Robot Pirate Ninja

I took a screenshot of this.   Note how the headlines from differing news organizations show the exact opposite information.

Ahh, but wait, it’s 2-1 for the lie.  Or is it….

The point of lies like this one (again based on a paraphrase of an out-0f-context quote) is to help demoralize the base.  This one is particularly effective at it.

Many, many, folks want Obama to return the U.S. to some sort of fiscal sanity.  This includes returning tax rates back to where they were when the U.S. had full employment and a balanced budget (back before Bush).   Personally, I’m all for letting all the Bush tax cuts expire.  I don’t mind paying a couple extra percentage points to get us back on the right track.  Obama, the candidate, wants to keep the lower end cuts and get rid of the high end ones (for those that don’t know, the high-end cuts amount to about $100,000 per person of richest 1%, the lower-end folks (the other 99%) would be seeing about $1,700 per person).

Now a lot of these folks want Obama to fight for this.   So this story comes out about him capitulating without a fight, without any concessions, and essentially just rolling over and playing dead. 

This pisses off his supporters, weakening public support.

But the simple fact is that these headlines (ostensibly from two different sources, but actually the same one) REPORT FACTUALLY INCORRECT INFORMATION.

They are lies.   It is annoying to have to keep pointing this out, but…just…the blatant bullshit of it…the complete lack of anything resembling journalistic integrity or ethics…jeez.  Over the top.

And so it goes.

UPDATE: This Reddit thread points out where this crap started, and I agree with it wholeheartedly.   That site is crap, as it anyone who repeats their b.s. without verification (which is what my screen-capture highlighted).

UPDATE2:  This is why I’m happy to let them expire, rather than run up a huge debt to reward those who have already been rewarded (and are already spending like, well, like they have all the money again)

Much of the growth is coming from the wealthiest consumers, says Josh Chernoff, leader of business consulting firm Bain and Co.’s North American retail practice. Households earning more than $100,000 a year make up just 21% of households but are driving almost 40% of overall consumer spending, he says. That’s up from 34% of consumer spending in 2006. Retailers who cater to the affluent — higher-end department stores, luxury retailers and warehouse club stores — are doing the best “and we think we’ll see that trend continue through the end of the year,” Chernoff says.

Here’s the difference between the two parties’ plans.   This graph should be everywhere in the next couple months.  Obama should hold a press conference standing next to it.