We're All Wrong
I came across this White House press release this morning … Oops. Sorry. Strike that.
I came across this New York Times article:
HUNTERSVILLE, NC -- What if a president cut Americans’ income taxes by $116 billion and nobody noticed?
It is not a rhetorical question. At Pig Pickin’ and Politickin’, a barbecue-fed rally organized here last week by a Republican women’s club, a half-dozen guests were asked by a reporter what had happened to their taxes since President Obama took office.
“Federal and state have both gone up,” said Bob Paratore, 59, from nearby Charlotte, echoing the comments of others.
After further prodding — including a reminder that a provision of the stimulus bill had cut taxes for 95 percent of working families by changing withholding rates — Mr. Paratore’s memory was jogged.
It got me wondering about the conversation between the assignment editor and the reporter ...
Our reporter is an intrepid type, his head full of the “speak-truth-to-power” ethos that he learned in J-school. He desperately wants to please. Our editor wears horned-rim glasses, meticulously tousled hair, and holds a cup of fair-trade, shade-grown coffee.
Editor: I’m sending you to some small Southern town. Can't remember the name. A stone’s throw from the Charlotte Motor Speedway ... that's the key. I want you to talk to the people. Find some who are either 1) too dumb to realize that Obama is tax cutter, or 2) too blinded by their politics and/or racism to notice. Shouldn't be too hard.
Reporter: So what do I do when I find them?
Editor: You educate them! That’s what you do! Sit ‘em down and show them the numbers. (Hands over charts and graphs.) Explain how they’ve been misled by the tea party! Insist that Obama is the one who is really looking out for them.
Reporter: (hesitantly) But I thought I was supposed to report the news. What you’re telling me to do sounds kind of like … I don’t know … PR.
Editor: (blank, incredulous stare) And?
Silence.
Reporter: Oh, okay.
He bolts out of the office, feeling stronger, bolder, more into it.
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Comments :
Aug '10
Re: We're All Wrong
What a bunch of bull! Essentially the Times peice is saying "hey, you morons, President Obama has deigned to let you keep a little bit more of your money until April 15th when you will a) have to pay it back or b) your "refund" (which is nothing but your money, the use of which you have lost) might be a little less.
From the IRS website on the making work pay tax CREDIT:
The Making Work Pay tax credit, normally a maximum of $400 for working individuals and $800 for working married couples, is reduced by the amount of any Economic Recovery Payment ($250 per eligible recipient of Social Security, Supplemental Security Income, Railroad Retirement or Veteran's benefits) or Special Credit for Certain Government Retirees ($250 per eligible federal or state retiree) that you receive. If you are affected by this reduction, you should review your withholding to ensure that sufficient funds have been withheld to meet your tax obligation.
I assure you my taxes, across the board have risen, just as the value of my money has continued to go down.
Re: We're All Wrong
Ursula, we're also too stupid and ill-informed to figure out how 95 percent of us get a federal income tax cut when only 53 percent of us pay any federal income tax at all.
Re: We're All Wrong
All the talk about these phony tax cuts really irritates me. "Rebate" checks that even non-taxpayers receive? Those aren't tax cuts. And no one has seen their federal income tax rate or their business tax rate or their capital gains tax rate drop even a hundredth of a percentage. This is simply more of what David Limbaugh calls "fundamental, cynical dishonesty."
Re: We're All Wrong
Every time I quote the New York Times, Aaron Miller gives me a thrashing for even reading the darned thing. Aaron, don't go easy on Ursula. I want to see what it looks like when it happens to somebody else.
May '10
Re: We're All Wrong
This is how the Times "gives back" to society. Stung by criticism that they, the nation's best minds, do not care about the rest of the country, they have invested valuable time and space in the paper to passing on their wisdom to we lesser minds.
I ought to feel grateful, or would had I read it, but you see, I long ago concuded that I was not worthy of the wisdom dispensed by the NYTimes, and no longer subscribe or read the paper.
Oddly, I don't feel the least bit diminished....
Edited on Oct 19, 2010 at 11:51amRe: We're All Wrong
Uh-oh. Hey, listen, I know it's bad to read it religiously. But my problem is that I keep sort of forgiving them for some reason. I go on occasion for great obits. Good sports columnists. Ballet reviews. Whatever. Then, I come across stuff like this, which seems so wildly inappropriate that it deserves a little (lame) satire/mocking on my part.
In my defense, it was the dateline that got me. My alma mater, Davidson College, is very near to this town. I'm very interested in that area of NC. It drew me in ... Go easy on me, Aaron. Please.
Re: We're All Wrong
If it's obits your looking for, as Mr. Lileks said the other day: the Brits do it best. Log on to the Telegraph and check out today's obit of Wing Commander "Butch" Barton.
Back to the NYT. My favorite line? "Actually, the tax cut was, by design, hard to notice." According to our bulldog reporter, the Obama adminstration cleverly designed the tax cut to be invisible, because Americans are (apparently) best motivated by tax cuts that they don't know about.
Aug '10
Re: We're All Wrong
Oh, well then, let's pack in the tea party signs and go hom-- Waaaaaaait a second, my inferior conservative brain is being jogged.
Wasn't that the tax cut that screwed up withholding rates for married couples in 2009, and wound up causing unexpectedly larger tax bills as workers had to pay some of the smaller amounts back in lump sum? The one that got messed with for 2010 to cause an increase in federal withholding? The one specifically designed to boost consumer spending which completely failed to boost real consumer spending?
Those poor uneducated folks in North Carolina. Apparently they based their views on the actual data and their own pocketbooks, instead of the latest histrionics in the NYT editorial page. I'm so glad NYT sent a reporter out there to set them straight.
Edited on Oct 19, 2010 at 1:42pmJun '10
Re: We're All Wrong
I took the liberty of emailing the URL of this conversation to Mr Arthur S. Brisbane, Public Editor at the NYT at public@nytimes.com
May '10
Re: We're All Wrong
And now you have to cut a 1099 to everyone pay $600 to.
Mr. Brisbane, if you happen to visit this conversation, I'm sure we'll all be happy to explain what a 1099 is. We'll even use small words.