper...and allow me to remind you that Mr. Zakaria is passed off by CNN as a "reporter"...yet watchdog groups have disclosed he routinely advises Obama. Think maybe he should disclose his bias?? Nah.....let's let the viewer figure that out for themselves, it seems so much more creditable if we fail to disclose his cozy relationship with the President......LMAO

In a "Fareed Zakaria GPS" segment to be aired on CNN Sunday and posted at the network's website Thursday, the host flat out lies about the current debt ceiling debate as well as when and why credit rating agencies began expressing concern about our nation's finances.
"Please understand that none of these things are happening because the United States is running deficits," Zakaria falsely claims. "We face downgrades and investor panic not because of our deficits"

FAREED ZAKARIA: Since 1960, the debt ceiling has been raised 78 times. My basic point is that this is a crisis that we have manufactured out of whole cloth. We have created a circumstance in which the world doubts our credibility, rating agencies are thinking of downgrading our debt and the dollar's role as the world's reserve currency could be jeopardized.
Please understand that none of these things are happening because the United States is running deficits. There was no indication - by any metric - that the United States was having difficulty borrowing money one month ago. In fact, the world has been lending money to the United States more cheaply than ever before.
We face downgrades and investor panic not because of our deficits but because we are behaving like deadbeats, refusing to pay our bills, pouting while the bill collector waits at the door.
Absolute total nonsense.
The high and mighty Zakaria conveniently forgot the downgrade warning Standard & Poor's published on April 18 of this year:
* We have affirmed our 'AAA/A-1+' sovereign credit ratings on the United States of America.
* The economy of the U.S. is flexible and highly diversified, the country's effective monetary policies have supported output growth while containing inflationary pressures, and a consistent global preference for the U.S. dollar over all other currencies gives the country unique external liquidity.
* Because the U.S. has, relative to its 'AAA' peers, what we consider to be very large budget deficits and rising government indebtedness and the path to addressing these is not clear to us, we have revised our outlook on the long-term rating to negative from stable.
* We believe there is a material risk that U.S. policymakers might not reach an agreement on how to address medium- and long-term budgetary challenges by 2013; if an agreement is not reached and meaningful implementation is not begun by then, this would in our view render the U.S. fiscal profile meaningfully weaker than that of peer 'AAA' sovereigns.
That last sentence warrants repeating: "We believe there is a material risk that U.S. policymakers might not reach an agreement on how to address medium- and long-term budgetary challenges by 2013; if an agreement is not reached and meaningful implementation is not begun by then, this would in our view render the U.S. fiscal profile meaningfully weaker than that of peer 'AAA' sovereigns."
This was issued on April 18, more than three months ago. As you can see, there was nothing in this report about the debt ceiling. In fact, it wasn't even mentioned.
Quite the contrary, S&P on that day issued a negative outlook for our debt specifically due to our "very large budget deficits and rising government indebtedness."
Yet Zakaria says in this segment to be aired Sunday, "Please understand that none of these things are happening because the United States is running deficits...We face downgrades and investor panic not because of our deficits."
What Zakaria is doing is depicting the crisis to be about the debt ceiling rather than the debt and the deficit, and this is utter nonsense that is totally indefensible given S&P's warning in April.
Is this the kind of blatant misrepresentation that is now tolerated at the self-described "Most trusted name in news?"
In any other profession be it law, medicine, financial services, you name it, such a blatant lie by an employee to the public would be met with the harshest of consequences.
Why is this allowed in the so-called "news" industry?

[trish]

FAREED ZAKARIA: Since 1960, the debt ceiling has been raised 78 times. My basic point is that this is a crisis that we have manufactured out of whole cloth. We have created a circumstance in which the world doubts our credibility, rating agencies are thinking of downgrading our debt and the dollar's role as the world's reserve currency could be jeopardized.
Please understand that none of these things are happening because the United States is running deficits. There was no indication - by any metric - that the United States was having difficulty borrowing money one month ago. In fact, the world has been lending money to the United States more cheaply than ever before.
We face downgrades and investor panic not because of our deficits but because we are behaving like deadbeats, refusing to pay our bills, pouting while the bill collector waits at the door.

