Saturday, February 14, 2009

Some straight facts on the budget bill

I've had some time for surfing around different news sites today - and I'm really surprised at the venom generated by the passage of the stimulus bill.

I shouldn't be surprised - I know - because the people foaming at the mouth are getting their news from sources like Rush and Fox News, sources that repeat falsehoods ad nauseam. My favorite canard is the $30 million supposedly allocated for mice in Nancy Pelosi's district. The Huffington Post has a nice little piece to set the record straight. But the Republicans really aren't interested in accurate information; they want to make political points - and the little mouse in Pelosi's district made a nice headline for the Washington Times - despite its inaccuracy. But when did sources like Rush, the Washington Times or O'Reilly care about accuracy?

If you really are interested in learning about the bill, ProPublica just did a nice distillation of the legislation. It lists both the tax cuts and spending allocations of the bill.

One of the first lessons for my students is that good journalism requires hard work. This is a good example. Not flashy, but necessary. And much more constructive than the so-called patriots who bemoan the U.S. drift to socialism!

1 comment:

Ani said...

Thanks for this link--charts are a real timesaver (when accurate!)

Jeez, how bad was this program handled?:

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