The PBS Talking Point: Has it Stuck as Well as it Seems?

[Speed of Sound]

I freely admit that I largely live in a world that's a mix of college's/reddit's liberal echo chamber and this esoteric clan of the hyper-attentive, so I know nothing of the real world's perception, basically. That said, all I have heard, and about a million times, about the debate is regarding Romney's threat to slash funding to PBS. Has this storyline really taken over? If so, could it mitigate Obama's losses from the debate? It's fascinating to watch these sorts of things unfold the way they do...!

[Sbane]

There were a couple weird things done by Romney that could have hurt him if Obama hadn't done so poorly. This is definitely the big one. He wants to fire big bird and told an old guy to his face he would fire him. Surely a winning strategy for getting the mom vote or the 50-65 vote. Also the you don't have to listen of you are over 60 part was pretty odd...if he makes gaffes like this again it will catch up with him

[Dr. Cynic]

Actually, I wouldn't care if they let NPR go, but DON'T end PBS or AMTRAK! I use both of them... AMTRAK is absolutely essential for me to continue my career because it's the only way I can really travel any long distance.

But yeah, Obama was so lazy. I wish he'd taken the offensive posture away from Romney. Here's hoping in the next one that he will.

[○∙◄☻¥tπ[╪AV┼cVê└]

Actually, I wouldn't care if they let NPR go, but DON'T end PBS or AMTRAK! I use both of them... AMTRAK is absolutely essential for me to continue my career because it's the only way I can really travel any long distance.

But yeah, Obama was so lazy. I wish he'd taken the offensive posture away from Romney. Here's hoping in the next one that he will.

Obama's not a fighter. As it has been painfully obviously from the last 4 years, he wants to be a compromising supersenator who gets consensus from the Republicans, even though they are determined to not.  I bet he wishes he could have a beer summit with Lehrer and Romney where they quietly work out their differences. But of course Romney isn't interested in that.

[Adam Griffin]

He wants to fire big bird and told an old guy to his face he would fire him.

My God, I hadn't even thought of that. I'll admit I've been avoiding the 2012 board for most of the past 24 hours, but I haven't heard much chatter about this element of the PBS angle. This could be a death knell if applied properly.

[Joe Republic]

Cutting funding to PBS to reduce the deficit is like deleting a few .txt files from your 500Gb hard drive to save space.

[ajb]

Cutting funding to PBS to reduce the deficit is like deleting a few .txt files from your 500Gb hard drive to save space.

Not to mention that a lot of the actual funding for public broadcasting comes from "viewers like you," the richer of whom might be less inclined to give to charity thanks to Romney's new idea of capping deductions at $17 000.

[Wisconsin+17]

Gotta start somewhere. PBS is a good place to start. Sesame Street - if it is profitable will find a home on another network.

[Sbane]

Gotta start somewhere. PBS is a good place to start. Sesame Street - if it is profitable will find a home on another network.

Romney should make this argument to suburban moms.

[Politico]

In the real world, you cannot run perpetual trillion dollar deficits. In order to get the deficit in shape, you need to start somewhere. Romney will try his damnedest to get things under control. Clearly Obama lives in a fantasy world where we can borrow from China indefinitely (Obama is not a numbers guy, so of course he cannot wrap his head around the situation). They're going to stop borrowing the minute Obama wins re-election if that happens.

PBS gets a lot of their funding from donations and will continue to do so.

[Politico]

Gotta start somewhere. PBS is a good place to start. Sesame Street - if it is profitable will find a home on another network.

Donations will ensure PBS continues. "Brought to you by viewers like you." Haven't you guys ever watched PBS?

[Brittain33]

Guys, believe me, Romney does not want to have this debate about laying off Big Bird.

[Politico]

Guys, believe me, Romney does not want to have this debate about laying off Big Bird.

America wants to hear about jobs and getting the deficit in shape, not about figments of the Obama campaign's imagination. Romney is not the guy that the Obama campaign has imagined him to be. People realize this now, so the Obama campaign would be wise to drop their nonsense and talk like civilized adults in this issues-dominated eleciton.

[ajb]

Gotta start somewhere. PBS is a good place to start. Sesame Street - if it is profitable will find a home on another network.

Donations will ensure PBS continues. "Brought to you by viewers like you." Haven't you guys ever watched PBS?

Presumably Romney's new cap on deductions would have a depressive effect on charitable giving, no?

