How the Media is Using those to be Used to help defeat the Obama Budget that you like

[FrenchieCat]

the Mainstream Media hails Krugmannomics as the answer only when it comes to its criticism of Obama's handling of the crisis we are facing.

However, no such mainstream media praised or elevated Krugman when Krugman was pushing for a much larger stimulus than the one that was proposed or the one that was passed. At such time, Krugman was not highlighted on the cover of Newsweek, (owned by Washington Post stockholders, many of which own General Electric).

No one in the media was quoting Krugman's approval of Obama's budget, and I doubt they will. And so of course this cover coincides in timing with the week in which the budget is being pushed, but there are no implications that Krugman approves of such budget.

Of course, Krugman should be writing about the budget now, but he is not.

Of course, Krugman could be commenting on the proposed regulatory framework that needs to pass through congress. A framework that could be used as the mechanism to nationalize the entities that Krugman has called the Obama administration to nationalize.

I wonder and ask myself at this point, has Krugman become too invested personally in seeing that OBama's proposals do not work? I hope not, for our own sake.

What does one do when dissent on one issue becomes the cover to diss generally? :shrug:

[Thrill]

1. Never before has the media loved Krugman so much

lol

[CBR]

2. Nor has Krugman loved the media so much... nt

[firedupdem]

3. You are correct! Where were they when Krugman was saying

the stimulus should be a lot bigger? But now we have a cover saying "Obama is wrong." Nice play! They will get those approval ratings lower and bash this budget by hook or crook.

[cliffordu]

4. Excellent post.

Just because some fucking guy has a Nobel doesn't mean he isn't a bloviating self-aggrandizing attention whore.

[firedupdem]

6. Well when we get no health care reform etc. They can all thank

themselves for a job well done.

[Hello_Kitty]

10. Damn I wish I could recommend a response.

:applause:

It's amazing to me how there are people on this board who on the one hand deride Obama supporters as robots and cult followers and at the same time cannot tolerate any criticism of His Most Exalted Nobel Prize Winning Highness. How the cognitive dissonance has not caused their heads to explode right off their necks is a marvel to me.

[cliffordu]

11. Aw, shucks, thanks!!!

[Cha]

13. Apparently

not.

[Peacetrain]

5. That had me confused..

As I understood Krugman economic policies, He was pushing for a much more money for the Stimulus.

[billyoc]

7. What does one do? Make your counterargument.

If you're an Obama supporter, your advantage of having full state power behind you should bolster your spirits a bit. :hi:

[Jennicut]

8. Frenchie....they are using any criticism from the left on Obama to pursue the policies of the right

Its pretty obvious, isn't it? Not that Krugman does not have a big ego but he is criticizing policy while he also thinks Obama is far better then anything we have had in terms of a modern Presidency. However, the media uses this to undercut Obama and to say he is too weak to keep his own party in control. Weaken, weaken, weaken him. Then of course he has the conservadems. Sigh. The man needs those of us who support a more left agenda to attack the right and conservadems first. Then we can worry whether his ideas are not "left" enough.
Krugman is not to blame for this, its the media. Krugman is just trying to keep the pressure on to get Obama to be as far to the left as possible. But he is going to be used by the corporate media. See through their manipulation.

[azmouse]

15. What you said in your post needs to be repeated every day

until it gets through some thick heads here... "The man needs those of us who support a more left agenda to attack the right and conservadems first."

Very well said.

[FrenchieCat]

21. It is those who don't see through it that worries me......

and how that affects our Democratic agenda.

[OHdem10]

9. When it is not only Krugman, but Reich, Steiglitz, JSachs,maybe

the Media has awakened.

Since Krugman is left-leaning it makes him more credible than
someone from the right.

Could it be they do not want to catch the wrath if the Obama
Banking Plan fizzles. They can say we put out both sides.

[FrenchieCat]

12. Hold your breath at "maybe the media has awakened", as I would finish that sentence as

"awakened to a way of defeating Barack Obama's economic recovery from the left side, since the right is ineffective".

[Cha]

14. "The media has awakened"..

I'd laugh but it's too damn serious. The "media" is in full blown :nuke: and that includes Anti Obama from the rw and sticking krugman's mug on the cover of newsweek with "Obama's Wrong".

[Peacetrain]

16. There is a tremendous amount of juice being put out there to

bring down anything Obama says or does. Very strange

[Cha]

19. Not strange to me because

I'm inured to it now after 8 years of fascist corporatemediawhoredom.

What really pleasantly, surprises me is Obama and Team's determination and savvy to blast right over the cwheads(republicon's base) to Victory.

