Follow Up: Operation Fox Hunt By Anonymous

A couple of weeks ago, Anonymous posted a video announcing Operation Fox Hunt:

“Fox News is now a target of Anonymous because of their continued propaganda against the Occupations. Those such as Sean Hannity are attacking the credentials as well as the character of the Occupiers and this can no longer be allowed. […]

“Anonymous will not only shut down Fox News, we will also engage in a propaganda campaign of our own to show them how it feels to be chastised. Fox News, your time has come.”

The target date for the cyber-attack was November 5. So far as I know Fox News continued to broadcast throughout the weekend and their web site remained accessible. However, the Fox Nation web site no longer has a place to login and there are no comments on any posting, even those that go back months.

Could Anonymous be responsible for this? Might Fox have just removed those features to prevent any mischief? Is it just a period of scheduled maintenance? Only Guy Fawkes knows for sure.

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Fox Nation: Retarded And Proud

To say that the Fox Nation exhibits the mental capacity of a six year old would be an insult to six year olds. Let’s just say that Fox News is focused on appealing to a target audience with the IQ of Fox political analyst Sarah Palin’s son, Trigg.

This morning the Fox Nationalists posted an item on comments made by comedian Bill Maher. Observe the sophisticated humor that Fox employs with their headline story:

Fox Nation

Calling the HBO humorist “Pig Maher” is nothing new for Fox. They have frequently descended to this juvenile taunt which somebody over there thinks is clever.

Fox Nation Pig Maher

And Maher is not the only victim of Fox’s childish display of pseudo-journalism. Sen. Al Franken is almost exclusively referred to as Sen. Smalley (from Franken’s Stuart Smalley character on Saturday Night live a decade ago).

The Fox Nationalists appear to be upset that Maher, a well-known atheist, performed a routine that mocked the religious zealotry of the Republican presidential field of candidates. Maher astutely pointed out that if three of them (Bachmann, Perry, and Cain) claim that God called them to run for president, then God must be fucking with two of them. Maher also noted the reverence for ignorance that is so prevalent in the GOP:

“Knowing things is seen as an affront to the all-knowing. And there’s nothing they hate more than secular eggheads trying to fix problems like poverty and health care. Honestly, doesn’t a lot of the tea party philosophy boil down to ‘Who needs the government when you have Jesus?'”

By resorting to moronic pejoratives to insult Maher, Fox is just affirming his analysis that they are populated by idiots who are serving an audience of imbeciles. At least they’ve done their market research. But are they really so devoid of self-awareness that they can’t comprehend the dichotomy in their headline? They are castigating Maher for mocking religious conservatives in the same sentence wherein they are calling him a pig.

We can expect Fox to be a feverish purveyor of lies and disinformation. That is, after all, their business model. But what on earth compels them to reveal so nakedly their puerile absence of civility – or intellect? Is it just that they know their audience well and are afraid to go over their dimwitted heads?


Tea Party Pimps At Fox News Suddenly Oppose Coverage Of Protests

Fox News spent much of the past two years openly promoting the Tea Party. They beseeched viewers to attend rallies, donated millions of dollars of valuable air time, propped up candidates, and even branded events as Fox News productions. Fox News anchors were dispatched to rallies where they served as Tea Party MCs. Tea Party Express founder, Sal Russo, said that “There would not have been a tea party without Fox.”

Fox News Tea Party

From its inception the Tea Party was a phony circus of right-wing propaganda that never warranted the attention it received from the press. It couldn’t muster support from the public at large that exceeded the mid-twenties. Yet Fox News provided wall-to-wall coverage on a daily basis.

Now Fox has published an article by their digital politics editor, Chris Stirewalt, arguing that the Occupy Wall Street movement ought not to be getting coverage from the media. Stirewalt warns against “the temptation to overhype Occupy events,” and offers his advice that…

“…the press should consider taking a deep breath when it comes to coverage of the current movement.”

