Motivated by the current (2011) political climate in Wisconsin it seems reasonable to devote some time and effort to comment on issues and some of the hyperbole. So we in the public should do what we can to help focus "journalists" on delineating real facts versus spin. If you accept the spin you do not understand the policy implications.
The Government Accountability Board decided Monday to allow for the stickers on student IDs under the law taking effect next year requiring photo identification at the polls.
It really is that simple. The problem is not regulation, taxes, or uncertainty, the problem was that the stimulus was not big enough or long enough. As it is, we are sitting around watching our national leaders debate why the water that they heated to 160 degrees is not boiling. This is getting really painful.
I love this paragraph which came at the end of an article -
from CEPR, Center for Economic and Policy Research
The problem is that the title of the article and organization name scares most people off. Pity Robert Samuelson ... who I guess is a journalist writing about economic policy or should I say making up narratives about that which he knows not. This one page article is easy to understand with or without an education in economics. Read IT!
John Boehner, after his presentation today (9/15) should read it too!
WI 1848 Forward: Recovery Economics Boiled Down - #Journalists are not Economic Savants #47% #99% #ows
Would Paul Ryan make your blood pressure medicine more or less affordable?
Paul Ryan quoted in NYTimes on the Obama plan ... 9/18
Representative Paul D. Ryan, chairman of the House Budget Committee and a leading proponent of cutting spending on benefit programs like Medicare, said the proposal would weigh heavily on a stagnating economy. On “Fox News Sunday,” Mr. Ryan said it would add “further instability to our system, more uncertainty, and it punishes job creation.” “Class warfare,” he said, “may make for really good politics, but it makes for rotten economics.”
When I saw this article in my Paper.li edition I almost ignored it but in looking at the comments on YouTube I decided it was important to comment on as well. The title of my post says it best! Santelli went for the headline and drama (once again) and ignored what Social Security is all about. He did not address the contribution issue, the age issue, the coverage issue, the eligibility issue, instead he went negative. He associated words with negative connotations and framed a question that was answered by Friedman and then proceeded to disagree with the answer ... which he must have intended to do from the start.
Friedman did not say that Santelli was an idiot he said the question was idiotic ...
Go back 91 years ... would Governor Scott Walker allow women to vote ... I don't think so!
Ninety-one years ago, women won the right to vote with the passage of the 19th Amendment. Without being able to participate in the election of their state and federal officials, the women suffragists found support — and ultimately the votes they needed — in Congress and state houses across the land. Then they created the League of Women Voters to educate voters and affect public policy through citizen education and advocacy.
With such a history, it is no wonder that the league is now concerned about the many eligible citizens who will be disenfranchised by Wisconsin's new voter ID law. We can't imagine what we, the people of Wisconsin, have done to deserve the most restrictive voting law in the nation. That is why we are challenging Wisconsin's new law, while also helping citizens to obtain a voting ID if they do not have one.
Nate Silver does a great job warning us and the "press" how easily they are spun without ever knowing they are even in spin cycle of the washing machine!
We’re likely to see a real semantic scrum over the next few weeks as
partisans seek to define the territory that the bill [Jobs] occupies.
Pollsters, whether knowingly or not, will be a part of that battle. I
would advise them to use multiple question variants where possible,
taking a larger sample and splitting it into halves or thirds, and I
would advise readers to be suspicious of articles that cherry-pick one
or two polls without discussing the broader context.
WI 1848 Forward: #NYT: #538 column - #Surveys - Question Form Change Answer #politics http://wi1848forward.blogspot.com/2011/09/nyt-538-surveys-question-form-change.html?spref=tw