A MUCH-BELOVED, DECADES-OLD TALE! Journalists have loved Rhee’s miracle tale for at least the past forty-five years: Paul Krugman discusses the big picture in this morning’s column. Increasingly, we live in an oligarchy, Krugman correctly writes.
Public unions aren’t always right, he notes. But those unions are “one of the few remaining checks on oligarchic influence.”
To most citizens, this notion will be quite unfamiliar, though that isn’t Krugman’s fault. For the most part, the liberal world has made little effort to put such basic ideas in front of regular people. That said, please note something Krugman says today about the Wisconsin budget. These remarks fly in the face of many things we liberals were told all last week:
In fairness, it isn’t exactly Maddow’s fault that she misstated so baldly—although she’s supposed to be the smart one. Last week, the whole liberal world was misstating basic facts about the Wisconsin budget. For our money, no one was quite as embarrassing as the hapless fact-free fumbler, Ed Schultz. But at least three major reliable liberals ended up retracting statements similar to Maddow’s—though no one overstated the situation as wildly as she did.
To see Ezra Klein’s twin retractions, click here—and scroll to “update.” After that, just click this. So see Andrew Leonard self-correct at Salon, just click this, and scroll to the bottom.
We’re glad Klein and Leonhard retracted and re-explained; we only wish that TPM and Benen would follow suit. Beyond that, we’d like to see a full review of how these errors occurred. In an oligarchic world, progressives can’t afford to be grossly wrong.
Misstatements by power will be accepted and recited. Progressives won’t get that deal.
In our view, progressives are largely fighting uphill in this evolving struggle. For decades, the oligarchs have spread their messaging about those greedy unions.
Citizens have heard few countervailing frameworks from our own hapless side, in which the interests of working people are consigned to millionaire hirelings like Maddow. For example: No one has trashed public unions more than Michelle Rhee and her billionaire colleagues—but Rhee has largely been given free rein by the corporate liberal world.
Through years of union-trashing and public misstatement, Rhee’s name has never been mentioned on Maddow’s show—and it never was mentioned on Countdown. It has never been mentioned on the Ed Show. Rhee’s name has been mentioned only once on Hardball—when she appeared on the show last year, where she was heavily fawned over.
Even when NBC News staged a week-long wilding of public school teachers, none of these fiery “career liberals” spoke up. But when you’re getting paid millions of bucks, you know when it’s time to shut up.
No one has trashed public unions more; no one has received more deference. Citizens have heard endless union-trashing. In response, they’ve heard little from our own hapless side.
Public unions aren’t always right, he notes. But those unions are “one of the few remaining checks on oligarchic influence.”
To most citizens, this notion will be quite unfamiliar, though that isn’t Krugman’s fault. For the most part, the liberal world has made little effort to put such basic ideas in front of regular people. That said, please note something Krugman says today about the Wisconsin budget. These remarks fly in the face of many things we liberals were told all last week:
KRUGMAN (2/21/11): Some background: Wisconsin is indeed facing a budget crunch, although its difficulties are less severe than those facing many other states. Revenue has fallen in the face of a weak economy, while stimulus funds, which helped close the gap in 2009 and 2010, have faded away.
In this situation, it makes sense to call for shared sacrifice, including monetary concessions from state workers. And union leaders have signaled that they are, in fact, willing to make such concessions.Say what? Wisconsin is facing a budget crunch? It does make sense to call for monetary concessions from state workers? In a long string of major forums, liberals were told exactly the opposite in the past week. Rachel Maddow certainly wasn’t the biggest offender, but as usual she was more sure of herself than anyone else. Maddow voiced the standard misstatements at the start of last Thursday’s show:
MADDOW (2/17/11): And thanks to you at home for staying with us for the next hour.
I’m here to report that there is nothing wrong in the state of Wisconsin. Wisconsin is fine. Wisconsin is great, actually! Despite what you may have heard about Wisconsin’s finances, Wisconsin is on track to have a budget surplus this year.
I am not kidding. I’m quoting their own version of the Congressional Budget Office, the state’s own nonpartisan "assess the state’s finances" agency. That agency said the month that the new Republican governor of Wisconsin was sworn in, last month, that the state was on track to have a $120 million budget surplus this year.
[…]To see Politifact score these statements as flat-out “False,” go ahead—just click here.
The state is not bankrupt. Even though the state had started the year on track to have a budget surplus—now, there is, in fact, a $137 million budget shortfall. Republican Governor Scott Walker, coincidentally, has given away $140 million worth of business tax breaks since he came into office.
Hey, wait. That’s about exactly the size of the shortfall!
In fairness, it isn’t exactly Maddow’s fault that she misstated so baldly—although she’s supposed to be the smart one. Last week, the whole liberal world was misstating basic facts about the Wisconsin budget. For our money, no one was quite as embarrassing as the hapless fact-free fumbler, Ed Schultz. But at least three major reliable liberals ended up retracting statements similar to Maddow’s—though no one overstated the situation as wildly as she did.
To see Ezra Klein’s twin retractions, click here—and scroll to “update.” After that, just click this. So see Andrew Leonard self-correct at Salon, just click this, and scroll to the bottom.
We’re glad Klein and Leonhard retracted and re-explained; we only wish that TPM and Benen would follow suit. Beyond that, we’d like to see a full review of how these errors occurred. In an oligarchic world, progressives can’t afford to be grossly wrong.
Misstatements by power will be accepted and recited. Progressives won’t get that deal.
In our view, progressives are largely fighting uphill in this evolving struggle. For decades, the oligarchs have spread their messaging about those greedy unions.
Citizens have heard few countervailing frameworks from our own hapless side, in which the interests of working people are consigned to millionaire hirelings like Maddow. For example: No one has trashed public unions more than Michelle Rhee and her billionaire colleagues—but Rhee has largely been given free rein by the corporate liberal world.
Through years of union-trashing and public misstatement, Rhee’s name has never been mentioned on Maddow’s show—and it never was mentioned on Countdown. It has never been mentioned on the Ed Show. Rhee’s name has been mentioned only once on Hardball—when she appeared on the show last year, where she was heavily fawned over.
Even when NBC News staged a week-long wilding of public school teachers, none of these fiery “career liberals” spoke up. But when you’re getting paid millions of bucks, you know when it’s time to shut up.
No one has trashed public unions more; no one has received more deference. Citizens have heard endless union-trashing. In response, they’ve heard little from our own hapless side.
