NYT: article summary

Fed Cheif Calls for Scrutiny of Executive Pay Policies
Mar. 21, 2009

Ben Bernanke stated that regulators need to better monitor the financial stability and compensation policies of companies too big to fail, such as AIG and Citigroup. After AIG received $170 billion in government aid the company paid out $165 million in bonuses to executives. In rebuttal, Bernanke sought out legislation and passed a bill that would tax bonuses paid out this year by companies that received government aid at a rate of 90%. Bernanke believes management compensation policies should be aligned with the long-term prudential interests of the company.

Outline For Final Paper

Thesis:
How does the media represent the role of gov. when it intervenes in capitalism?
Why does government help capitalism
What written laws are there about government involvement with capitalism
What rights and responsibilities does this give the government

Supporting Evidence
Method for analysis
Argument of media
Argument of public

Objects of Analysis
5 days of of news covered in the New York Times regarding the AIG crisis
5 days of of news covered on Democracy Now
Perspectives of Rush Limbaugh and Bill O'Reilly on the same subject

Questions For Research

1. How do I find 5 days for the AIG Scandal in NYT?
2. What key words should I use to find information on laws written about governments role in capitalism?
3. How can I find research information about my subject from a Rush Limbaugh perspective?

Ideas for final paper

The object of this blog is to write down some topics for possible discussion for my final paper.
(1) The threat of government interference in the businesses of the economic bailout.
Should the government be allowed to give out money and then make rules on how the money should be spent? Did the government go too far by forcing GM CEO to resign. Is the government actually working in the best interest of the society by controlling bailouts.
(2)Financial reporting in respect to AIG and its downfall.
(3)Home mortgage crisis. What happened to cause this crisis, how does it effect the economy.

Too much Control

After checking out these websites dedicated to the media reform movement, I came across the one issue in the market of media. Too much control exists in the few hands of conglomerates. As few as five large companies control the stories heard through the media outlet. As I see it, the internet is the last frontier for journalism. The internet is the last true outlet that isn’t being controlled by a large media source. Without the internet being censored it allows for individuals to publish their own versions of stories and to lean bias however they deem. This brings up the next issue I see with the media outlet; Determining good information from biased information. Yes, there are always two sides of a story but if you don’t know what side you are getting then you can’t formulate your own standpoint. Without a standpoint there is no way to properly digest the news and to become an informed consumer.

Financial Crisis: AIG

As it stands right now, our economy is sitting in the toilet ready to be flushed; unless we can revive the laying waste that is our financial market. President Obama commented on a 60 Minutes interview on the situation at hand and believes that in retrospect the action taken to grant AIG the aid of a bailout was the right decision. AIG is one of the largest insurance companies of America and if we can help them get back on track it will ultimately help get the rest of the economy back on track. Obama also stated that Wall Street needs to realize that they cannot expect to get the same perks and privileges that they’ve had in the past because of the downturn the economy has taken, and they had a large stake in causing it with their shenanigans.

AIG Lynched

AIG received over $170 billion in taxpayer money in the recent bailout from the government. The company is also 80 percent owned by the government, and AIG had the audacity to try and pay employees bonuses totaling $165 million. First off, I don’t think any employee of any company deserves a bonus for poor performance. Secondly, how dare AIG try to use tax payer money to reward these bums, especially in the conditions of our economy today. The Daily show on Comedy Central as well as NY Times has covered this issue recently and both share the same opinion as I do. The same department responsible for the almost failure of the company would be receiving an undeserving bonus; well the government plans to stop that from happening one way or another. The senate met and demanded that the bonuses be returned or a new tax plan would be put in effect to get the money back. Now my only concern with that plan is if the money is stopped from being handed out in bonuses, wont other taxpayers have to pay new taxes to get that money back? I don’t know about you but im tired of taxes being raises to cover companies’ wrong doings.

