On Tue, Aug 9, 2011 at 8:58 AM, I wrote: > speaking of this kind of thing, today on US National Public Radio, > Rep. Barney Frank (D-RI) criticized the newsreader/interviewer for > asking him a complex question and demanding an answer in just a few > seconds. The newsreader seemed to want to get Frank to admit that > social security should be cut.
here's the transcript (thanks to FAIR): [US NPR newsreader Steve] INSKEEP: Congressman, if I can, we've just got a few seconds. You have mentioned defense spending. You've mentioned tax increases. Those are two areas of disagreement. The biggest part of the federal budget is entitlements... FRANK: No, wrong. I'm sorry. The Defense budget is bigger than Medicare, and Social Security is, in fact, self-financing, still is. INSKEEP: Let's stipulate for this conversation: a very, very, very, very, very big part of the budget is entitlements. Democrats are seen as resisting cuts. Is your side--in a couple of seconds--going to appoint people to the special committee who are ready to make a deal? FRANK: I am not going to tell an 80-year-old woman living on $19,000 a year that she gets no cost-of-living, or that a man who has been doing physical labor all his life and is now at a 67-year-old retirement--which is where Social Security will be soon--that he has to work four or five more years. But I disagree with you that in terms of draining on the budget, Social Security is largely as self-financed... INSKEEP: OK. FRANK: ...and the military budget is larger than Medicare. So demonizing entitlements and saying that--in fact, here's the deal... INSKEEP: Congressman, I really have to cut you off there. But I do... FRANK: Well, I wish you wouldn't ask these complicated questions with five seconds to go. INSKEEP: We'll come back and bring you back for more. Always a pleasure to talk with you. -- Jim Devine / "As far as the laws of mathematics refer to reality, they are not certain; and as far as they are certain, they do not refer to reality." -- Albert Einstein _______________________________________________ pen-l mailing list [email protected] https://lists.csuchico.edu/mailman/listinfo/pen-l
