Re: Brocks reply to follow -- Let's play "Deconstruct the media!" -- America's new subprime shanty-towns

[David Farber <dave () farber net>]

________________________________________
From: Roger Bohn [Rbohn () ucsd edu]
Sent: Wednesday, March 19, 2008 11:27 AM
To: David Farber
Cc: ip; bmeeks () cox net
Subject: Re: [IP] Let's play "Deconstruct the media!" -- America's new subprime shanty-towns

Brock N. Meeks writes:
> Someone below wonders why he "found out about this [story] from the BCC and not US media?"  Here's one possible 
> answer:  it's a ginned up report by a
> clueless BBC reporter, trying to make news from nothing.

I can't let this go by; statements like this have become a new method of right-wing denial.  Meeks has nothing but 
speculation here, but by starting from the assumption that BBC reporters and editors are incompetent, he can justify 
any speculation  he wants.

The lack of grounding in Meek's speculation is exemplified by the following:
> > The last interview is with a guy that says he sold his house "for a lot less
> > than I paid for it."  But he didn't take a bath on it, or so it seems,
> > because he tells the reporter that after the sale, "I settled all my bills
> > and now I'm homeless."  You don't "settle all your bills" if don't have
> equity in the house.

This is ignorant of arithmetic and of real estate. One can be both underwater and still have positive equity when you 
sell; the difference is your original down payment.  And, given that selling fees are ~8 percent  (all costs, not just 
commissions), even selling a house for your original price means taking a significant bath.

The signature case of this kind of attack was the recent "Swift-boating of Graeme Frost"  
http://www.time.com/time/politics/article/0,8599,1670210,00.html,
a 12 year old who publicly said that a subsidized health insurance program helped him recover from a major auto crash. 
He and his family were publicly attacked by Rush Limbaugh, Michelle Malkin,  Congressional Republicans, and other 
bloggers, who produced a lot of speculation, subsequently debunked, that his family was actually wealthy.

In recessions, people suffer. Bad policies, eg the recent revision of the bankruptcy bills at the behest of credit card 
companies, lead to more suffering.  You may think there are good reasons for this state of affairs, but don't deny that 
it happens, and don't expect IP readers to be impressed by "Ivory Tower" speculation about the facts of a particular 
case.


-------------------------------------------
Archives: http://www.listbox.com/member/archive/247/=now
RSS Feed: http://www.listbox.com/member/archive/rss/247/
Powered by Listbox: http://www.listbox.com