It is time that the main stream media starts treating information presented by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce for what it is—phony propaganda to benefit the biggest corporations.
Hopefully the recent “study” by the U.S. Chamber about the projected national costs for achieving the carbon emissions reduction goal prescribed in the Environmental Protection Agency’s proposed rules will be the final straw for the media.
In the U.S. Chamber’s own words:
“Our analysis shows that Americans will pay significantly more for electricity, see slower economic growth and fewer jobs, and have less disposable income. In fact, the cumulative impact to the economy could be $859 billion by 2030 (an average of over $50 billion every year).”
Yikes! $50 billion a year!
Major newspapers used these projections to editorially condemn the EPA’s new rules saying things like Americans will be hungrier, the nation’s economic growth will be set back and electric bills will greatly increase.
Only one problem, the U.S. Chamber now says that the study used a bogus number for what the EPA carbon emission reduction goal would be. Not only was the number wrong…it was WAY wrong. The number they used was 42%, not the 30% the EPA actually calls for.
The U.S. Chamber’s was off by 40%! What kind of business organization is that bad at estimating costs unless that was the purpose of the study—too demonize the EPA and Obama Administration’s plan?
Fortunately, the Washington Post’s Fact Checker exposed the U.S. Chamber’s tremendously incorrect assumptions that were the basis of their study.
So what did the U.S. Chamber have to say when they got caught with their hand in the cookie jar?
“We were never saying those were the numbers for any scenario other than the ones that we put forward,” Matt Letourneau of the U.S. Chamber told PolitiFact.com.
In other words, it doesn’t matter that the U.S. Chamber made up a scenario and used bogus numbers. It was their fictional story they were telling and it’s not their fault the media and politicians accepted it as reality. What Letourneau was probably really thinking was…“Hey, were just good story tellers trying to protect our carbon-polluting friends.”
But even with the lie exposed, don’t expect the lie to go away easily. And certainly don’t expect the U.S. Chamber to change their tactics of spreading untruths on behalf of their corporate members.
However, we should expect the main stream media to finally wake up to the fact that they have been misled yet again by a greedy, duplicitous organization that does not represent the majority of the business community.