How convenient. After two years of relentless promotion of an AstroTurf affair that the majority of Americans oppose, Fox thinks that a truly grassroots movement, whose goals are supported by an overwhelming majority, should be swept aside and denied coverage.

Stirewalt’s article was notable also for its brazen bias against the Occupy movement. He begins the piece by saying…

“The California-as-Greece meme picked up steam this week when Oakland turned into the poor man’s Athens.”

However, he provides no support whatsoever for his fabricated meme, nor any evidence of it picking up steam. He further characterizes Occupiers as a “nuisance” and resorts to juvenile pejoratives like “malodorous emanations” to describe the protesters.

Stirewalt belittled the participation of 100 veterans who came to support the Occupation saying that their presence “isn’t significant,” but that…

“It might be effective messaging for the protesters to put forward a military appearance to undercut the popular notion that they are a bunch of hippies.”

First of all, the “popular notion” Stirewalt refers to is one that he and his cohorts at Fox invented. But more importantly, his dismissal of the veterans is an unconscionable display of disrespect. What ever happened to thanking them for their service?

This is typical of the hypocrisy in play at Fox News. They only appreciate veterans when they can be exploited for political gain (or utilized as fodder in phony wars). And they only assent to covering news when it conforms to their predetermined bias. This graphically illustrates the dishonesty of a so-called “news” organization that renounces coverage of popular protests despite having been such zealots for another group of protesters whom they just happen to favor.


HEY FOX NEWS: We Didn’t Start The Class War Fire

The top headline today on Fox Nation is a conspicuously slanderous lie (as opposed to their conventional slanderous lies): Oakland on Fire: Obama Gets Class War He Asked For.

Fox Nation

First of all, not only has Obama never asked for a class war, he has never even expressed support for the Occupy movement that the Fox Nationalists are inferring is a class war. This has been a disappointment to progressives who want the President to go beyond acknowledging the frustration of the protesters and the 99% of the nation whom they represent.

More importantly, the class war theme has been beaten to death by right-wingers intent on blaming the American people for the obscene economic disparity that is the work of wealthy corporations and their benefactors in Congress. If the elitist One-Percenters are afraid (and they should be) of the rampaging hordes approaching their villas with torches and pitchforks, then they should stop behaving like robber barons and start acting like patriots. They should care more about their country and fellow citizens than they do about hoarding wealth, ripping people off, and destroying the economy.

As Billy Joel said (sort of), “We didn’t start the [class war] fire,” but we’ll be more than happy to finish it, and we will prevail. Revolution is in our DNA. It’s how we gained liberty from lords and monarchs a couple of hundred years ago, and we will do it again. And this time many of the lords are actually on our side. The enemy isn’t really the Upper Crusties, it’s the conservative media and politicians acting on behalf of a minority of ultra-rightist neo-fascists (and that is not a reference to Hitler, but to the actual definition of fascism, which Mussolini called “corporatism.”). With respect to the foregoing, the best thing I can do in response is to just reprise an article I wrote a few days ago on this very subject:


CLASS WAR VICTORY! The Wealthy Have Surrendered, So Who’s Still Fighting?

“Conservatives say if you don’t give the rich more money, they will lose their incentive to invest. As for the poor, they tell us they’ve lost all incentive because we’ve given them too much money.” ~ George Carlin

The national debate triggered by the Occupy Wall Street protests has given the wealth gap a renewed focus in the public arena. And with good reason. That gap is wider today than it was just prior to the Great Depression; wider, in fact, than it has ever been. The brutality of that economic disparity has thrust our nation into a bitter and persistent recession. But it has also inspired millions of Americans to step forward and demand reforms that not only restore fairness, but readjust the balance of political power.

