Tell CNN: IOUSA Not OK, Demand Equal Time

There is a growing consensus among economists that:

• The investments we need for America’s long-term prosperity require federal deficit spending, but the deficits are manageable.
• Social Security is fiscally sound for decades to come.
• The answer to soaring health costs includes universal health care, not slashing Medicare.

Yet if you turned on CNN during the weekend of Jan. 10-11, you were told the opposite. That our budget is a “fiscal cancer, with catastrophic consequences.” That “large … social spending” can bring about an “economic downturn.” That Social Security will reach a crisis point in “10 years.” That Medicare is based on “unfunded promises.” And that those views were unequivocal objective truth, not opinion or ideology.

For CNN to do that was wrong. (See why below [1].) It’s time to tell CNN to give equal time to public investment strategies that will put our economy back on a sound footing. Use the form below:

This past weekend, CNN turned over two hours of programming to the financial backers and stars of the anti-investment documentary “I.O.U.S.A.” (Read the transcript [2] | Watch the movie [3]) The movie’s veracity has been challenged on multiple grounds by The Center for Economic and Policy Research [4]. Digby concluded [5] it’s a “slick ‘non-partisan’ documentary … Except it's ideological to the core.”

But CNN presented it without dissent, question or skepticism.

Sound journalism and honest debate are imperative if we are to make informed decisions about addressing the country’s financial crisis. Instead, one ideological view was presented as gospel truth and alternative views were squelched. When that happens, we can’t make good policy choices in our democracy.

After CNN gave four hours to share the anti-investment viewpoint, tell CNN to give an equal four hours to the pro-investment side: that blind fealty to balanced budgets suffocates critical investment, that Social Security and Medicare are not the problem, and that health care for all can help tackle the biggest fiscal threat of skyrocketing medical costs.

For more background:

IOUSA Not OK, CEPR, October 2008
http://www.cepr.net/index.php/publications/reports/iousa-not-ok/ [4]

IOUSA: Failed Scare Flick of the Decade, Dean Baker, Dec. 2, 2008
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dean-baker/iousa-failed-scare-flick_b_147650.html [6]

Fiscal Madness, Digby, Jan. 12, 2009
http://www.ourfuture.org/blog-entry/2009010312/fiscal-madness-cnn [5]

Institute for America’s Main Street Recovery Program
http://assets.ourfuture.org/documents/main-street-recovery-program.pdf [7]

Institute for America’s Future “Invest in America” page
http://institute.ourfuture.org/investinamerica [8]