The New York Times has a story about President Obama’s speech on the NPR radio network that his government funds. It seems that the government-paid journalists are favorably impressed with the head of the government who ultimately signs their paychecks. Obama suggests that Republicans are hostile to him and his policies because of “who I am and my background.” I.e., people who disagree with him are racist. Consider the white entrepreneur whose company succeeds against all odds but now finds that she has to pay 50% more in federal capital gains taxes than under King Bush II (has gone from 15% of the gain to 24%, from a combination of higher rates plus the new Obamacare taxes). She is a racist because she would prefer to keep this money for herself or invest it in a new venture rather than give it to the federal government to spend.
I find that I can agree with President Obama. Anyone who disagrees with me is a racist!
[I have already put this to the test and discovered that racism is rampant in America. I called up an African-American friend and asked her to give me 10% of her income over and above the tax rates that she is already paying. Although I previously believed her to be well-disposed toward Caucasians, she refused to hand over 10% of her income without grumbling. She is apparently a racist.]
Only 2% of NPR funding is from government, according to https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NPR#Funding, and only 16% of member station funding (making up a large part of the rest of NPR’s income) comes from government. If you follow the money, it leads mainly to big corporations and big philanthropists.
NPR though does have a weird deference towards the President and officialdom in general. Its the same under Republican administrations. It has been compared to the BBC’s coverage of the Queen.
I don’t like how NPR pretends to be commercial free then bombards us with statements like this broadcast is made possible by XYZ corporation. It is just so so silly.
Toucan -Hear, hear!
Also they bombard with self-advertisement.
http://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2010/10/how_public_is_nprs_funding.html contains an analysis of tax-dollar funding of NPR.
(Note that I am not advocating for a reduction in funding for our government-funded news operation. Only saying that I listen to NPR with the same ear that I use when listening to other government-funded news worldwide.)
The biggest subsidy NPR has gotten from the government has been all of the 88.1 to 91.9 radio frequencies that its stations transmit on. This dates all the way back to the Roosevelt Administration when those frequencies were set aside for nonprofit purposes. That part of the spectrum is worth far more than the government funding NPR receives.
I do not agree that what Obama actually said:
“If you are referring to specific strains in the Republican Party that suggest that somehow I’m different, I’m Muslim, I’m disloyal to the country, etc., which unfortunately is pretty far out there and gets some traction in certain pockets of the Republican Party, and that have been articulated by some of their elected officials, what I’d say there is that that’s probably pretty specific to me and who I am and my background, and that in some ways I may represent change that worries them.”
can be construed as meaning “Anyone who disagrees with me is a racist”.
@Neal (7): absolutely true.
There is also a clear argument to be made that black racism against white people, while it probably exists individually, is neither measurable in its economic or historic impact. The measurable current bias against black students by universities, in police shootings, incarcerations, politics and the measurable historic racism, pockets of which exist still today is not even in the same ballpark.
So we can easily deduce that neither has the president said anything near what philg is writing about, nor is the underlying premise of connecting racism exclusively to higher taxes sound.
Not to mention that I also disagree with the notion that a higher capgains tax will measurably impact investment, but that is a much longer and more nuanced discussion that the blatant misrepresentation on racism in this post.
Still, thanks for offering a comment section where I can post my opinion about your writings.
Mr. Obama is right. I am hostile to him and his background. Because his background and who he is have led to decisions I would strongly disagree with even if they were coming from a purple elephant.
NPR only agrees with the government when they both advocate for the “mainstream” liberal consensus. If someone like Bush, or God forbid Trump is in office they have no problem disagreeing with him and in fact will do their best to embarrass him and dig up dirt. Bill Clinton got a free pass for many years, not only from NPR but from feminist organizations, even though he probably should have been in jail for multiple rapes but I’ll bet if Donald Trump ever so much as pats a woman on the behind it will be a national scandal mentioned every half hour. So NPR is not like radio in some countries where broadcasting has to follow the line of whomever is in power that week. Rather, we have a permanent unelected bureaucracy that sets its own policy regardless of who is nominally in power.
Jack: I don’t think that NPR was hostile to the government overall during King Bush II’s administration. There were a lot of stories about how the share of GDP consumed by the government during that period was being spent wisely, was helping American citizens, etc. Perhaps there was some disagreement on the details but the overall message of “government is good; bigger government is great” was unchanged.
John: “There is also a clear argument to be made that black racism against white people, while it probably exists individually, is neither measurable in its economic or historic impact.” https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2013/08/28/the-wide-racial-gap-in-obamas-presidential-elections-in-2-charts/ says that 93 percent of black Americans voted against the candidate who identified as “white” in the 2012 presidential elections. That seems “measurable”!