Sunday, November 14, 2010

LA Times floundering

When I say "floundering" I'm not referring to the paper's finances. The Los Angeles Times is in a tough spot editorially. The people are finally beginning to recognize that governments in America do not have a revenue problem, they have a spending problem, and for the center of Communist thinking on the West Coast -- the Times -- this is trouble.

    Fortunately for Congress, if not so fortunate for the U.S. economy, the federal government can print money and borrow from China, so it doesn't have to balance its budget. Unfortunately for California's Legislature, the state doesn't have that luxury. [...] The [budget] report was clear about the solution: It will require both tax increases and spending cuts, over the course of several years, to eliminate the structural deficit.

Talk of spending cuts must make the editorial board members at the LA Times cringe. "Nooooooo!" The silver lining for them, no doubt, is that the report cites tax increases. Democrats and socialists and communists have never seen or heard of a tax increase they didn't like.

It's rare to see a Times editorial do anything other than champion far-left thinking. In the current backlash against lavish spending, they seem to have taken a baby step toward the center.

    But that kind of responsible budgeting is the last thing lawmakers intend to do. Republicans are adamantly opposed to any tax increase, and Democrats have vowed to protect cherished spending programs. Voters enjoy blaming politicians for the resulting gridlock, but they too are at fault. Republican lawmakers know they could lose their jobs if they approve a tax hike, and Democrats know the same could happen to them if they lay off teachers or end child health programs.

The Times has changed from their SOP of "Obama is the Messiah" and "all things Democrat are wonderful and 'progressive'" to "everyone's at fault," with the implication that the left may share some of the blame, but Republicans and even The People are deserving of criticism. Anything to sell newspapers, I suppose.

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