December 01, 2010
The Washington Post, which long ago abandoned rules of journalistic objectivity in pushing its agenda for cutting Social Security and Medicare, today covered up the plans by deficit commission’s co-chairs to violate the commission’s charter. The Post reported that the commission expects to delay voting on a plan until December 3. This means that the commission will miss the December 1 deadline for a final report specified in both its by-laws and its charter.
If the Post were not so committed to Bowles and Simpson’s agenda then it would have called readers attention to the fact that they are violating the rules under which the commission was established. Of course, if it were following standard journalistic practices, the Post would have pointed out that the deficit increased not because of out of control spending, as the co-chairs have repeatedly claimed, but primarily due to the downturn caused by the collapse of the housing bubble.
It also would have pointed out that the huge long-term projected deficits are entirely attributable to the broken health care system. If the United States paid the same amount per person for health care as countries with longer life expectancies we would be facing huge budget surpluses, not deficits. However, because it editorial position dominates its news section, almost no readers of the Post would know this simple and important fact.
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