Conservatives regard this new activism as a declaration of class war. But it’s important to note that they only call it war when we fight back. The war was already in progress and, as Warren Buffett said, “We (the rich) are winning.” Now a new survey reveals that Buffett is not the only one-percenter that is fighting on our side. The Wall Street Journal (ironically) is reporting that…

“A new survey from Spectrem Group found that 68% of millionaires (those with investments of $1 million or more) support raising taxes on those with $1 million or more in income. Fully 61% of those with net worths of $5 million or more support the tax on million-plus earners.”

We can also count Bill Gates amongst the one-percenters who advocate more progressive taxes.


[Note: The same segment from ABC’s This Week was posted on Fox Nation with a headline that perverts reality beyond all recognition: “Bill Gates Knocks Down Obama’s Millionaire’s Tax.” Gates did no such thing. He continues his remarks saying that taxing millionaires by itself will not solve the debt problem, but no one is suggesting that it will. And his support for taxing the rich more is clear and unambiguous.]

When two-thirds of the people that will be affected by a tax increase support the increase, it begs the question, who are the opponents? For the answer you need look no farther than the Office of the Speaker of the House of Representatives:

John Boehner: “[T]here’s nothing that’s disappointed me more over the last 8 weeks than to watch the President of the United States basically give up on the economy, give up on the American people.” […] “People are frustrated, and that’s why the House has been focused all year on trying to create a better environment for job creation in our country.”

Boehner is wrong about Obama. The President has not given up on the economy or the American people. He has given up on Boehner. And Boehner’s assertion that the House has been focused on creating jobs is laughable. He and his Republican troops have done nothing but obstruct progress on every legislative attempt to stimulate job growth. In fact, they have been working hard to recast the issue as one that is centered on those they call the “job creators.”

House Republicans have a web site at jobs.gop.gov. The funny thing about the site is that it has no content whatsoever that addresses the plight of workers or the unemployed. The site isn’t really about jobs at all, as the heading makes abundantly clear: The House Republican Plan for America’s Job Creators. That’s an admission that the Republican agenda for jobs is really just an agenda for business owners and corporations. Click through to their plan and you will see a short list of proposals that hew narrowly to tax cuts for business, deregulation, and deficit reduction. It’s the same tired parade of failed policies that Republicans put forth as their solution to everything. None of those policies will produce jobs and, more importantly, they aren’t even what small businesses, the biggest driver of jobs, say that they want.

A new Gallup poll asked small business owners “What would be a primary motivation or reason for hiring any new employees?” The top three responses, representing 63% of respondents, were all related to demand.

“Small-business owners point to increased revenues (27%), an improving economy (20%), and growth or expansion of their business (17%) as their top motivations for hiring new employees in 2012.”

This survey affirms the analysis of most economists who agree that companies do not expand hiring when their taxes are cut or regulations are relaxed. They hire when they need to satisfy increased demand or exploit an economic opportunity. The Wall Street Journal surveyed a group of economists and concluded that…

“The main reason U.S. companies are reluctant to step up hiring is scant demand, rather than uncertainty over government policies, according to a majority of economists in a new Wall Street Journal survey.”

Once again, that’s the conservative Wall Street Journal reporting. It’s fair to presume that the economists the Journal surveyed were not from some sleeper cell of de-thawed Bolsheviks. In addition to this widespread agreement by experts that the GOP fixation on tax relief for the Upscalers is fiscal folly, the popular sentiment on Main Streets across the nation overwhelmingly favors making those who have benefited the most contribute more to restoring our country’s economic health. After all, the rich are the only ones who have not been called upon to share the sacrifice.

Shared Sacrifice

When the big picture is unfurled there are conclusions to draw that are too obvious to ignore. The American people support raising revenue via taxes. Economists agree that demand, not tax relief, drives job creation. And a majority of millionaires believe that their own tax rates are too low. Yet Republicans in Congress continue to stonewall. The intransigence of the GOP serves no constituency and has no discernible benefit politically. The only plausible return for their bullheadedness is in the form of financial support from a deep-pocketed minority of one-percenters who simply cannot abide one more cent in taxes.