Midterm: Obama's Tax-Hike Plan

This article was posted online by ABCNews.com after being revised to show concern for those who fall into the bracket of families making $250k or more a year in income. From this statement alone I can tell that there is going to be a bias as to what public is trying to be reached by this article. Those who claim to work hard to be where they are financially are trying to find ways to avoid being taxed additionally for the money that would exceed $250k. I feel it’s sad to see that people came together to elect a president into office for hope of change and the same people are already reneging on the course of action that will bring change. These people are sick with greed and I feel they only think of themselves instead of the entire economy. To think they would go as far as cutting back their productivity and even layoff employees in order to achieve a lower income is just sickening to me. Everyone wants help but when it comes at their expense no one wants to pay.

The main source quoted in this article is a financial planner named Gary Schatsky, who is by all means an expert in his field which falls into the subject at hand. He has had several appearances on television shows and has been named a top financial planner by several magazines. From that information I can conclude that he is a very credible source to lay a foundation with. The other sources in this article are more personal sources and only offer insight to their own circumstances; With this in mind I would say this is a trustworthy author, but the article is still biased because it is focused on the side of those who make $250k or more.

Pay-for-Play Music Industry

As an industry, the radio media outlet has always been against the government having control over regulations; however they are the ones begging for help from the government in order to save themselves from destruction. The radio industry giant, Clear Channel, is in negotiations with Tri State Promotions looking to receive an exclusive agreement to make Tri State’s promoters high priority over any other company. The deal if passed would allow all Tri State indies to be the first ones allowed to approach Clear Channel radio stations with new singles.
This deal is important to the industry because of the loop-hole found by record labels which allows them to drop large amounts of money in the pockets of indies who in turn pay radio stations to play new singles. The key to this loop-hole is the independent promoter (Tri State), without using an indie as the middle man record labels wouldn’t be able to pay radio stations for air time without it being shown on the books. Thanks to the payola law it’s against the law for record labels to bribe for airplay of their artists.
To give you an idea of the kind of money that is being spent within this loop-hole I will use this formula: new songs X bribe per song X number of radio stations.
So if there are 150 new songs a year and indies are paid $1000 per song and get 100 radio stations to play their songs then the indies make a possible $15 million a year. Another point to make clear is that record labels will offer indies anywhere for a couple hundred to a couple thousand per song which in turn isn’t all spent bribing the radio stations.
Forms of payment to the radio stations are also important to notice. Indies don’t use cash or checks to pay for airtime, instead they pay in form of coupons, cruise gift certificates and VISA gift cards. Radio stations do use these products in their contests and giveaways, but they don’t use them all, and the ones that aren’t used are held as kickbacks. For example, there was a radio station that was giving several coupons for free cruise trips; they only gave away two and kept the rest for themselves. Now the most popular form of payment is in the form of VISA gift cards because it can be used anywhere and there is no paper trail.
This entire situation brings up the question of morals and ethical behavior. No one is coming upfront asking for help because “everyone is doing it”, but it is hurting the industry by restricting the freedom of artists to get their music heard. Small record labels struggle to get their music played just on the simple fact that they can’t afford it. This is where the government needs to step in and help the industry out because shortly in time there won’t be any small independent labels left and the music industry will belong to the label giants. If you love your music and the artists’ individuality like I do, then help this situation get the attention that it deserves and voice your opinion on the problems at hand before small labels are locked out the market completely.

Dixie Chicks vs Bush

The mass media is a strong force in the fabric of American society. In our social upbringing we are constantly molded by sounds or images portrayed in the media. In this case I will discuss the controversy of the Dixie Chicks. At a concert in Europe, the lead singer Natalie Maines made a comment about being ashamed of the President being from Texas (their home state). In return the group suffered greatly materially and metaphorically. As news spread to the US about the comment made at the concert, the group began to be described as sluts or anti-American. This in fact was false. The group had a right to voice their opinion just as any other American citizen has. The sad thing was unfortunately they aren’t everyday American citizens and so paid a price for their actions.
The thought of mass media being the root of all evil is commonly thought of by the American public; however it’s not so clear here in this situation. The threat of big conglomerates to enforce their views and opinions on the public is apparent in most economists which is then passed on to the public. In reality it’s not so simple for this to take place; in Clear Channel’s position in the Dixie Chicks controversy there was a conflict of interest to take into account. Even if they wanted to cut the airtime of the group’s music to show patriotic support, they could not because they were also promoting the group’s upcoming American concert tour. In fact Clear Channel radio stations were the last to stop playing Dixie Chicks music on the radio. Also, I think it is important to note that even though their music may not be played on the radio anymore the amount of people who listen to their music or are fans of the group has not changed since the beginning of this controversy.

