- Schizophrenic Forbes Magazine;
- It's editorial about the need
for tax cuts says one thing; its news stories say something else.
Chuck Kelly, OpEdNews.com
Forbes is a first-rate
publication. However, it also has a schizophrenic mix of qualities that is
important to understand.
Its factual reports of news events
usually meets the standards of professional journalists about as well as
most good news publications. Its coverage of what is actually happening in
business boardrooms, the manufacturing floor, international trade and so
on, is often an excellent source of information.
Their staff's editorials and
interpretations of news events, however, seem to come from
right-wing-outer-space somewhere. They toss professional journalistic
standards out the window and become pure propagandists for the rich and
powerful. After reading their editorials, one has to wonder: Do the
editors ever read their own news stories? How can they possibly believe
what they are trying to get their own readers to believe?
Because of this schizophrenic mix, Forbes
becomes a valid, accurate and verifiable source of two self-incriminating
bodies of evidence. First, their editorials (and even a few of their news
stories) present clear statements of the philosophies, goals, strategies,
and biases of America's financial conservatives (fundamentally Republican
and conservative Democrat, wealthy, formally educated, and/or powerful).
Second, their news stories accurately
describe the undeniable disastrous effects of those philosophies, goals,
strategies, and biases on workers and society—as conservatives
themselves know them to be.
Voters need to know that this easily
available proof exists and that it demonstrates beyond doubt that
America's conservative elite are closet plutocrats who believe in
aristocracy. For example, this week's Forbes is a classic example
of the hypocrisy of America's leading conservatives. The first is an
editorial by editor-in-chief, and former presidential hopeful, Steve
Forbes, explaining why tax cuts for the rich are good for the stock market
and for American workers.
From Forbes, July 7, 2003.
FACT AND COMMENT
Tax Cuts = Stock Gains
Investors are beginning to grasp just how potent that newly
enacted federal tax cut is for raising equity prices and goosing our
sluggish economy. Most economic models utterly underestimate the
importance of risk-taking in providing us with ever higher standards of
living. That's why the capital gains tax is so ruinous—it stifles
innovation and risk-taking—and why reducing that exaction does wonders
for both government revenues and economic growth.
The 60% cut in dividend taxes will create more capital, inducing
entrepreneurs to actively take risks again. Labor comes out ahead:
Increased capital spending means better tools and ways to do things,
which mean higher wages....
Steve Forbes' message to rich investors
and voters is:
- Tax cuts for the rich = higher stock prices,
- Higher stock prices = more investment in jobs,
- More investment in jobs = higher wages, and
- "Labor comes out ahead."
Sure, the recent tax cuts will result in
a rising stock markeat, at least for a time. But the rest of this line of
editorial propaganda is totally in disagreement with news and factual
articles in his own magazine and in the current mainstream
conservative financial news media.
Note the two following articles in the same
issue of Forbes, which are more consistent with is being published
elsewhere today:
That Sinking Feeling
Could deflation happen here?
A gloomy Stephen Roach says it may well be on its way.
In the predawn hours Stephen S. Roach sits in his Connecticut home
writing economic briefs with ominous titles like "Euro-wreck,"
and "Japan's Moment of Reckoning." When Morgan Stanley's chief
economist talks about the state of the world, he frequently uses phrases
like "scary" and "appalling."…
Roach frets that two powerful colliding forces are increasing.... The
first is that overcapacity, high debt loads and other late-1990s
excesses are still unwinding in this country. In the absence of any
pent-up U.S. demand or corporate pricing power, there's nothing to
offset the baleful influence of such an economic purge….
The second force is what he calls a "U.S.-centric" global
economy, a dysfunctional situation where we depend on iffy foreign
capital to keep going the only engine capable of restoring world
prosperity. The U.S. economy accounts for two-thirds of the growth in
the global gross domestic product; growth elsewhere has almost come to a
standstill. Meanwhile Americans have overspent, while domestic demand
throughout the rest of the world has remained below average….
The second Forbes article:
Price War
Too many car factories chasing too few customers—and no end in
sight
The big three automakers continue to cut prices, and yet they're
selling fewer cars. As the folks at DaimlerChrysler have discovered,
that's a moneylosing proposition. Its Chrysler unit announced recently
that it expects a second-quarter loss of $1.2 billion….
Some of that pricing pressure could be relieved if Detroit closed a
few more factories. Ford has already said it intends to shut five
plants, and analysts believe GM wants to close two. Chrysler recently
canceled plans to build a new factory in Canada. "Now is not the
time to be adding new capacity," says Zetsche. Automakers will take
up the thorny issue of plant closings in contract talks with the United
Auto Workers later this year….
These last two articles reflect the truth
about taxes, investment and jobs:
- The problem today is not lack of investment money in the hands of
the rich.
- The problem today is overcapacity (too much money already invested
in producing products that consumers don't have enough money to buy),
which leads to
- Further loss of jobs and income, which leads to
- The wealthy holding on to their tax refunds, or to investing
overseas where labor costs are lower.
Result: an absolute disaster for
working-class Americans and a boon for wealthy investors who will buy up
depressed properties (land, buildings, businesses)—just like they did in
the early stages of the depression.
And the above articles, ladies and
gentlemen, are not from the "biased liberal news media." They
are from one of our most prestigeous conservative financial
publications.
Chuck Kelly is at http://www.KellySite.net.
He holds a Ph.D. in industrial communications from Purdue University, is
now a retired management consultant, and author of the books, THE
DESTRUCTIVE ACHEIVER, THE GREAT LIMBAUGH CON, and CLASS WAR IN AMERICA.
This article is originally published at opednews.com.
Copyright Chuck Kelly, but permission is granted for reprint in print,
email, blog, or web media so long as this credit is attached
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