I’d love to run that same poll on readers of the South Dakota blogosphere!

Thanks, Doug, for some very interesting material. I’ve often wondered just how reliable Nielson is (mostly whenever one of my favorite shows gets canceled), and it’s good to know they have different means of measuring viewers, even if they aren’t reported as frequently. I’ll be sure and remember this.

You could just go ahead and read it. Here is the full report: http://www.worldpublicopinion.org/pipa/pdf/dec10/Misinformation_Dec10_rpt.pdf. But if you’re looking for the difference in false responses, this paragraph gets at the crux of it:

Those who watched Fox News almost daily were significantly more likely than those who never watched it to believe that most economists estimate the stimulus caused job losses (12 points more likely), most economists have estimated the health care law will worsen the deficit (31 points), the economy is getting worse (26 points), most scientists do not agree that climate change is occurring (30 points), the stimulus legislation did not include any tax cuts (14 points), their own income taxes have gone up (14 points), the auto bailout only occurred under Obama (13 points), when TARP came up for a vote most Republicans opposed it (12 points) and that it is not clear that Obama was born in the United States (31 points). The effect was also not simply a function of partisan bias, as people who voted Democratic and watched Fox News were also more likely to have such misinformation than those who did not watch it–though by a lesser margin than those who voted Republican.

Republicans can’t handle the truth. The ignorant speculation seems to be working for them.

This seems pretty good to me: http://theamericannews.net/election/?p=1654

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The healthcare plan will reduce the deficit. Here’s how: http://www.newsweek.com/2010/03/20/how-health-care-reform-reduces-the-deficit-in-5-not-so-easy-steps.html. The CBO has estimated repealing reform would increase the deficit by $230 billion.

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The dollar actually got stronger recently. Unemployment dropped a bit in December and the private sector added a lot of jobs. And I’m not sure that gas prices are a good way to gauge the economy. But it’d definitely gotten better.

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The problem isn’t that the climate changes, it’s that man-made climate change is happening at a fast rate. It’s actually quite the opposite of controlling it. Those damned liberals are concerned that we are controlling it, and they would like to see that stop.

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And the fact that so many still think he wasn’t born in the US is just evidence of how poorly informed they are.

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It’s been awhile, Ray. Good to see a couple comments.

I don’t know, I enjoyed the comments on the link for your stimulus entry. I question the wisdom in adding to the debt to “create” jobs. The government can pump money into the economy and some jobs will come of it, but when the stimulus money runs out, how long-term will the jobs be? My employer hired temporary workers and were able to take stimulus benefits for it (I believe it was in the form of tax credits). So if the government borrows money to create temp jobs, what progress did we make? You don’t have long-term taxes being paid in from those “created” jobs.

The CBO is assuming that things will work the way Obama promises. The fact is that premiums will go up, companies will drop coverage, and more will go to Medicaid. The states can’t afford it and the government is creating the additional applications, so our wonderful and caring federal government will write checks for money they don’t have to support the need. Then they’ll talk about how the reform bill didn’t do enough since health care is still adding to the debt, so the government had better either run the show, or add more crippling regulations to the industry. It’s a vicious cycle.

The dollar is questionable since we keep printing it in large quantities. China and Russia don’t really care to deal with it like they used to. The Arab states are creating their own currency to deal with oil so the dollar won’t be needed there. The value of the dollar will drop as world’s demand for it drops.

Will you be posting on South Dakota’s new governor Adam? Wondering what you think of his ideas on budget cuts. I appreciate his approaches and what he said about the importance of helping a person when they’re down, but not supporting those who lie down. I like the idea of a conservative governor who actually wants a balanced budget and sounds willing to make the tough choices to get there.

The ones at my company were temporary and ended when the stimulus dollars did.

You’re right, the CBO, responsible for the $14 trillion debt should always be trusted.

The CBO is to blame when they continue to justify Congressional spending while the debt continues to rise.

They are responsible. They aren’t responsible for all of it, but they are responsible for the fact that the number continues to climb. With a debt at $14 trillion, they should not be approving or encouraging any bill that will add to the debt. No new spending, period.

One of the problems is that one of the ways the health bill claims to save money is by cutting Medicare payments to doctors. I highly doubt that Congress will actually follow through with that. If they don’t follow through with it, then do we still save the money?

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Question. How exactly is Hugo Chavez a threat?