You need to see this awful CNBC report about the shutdown

I realize we are tired of the news. However, CNBC did some journalism so terrible that it perfectly encapsulates why POTUS can scream about Tylenol causing autism and no one with power bothers to hold him accountable.

To be sure, what I've linked to below is financial journalism. A lot of that is by definition obscene. "Hot New Trend: Bullying People into Thinking They're Overweight and Selling Them Deadly Diet Drugs" is typical fare, except without the sarcasm or any hint of a conscience. You can't lose access to key sources, and a number of them make money doing extremely unethical things. So that's how we ended up with "Why This Government Shutdown Is Different" (video below).

Many Americans are more aware than Democratic rhetoric would lead us to believe. They know the shutdown is about healthcare, but they comprehend the larger issue of whether the government will promote the general welfare or not. They understand what is at stake beyond Democratic leadership. They see the denial of due process rights for non-citizens and citizens alike; they grasp the gravity of deploying troops in American cities; they know in their bones that some in power want a police state and a police state only.

You'd think financial journalism would have something to say about any of that. You'd be wrong. I guess Milton Friedman linked capitalism to freedom so that way monied elites could pretend any mention of capitalism was freedom, but not vice versa:

Three things in this report have me seeing red:

Senator Ron Johnson's honest dishonesty, with no pushback.

So Ron Johnson, famous for trying to overthrow the popular vote on January 6th, has some things to say about why Republicans believe in shutting down the government. He points out that there is a massive increase in discretionary spending and that is due to Obamacare. This is true. He even tells more truth: discretionary spending is only a quarter of the federal budget (most of the budget is Social Security, Medicare & Medicaid, and defense).

So what's my problem? Well, he's willing to shut down the government over an increase in spending in one part of the budget! He's telling the truth, but only to justify the unjustifiable. It's like telling someone that your neighbor plays loud music so you've done some stuff to get back at him, no biggie. The person you're speaking to nods, thinking that maybe you toilet papered a tree in his yard. What you actually did was commit murder.

Ron Johnson's relation to the truth, of course, has to come to an end. He says Republicans want to bring down health care costs in a sensible way. Republicans, as we are all aware, have complete control of government. They can end the 60 vote threshold to get business done in the Senate any time they want. There is no plan other than cut health care while making military families wait in line at food pantries.

The report whitewashes Russell Vought.

Russell Vought is depicted as a small government conservative who only wants to layoff federal employees to reduce the size of bureaucracy. Nothing about his extremism is mentioned. Which is itself shocking, because Vought himself does not sugarcoat what he aims to achieve. Here is video of him, in 2024, saying he wants federal workers to be "traumatically affected:"

Again, nothing like this is in the CNBC report. The reporting team can say "What does this have to do with markets?" And it is strictly speaking true that if markets and finance are the only issue, authoritarian violence to federal employees might not be the chief concern. Except, you know, that making money depends on trust. Trust depends on institutions and a sense of fairness. Note that Vought is clear in the above clip about wanting to gut the EPA for the energy industry. Are the interests of the energy industry that of every other business?

This is just a taste of Vought's extremism. I highly recommend reading ProPublica's "Put Them in Trauma: Inside a Key MAGA Leader's Plans for a New Trump Agenda." There, Vought was caught talking about deploying the military against American citizens before the election even happened. I don't know how anyone takes this stuff lightly.

The finance guys are allowed to babble as if they know anything.

This may be the most irritating part of the piece. Who cares what the finance experts have to say? To be fair, they do talk about a lack of paychecks and federal employee layoffs causing harm. But then they say shutdowns are fairly common and after we experience some inconveniences, the shutdown will end and economic conditions will get better.

There's no sense that maybe everything is on the line, that even a business which is filthy rich may have to kiss the ring or else. There's no ability to comment on what history means or any understanding of why the U.S. is as wealthy as it is.

And that gets to the bigger problem. I don't actually think the U.S. is as wealthy as it is because we pump so much oil we're effectively a petrostate. Or because we sell weapons to aid various genocides. Or because we have all these skilled workers in tech.

I think we're as wealthy as we are in spite of people like Donald Trump. We have so many people who do not engage in rent-seeking behavior. We have people who consistently dare to do genuinely great things. They try to win at e-sports, founding leagues where there aren't any. They read books and create literary spaces. They make art even when people tell them they will die broke. They do science on a stupidly high level, wondering not just if they can cure cancer and COVID, but how subatomic particles are formed or how light truly works. Look at what Americans achieve in terms of journalism, with that industry in collapse. We're in a golden age of journalism because people refuse to be lackeys and defined by layoffs.

People invest in Americans because they know we do the work. I teach community college and people the world over ask me what I think. I'm honestly floored by it: who the hell cares what I think? But the truth is that lots of us in this country get that treatment. It's a credit to the rest of the world for recognizing the spirit and values which reside here. Our ruling class, our elite class, has no idea about any of this. Sure, let them babble on about how its all okay. I guess if you never do anything in life, you can't possibly know what is good or bad.