Seldom does one see such an obvious betrayal of reporters' biased mindsets as the one found in the opening paragraph of an Associated Press report earlier today on CEO pay at major U.S. publicly-held companies.
According to the AP's Steve Rothwell and Ryan Nakashima, that entertainers, whose incomes are derived from leveraging special physical and artistic talents, deserve all the money they can get their hands on. But CEOs at major companies — well, not so much:
On Wednesday’s NBC Today, co-host Tamron Hall stumbled upon conservative economic philosophy as she defended a hot dog vendor’s right to charge customers whatever he wanted, even if it was overpriced: “But why can’t he set his own prices? I mean, if a restaurant sells their hot dog, steak, or whatever for the price they want, why is his price regulated?”
Is Jesus a Bernie Sanders fan? Could be, if you believe Howard Dean. On today's Morning Joe, Dean claimed that "if you look at the red-letter version of the Bible, Jesus was probably to the left of the Democratic party."
Dean's declaration came in the context of a discussion of yesterday's forum on poverty in which President Obama and AEI President Arthur Brooks participated. Question: is Dean confusing the establishment of faceless government bureaucracies that can entrap people in dependency with the kind of personal caring for the downtrodden that Christ commanded?
The Census Bureau reported today that sales new homes in the U.S. (seasonally adjusted at an annual rate) plunged sharply in March to 481,000 after hitting a seven-year record level of 543,000 in February.
As has been the case so often, AP reporter Josh Boak didn't look past the seasonally adjusted numbers, and as a result gave the "expert" he quoted a free pass to supply sunnyside-up commentary in his mid-day Wednesday dispatch. He also shakily claimed that "winter storms" were a "likely" major impediment to March sales (bolds are mine):
Introducing a report on Tuesday's CBS This Morning that examined the negative impact of forcing a wage hike on small businesses, co-host Norah O'Donnell declared: "A theater drama is playing out this morning in Los Angeles. The country's largest stage actors union votes on a plan forcing tiny theaters to pay everyone the minimum wage....many performers say getting a raise will do them more harm than good."
Chris Christie who? Rachel Swarns, who for years fawned over Barack and Michelle Obama for the New York Times, wrote an "open letter" column to actor Adam Baldwin in defense of a left-wing group which tied up traffic in mid-town Manhattan in the name of a $15-an-hour "living wage."
The New York Times' fight for the economically dubious $15 minimum wage (and its related obsession with "income inequality") boiled over onto the front page the day after nationwide protests against fast-food companies by left-wing activists. The same reporter also challenged Hillary Clinton from the left, insisting she must embrace a $15 figure or risk losing "progressive" support.
Alec Baldwin, famous liberal actor (and public-radio talk show host at WNYC-FM), started a Twitter battle with fellow liberals about traffic-blocking protests in mid-town Manhattan on behalf of the "Fight for $15" minimum-wage demands. Occupy somewhere else, he seemed to proclaim to more than a million followers at his foundation's Twitter account.
In response to the far-left and union-led protests nationwide on Wednesday for a $15 minimum wage for fast-food and retail workers, NBC Nightly News applauded the protests with a glowing report that felt more like a campaign commercial. Disguised as a segment on the broader topic of income inequality, interim anchor Lester Holt and correspondent Stephanie Gosk led the way in offering no opposing viewpoint and largely downplayed the political motivations behind the event.
Cherry blossoms are blooming and as sure as a springtime rainstorm liberals are repeating false claims that women make significantly less than men do for the same work. Why? Discrimination, of course.
The feminist holiday Equal Pay Day is April 14, this year and already media outlets are marking it with complaints about how a “gender pay gap” concerns graduating women. Time ridiculously included a photo essay called “Life Before Equal Pay Day: Portrait of a Working Mother in the 1950s.”
Supposedly, Equal Pay Day marks the day a woman has to work to from the beginning of the previous year to make as much as a man. Those who claim there is a discriminatory wage gap continually claim women make only 77 cents, or 78 cents on the dollar compared to men. Politicians, including President Barack Obama, liberal media and left-wing activists repeat the claim often. But it’s a “bogus statistic,” that even some liberals call a “lie.”
Imagine you're a Cuban who has somehow managed to catch the cablecast of Melissa Harris-Perry's MSNBC show today. The topic is President Obama's opening toward Cuba. You're scraping by on the average Cuban monthly salary of $20/month and are thrilled at the prospect of getting a better-paying job if and when American tourists start coming in numbers.
Then suddenly you hear Harris-Perry fretting that there could be a "downside" for Cuba in letting in those American tourists. They could be a "plague" for Cuba. Impose their cultural "hegemony." !Ay caramba!
Chickens came home to roost yesterday at the Associated Press.
The AP, the economy's most consistent cheerleader when a Democrat is in office, has not only been ignoring and downplaying the significance of disappointing and negative reports for several months, pinning its claim that all is well on the streak of seasonally adjusted 200,000-plus job gains seen during the past 12 months. It has also been pretending that all is really well. Just a week ago, the wire service's Marin Crutsinger falsely touted how the economy's "growth spurt" since the recession ended 5-1/2 years ago, while "sluggish," has been "one of the most durable since World War II."