2012 Presidential Election

Each year the Business & Media Institute looks back on the year's news and selects the top 10 worst economic myths. This year the media's myths were wide-ranging: from conspiracy theories about economic sabotage, to overpopulation panic and Occupy Wall Street's mantra “We are the 99 percent.” Here is our 2011 list: 10. Congress took a “machete” to the budget in August. 9. In order to win, the GOP wants to sabotage the economy. 8. Who cares about a Soros' sponsored effort to remake global economy? 7. With 7 billion on the planet, it's time to panic. 6. Apocalypse Al is a “genius,” and climate change is a real threat. 5. The jobs are right around the corner. 4. Occupy Wall Street is the new Tea Party. 3. Green jobs are the future. 2. $52 million from Soros doesn't mean we're biased. 1. “We are the 99 percent.” 10. Congress took a “machete” to the budget in August. Media Myth: Spending cuts actually cut spending. One of the most illusory things in Washington, D.C. is a spending cut. After all, once taxpayer money is being doled out it can be very difficult to stop the flow. So in August 2011, when the news media reported on the debt ceiling talks they anticipated major cuts to the federal budget, but ordinary taxpayers weren't given the whole picture. ABC's Diane Sawyer spoke of “expected” “machete” cuts and NBC's Ann Curry worried those cuts would hurt the economy . Media outlets called the cuts “sharp” and “severe,” but rarely admitted that federal spending will keep on growing. BMI looked at the transcripts for 43 stories, interviews and news briefs about the debt ceiling deal on morning and evening news programs and found that only 2 admitted the debt will rise anyway. That means 95 percent of stories ignored the fact that the federal debt would still rise by $12 trillion (from $14.29 trillion to $28.8 trillion). As Cato's Chris Edwards explained, “The 'cuts' in the deal are only cuts from the CBO 'baseline,' which is a Washington construct of ever-rising spending. And even these 'cuts' from the baseline include $165 billion of interest savings, which are imaginary because the underlying cuts are imaginary.” So next time the news media claim Washington is cutting spending, remember that real spending cuts by the government are nearly as fantastical as finding a leprechaun and his pot of gold at the end of a rainbow. 9. In order to win, the GOP wants to sabotage the economy. Media Myth: “Republicans want the cconomy to get worse” Economics editor Dan Gross of Yahoo! Finance made a bold assertion in June 2011 that every Republican running for the White House, if they were “being honest” would want the economy to be worse off in 2012. But Gross, who used to write a financial column for the left-wing Slate.com, took the accusation even further saying: “[I]t stands to reason that if you have the ability to have a role in policy that you would engineer policy to get that outcome. That's what political parties do …” He cited conservatives who were opposed to TARP and the stimulus, labeling them “a element” “that just wants to blow stuff up.” Apparently in Gross' mind, a philosophical belief that bailouts and government spending do not improve the economy was illegitimate. The insulting charge from Gross was reminiscent of the economic conspiracy theories entertained by the news media in 2006 and 2008. CNN's Jack Cafferty cynically wondered in 2006 if oil companies were lowering gas prices to help the GOP . Left-wing radio host Ed Shultz said essentially the same thing two years later, predicting that “Gasoline's gonna be a buck-47 ($1.47) when Bush gets out of office. This has just been all so pre-arranged.” If the economy remains in trouble, this myth is likely to become even more widespread during the 2012 election cycle. 8. Who cares about a Soros' sponsored efforts to remake global economy? Media Myth: Soros meeting to rearrange “the entire financial order” is unimportant. If the volume of news coverage an event earns reveals its significance, then the Bretton Woods conference on April 8 was no more important than a spelling bee. The media obviously considered it trifling since they did almost no reporting on the left-wing billionaire's conference of cronies, despite the fact that Soros said in 2009 he wanted “a grand bargain that rearranges the entire financial order.” Soros has also said that “the main enemy of the open society, I believe, is no longer the communist but the capitalist threat.” The Bretton Woods conference made it clear he had been pursuing that goal. The global gathering got almost no press attention, despite at least four journalists on the speakers list. But at the conference, Soros set in motion a major move against the dollar. The Wall Street Journal reported on Dec. 1, 2011, that Soros now thinks the world financial system is “on the brink of collapse.” Soros said the system is in a “self-reinforcing process of disintegration.” The April conference was orchestrated by Soros who founded the New York City-based Institute for New Economic Thinking (INET) (the group that hosted the conference). Many of the attendees were supporters of Soros, on the board of INET, grantees of INET or contributors to some other Soros-funded operation like Project Syndicate. 