Thursday, May 12, 2011

Barker's Newsbites: Thursday, May 12, 2011


The Original Hope and Change...
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3 comments:

William R. Barker said...

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703864204576314802790577650.html?mod=WSJ_Opinion_LEADTop

In 1978, Congress instituted automatic cost-of-living adjustments for Social Security.

Social Security's method of automatically increasing benefits to successive cohorts of retirees by more than inflation...means that the average worker who retires this year receives a monthly benefit that is about 23% higher after adjusting for inflation than the monthly benefit received by the average worker who retired 20 years ago.

* YEAH... RE-READ THAT LAST PARAGRAPH. (*SMIRK*)

The average worker who retires 10 years from now is, in turn, promised an initial benefit at retirement that is 14% higher after adjusting for inflation than the average worker who retires today.

* YES, FOLKS... (*SIGH*)... THANKS TO POLITICANS OF BOTH PARTIES, SOCIAL SECURITY IS ACTUALLY WORSE THAN YOUR RUN OF THE MILL PONZI SCHEME!

Starting next year...the typical husband and wife who reach age 66 and qualify for Social Security...will begin collecting a combination of cash and health-care entitlement benefits that will total $1 million over their remaining expected lifetime.

* FOLKS... READERS... DOES ANYONE - ANYONE AT ALL - SUPPOSE THAT THIS "TYPICAL COUPLE" KICKED IN $1 MILLION IN "CONTRIBUTIONS" OVER THEIR WORKING LIFETIMES?

* FOLKS... READERS... UNDERSTAND - WE'RE TALKING A DOUBLE-WHAMMY! FIRST... WHATEVER MONEY THIS "TYPICAL COUPLE" ACTUALLY "CONTRIBUTED" TO SOCIAL SECURITY HAS LONG AGO BEEN STOLEN AND SPENT. THE ONLY THING GORE'S "LOCK-BOX" CONTAINS ARE I.O.U.'s THAT CAN NEVER BE REPAYED EXCEPT THROUGH MORE BORROWING. (YOU SEE, WE ALREADY HAVE DEFICITS...) (*HEADACHE*) BUT ON TOP OF THIS, SOMEHOW WE'VE GOT TO COME UP WITH $1 MILLION FOR THIS "TYPICAL COUPLE" DURING THEIR RETIREMENT YEARS!

* OH... FOLKS... READERS... "BEST" OF ALL... SOCIAL SECURITY IS ALREADY UPSIDE DOWN...! IT HAS BEEN SINCE LAST YEAR...!!!

[This "typical couple"] will receive monthly Social Security checks that will, on average, total about $550,000 after inflation. They will also receive health-care services paid for by Medicare that, on average, will total another $450,000 after inflation.

* AND WHO PAYS FOR ALL THIS...?

[A] generation of younger workers who are trying to support themselves and their families while paying taxes to finance the rest of government spending.

(*SIGH*)

We cannot even remotely afford to make good on these promised benefits.

* NO SHIT, SHERLOCK...!

* THIS IS THE SITUATION, FOLKS.

May 12, 2011 at 8:45 AM
William R. Barker said...

http://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2011/05/12/obama_there_is_nothing_more_important_than_a_government_job.html

President Obama responds to a woman who was laid off from her government job: "Let me just first of all say that workers like you, for the federal, state, and local governments, are so important for our vital services. And it frustrates me sometimes when people talk about 'government jobs' as if somehow those are worth less than private sector jobs. I think there is nothing more important than working on behalf of the American people."

* RAISE YOUR HAND IF YOU'D LOVE TO TAKE A BASEBALL BAT AND....

(*SMILE*)

* NOT GONNA SAY IT; JUST NOT GONNA COMPLETE THAT THOUGHT...

* EARTH TO OBAMA: GOVERNMENT JOBS COST THE TAXPAYER - YES... INCLUDING THE GOVERNMENT WORKER HIM/HERSELF; WHEREAS PRIVATE SECTOR JOBS ARE A NET PLUS FOR THE NATION IN TERMS OF GOVERNMENT REVENUE.

* FOLKS... OBAMA ISN'T STUPID.

* FOLKS... OBAMA IS A SOCIALIST. (OR IF YOU'D RATHER, A "SOCIAL DEMOCRAT" OF THE "EUROPEAN MODEL.")

May 12, 2011 at 12:15 PM
William R. Barker said...

http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2011/05/11/dont-hear-george-soros-ties-30-major-news-organizations/#ixzz1M8trgdMt

* PRETTY INTERESTING READ, FOLKS...

* HEY... JUST BECAUSE YOU'RE PARANOID DOESN'T MEAN THERE'S NOBODY OUT TO GET YA!

When...George Soros gave $1.8 million to National Public Radio , it became part of the firestorm of controversy that jeopardized NPR’s federal funding.

[T]hat gift only hints at the widespread influence the controversial billionaire has on the mainstream media.

Soros, who spent $27 million trying to defeat President Bush in 2004, has ties to more than 30 mainstream news outlets - including The New York Times, Washington Post, the Associated Press, NBC and ABC.

(*SHRUG*) IT'S TRUE, FOLKS.

Prominent journalists like ABC’s Christiane Amanpour and former Washington Post editor and now Vice President Len Downie serve on boards of operations that take Soros cash.

(*DRUM ROLL*)

This despite the Society of Professional Journalists' ethical code stating: “avoid all conflicts real or perceived.”

* LET'S FOLLOW THE MONEY - SHALL WE...

ProPublica is a prime example. ProPublica, which recently won its second Pulitzer Prize...

(*SNORT*) (*CHUCKLE*)

...initially was given millions of dollars from the Sandler Foundation to “strengthen the progressive infrastructure..."

it also received a two-year contribution of $125,000 each year from the Open Society Foundations.

In case you wonder where that money comes from, the OSF website is www.soros.org. It is a network of more than 30 international foundations, mostly funded by Soros, who has contributed more than $8 billion to those efforts.

[ProPublic boasts] a 14-person Journalism Advisory Board...

* WAIT FOR IT... WAIT FOR IT...

...stacked with CNN’s David Gergen and representatives from top newspapers...[including] working journalists [such as] Jill Abramson, a managing editor of The New York Times; Kerry Smith, the senior vice president for editorial quality of ABC News; Cynthia A. Tucker, the editor of the editorial page of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution...[and one token "establishment" figure, L. Gordon Crovitz, a former publisher of The Wall Street Journal.]

ProPublica is far from the only Soros-funded organization that is stacked with members of the supposedly neutral press. The Center for Public Integrity is another great example. Its board of directors is filled with working journalists like Amanpour from ABC, right along side blatant liberal media types like Arianna Huffington...

The well-known Center for Investigative Reporting follows the same template - important [MSM] journalists on the board and a liberal editorial agenda.

Fred Brown, who recently revised the book “Journalism Ethics: A Casebook of Professional Conduct for News Media,” argues journalists need to be “transparent” about their connections and “be up front about your relationship” with those who fund you.

Unfortunately, that rarely happens. While the nonprofits list who sits on their boards, the news outlets they work for make little or no effort to connect those dots. Amanpour’s biography page, for instance, talks about her lengthy career, her time at CNN and her many awards. It makes no mention of her affiliation with the Center for Public Integrity.

If journalists were more up front, they would have to admit numerous uncomfortable connections with groups that push a liberal agenda, many of them funded by the stridently liberal George Soros. So don’t expect that transparency any time soon.

May 12, 2011 at 3:18 PM

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