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Fake News, Drudge Report Style
Current left-side mini-headline at Drudge:"REPORT: 99% of biggest firms pay no federal tax at all..." You know how to treat any news item by now, don't you? Ask the following question: how are these bastards lying to me now? In this instance, in a few particular ways: 1) Always trust your sources! The authors of this article are: "Jeff Stein and Christopher Ingraham, The Washington Post Published 4:11 pm EST, Monday, December 16, 2019 ". Further comment is not necessary. 2) How many of you see an explicit reference to this 99% number? I don't. 3) The closest reference in the report is this sentence: "The report also found that 91 corporations in the Fortune 500, many worth billions of dollars, paid no federal taxes last year." 2A) 99% of '91 corporations' leaves me with '90(.09) corporations. Is that number referenced anywhere in the article? No, it is not. Convenient, isn't it? 3) So, how do we get around these inconveniences? "Researchers excluded taxes incurred by corporations under a one-time "repatriation tax" on money they brought back from overseas because of the tax law, according to Matt Gardner, an analyst at ITEP." Again - any reference at all to this 99% number? Maybe it's under this sofa cushion; lemme go check... Anyways, the rest of the article reads exactly like you'd expect from WaPo types - mention 'tax breaks' and 'loopholes' a bunch of times, wring your hands about Federal budget deficits and shed crocodile tears that, somehow, corporations are benefiting unjustly / unfairly because they get to use things like 'deductions' (yes, that was actually in there) and 'tax breaks & loopholes' to lower taxable income. What you're left with is an article whose sole purpose is to make the reader think that the Trump tax cuts were baaaaaad. And that's how you do Fake News', business section. Posted by: Raj 2019-12-17 |
| http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=558693 |