[Kdillard]

17. The media has only awakened to the fact that Obama is trying to pass a very progressive budget and

that he must be brought down by any means necessary. They have tried everything and now they have found something else to see if it sticks. The media will not rest until Obama's popularity is brought down to the fifties then forties and he will get nothing done. Not healthcare, not education reform and certainly not supporting any green energy initiatives. It will not stop and too bad many on the left are just going along with it. Just like with Clinton who had to deal with an enormous amount of garbage not only from the right but from members of his own party.

[firedupdem]

18. I agree 100%. n/t

[FrenchieCat]

20. They keep warning us that his popularity will come down.....

guess they know what is coming down the pike because they are in on it......

[Two Americas]

22. what is more likely

What is more likely is that the MSM wants us to think that Krugman is "hurting Obama" so that we see him as an enemy. That spreads chaos and divisiveness among us.

The right wingers do not want to promote left wing critics, but they sure would like us to ignore or attack left wing critics and see them as enemies to Obama.

Watching that stuff all of the time will only confuse you.


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[HopeOverFear]

27. Um, that's the same thing Frenchie said. n/m

[Two Americas]

28. no

What I said is the opposite. FC says the media is using Krugman to get us to turn on Obama, and that this will hurt Obama. Therefore, people posting Krugman's ideas are being duped by the media. I say they are leading us to turn on Krugman, and on each other, and that the people attacking Krugman and his supporters are being duped by the media, and that this is what will actually hurt Obama.

[FrenchieCat]

29. no

I said that the media is using Krugman to turn the American people against Obama's budget.
Period.

[Two Americas]

31. right

But you extrapolate that to the posters here. Otherwise, there would be no controversy. And there most certainly is a ton of controversy around your posts. If you were merely saying that "the media is using Krugman to turn the American people against Obama's budget period" there would not be all of the bitter feuding we have here. You are constantly talking about people being turned against Obama, and accusing any and all critics of being in league with the enemy. That is why there are fights here.

I say that the media is turning us against our own, Krugman and the Left, not turning the people against Obama.

The MSM says "here is Krugman, criticizing Obama." That costs Obama no support from the public. They are talking to us, the 10% who follow politics closely and who influence public opinion. They are trying to turn us against Krugman and the Left, to divide and weaken us, the community of political observers and activists. That will ultimately hurt the administration.

You say Krugman is being used to turn the people against Obama, so don't listen to Krugman and his supporters.

I say the media is turning us against Krugman and the Left, so don't listen to the MSM.



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[FrenchieCat]

32. wrong

my OP is very clear....

the title reads....How the Media is Using those to be Used to help defeat the Obama Budget that you like

The media

is using

those to be used

to help defeat

the Obama budget

that you like.

Then I ask a question.....

What does one do
when dissent on one issue
becomes the cover to diss generally?


The OP was meant to generate conversation.

That's what it has done.

We are not the only ones discussing this cover,
although I may have been the only yet to ask this question.
That, I don't know.

[Two Americas]

34. ROFL!

Things have gotten so bad around here, that we cannot even agree about where we disagree. The wheels are coming off of this bus in a big hurry. It probably was used to run over too many people.

OK, OK you are talking about "How the Media is Using those to be Used to help defeat the Obama Budget that you like."

I am talking about how the media is leading you to think that, so that you then attack your own and divide the community.


...

[FrenchieCat]

35. I think this is enough. Our own President is who ends up being attacked

everytime.....

That's who is being attacked on the cover of Newsweek, if you hadn't noticed.

[Two Americas]

36. I know

Yes, the media will destroy any Democratic president and is working against the administration. You are right about that, I agree with you, and I am sympathetic to your anger about it.

No, I don't notice what the major media is saying for the most part. I don't want them describing and defining reality for me nor telling me what my role and positions are supposed to be.

I would let go of it were I you. They work you up into a frenzy, and that is what they intend to do - more so than rallying any conservative base. If you did, you would no longer see so many of us as the enemy, and we could have some serious discussions about what we can do to overcome the influence of the media.



...

[FrenchieCat]

37. I'm not sure why you talk to me about who I see as the enemy,

as I am the one oftentime called names.

But I just keep on ticking......

As far as a frenzy, that's is what you perceive,
as that is not my approach,
regardless of how gregarious I might read.

[Two Americas]

38. ok

Sounds good.

[HopeOverFear]

39. oh THIS is WRONG:

The MSM says "here is Krugman, criticizing Obama." That costs Obama no support from the public.

YES IT DOES. If you repeat it long enough, gullible people start to believe it.

[Two Americas]

40. generally true, yes

Repeating things long enough, you can get gullible people start to believe it. But who is being bamboozled? The general public, to turn them against Obama (there is some of that yes) or is it mainly designed to get us, and to some extent the general public, to turn on and attack the Left?

