Letter:Media misleads public in the name of Bush

Editor,

We often hear the major news media tout President Bush's fiscal acumen. How can taking our country from a budget surplus to the largest budget deficit in history by the end of his first term vindicate President Bush's stewardship of our economy and budget?

Two major signs of a healthy America are a strong economy and low unemployment rate. Unfortunately, this is not the case in our country today. Thanks to the news media, the improving stock markets are being played up as a sign of a strong economy, while downplaying the high unemployment rate, which went from 30-year low of 3.2 percent when Bush took over to a high of 5.8 percent at the end of the 2004 fiscal year. Unfortunately, the news media choose to tell the public information that is supportive of this administration's goals.

While the stock markets have been increasing steadily, it is not a true sign of a strong economy. While corporate America has been reaping greater profits, they have done so at the average American's expense. This administration preaches patriotism to our faces, but they help corporate America rape you behind your back. Through deregulation and other tactics, they have allowed corporate America to close many of their companies and displace their employees, while building new companies in foreign countries where they can avail themselves of slave-labor costs and dramatically increase their profits.

Chevrolet's latest multi-million-dollar TV ads tell us that their newest Chevys are nothing less than an American Revolution. You can stick a feather in your hat and call it anything, but wrapping Chevrolet in red, white and blue does not make it a true-blue American Yankee Doodle Dandy. For example, take the Chevy Equinox, which is part of the ad campaign. There is very little American about it. It is assembled in Canada, its transmission is made in Japan and last but not least, the engine is made in China. What's patriotic about this?

The corporate elite have taken free enterprise to a level that is not in the best interest of America. But where are the main guardians of our liberty and defenders of patriotism - the independent news media? It would appear that the news media has become nothing more than the mouthpiece for this administration, which has become nothing more than the mouthpiece for corporate America.

Nahum Castillo

Daily Lobo reader