"Better Off?" The Question That Exposes Incompetent Reporters

[Proud Public Servant]

Says it all:

"Are Americans Better Off Today Than They Were Four Years Ago?" The Question That Exposes Incompetent Reporters

Sunday, 02 September 2012 21:44

While the source is not clear, someone developed a simple way to identify incompetent news reporters. If you hear a reporter ask people in President Obama's administration, ideally in a belligerent tone, "are the American people better off than they were four years ago?,"the reporter is trying to tell you that they are not qualified to do their job.

The reason we know that the questioners are incompetent reporters is that this is a pointless question. Suppose your house is on fire and the firefighters race to the scene. They set up their hoses and start spraying water on the blaze as quickly as possible. After the fire is put out, the courageous news reporter on the scene asks the chief firefighter, "is the house in better shape than when you got here?"

Yes, that would be a really ridiculous question. Hence George Stephanopoulos was being absurd when he posed this question to David Plouffe, a top political adviser to President Obama on ABC's This Week. Bob Schieffer was being equally silly when he asked Martin O’Malley, the Chairman of the Democratic Governors Association, the same question on CBS's Face the Nation.

A serious reporter asks the fire chief if he had brought a large enough crew, if they had enough hoses, if the water pressure was sufficient. That might require some minimal knowledge of how to put out fires.

Similarly, serious reporters would ask whether the stimulus was large enough, was it well-designed, and were there other measures that could have been taken like promoting shorter workweeks, as Germany has done. That would of course require some knowledge of economics, but it sure makes more sense than asking if a house is better off after it was nearly burnt to the ground.

http://www.cepr.net/index.php/blogs/beat-the-press/qare-americans-better-off-today-than-they-were-four-years-agoq-the-questron-that-exposes-incompetent-reporters

[The Magistrate]

1. That, Sir, Is a Thing Of Beauty

"Romney loves America like a tick loves a dog."

[solara]

2. Hear!! Hear!!

Very good point and one that should stay out there..

[uponit7771]

3. Yeap, the implied premise to the "better off" question is that the world was perfect 3.5 years ago..

...otherwise they wouldn't have to ask

[Amonester]

14. It sure was perfect for CEOs and deep pockets.....

like... Robmehood & Co.

So perfect, they made a killing since as they always want more.

They so hope one of them will occupy the WH next year, they will spare nothing for that.

[1StrongBlackMan]

4. But ...

the corporate news industry must do what it does to make money ... asking (actually, repeating) the gop framed question, ensures the horse-race that the media needs to make money.

If they were to ask the (competent) questions that you pose, the gop isn't even in the game ... In fact, it would be worse for them because those questions (again assuming competence) would lead to questions about gop obstruction and the proven failure that is the gop economic "plan."

But that said ...

This is the only strategy that the gop can advance ... and they know that it'll be effective, because their target audience will either lie, saying that they are not better off ... in the face of ObamaCare, Lily Ledbetter, historic low tax rates, and all of President Obama's other policy successes; or, in the case that they ARE worse off (or in the condition) they won't look into WHY they are in the state they are in.

Face it ... Even here at DU, when the question is asked, their answer is an enthuaistic NO, with no discussion of why or how, they are in the state they are in.

[Kurovski]

5. Exposes incompetent reporters, while also revealing hacks in the tank for the Pukes.

[rock]

6. Excellent point!

Yes, if your country had been burning 8 years then after a further 4 years of spraying with fire hoses, you would be better off (way obvious). Though you'd still have a few more years to go to restore everything.

[Proud Public Servant]

7. This really could be a Dem talking point

"They torched the place. We put out the fire. Now it's time to rebuild. Forward!"

[SunSeeker]

8. K&R

[nadinbrzezinski]

9. Just a note for real

A serious reporter asks the fire chief if he had brought a large enough crew, if they had enough hoses, if the water pressure was sufficient. That might require some minimal knowledge of how to put out fires.


We asked at a recent brush fire, not only us, all the way to the BBC... boy where the fire people pissed we dared ask that question.

[EC]

10. This had to be a repub meme that went out Sunday Morning

and the number of pundits that all of sudden were asking this very question on the same Sunday tells us who is under the repub thumb. I was really disappointed to see George S. ask it. The others were expected, expecially Schieffer...he has been one of their water carriers for a long time.

[spanone]

16. exactly, every talk show, same talking point

kkkarl should be very proud of our pathetic media

[xtraxritical]

11. At this time the President has been in office a little over 3 1/2 years

so 4 years ago would be about 6 months before the end of G.W. Bush's term when everything was imploding and we were losing better than 200,000 jobs per month. It's not worth the breath to ask such a stupid question.

[JohnnyRingo]

12. The middle class has been progressively worse off for 40 years.

If you asked a millionaire if he or she is worse off now than even last year, they'll have to honestly say they are not.

The vast middle class has been on a collision course with poverty since Republican supply side economics have been adopted as a workable solution. Right to work laws, tax incentives for the wealthy, and outsourcing have all contributed to creating a new class of citizen, the working poor.

The question should not be if we're worse off now than we were four years ago, but whether we afford to slide further back while Romney rejuvenates failed GOP policies.

[ErikJ]

13. Simplest Answer; Before Obama took office the GDP was -9%, now its UP 11% to 2%.

Or the US economy was SHRINKING at the rate of 9% a year.

Since Obama took office:... The Dow has DOUBLED from 6500 to 13,000; .....GDP is Up 11% from -9% to 2%; ......28 months of Job GAINS after Bush LOSING 4 million jobs in 2008/ 800,000 jobs a month; .....record corporate profits 2010-11.
Bin Laden is dead and GM is alive.

[ecstatic]

15. Beautiful point that takes too long to explain but

a video skit using that analogy would be perfect. Something quick and easy for the so called independents to digest: elephant arsonist flees the scene after burning down your house. A donkey comes by to help clean up the damage, little by little, then a few years pass and the elephant comes back, with hateful mocking towards the donkey and hollow promises about how s/he can help repair the damage faster. Who do you go with?

[Wednesdays]

18. I think the cartoonists have got you channeled

[ProgressiveEconomist]

17. Simple answer: YES! 4 yrs ago the last R president, whom you did not even invite

to your convention in Tampa because you plan to replicate his disastrous policies, had put the world on a path to a decade-long Great Depression. That shit-for-brains addressed the nation on Sepember 24th 2008 to sound the alarm about the financial abyss his deregulation and profligate spending financed by "tax cuts" for the rich had opened up.

Remarkably, President Obama and Fed Chair Ben Bernanke pulled the world back from the brink within less than a year and turned monthly job reports positive again from over a million jobs lost per month. Since then, over 4 million new private sector jobs have been created. But four years ago, the most incompetent President in US history had created an unprecedented colossal economic disaster that spilled over into his successor's time in office.

[redqueen]

19. It is so nice to see this. Thank you.

K&R