Excellent assessment, and entirely consistent with S&P's report of April 18th.

• We have affirmed our 'AAA/A-1+' sovereign credit ratings on the United States of America.
• The economy of the U.S. is flexible and highly diversified, the country's effective monetary policies have supported output growth while containing inflationary pressures, and a consistent global preference for the U.S. dollar over all other currencies gives the country unique external liquidity.
• Because the U.S. has, relative to its 'AAA' peers, what we consider to be very large budget deficits and rising government indebtedness and the path to addressing these is not clear to us, we have revised our outlook on the long-term rating to negative from stable.
• We believe there is a material risk that U.S. policymakers might not reach an agreement on how to address medium- and long-term budgetary challenges by 2013; if an agreement is not reached and meaningful implementation is not begun by then, this would in our view render the U.S. fiscal profile meaningfully weaker than that of peer 'AAA' sovereigns.

Absolutely nowhere did the S&P say "We're afraid that before the year is out the US won't raise the debt limit and decide to renege on their payments." Nowhere. Had they thought that was the case on April 18th, they would've down graded us then. The debt limit and the deficit are two separate issues. Whether or not to raise the debt limit is the question of deciding to pay our standing bills or not. Do we pay our creditors when to bills come due, or do we default? The question of how do we bring down the deficit is not about paying the bills due on past debt, but about future fiscal responsibility. By insisting we address both these issues at once, the GOP is irresponsibly holding our creditors hostage to our politics. The GOP has advertised that we might indeed be willing to be deadbeats, thereby giving S&P a new reason (not mentioned in their April 18th report) to question our credit rating with greater immediacy.

The current fiasco is due entirely to GOP grandstanding. More particularly to the Tea Party puppies wagging their tails and John Boehner's inability to lead.

[Faldur]

The current fiasco is due entirely to GOP grandstanding. More particularly to the Tea Party puppies wagging their tails and John Boehner's inability to lead.

Completely inaccurate statement, if this was such a major issue for the liberals why didn't you raise the ceiling 8 months ago when you held both houses and the oval office?

The senate hasn't passed a budget in over 800 days. And now that our representatives are in there you expect us to bow to your wishes? Cut.. Cap.. Balance.

[trish]

if this was such a major issue for the liberals why didn't you raise the ceiling 8 months ago when you held both houses and the oval office?

It's not a major issue. The debt ceiling has been raised umpteen times before. Only one other civilized nation even has a debt ceiling. The debt ceiling is not about the deficit, which is a major issue. Everyone just naturally thought we would pay our bills when they came due on a regular basis. It's only the Tea Party who made it an issue by artificially linking the debt ceiling with deficit reduction in order to irresponsibly hold our creditors hostage for political gain. Their goal is to destabilize the economy throughout the run up to the next election. The ultimate goal of those who puppeteer the Tea Party is to dismantle the New Deal and return to the glorious days of the rationally self-interested Robber Barons.

[beandip]

It's only the Tea Party who made it an issue by artificially linking the debt ceiling with deficit reduction in order to irresponsibly hold our creditors hostage for political gain. Their goal is to destabilize the economy throughout the run up to the next election.

Wow. So much stupid in two sentences. How much bankster cock can you suck in one thread?

Destabilize the economy? LOL. Too funny. Do the math. The economy is a turd circling the bowl hunny.....this bill just kicks the can a bit further down the road.

OK, one more time....slower.

You take in $1000 a month. You pay out $1200 a month. You're currently paying the extra 200 beans by hitting your credit card. Do you go to the bank and take out another loan? Do you bang your credit card again?

No, if you're a Terrorist, as Joe Biden likes to call the TP'ers, you try to cut overhead. You try to live within your means.

Since you don't like charts....just point and click here.




A credit increase is NOT what this country needs now. Neither do we need taxes raised.

There never was any risk of default. We take in nearly ten times as much in taxes now, as what is needed to pay the interest on the debt. Obama is a lying shit bag, as is Bohner, Ried, Pelosi and all the other douche-nozzles.

We will however most likely get a downgrade and possibly real soon. Then things get fun. Fuck the FSA, party's ova sukkaz.