Subtle signs that right wing media is backing off?

Greta Van Susteren now on "Newsmax?" I love it!

Sometimes you can sense changes in the wind, just with little things. It really has to start with little things, right? I have had my ear to the ground always, even as a child when TV news was nascent and "Ike" Eisenhower was president. I had time for cartoons too. I was aware of the controversy attached to JFK being Catholic. 

Is it time for a reprise of sorts? I mean, with the discomfort some people might feel with Catholics in major positions of power? Am I out in left field? I really think not: six members of the Supreme Court being Catholic, the president of the U.S. being Catholic and the Speaker of the House. It is well within reason to be concerned. 

Look what has happened with Roe vs. Wade. Look what has happened with Supreme Court nominees coming right out and being dishonest in confirmation procedures. We are all supposed to respect the Judeo-Christian ethic. That means we cannot allow the rise of political tyranny. 

My generation when young could not have imagined this state of affairs. Today, my folks appear to be actually a part of it. Incredible. I look for signs every day that there will be some backtracking, that maybe good American sense will re-emerge, prevail. The only solution for the Supreme Court might be to have a reasonable centrist president add new members to nullify the craziness. The likes of Fox News would go apoplectic. Or would they? 

A particular zeitgeist does not last forever. The early signs of a shift can be difficult for most (busy) people to spot. I am 67 years old and not as busy as I ought to be. That decision was made by other people. It happens to people all the time. I come home from breakfast in the morning and begin poring over news and commentary. It's just what I do. Inflation at 9.1 percent? Big headlines this morning. 

And yet there's talk in economic circles that the stock market is starting to price in interest rate cuts. Again? Mind you, it won't happen immediately. To borrow the colorful description by an analyst, the Fed is "loading the bazooka" with short-term increases so as to set the stage for easing again. History may someday render a verdict on this quantitative easing. Maybe it will be identified as the beginning of the end for this country. It is unnatural, an aberration. 

The walls don't fall in immediately. But we are now looking at inflation at 9.1 percent, so how in any reasonable world could we expect anything other than interest rate hikes in the foreseeable future? 

One theory: the powers-that-be led by the Fed are setting the stage for a new economic system of "digital currency" and "universal basic income." Would seem to smack of socialism. 

We could go back to our old ways and allow people to get paid interest on savings at the banks. I mean appreciable interest, enough to make a difference. However, that might spell disaster for the stock market which has increasingly become the shrine where we all worship, if we are not worshiping this man named Donald Trump first. 

The January 6 hearings might be seen as a convenient diversion from some really concerning things that are going on in the macro economic picture. What a bizarre world or nation: if the winner of the 2016 popular vote, Hillary Clinton, had been allowed to take over, we'd be experiencing eight years just like Bill now. Imagine: no Jan. 6 hearings at all to fill the news cycle constantly. Like none of that happened at all. We'd still be living in a normal, sane America. 

Trump should have been outed for what he so clearly was, a long time ago. "Political silly season" doesn't even begin to explain it. People don't seem to realize yet that our current circumstances could spell an enormous crisis for everyone. Wealth inequality worsens, wealth is shifting from main street to Wall Street. Don't we have the means and intelligence to do something about all this? 

 

Hope from unlikely place?

I notice at present a subtle shift within a sector that might appear to be hopeless. Yes, the right wing media. I'm not talking the extreme fringe right wing media, which has always been out there, but the behemoth-type operations that can galvanize opinions. I'm talking about Fox News (ugh) and Newsmax. Believe it or not, there are flickers of hope. What can I cite on this front? Two things, although I'm sure there are others. 

One, Newsmax has given the beloved Greta Van Susteren an attractive time spot for an hour-long program. She is new to this network but a familiar established face for many of us. The late Jill Willis of the Morris area was a fan! Seeing Greta on the screen is like seeing an old friend. But she is largely apolitical. On Newsmax? Is this possible? Politically she has been described as being in the "mushy middle." On Newsmax? Really? 

Greta's claim to fame is crime stories, particularly two: O.J. Simpson and Natalee Holloway. She is a sincere and credible person. She's on at 5 p.m. CDT. You can watch Newsmax for free on YouTube. Normally the network is a backwater swamp for people like Sean Spicer. Is the sun starting to break through the clouds? Is there intelligent life there? Maybe yes! I love watching Greta Van Susteren. 

Turning to Fox News (again, ugh), might there be a glimmer there too? Yes! My goodness yes! My example: the reaction to Jill Biden's little gaffe with the "tacos" comment. Normally I'd expect the Fox News herd to be all over Jill Biden on this, tossing brickbats, you name it. No restraint. But the opposite happened. 

Dr. Jill Biden

My interpretation: I think Fox News might start seeing the Bidens as the centrists they really are, and a better alternative to the very left-leaning folks. The real left could well start getting traction if the American people begin suffering enough. How did Germany respond to hyper-inflation in the mid-20th Century? 

The Jan. 6 rioters were right wingers. Maybe they were just plain crazy, though. When Americans really start getting desperate for answers, I think it's likely that the left could rise up and do even more drastic things. The left is not crazy - it is motivated by wanting to see all human beings at least "get by." Socialism is never the proper prescription. Problem is, we have not allowed capitalism to really work in the proper way. Capitalism is really our best friend if it is unencumbered. It has been encumbered. 

The two-party system is not in the Constitution. The remedy might be to have a Bernie Sanders party on the left and a Joe Biden party on the right. I doubt this will happen. We should just hope and pray we do not have a repeat of mid-20th Century Germany. Praying might not be enough. Christianity has been co-opted by the MAGA element.

 

Focus on economy

The fresh news about the economy, with inflation heating up, prompted an email from yours truly to Jim Morrison this a.m. He is rather an economics guru. The two of us have seen a lot from our media positions. Here is what I wrote in my "missive":

 

Jim, so inflation is now over nine percent? Didn't the Fed say a long time ago inflation was "transitory." They practically made the word "transitory" famous. I don't think it's funny any more. Did the Fed really believe that at the time? If it did not, then we have issues. But the Fed doesn't really answer to anyone. The Fed is in the news every single day in connection with speculation on the stock market, as if the market totally depends on it. That is perverse. Why do I feel like a loner with this thinking? Capitalism is supposed to stand on its own two feet. More conservatives should start speaking this way, but if the market crashes, so many Republican incumbents will be tossed out.

Can the Fed even consider "easing" any time soon? What about buying the debt? It's all inflationary.

Will sit-down restaurant dining continue to be cut back or even disappear from our daily lives? You are paying someone to prepare your meal and bring it to you. In the past we could all absorb this. Dining out is the only way I really get out to circulate once in a while.

I wonder how UMM enrollment will look next year.

I suppose the new Morris paper is out, more "happy news," awards, accomplishments, smiles, "all our kids are above average." I am happy that Katie has a stable job there. - BW

 

- Brian Williams - morris mn minnesota - bwilly73@yahoo.com