Is Media Telling Public The Real Tax Vote Story?

Republican tax plans raise taxes on the middle class to pay for tax cuts on the rich. They just voted against tax cuts for people making under $250,000, and for tax cuts for people making more than that. Last month they filibustered the bill ending tax breaks for shipping our jobs out of the country. They filibustered the DISCLOSE act that would let people know who is funding all those nasty ads. Earlier they even voted to end Medicare! The votes have been on the record, but the public just doesn't know. In fact, press coverage has been so wrong that the public refuses to even believe what Republicans are doing!

Yes, They Did That!

Yesterday House Republicans overwhelming voted 1) against tax cuts for people making under $250,000 and 2) for tax cuts for people making over $250,000. Last week Senate Republicans did the same. And yesterday an objective, bipartisan analysis of Mitt Romney's tax plan shows that it would dramatically cut taxes for the very wealthy, while increasing the tax burden for the rest of us [1].

The Public Doesn't Know They Did That

In a democracy it is essential that the public receive information that help them make informed decisions. America's media system is increasingly geared toward guiding the public in certain directions that always, always benefit the corporate/conservative viewpoint. Think about this: When is the last time you read, saw, or heard in a corporate-owned media outlet someone explaining the benefits of joining a union?

To close, I'm going to repeat part of the July 24 post, If The Public Knew - Corporate Media Helps GOP Sneak In Plutocrat Agenda [2]:

Just 232 Media Executives Decide What We Can Know About

From the following chart, "232 media executives control the information diet of 277 million Americans." (Clich for larger.)

[3]

Source: Frugal dad [4]

232 media executives decide what's in 90% of the news media. What do you wanna bet those 232 people are paid? What do you wanna bet the worldview of those 232 people is?

Just 196 People = 80% Of Campaign Spending

People now get much of their information from campaign ad. There isn't much choice, this is what is in front of people's faces. And the campaign ads do not give the public honest information. Why is this?

Lawrence Lessig, in Big Campaign Spending: Government by the 1% [5] in the Atlantic,

A tiny number of Americans -- .26 percent -- give more than $200 to a congressional campaign. .05 percent give the maximum amount to any congressional candidate. .01 percent give more than $10,000 in any election cycle. And .000063 percent -- 196 Americans -- have given more than 80 percent of the super-PAC money spent in the presidential elections so far.

Repeat, 196 people have given more than 80 percent of the super-PAC money spent in the presidential elections so far.

232 media executives control 90% of our information souces. 196 people decide 80% of the campaign spending. And the House has passed a budget that greatly increases taxes on people making less than $200,000, while dramatically cutting taxes on those who make over $1 million. (This is not related to the Bush tax cuts and the coming battle over the "Grand Bargain" to cut Social Security, Medicare and other things while cutting top tax rates and corporate taxes...)

When facts became inconvenient for the corporate right the corporate media stopped reporting the facts.

When the positions became inconvenient for the corporate right, the corporate media stopped reporting the positions.

[6] [7]