Public vs Private Space

Mitchell's discussion of People's park was very interesting to me because of the irony of the space being privately owned by UC but basically controlled by the people of the area. Although UC and the town of Berkley had plans to renovate the lot, there were forces and protesting that kept the park what it was; an open area for the public to express their opinions.

The struggle between the forces reminds me of a similar situation that occurred in Houston. There was a portion of the Heights that had a street that was paved by slaves with bricks. Nowadays the community that encompasses this road is prominently black and is proud of the history behind their neighborhood. The issue at hand was that the street was becoming deteriorated and needed to be repaved or repaired. Although the street was technically owned by the city, the residents of the street kept the road from being worked on. After months of protesting and organizing petitions the neighborhood was able to force the city to historically repave the street with bricks from the same era and reused old bricks that were still good from the original road.

Backseat Drivers

What is really going on here? Is there really a legitimate argument to Meiklejohn’s chapter, “The Rulers and the Ruled”? It is claimed that we Americans have the freedom of speech and govern ourselves, but do we really? I believe it is completely all on the individual to decide whether or not we want to take part in our governing. Yes, the option is and always remains out there for us to participate in the laws of our land, but to be honest the majority of American citizens do not take this option. Instead, we take a backseat to politics and rely on our elected officials to do what they promised to do in their election campaigns. The fact that we base our election opinions on “major” issues allows political officials to get away with smaller “personal” agendas. Thus, are we really being governed by ourselves or are we consigned into following the orders of a government that claims to represent the people? I feel that in order to truly govern ourselves we must actively voice our opinions to our elected officials as to get our opinions heard in legislation.

Public Spheres

Habermas's definition of public sphere is a domain in our social life where public opinions can be formed. The problems found by Nancy Frasier in Habermas's definition can be generally described in two different ways. Habermas said a public sphere should have easy access to all, but in fact this was not the case in the early years of the American political process. The second deals in the realm of equality, everyone was not treated equal in the public spheres of yesterday. In fact, forms of status where used to separate people within these spheres and to prevent others from getting their voices heard. In the case of upper and lower class citizens, the upper class's opinions were weighted heavier than the opinions of the poor. Likewise could be said about women vs. men and blacks vs. whites.
I believe the public i target with this blog page are people of any background that can provide insight or more information to the concepts of Democracy and the involvement of new media.

Modes of citizenship: Democracy of Change

In Schudson's article citizenship is modeled in three different ways that were molded by the economy and times the citizens lived in. Today, however, citizenship is not directly influenced by our economy in the ways they once were for our forefathers. Although it is true we will be influenced to make decisions based on our day to day interactions with the economy; we will not be told how to make those decisions by others. In other words, today is the time of the individual. Individually, we gather to form political parties. Individually, we place our vote in public office elections. However, we do not individually voice our opinions; like natural instincts, we look for other people with similar concerns and feelings and gather to make a louder voice. In the past we did this in town meetings or at political parties, today we can do this by blogging. Larger and larger numbers of people are finding it easier to get involved and get informed by public channels of communicating over the internet. Blogs are growing in popularity for places to voice concerns and opinions and to have others either respond with similar concerns or answer your own concerns. One place in particular that I have found to be a great place to blog is on the FOX NEWS webpage. Thousands of people pass through this website everyday and are joined in chat rooms or blog pages by actual news reporters and meteorologists. This mix of individuals help today's citizens make more informed decisions by providing many different perspectives on similar concerns.