That’s the naked truth that Boehner & Co. are having such a hard time defending. That’s why the Occupy movement has captured such a broad swath of public support. And that’s why it is all the more peculiar that the media still fails to present these issues honestly, and that many in the Democratic Party, including the President, have not unambiguously acknowledged the voice of the people and joined the fight for economic justice. If the wealthy have conceded that the people’s position is the one that ought to prevail, then where are the people’s representatives?


Fox Nation’s War On Youth And Education

It is no wonder that Fox News is the oldest skewing network in cable news. They have captured the curmudgeon demographic and completely abandoned any attempt to appeal to a young audience.

Today’s headline on Fox Nation is a good example of the animosity that drives away young viewers and readers: Obama Reduced to Writing Op-Eds in Student Newspapers.

Fox Nation

Reduced? Since when is communicating with college students considered to be some sort of lowered standard of engagement? The student newspaper to which Fox referred is the Harvard Crimson from Obama’s alma mater. The President’s column addressed the steps his administration is taking to ease the burden of the crushing debt students suffer due to the high cost of education.

In one headline Fox has insulted students as being unworthy of attention, and diminished education as a frivolous endeavor. And the headline was entirely the work of Fox’s editors. There was nothing in the source article that sunk to such disparaging terms. In fact, the article offered an uplifting message of hope for restoration of the opportunity that was once so much a part of the American Dream.

Obviously the Fox Nationalists think that communicating such hope directly to the next generation of America’s leaders is a contemptible act that reflects poorly on the President. It is that condescending perspective that makes Fox a pariah amongst everyone but the codgers who drool over photos of Sarah Palin in red leather.

GOP IgnoranceIt is the same perspective that elevates ignorance as an aspiration. Fox is the nation’s preeminent purveyor of distrust for intellectual achievement. They are the partners of the Republican Party in an effort to dumb-down the citizenry by mocking education and promoting idiots to positions of authority. And make no mistake, it is intentional. They know that it is far easier to manipulate people when they are uneducated and uninformed. They know that it is the only way that they can advance their agenda that benefits the wealthy and corporations at the expense of those they are deceiving. And they are good at it. Studies show that Fox viewers are significantly more misinformed than viewers of other networks. What’s more, the studies show that the more one watches Fox News, the more misinformed they become.

So the next time you see Fox slamming the President for daring to lower himself to communicating with college students, remember that this is in line with their business model of targeting the stupidest and oldest segment of the audience. And so far as I’m concerned, they can have ’em.


Where Have All The Palins Gone?

Running for president was once the province of seasoned public servants with extensive knowledge of law and history, and practical experience managing complex enterprises. Today running for president is a public relations strategy for boosting book advances and landing contracts with television news networks.

Remember when Sarah Palin was the darling of the right and she was on the news every day pontificating in her uniquely incoherent way? Remember when reporters followed her brightly colored bus around the country desperately trying to get her to look in their direction?

Remember when Donald Trump was on the news every day with increasingly wild assertions about his own magnificence or the President’s citizenship? Remember how unquestioning the press was about his phony resume and declarations of achievement and wealth?

Remember when Chris Christie was on the news everyday parading his arrogance around as if it represented moral character? Remember how he led the polls for the GOP nomination despite not even being a candidate?

Remember when Michele Bachmann was on the news every day after she won a straw poll in Iowa that had a notoriously spotty record for predicting the GOP nominee? Remember when she was the front-runner for the Republican nomination and the heir to Sarah Palin’s Tea Party princess crown?

Remember when Rick Perry was on the news every day and was heralded as the serious contender for the GOP nomination with executive experience and bona fide credentials? Remember when his name could mentioned without invoking uncontrollable laughter?

Before long we will be asking: Remember when Herman Cain was on the news every day and leading in the polls against more establishment candidates with conventional backgrounds? Remember when people actually took seriously the former head of a pizza chain as a possible president of the United States?

