A series of recent Center for Public Integrity stories provide an illuminating reality check on some of the points made by President Barack Obama last night in his first State of the Union address.
“Our most urgent task upon taking office was to shore up the same banks that helped cause this crisis. It was not easy to do. And if there’s one thing that has unified Democrats and Republicans, and everybody in between, it’s that we all hated the bank bailout.”
The President was correct that the banks bailed out were the same banks that helped cause the crisis. Our Who’s Behind the Financial Meltdown project revealed the top 25 subprime lenders — and the giant banks that owned or backed them.
“Next, we can put Americans to work today building the infrastructure of tomorrow. From the first railroads to the Interstate Highway System, our nation has always been built to compete. There’s no reason Europe or China should have the fastest trains, or the new factories that manufacture clean energy products. Tomorrow, I’ll visit Tampa, Florida, where workers will soon break ground on a new high-speed railroad funded by the Recovery Act.”
High-speed rail is a small piece of the puzzle, but, as we reported in The Transportation Lobby, the nation’s transportation policy is dysfunctional, nearly bankrupt, and dominated by almost 1,800 special interest groups. And we specifically highlighted the frenzy of lobbying in response to billions in new rail funding.
“But to create more of these clean energy jobs, we need more production, more efficiency, more incentives. And that means building a new generation of safe, clean nuclear power plants in this country. It means making tough decisions about opening new offshore areas for oil and gas development. It means continued investment in advanced biofuels and clean coal technologies. And, yes, it means passing a comprehensive energy and climate bill with incentives that will finally make clean energy the profitable kind of energy in America. I am grateful to the House for passing such a bill last year. And this year I’m eager to help advance the bipartisan effort in the Senate.”
Our The Climate Change Lobby details the more than 770 special interest groups and companies seeking to derail, blunt, or tailor any new climate policy to their narrow agendas, making passage of such legislation in the Senate a difficult prospect as best.
“I’m also calling on Congress to continue down the path of earmark reform. Democrats and Republicans. Democrats and Republicans. You’ve trimmed some of this spending, you’ve embraced some meaningful change. But restoring the public trust demands more.
For example, some members of Congress post some earmark requests online. Tonight, I’m calling on Congress to publish all earmark requests on a single Web site before there’s a vote, so that the American people can see how their money is being spent.”
Disclosure is vital, but not a panacea for earmark abuses. “The Murtha Method“ and “A ‘Murtha Method’ Encore“ show the continuing controversial relationships involving ex-staffers-turned-lobbyists, contractors, campaign cash, and earmarks that have lead to investigations of numerous members of Congress.
“With all due deference to separation of powers, last week the Supreme Court reversed a century of law that I believe will open the floodgates for special interests — including foreign corporations — to spend without limit in our elections. I don’t think American elections should be bankrolled by America’s most powerful interests, or worse, by foreign entities. They should be decided by the American people. And I’d urge Democrats and Republicans to pass a bill that helps to correct some of these problems.”
Though Justice Samuel Alito reportedly dismissed this criticism, our stories “Will the Citizens United Ruling Let Hugo Chavez and King Abdullah Buy U.S. Elections?” and “Citizens United Ruling Could Tilt Playing Field Against Labor, Toward Corporations” reveal serious concerns about whether this ruling will allow corporations, be they owned by Americans or foreign governments, an outsized role in our nation’s elections.
We’re not backing down in the face of Trump’s threats.
As Donald Trump is inaugurated a second time, independent media organizations are faced with urgent mandates: Tell the truth more loudly than ever before. Do that work even as our standard modes of distribution (such as social media platforms) are being manipulated and curtailed by forces of fascist repression and ruthless capitalism. Do that work even as journalism and journalists face targeted attacks, including from the government itself. And do that work in community, never forgetting that we’re not shouting into a faceless void – we’re reaching out to real people amid a life-threatening political climate.
Our task is formidable, and it requires us to ground ourselves in our principles, remind ourselves of our utility, dig in and commit.
As a dizzying number of corporate news organizations – either through need or greed – rush to implement new ways to further monetize their content, and others acquiesce to Trump’s wishes, now is a time for movement media-makers to double down on community-first models.
At Truthout, we are reaffirming our commitments on this front: We won’t run ads or have a paywall because we believe that everyone should have access to information, and that access should exist without barriers and free of distractions from craven corporate interests. We recognize the implications for democracy when information-seekers click a link only to find the article trapped behind a paywall or buried on a page with dozens of invasive ads. The laws of capitalism dictate an unending increase in monetization, and much of the media simply follows those laws. Truthout and many of our peers are dedicating ourselves to following other paths – a commitment which feels vital in a moment when corporations are evermore overtly embedded in government.
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