Archive for March 2016

Donald Trump could be elected because of the death of serious "News"



In the last 25 years or so, we have seen the death of “The News” as we knew it.  We now watch and listen to opinionated “infotainment,” and most people listen mostly to the people they agree with.

In today’s environment, the “News” has to be profitable.  In the old days, the three TV networks provided a news broadcast as a public service.  They believed that unbiased news bolstered the network’s reputation so the news devision did not have to be profitable.  My how times have changed. 

By the way, I’m not assuming news coverage was completely unbiased, but it definitely was not driven by profits.

I don’t know when the networks started to shift towards profits from the news divisions, but I think it happened around the O.J. Simpson trial.  At least, that is when things really ramped up.  CNN was having success as a 24 hour news network and things changed.  Enter Fox News in the late 1990’s and we started to go down hill.

I believe the hard news people at Fox News are the best in the business.  Although the network as a whole leans very far to the right, the hard news people shoot straight.  But decisions are made about which guests to book, or which stories to cover based on ratings.  For some reason, Trump gets ratings so the networks love to have him on constantly.

A wise investor once told me, “when you watch a show about investing, you have to remember their job is not to give you the best information.  Their job is to sell advertising.”  That has what our news has become.  They go for the ratings which means speculating about the most salacious things so people watch.  Sadly, it is also the job of Fox News anchors to get ratings.  Why else would they hire so many gorgeous women and pack them with makeup?  Why do they have music behind the little “video pieces” on many of the shows?  They no longer provide news, but “infotainment.”  

Remember when Dan Rather accused CBS of trying to “tart up” the news by hiring Katie Couric?  CBS needed ratings.  

Donald Trump gets ratings and that is the reason he receives so much coverage.  If you have him on your show, your ratings will go up.  Why?  Who knows, but it is an absolute fact.  That is the reason he gets so much free media coverage.  That is the reason he doesn’t have to spend money on his campaign.  And that is the reason he may very well be the next President of the United States.

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Why is Marco Rubio still In the race?

Marco Rubio has no chance to win, so why is he still in the race? The answer is simple. Because like all politicians, it's about them, not us. Their personal ambition drives them.  They want to be something, not do something.

Politicians live off the public for a few years, gain name ID, then monetize it.  Name a politician who hasn't done that.  Have you ever noticed that as soon as they leave office they become lobbyists. Many of them write books about their time in office, or otherwise make money in the industry of politics.  The most insulting part of it all is they refer to their time in office as "public service." Give me a break!

Marco Rubio went to law school then jumped into state politics.  He was a city commissioner, the a representative in the Florida House of Representatives. He ran for the US Senate seat from Florida and once he won, immediately started looking to the presidency.  He immediately started writing a book, and after a couple of years, he was in full blown campaign mode.  Is something wrong with this picture? It is exactly the same model that Barrack Obama followed.

What experience does Marco Rubio have that makes him qualified to be president? Because he voted a few times in the House and Senate? Has he ever managed an organization? Has he run a business? Has he run a government agency? No.  He has great ideas, but ideas don't equal success.  I have a lot of great ideas about the triangle offense in the NBA. That doesn't qualify me to be a coach.

I actually agree with a lot of what Marco Rubio talks about.  We are both conservatives so I'm sure we agree on most issues.  That does not mean I want him to be the president.  Frankly, I'm more interested in competence than ideology at this point. Conservatives have been focused so much on social issues they have let our country get into overwhelming debt and our economy is lagging.  We need someone to dig is out of the mess, but that someone is not Marco Rubio.

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