[Politico]

There were a couple weird things done by Romney that could have hurt him if Obama hadn't done so poorly. This is definitely the big one. He wants to fire big bird and told an old guy to his face he would fire him. Surely a winning strategy for getting the mom vote or the 50-65 vote. Also the you don't have to listen of you are over 60 part was pretty odd...if he makes gaffes like this again it will catch up with him

Romney said if something is not worth borrowing money from China for, he will not do it. PBS can manage with donations. We cannot afford to leverage ourselves to the hilt so that China can destroy our currency in five or six years (make no mistake about it: That is China's end game; you didn't really think they're lending us trillions of dollars out of the goodness of their hearts, did you?)

Big Bird is not the issue.

[Politico]

Gotta start somewhere. PBS is a good place to start. Sesame Street - if it is profitable will find a home on another network.

Donations will ensure PBS continues. "Brought to you by viewers like you." Haven't you guys ever watched PBS?

Presumably Romney's new cap on deductions would have a depressive effect on charitable giving, no?

People are motivated by helping others with their donations. Do you have such little faith in your fellow countrymen?

[Brittain33]

Big Bird is not the issue.

Romney brought up Big Bird in the debate. He introduced him. It was a big unforced error on his part. Any Republican who remembers 1995 winced when he said that.

[afleitch]

There were a couple weird things done by Romney that could have hurt him if Obama hadn't done so poorly. This is definitely the big one. He wants to fire big bird and told an old guy to his face he would fire him. Surely a winning strategy for getting the mom vote or the 50-65 vote. Also the you don't have to listen of you are over 60 part was pretty odd...if he makes gaffes like this again it will catch up with him

Romney said if something is not worth borrowing money from China for, he will not do it. PBS can manage with donations. We cannot afford to leverage ourselves to the hilt so that China can destroy our currency in five or six years.

Big Bird is not the issue.

You do know the % of foreign owned debt owned by China is decreasing. It's down to about 25%. Japan suprisingly is the next biggest holder with 20%. Suprisingly the same people who tried to get the USA worried about Japan in the 1980's are scaremongering again but this time about China.

[Politico]

There were a couple weird things done by Romney that could have hurt him if Obama hadn't done so poorly. This is definitely the big one. He wants to fire big bird and told an old guy to his face he would fire him. Surely a winning strategy for getting the mom vote or the 50-65 vote. Also the you don't have to listen of you are over 60 part was pretty odd...if he makes gaffes like this again it will catch up with him

Romney said if something is not worth borrowing money from China for, he will not do it. PBS can manage with donations. We cannot afford to leverage ourselves to the hilt so that China can destroy our currency in five or six years.

Big Bird is not the issue.

You do know the % of foreign owned debt owned by China is decreasing. It's down to about 25%. Japan suprisingly is the next biggest holder with 20%. Suprisingly the same people who tried to get the USA worried about Japan in the 1980's are scaremongering again but this time about China.

China currently has US reserves in the trillions. If they dumped it on the ForEx today, they'd destroy our currency and therefore our economy.

Maybe some folks like being dominated by others, but I prefer seeing America on top.

[Kaine for Senate '18]

China currently has US reserves in the trillions. If they dumped it on the ForEx today, they'd destroy our currency and therefore our economy..

This would also destroy their own economy.  Get your head out of your ass.

[Politico]

China currently has US reserves in the trillions. If they dumped it on the ForEx today, they'd destroy our currency and therefore our economy..

This would also destroy their own economy.  Get your head out of your ass.

Today? Yes. In 5-10 years? No.

The Chinese are thinking long-term, unlike Obama and Co.

[Kaine for Senate '18]

Today? Yes. In 5-10 years? No.

The Chinese are thinking long-term, unlike Obama and Co.

If, at any point, our economy collapses, China will be screwed.

Get your head out of your ass.

[LastVoter]

see my signature

[Beet]

I'm still seeing it all over twitter.

If either the US or Chinese economies looked like they were in trouble, the net effect would be to increase demand for dollars.

China has about $2 trillion in dollar-denominated reserves, which is a drop in the bucket compared to the size of the world currency market. $5 trillion are traded every day on the forex market. The total forex dollar-denominated foreign reserves of the dollar reserve system are about $7 trillion. The entire $7 trillion, including China's share, is the result of US current account deficits, and also contributes to those same deficits. To reduce America's forex vulnerability, and physical vulnerability in general (to China but also to all countries), the US would have to depreciate the dollar until our current account came into balance, and maintain a policy of current account balance.

[Politico]

If China dumped $3-4 trillion on the ForEx on a single day in 5-10 years, when they can do it without being reliant upon exports to us and decide to signal they have no confidence in our ability to honor our debt obligations, the greenback would look like the ruble did in 1998.

The Chinese are not hoarding and building up these massive reserves because they love America, and certainly not because they love Big Bird. They will flip us the bird when the moment is right. They want to be the nation that dethroned the superpower. They want to be the wave of the future.

But let's talk about Big Bird and gay marriage for Bert and Ernie, right?