But the real question we should be asking is what has happened to our national pride? What has happened to the aspiration for excellence and the admiration for brilliance? Why have so many Americans embraced an anti-intellectual pursuit of averagism? When did their standards decline to the point that they have contempt for Harvard graduates and reverence for governors who quit mid-term?

The parade of Republican front-runners would be an embarrassment to any party other than one preoccupied with tea. And the thinness of their character is evidenced by how quickly they disappear, leaving merely remnants with vague resemblances to persons we think we used to know. Which leaves us asking, Sarah who?

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Idiots At BigGovernment Post Video That Proves They Are Idiots

This never fails to brighten my day. Some right-wingers are so stupid they don’t even know they are refuting their own positions with some of the attempted slander they present.

Today Andrew Breitbart’s BigGovernment (notoriously stupid to begin with) posted an interview of an Occupy Wall Street protester. She was prodded about reports of malfeasance on the part of the Occupy movement or some of its participants. The purpose being to smear the protest movement with phony allegations and rumors. The result was an article with the headline: ACORN Front Group Pays Homeless People ‘$10 a Hour, $100 a Day’ to Protest at Occupy Wall Street.

The only problem is that the woman in the video did not say that the allegedly hired homeless persons were paid to be protesters. What she said was…

“I know some people, homeless people, are getting paid to come here and mess things up.”

So her actual charge is that they were provocateurs hired to disrupt the protest, not to support it. She seemed earnest and well-meaning, but somewhat ill-informed in that her comments appeared to conflate reports of paid instigators with unrelated reports of ACORN hiring protesters. The ACORN story itself was obvious propaganda which I debunked last week. The absurd assertions of Fox News and others painted a picture of a bankrupt and disbanded non-profit group shelling out a quarter of a million dollars for extras to populate the scene at Zucotti Park.

As further evidence of the confusion of the woman in the video, her story didn’t even make sense. Why would ACORN pay people to disrupt a protest that they presumably supported? Anyone who has watched the news the past few weeks would have readily recognized the flaws in her comments and reputable journalists would not have used them, at least not without attempting get a clarification. But that doesn’t stop the rocket scientists at BigGovernment who saw fit to post this interview anyway. Never mind that it fingered the Occupy movement’s opponents as saboteurs and dirty tricksters. What’s more, it revealed that Breitbart’s prior efforts to miscast the Occupiers as shills was a lie. If this woman is to be believed, it was Breitbart’s side that were the shills. And she very likely got her misinformation (the ACORN nonsense) from “news” reported by Breitbart.

Despite the frequency with which right-wingers make themselves look like fools, it still astonishes me when they do so. And they even manage to escalate the flamboyancy of their blockheadedness with each new incident. With all the turmoil and tribulation in the world these days, I suppose I should grateful for the little bit of cheer they bring to my life. There really is nothing I enjoy more than when my ideological opponents show up for a debate with big, red, rubber noses and clown shoes.


Glenn Beck Sponsor Goldline Charged With Theft And Fraud

Glenn BeckABC News is reporting that Glenn Beck’s long-time sponsor Goldline has been formally charged by the Santa Monica City Attorney with a 19-count criminal complaint for defrauding customers.

The complaint alleges that Goldline “runs a bait and switch operation in which customers, seeking to invest in gold bullion, are switched to highly overpriced coins by using false and misleading claims,” according to a statement released by the consumer affairs division of the Santa Monica City Attorney’s office.

The company has been charged in the court filing with misdemeanors that include theft by false pretenses, false advertising, and conspiracy, the City Attorney’s office said.

The allegations stem from complaints that Goldline deliberately pressured customers to purchase overpriced gold coins rather than the bullion featured in their advertising. The pitch often included false representations that coins are a safer investment because bullion could be confiscated by the government. That is a claim specifically cited by Beck in his ads.

Many of Beck’s sponsors are firms that benefit from his Apocalyptic delusions. They include Survival Seeds, Liberty Safes, and CheaperThanDirt, an online gun dealer. The Beck business model is to so thoroughly frighten his audience that believe they need these products to protect themselves and their families from the imminent End Times. Sadly, for the pathetic nimrods whom Beck has deceived, it’s a lucrative con job.