7. With 7 billion on the planet, it's time to panic. Media Myth: In 2011, Earth's population crossed the 7 billion mark and that was reason to freak out. The media have embraced overpopulation myths for years, fitting in nicely with climate alarmism and left-wing environmentalism. So it was no surprise that in 2011, when the world population neared the 7 billion milestone , the media began repeating those concerns again. The Washington Post cautioned that “ecological distortions are becoming more pronounced and widespread.” The fear-mongering of radical environmentalists like Paul Watson, James Lovelock and Paul Ehrlich has been echoed by willing partners in the mainstream media. Ehrlich famously predicted England would not exist in 2000. (As of 2011, England still exists.) But as recently as 2010, the New York Times quoted Ehrlich as a “population expert.” And the Los Angeles Times favorably interviewed Ehrlich in February 2011 . Overpopulation fears resurfaced in 2011. New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman titled his July 7 column ” The Earth is Full .” The Los Angeles Times Editorial Board titled a May 15 op-ed ” Defusing the Population Bomb .” The Los Angeles Times also published a July 21 op-ed coauthored by Mary Ellen Harte and Anne Ehrlich (wife of Paul Ehrlich), which argued that “Perpetual [human population] growth is the creed of a cancer cell, not a sustainable human society.” Many predictions about overpopulation simply haven't happened, because mankind finds ways to adapt and innovate. Colin Mason, director of media for the Population Research Institute, told BMI that fears of overpopulation are unfounded because: “Historically, as human population has grown and developed technology, the manner in which we use resources has changed. For instance, as human population has grown, we have needed to produce enough food to feed our burgeoning numbers. But as our civilizations have developed, we have also developed ways of increasing crop yield, and of growing crops on previously infertile land.” As Mason explained, a declining population (as is happening in many countries) will actually result in many negative economic and social consequences. For example, entitlement programs like Social Security and Medicare depend upon having enough workers to pay into the system, but if too few children are born to replace retirees, the programs collapse. 6. Apocalypse Al is a “genius,” and climate change is a real threat. Media Myth: Almost-president Al said the climate change “debate's over” so it must be true. As Al Gore's error-filled propaganda film turned 5 in May 2011, BMI looked back at broadcast news coverage of “movie star” Gore about climate change as well as mentions of “An Inconvenient Truth” throughout that time. They found that nearly 98 percent of those stories failed to challenge the supposedly scientific claims of the movie, including its dramatic predictions of sea level rise and links between climate change and extreme weather such as tornadoes, hurricanes, fires and droughts. Many of those claims have been challenged, but scientific criticism was rarely included by ABC, CBS or NBC. There was also little opposition to the “environmental evangelist” found in the reports; more than 80 percent excluded any criticism of Gore or his film. Rather than examining some of the dubious claims of the former vice president's movie, all three networks used it to push him to run for president (again) or accept some position within the Obama administration. In one CBS “Early Show” interview, Harry Smith literally tried to pin a “Gore '08″ campaign button on him. In one of Gore's morning show interviews promoting his film in 2006, NBC's Katie Couric mentioned that there were people on the other side of the debate. But once Gore replied, “There's really not a debate. The debate's over,” and blamed oil and coal companies for “pretending there is a debate,” Couric fell in line as if she'd been hypnotized. Shortly thereafter Couric declared, “Where there is disagreement among scientists is not IF, but WHEN we may see drastic environmental changes across the globe. Al Gore says the clock is ticking.” Yet, Christopher Booker, a journalist and commentator with The Telegraph (UK), quoted sea level scientist Dr. Nils-Axel M