Filed under: Environment, Health Care, Junk Science, Liberalism | Tags: Bad Assumptions, Partisan Nonsense, Too Many Studies
Liberals are predictable, and the New York Times is predictable. Case in point:
News organizations can educate voters about public policy and economic conditions, but they can also misinform voters. As if to prove the point, a study released Friday found that “substantial levels of misinformation” seeped out to the electorate of the United States at the time of the midterm elections this year.
There are several organizations/websites that attempt to clarify for their readers just who they can believe. And they are just as partisan as the rest of us. Regular viewers of MSNBC, which tilts to the left in prime time, were 34 percentage points more likely than nonviewers to believe that “it was proven that the U.S. Chamber of Commerce was spending money raised from foreign sources to support Republican candidates.”
That, by the way was true — if a little twisted. Americans who are working overseas still get to vote and contribute, and they may contribute to their head office’s PAC. Completely normal, legal, usual and not improper in any way. But that’s MSNBC.
The study comes from the University of Maryland’s Center on Policy Attitudes and Center for International and Security Studies, which have some odd assumptions.
“Almost daily” viewers of Fox News, the authors said, were 31 points more likely to mistakenly believe that “most economists have estimated the health care law will worsen the deficit”, were 30 points more likely to believe that “most scientists do not agree that climate change is occurring;” and 31 points more likely to believe that “it is not clear that Obama was born in the United States.”
Gosh, I don’t even watch television and I can name 50 economists who say the health care law will worsen the deficit, including the head of the Congressional Budget Office. Anyone who has mastered basic math should recognize that you cannot add 16 million people to health care including those with pre-existing conditions, who can buy insurance right before they have an operation, add hundreds of offices and regulations and make it cost less.
Are these people unaware that the IPCC claim of “hundreds of scientists” has always been hooey? And that their assessments are written by fewer than 20 people who are not all scientists?
People who attempt to set themselves up as arbiters of the truth need to check their assumptions at the door, and offer objective proof that those assumptions are correct. In other words, be skeptical. If your common sense tells you that something is hooey, you’re probably right, but check it out.
Filed under: Capitalism, Economy, Freedom, Statism, Taxes | Tags: A Nation in Motion, Freedom and Opportunity, Overregulation and Overtaxation
America has grown by about 13 million new immigrants since 2000, who brought energy, talent and a work ethic, and a view that America continues to be a land of freedom and opportunity. There are now 308.74 million Americans, an increase of 37 million.
The census again revealed that America is a nation in motion. We move across state lines, change residence and change jobs.
The ten states with the greatest population gains were Nevada, Arizona, Utah, Idaho, Texas, North Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Colorado and South Carolina. These states gained an average of 21% in population. These states are more conservative, have lower taxes and more market-friendly business climates,
The states with progressive, public-sector orientation and higher taxes grew by only 2% on average. They include most of the states now well-known for fiscal distress. Michigan, Ohio, New York, Illinois, California, and New Jersey. Michigan was the one state that had a net loss in population in the last decade. New York, California and New Jersey are in the economic doldrums as well as the population doldrums. The Northeast continues to stagnate. Only New Hampshire, which has no income of sales tax, has a population growth two times the rest of the region.
Texas is a standout. It gets four new Congressional seats, followed by Florida with two seats, Arizona, Georgia, Nevada, South Carolina, Utah and Washington each gain one seat.
New York and Ohio each lose two seats. Illinois Iowa, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Michigan, Missouri, New Jersey and Pennsylvania are all down one seat. When combined with the impact of redistricting within states, Republicans could be in position to gain more House seats in 2012.
For the first time in history, the Northeast and Midwest will have less than 40% of the electoral college votes needed to elect a president. High taxes and onerous business regulation have been chasing people out of New York for decades. The absence of a sales tax and the presence of a more friendly business climate attract folks to Florida and Texas.
To quote Walter Wriston once more:
Capital will go where it is wanted and stay where it is well treated. It will flee from manipulation or onerous regulation of its value or use and no government power can restrain it for long.
American Elephants 