Last year another gold peddler, and Beck sponsor, Superior Gold was placed into receivership and all of its assets frozen. And that’s just the tip of the corruption iceberg associated with firms that finance Beck’s disinformation factory. Regular advertisers on Beck’s radio and Internet properties include LifeLock, Tax Masters, and Free Score, all of whom have had brushes with the law for engaging in questionable business practices.

I guess it’s to be expected that someone as dishonest as Beck is going to align himself with the same sort of scoundrels.


Fox Nation vs. Reality: On Angry, Unpopular Michelle Obama

For today’s episode of Fox Nation vs. Reality, we’ve got a twofer.

Fox Nation

The Fox Nationalists are reviving an old and insipid insult directed at First Lady Michelle Obama. Right-wingers are obsessed with portraying her as angry, but the op-ed to which Fox Nation links goes even further. Joseph Curl, for the Moonie Washington Times, blasts Obama for being…

“…ready to spew her bilious disgust with America on the campaign trail. A dignified, transcendent first lady? No chance. Michelle is going to break with a hundred years of tradition and play the role of attack dog, heaping derision on her husband’s political opponents like no other first lady before her.”

Seriously, where do they get this stuff? Curl expects us to believe that he is clairvoyant and can predict what Obama will do in the future. And just by chance, everything he predicts casts her as rabidly un-American.

The other Fox Nation anti-Michelle article bears the headline, “Michelle Obama Approval Drops.” Technically, Fox got this one right. The Hill reports that the results of a new Marist poll show Michelle Obama’s approval rating collapsing from 65% in September to 63% now.

Call in the undertaker, it’s all over folks. Obama’s approval suffers a steep decline that is less than the poll’s margin of error. Although her approval still far exceeds her husband, Congress, Republican candidates, the media, and probably ice cream. But Fox Nation selects a headline that is so hysterically twisted that the writers at the Onion are getting nervous.

What is it that Fox is afraid of? The First Lady is a strong, intelligent, accomplished woman, who is popular with fellow Americans. So obviously Fox has to try to turn her into an acerbic witch whom every hates. It is the same tactic they have used with some success to tarnish the President with phony slurs alleging that he is a Kenyan, Marxist, Muslim who wants to destroy the country and re-crucify Jesus.

But as troubling as it is to hear these ridiculous and childish assaults, what is truly pathetic is that Fox has so many viewers and readers who actually buy into it. Sadly, in the 21st century, there is still no shortage of idiocy.


CLASS WAR VICTORY! The Wealthy Have Surrendered, So Who’s Still Fighting?

“Conservatives say if you don’t give the rich more money, they will lose their incentive to invest. As for the poor, they tell us they’ve lost all incentive because we’ve given them too much money.” ~ George Carlin

The national debate triggered by the Occupy Wall Street protests has given the wealth gap a renewed focus in the public arena. And with good reason. That gap is wider today than it was just prior to the Great Depression; wider, in fact, than it has ever been. The brutality of that economic disparity has thrust our nation into a bitter and persistent recession. But it has also inspired millions of Americans to step forward and demand reforms that not only restore fairness, but readjust the balance of political power.

Conservatives regard this new activism as a declaration of class war. But it’s important to note that they only call it war when we fight back. The war was already in progress and, as Warren Buffett said, “We (the rich) are winning.” Now a new survey reveals that Buffett is not the only one-percenter that is fighting on our side. The Wall Street Journal (ironically) is reporting that…

“A new survey from Spectrem Group found that 68% of millionaires (those with investments of $1 million or more) support raising taxes on those with $1 million or more in income. Fully 61% of those with net worths of $5 million or more support the tax on million-plus earners.”

We can also count Bill Gates amongst the one-percenters who advocate more progressive taxes.