I think there is an assumption by people who pay too much attention to the MSM, that the right wing propaganda is mostly aimed at conservatives, that it is intended to rally the base. They then watch is closely, analyze it, and think they understand what is being said and base their own political positions on that. They think it is influencing other people, stupid people, but not them - they are "seeing through it."

But much of the right wing propaganda is aimed at us, and intended to concise and distract us by creating a false picture of what the battles are about, and a false view of the nature of the opposition.

I am certain that the effect of the MSM coverage of the budget issue is mostly to turn Democrats against left wing ideas and those expressing them, not to turn the general public against Obama.

But the MSM has people convinced that they are prompting some conservative "ideology" or "philosophy," and that half of the people put there - give or take - are conservative and are falling for that propaganda. That then leads them to see the Left as the enemy - that is the hoped for result.

It is almost impossible to talk to people here who are steeped in MSM cable political and news shows - much more difficult then it is to talk to people from the general public who are not so well informed. Converting the average blue collar Republican voting person to socialism is vastly easier then it is to get "progressives" to budge an inch from their "centrist" and "moderate" right-leaning positions, in my 40 years of experience trying to do both with thousands of people. Those notions have been implanted into their thinking by the MSM, even as they think they are immune to being so influenced by it.


...

[MadMaddie]

23. I think Krugman has a lot of good things to say but I also believe

that his ego is getting the best of him. People are paying attention to him and the more attention he gets the louder he gets.

[NJmaverick]

24. Krugman is a lot like Nader

in that his ego has gotten the better of him. So like the right used Nader to get close enough to steal the 2000 election, they are using Krugman to try and take Obama down.

[girl gone mad]

25. Can you rewrite that headline in English, please?

:crazy:

[FrenchieCat]

26. I like it just the way it is.....

but thank you for your suggestion.

[zulchzulu]

30. They are using Krugman and misrepresenting what he wants, which is MORE spending

Krugman has made a point that Obama's stimulus package is spending LESS than he should.

Him: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/09/opinion/09krugman.html?_r=2&partner=rss&emc=rss

But the average schmuck looking at the cover will get it in their head that Obama is "wrong". Wrong?

The text should read "Obama not spending enough...", as Krugman would and continues to attain. That wouldn't make for a very sexy headline though...

[FrenchieCat]

33. I'm hoping that Krugman will now focus on the budget

and the regulatory framework proposed....

Godhumor (1000+ posts) Sat Mar-28-09 11:28 PM
Original message
How many people noticed that the new Geithner plan lays out proposals to...

Temporarily nationalize complex institutions if they are mismanaged? Regulate hedge funds? Add federal oversight to OTC derivatives and swaps? I understand a lot of people are not happy about costs associated with the economic mess right now, but the treasury is talking massive regulation of a lot of the institutions that got us into trouble. Highlights about the proposals:

On taking over institutions:
"Depending on the circumstances, the FDIC and the Treasury would place the firm into conservatorship with the aim of returning it to private hands or a receivership that would manage the process of winding down the firm. The trustee of the conservatorship or receivership would have broad powers, including to sell or transfer the assets or liabilities of the institution in question, to renegotiate or repudiate the institution's contracts (including with its employees), and to deal with a derivatives book. A conservator would also have the power to restructure the institution by, for example, replacing its board of directors and its senior officers. None of these actions would be subject to the approval of the institution's creditors or other stakeholders." (Among other things, the trustee can step in, sell or keep whatever he or she felt was best for the company, completely replace the BoD, eliminate any necessary executives, void contracts and do so without stock or debt holder approval.)

Hedge funds (This has been a long time coming):
"U.S. law generally does not require hedge funds or other private pools of capital to register with a federal financial regulator, although some funds that trade commodity derivatives must register with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission and many funds register voluntarily with the Securities and Exchange Commission. As a result, there are no reliable, comprehensive data available to assess whether such funds individually or collectively pose a threat to financial stability. The Madoff episode is just one more reminder that, in order to protect investors, we must close gaps and weaknesses in the regulation and enforcement of broker-dealers, investment advisors and the funds they manage."

Derivatives and swaps:
"In our proposed regulatory framework, the government will regulate the markets for credit default swaps and over-the-counter derivatives for the first time." (This is just the first part of the proposals for the swaps, the others are well worth reading).

http://www.treas.gov/press/releases/tg72.htm

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=389&topic_id=5350682&mesg_id=5350682

[Raineyb]

41. I'm pretty sure that Blah and the rest of the "conservadems"

will have more to do with Obama failing (if he does) than Krugman trying to move the man's economic policy.

Regards

[PM Martin]

42. The infamous "cult of personality" rides again.

Either you push Obama do to the right thing or he will be out on his rear end in 2012 and so will you and the rest of the country/world.