Piers Morgan is Terrible

Off Topic Politics & World Issues
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[quote]countingbeans wrote:

[quote]usmccds423 wrote:
“This guy wants to raise your taxes folks.” I mean come on how can you be that disingenuous.[/quote]

This is contemporary journalism.

It appears that the public, through demand, has given the notion they want entertainment not information. I guess this is why things like the “Daily Show” are being taken serious, and people are, crazily, proud of the fact that they are being informed (I use that term loosely) by that type sitcom entertainment.

Look if I don’t care about the bias of the writer if the story reads:

“Among requests from many people, Romney still has yet to release tax returns beyond 2010 and an estimate for 2011, with a promise to release the full 2011 return once completed. The deadline for filing extended returns is October 15th. Controversey surrounds the issue, as the focus appears to be on Romney’s effective rate of tax…”

but in todays world the story reads:

“Romney must be hiding something, he won’t release tax returns beyond his 2010. He still hasn’t delivered on a promise to release the actual version of his 2011 tax return. We know he pays less than most middle class americans in tax, so reason only dictates that he is hiding much more from the american people…”

One of the above will go on to explain the different tax rates on the different forms of income, what an extension of time to file means, and offer insight into the complexity of foreign reporting. (Foreign reporting = reporting foreign income/loss to the IRS)

The other will continue to hammer home conclusions drawn for the reader based on the opinion of the writer.

Which do you feel informs people and gives them the power of knowledge?[/quote]

A thought just occurred to me. I wonder if Romney will elect not to take deduction that he rightfully could take in order to appear like he pays more in taxes? Could be a smart political move, although I doubt the average American would care and my guess is his 2011 return will still be spun to make him look like a rich jerk that doesn’t pay his fair share.

I agree with your points though. My generation just hasn’t matured for the most part. We need our news to entertain us or it’s not worht our time. We are the, “No thanks, didn’t read, cliff notes please,” generation.

What a joke. We deserve what we get.

Chris

82

[quote]usmccds423 wrote:

A thought just occurred to me. I wonder if Romney will elect not to take deduction that he rightfully could take in order to appear like he pays more in taxes? Could be a smart political move, although I doubt the average American would care and my guess is his 2011 return will still be spun to make him look like a rich jerk that doesn’t pay his fair share. [/quote]

Something like 10 million people a year file with the wrong social security number. The average American doesn’t even understand tax brakets or the basics of how the federal tax system works, let alone the 1040 beyong line 3.

There are people still claiming they pay 30% on 80k with 5 kids on facebook. If that is true and they cut that check, they filed in error. The IRC dictates that the tax bill in that situation would not burden the payer to that extent. It is no one’s fault but their own error to blame in that situation.

There is also many sources, the IRS being a big one, that clearly outline that on average, people making under 112k are paying quite a bit less, even in percentage of income, than the talking points claim. So in short, the bullshit media reports and attack ads work, because people are too lazy to look something up and think for themselves.

I’ve seen one woman say “rich people can afford to have CPA’s find every loophole they can, the government should send out an informational packet every year to help us little people do the same.” Well, they do, it is called IRS.gov. And before the internet they did, in fact, do that every year, they were called ‘instructions.’

Not taking a deduction won’t help him looking at the forces against him here, and would be foolish.

Thing is a smart person could gather news clippings, social media postings and general comments about this issue and write a fantastic paper on how many many Americans, in this case liberals, don’t actually cherish or follow the liberties given to us by legislative and judicial branches. The fact that a presumtion of innocence and due process of law suddenly is moot because one man has money, in many people’s facebook opinion, is shameful.

I’ve seen someone say “you’re not a patriot if you don’t pay X% of your income.” Well, our country was founded by the 1% who were sick of paying their “fair” share, and purposely limited the federal government’s power. So a whole lot of people need to spend more time reading a history book, and less time reading blogs made by middle class recent college grads complaining about how bad they have it with their iPads, highspeed internet and HDTV’s, when millions of poor in India still shit in hand dug ditches.

This issue just shows the perspective many people have. And to make matters worse, they actually believe they are informed.

[quote]I agree with your points though. My generation just hasn’t matured for the most part. We need our news to entertain us or it’s not worht our time. We are the, “No thanks, didn’t read, cliff notes please,” generation.

What a joke. We deserve what we get.

Chris
[/quote]

While I typically would agree you deserve what you get, what you get is going to fuck up my child’s opportunity. So I’m a bit worried.

But then again, I’ve been watching lectures from the late 1970’s and the same college kids are bitching about the same bullshit, and I did okay, so maybe my perspective is off.