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What can I read/unbiased facts?
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Anonymous
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So, I have never been into politics I consider myself an independent -air on the side of democrates but defintely not for everything. I follow all elections but don't dig in too deep. The bottom line is I am starting to freak out about the economy and I would like to read more about it but everything I read is either ulatra-conservative or from a strong democratic opinion. I would love to read more but I just don't know what is fact/opinion-I feel like everyone has an agenda.
Can someone recommend some non-biased reading on wordly topics, particularly related to the economy. Sorry for typos -in a rush.. |
jsteele
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Site Admin Offline
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It's probably not possible to find truly objective information. There is always an inherent bias in how information in presented, which facts are reported and which are ignored, what is emphasized, etc. I actually prefer when the particular bias of an information source is clearly acknowledged.
The "macro" debate going on over the economy today is between those who believe government spending will stimulate the economy and those who believe the resulting debt will cripple us, if not now then in the future. The first view is based on Keynesian economics, so doing any reading about Keynes would be a good start. Even something basic like the Wikipedia page. The theory that tax cuts will stimulate the economy is generally known as "trickle-down economics". You can also read its Wikipedia page. While you are browsing Wikipedia, it's probably worthwhile to read the page about Herbert Hoover as well. He espoused many of the same policy ideas as todays' Republicans. Obviously, Wikipedia is just a starting point for understanding these topics. The Washington Post and the New York Times, despite their flaws, are still two of the best sources of information. Both insist that they are objective while displaying all sorts of biases. Generally, I think it's a good idea to see what all sides are saying. Blogs and RSS feeds make this pretty easy to do. |
Anonymous
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It is impossible all of the major papers, except IMP the WSJ are nothing, but rags.
For good opinion, I like Real Clear Politics. I read both sides and make my own decisions. |
Anonymous
| I second Real Clear Politics as it shows a variety of opinion and thinking. After you are aware of both sides (or maybe more positions than just 2) you can make informed decisions on your part about what you believe is best. |
Anonymous
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NYTimes is very lefty, and WSJ is somewhat righty. Barron is very good. So is Economist. As for where the economics is going, just watch the stock market. |
Anonymous
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Have you seen the site http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/promises/
My attention span is too short to get through major rags and blogs every day. (Apologies to my friends at Politico and National Journal) During the election, this was a great site to see at a quick glance how far off base (or even true!) the many soundbites, ads and email chains of the day were. Now it seems to have up to date tracking of the endless posturing here in our fair city. It's made by the St. Petersburg (Florida) Times. I dunno where they fall in MSM bias. Nor do I care. They have great graphics like the "pants on fire" section. And nobody seems immune |
Anonymous
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I don't know if there is an unbiased opinion on this. I listen to the NPR podcast Planet Money which comes out about three times a week. (You can find it on iTunes and listen to it online. You don't have to have an iPod.)
Since it's NPR, I'm assuming it's a more liberal bent but I don't know enough about this subject to say for sure. One great advantage is that they do an excellent job of explaining things simply. The same folks who do Planet Money were involved in the most recent episode of This American Life, which I thought did a bang up job of explaining what is happening now: http://www.thisamericanlife.org/Radio_Episode.aspx?episode=375 Again, most likely not an unbiased source but a useful resource nevertheless. |
Anonymous
Fox News is fair and balanced. |
Anonymous
HA! Good one! Fox Noise is to political/world news as the National Enquirer is to "fair, balanced and accurate" celeb info. |
Anonymous
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I am a MEGA-FAN of http://www.factcheck.org/
It's about as good as it gets. |
Anonymous
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I have a friend who repeatedly sends out drivel she reads or hears from right wing talk shows or blogs or websites.
A lot of times these things she is passing on have some snippet of truth to them, like they isolate one paragraph in a 100-page bill up for vote TODAY, take that paragraph out of context, make it seem as if that paragraph is the whole pourpose of the bill, slap on an alarming headline, add no substantiating arguments, and say "Pass it on.....". I have tried to take the time each time to send her something back explaining in context what the bill is really about, but doing the fact checking on this and getting all the history on the bill and the purpose behind it (and the liklihood of it being passed) is very time consuming. Does anyone know of a website that has a reputation for accuracy that might help with getting this job done more quickly? |
Anonymous
Agreed. |
Anonymous
On a scale of 'poor' to 'excellent', I think 'fair' is a reasonably balanced rating for Fox News. |
Anonymous
| I highly recommend the Economist! My DH and I are both independent (he leans left, I lean right) and we both love it. |
Anonymous
It must be true. They say it every day. And their mother said they are handsome, too. |