Fox News' Hayes Is Not Going To Stop You From Being Misinformed On Stimulus

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http://mediamatters.org/blog/201101310035

Fox News' Hayes Is Not Going To Stop You From Being Misinformed On Stimulus

January 31, 2011 4:50 pm ET by Jocelyn Fong


Appearing on America's Newsroom today, Fox News contributor Stephen Hayes said that "the issue set is very difficult for president Obama" going into the 2012 election, in part because "the stimulus -- most people think it didn't work."

While it may be the case that "most people think it didn't work," analysts at Goldman Sachs, IHS/Global Insight, JP Morgan Chase, Macroeconomic Advisers and Moody's Economy.com say that the stimulus boosted GDP by between 2.1 and 3.5 percent as of the third quarter of 2010. Private-sector analysts also estimate that 2.1 to 2.5 million employed people would be out of a job were it not for the stimulus.

If Hayes thinks that means the stimulus "didn't work," fine. But unless news organizations provide these numbers, people don't really know how to judge the impact of the stimulus on the economy.

snip//

Fox has done more than any other news outlet to obscure the fact that Obama cut nearly everyone's taxes. Fox has also been declaring that the stimulus failed since mid-2009, only months after it was signed into law. Now that people are thoroughly misinformed, Stephen Hayes can forward the Fox narrative by simply reporting their beliefs.