[Note: The same segment from ABC’s This Week was posted on Fox Nation with a headline that perverts reality beyond all recognition: “Bill Gates Knocks Down Obama’s Millionaire’s Tax.” Gates did no such thing. He continues his remarks saying that taxing millionaires by itself will not solve the debt problem, but no one is suggesting that it will. And his support for taxing the rich more is clear and unambiguous.]

When two-thirds of the people that will be affected by a tax increase support the increase, it begs the question, who are the opponents? For the answer you need look no farther than the Office of the Speaker of the House of Representatives:

John Boehner: “[T]here’s nothing that’s disappointed me more over the last 8 weeks than to watch the President of the United States basically give up on the economy, give up on the American people.” […] “People are frustrated, and that’s why the House has been focused all year on trying to create a better environment for job creation in our country.”

Boehner is wrong about Obama. The President has not given up on the economy or the American people. He has given up on Boehner. And Boehner’s assertion that the House has been focused on creating jobs is laughable. He and his Republican troops have done nothing but obstruct progress on every legislative attempt to stimulate job growth. In fact, they have been working hard to recast the issue as one that is centered on those they call the “job creators.”

House Republicans have a web site at jobs.gop.gov. The funny thing about the site is that it has no content whatsoever that addresses the plight of workers or the unemployed. The site isn’t really about jobs at all, as the heading makes abundantly clear: The House Republican Plan for America’s Job Creators. That’s an admission that the Republican agenda for jobs is really just an agenda for business owners and corporations. Click through to their plan and you will see a short list of proposals that hew narrowly to tax cuts for business, deregulation, and deficit reduction. It’s the same tired parade of failed policies that Republicans put forth as their solution to everything. None of those policies will produce jobs and, more importantly, they aren’t even what small businesses, the biggest driver of jobs, say that they want.

A new Gallup poll asked small business owners “What would be a primary motivation or reason for hiring any new employees?” The top three responses, representing 63% of respondents, were all related to demand.

“Small-business owners point to increased revenues (27%), an improving economy (20%), and growth or expansion of their business (17%) as their top motivations for hiring new employees in 2012.”

This survey affirms the analysis of most economists who agree that companies do not expand hiring when their taxes are cut or regulations are relaxed. They hire when they need to satisfy increased demand or exploit an economic opportunity. The Wall Street Journal surveyed a group of economists and concluded that…

“The main reason U.S. companies are reluctant to step up hiring is scant demand, rather than uncertainty over government policies, according to a majority of economists in a new Wall Street Journal survey.”

Once again, that’s the conservative Wall Street Journal reporting. It’s fair to presume that the economists the Journal surveyed were not from some sleeper cell of de-thawed Bolsheviks. In addition to this widespread agreement by experts that the GOP fixation on tax relief for the Upscalers is fiscal folly, the popular sentiment on Main Streets across the nation overwhelmingly favors making those who have benefited the most contribute more to restoring our country’s economic health. After all, the rich are the only ones who have not been called upon to share the sacrifice.

Shared Sacrifice

When the big picture is unfurled there are conclusions to draw that are too obvious to ignore. The American people support raising revenue via taxes. Economists agree that demand, not tax relief, drives job creation. And a majority of millionaires believe that their own tax rates are too low. Yet Republicans in Congress continue to stonewall. The intransigence of the GOP serves no constituency and has no discernible benefit politically. The only plausible return for their bullheadedness is in the form of financial support from a deep-pocketed minority of one-percenters who simply cannot abide one more cent in taxes.

That’s the naked truth that Boehner & Co. are having such a hard time defending. That’s why the Occupy movement has captured such a broad swath of public support. And that’s why it is all the more peculiar that the media still fails to present these issues honestly, and that many in the Democratic Party, including the President, have not unambiguously acknowledged the voice of the people and joined the fight for economic justice. If the wealthy have conceded that the people’s position is the one that ought to prevail, then where are the people’s representatives?