A sign of these sorry times for professional journalism: Time magazine runs a dishonest smear against Charles Koch, completely twisting the billionaire’s remarks at a recent meeting of major donors in Orange County, California.
“Charles Koch Says US Can Bomb Its Way to $100,000 Salaries,” screamed the headline. The sub-heading added, “Building bombs and using them is one way to growth, the billionaire suggests to allies.”
What did Mr. Koch actually tell the assembled crowd of major donors?
“I think we can have growth rates in excess of 4 percent. When I’m talking about growth rates,” explained Koch, “I’m not talking about that GDP, which counts poison gas the same as it counts penicillin. What a monstrous measure this is. If we make more bombs, the GDP goes up — particularly if we explode them.”
In other words, while Time’s headline portrayed Koch as a warmonger, the billionaire businessman wasn’t suggesting this country “Bomb Its Way” anywhere. Certainly not “to growth.” In fact, Koch was making the opposite point: true economic growth can’t come from producing or using “poison gas” or other munitions.
Apparently, I wasn’t the only one who had found this article’s headline to be a flat-out concocted falsehood; Time soon changed the headline.
Yet, even the re-written headline was sort of a slap: “Charles Koch Mocks Common Measure of Prosperity.” Only after reading the sub-head — “Calls ‘monstrous’ the notion that GDP values bombs as much as medicine” — was it clear that Koch was making a very common sense point.
This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.
9 replies on “Gross Domestic Prevarication”
It is Time, after all. Why would anyone expect anything different?
How sad a major information output, allegedly reporting the news, is clearly only disseminating opinion. Time deserves its fate of idecreasing relevance.
What a sorrow and shame that Time, a magazine that was once a respected and renowned source of information, has become a cheap propagandist to those who want to destroy the country that gave them the freedom of the press.
Very well said.
Agreed.
Don’t understand the demonizing of the Koch brothers. Is is because they are uber wealthy? O no, it’s because they’re conservative & that’s just not allowed if you’re rich. Pitiful!
Also befuddling is the way the media makes the Kochs out to be conservatives, when they are libertarians. This piece attempts to paint them as diametrically opposite their stated position.
You are correct again, Paul. They are libertarians. I should’ve clarified that the media makes the Koch brothers out to be conservatives with nut job ideas. George Soros, Warren Buffet, etc may freely fund whomever they choose & all is well. But the Koch brothers ideas are taboo. Maybe because they truly believe in America’s greatness & are not embarrassed by it.
Koch brothers bad; Buffet, Gates, Soros good. Repeat as necessary.