Commentators (and commenters) on BlueOregon have been enraged over the past few days about an OPB piece claiming that a woman sold her business in Sisters, “because of measures 66 and 67, which she says taxed the company’s profits leaving less money for the business to grow.”
Carla Axtman calls bullshit on that, saying if you crunch the numbers its appears that the business owner, Tara O’Keefe, simply wanted to sell to a bigger company and avoid the impression that she was turning her back on the local economy.
So let’s look at the math: She has $2 million in gross revenues. For argument’s sake, let’s say that a generous 25% of that is pure profit that she takes home. That’s $500,000. Assuming she files jointly, M66 only kicks in on her share of profits above $250,000. For the next two years, she’ll be paying $4,500. In two years, that gets cut in half, to $2,250.
So O’Keefe sold a $2 million dollar business over $4500? Not bloody likely.
The Bend Bulletin and the Sisters Nugget both picked up O’Keefe’s story without question. Meanwhile, OPB is sending out a form letter to anyone who complains, suggesting that they go to the OPB website and read the story. Nice damage control.
It’s in the BlueOregon comment line that things really heat up. Here’s commenter Bill Ryan:
I wrote OPB and got the same form response. I responded by saying as a life-long Oregonian and supporter of public broadcasting I found her response “unacceptable.”
OPB has gone off the rails when they start repeating right wing talking points that are not supported by the facts. They seem to be going the way of NPR and their Fox-lite political reporting. It’s time for a subscriber revolt!
What about you? Does Morning Edition grate on you like the Rush Limbaugh of yore? Did Carl Kasell secretly leave to work as a PR consultant for Halliburton? Is anyone safe from the vast conspiracy?
everyone knows that Ira Glass is the Andrew Breitbart of public radio
I gave up on OPB years ago when they refused to show a children’s program that had a family with two moms. If they won’t support families like mine, then I won’t support them. At that time I saw where things were headed with shrinking government financial support and more reliance on corporations.
Dumped it–tired of the begging.
National Pentagon Radio, we used to call it…
For the record, here’s what I wrote on BlueOregon:
“OPB generally does some of the best journalism in this state – especially given that they’re doing it with fewer words than anybody working in print, and without visuals to boot. I’m prepared to give ’em a mulligan, and blame this shot into the sand trap on a desire to spend less time working, and more time enjoying this beautiful Oregon summer.”
That said, I think it is imperative that reporters (and bloggers and everyone) actually does the math when people say Measures 66 and/or 67 are hurting them somehow. These measures were actually quite modest and tightly targeted — and there’s a lot more hysteria out there than is justified by the numbers, much of it hyped by a handful of corporate lobbyists covering their failure to win at the legislature or at the ballot.
http://www.blueoregon.com/2010/08/teachabl…
Wow. Should we send some paper bags over the BlueOregon to help with the hyperventilating?
Mixed bag. Mostly they’re doing good stuff, but I think NPR has a number of biases that make them a bit questionable. Like a lot of journalism outlets these days, they have a small staff, and every fact can’t possibly be checked. Sad, the dwindling pie means less credibility for all.
Blabby, were you so intent on posting your snidery you just pretended you didn’t read Kari’s comment? or are you blabby without knowing what you are talking about (ie, doing a Fox)?
the issue is the one report, which anyone who had worked on the 66/67 campaign knew was crap. those measures will tax no one out of the state. whoever claims they do is full of shit. the whole point of the blog was to ask that OPB actually stop, do a little math (ie, think) and then report the facts — not the propaganda being spewed by a woman who is taking her personal wealth, dumping her workers & running away with a trail of bullshit behind her.
Nice Polite Republicans.
News Hour gave a platform to Michael Medved on the mosque at ground zero tonight. Ridiculous. He has a right wing echo chamber platform of his own, no?
OPB is notoriously anti-union when it comes to its own employees, even pulling out all the old union-busting tactics. Between that and their insistence that Think Out Loud is a worthwhile radio show, let alone at 9am, this is just more fuel to the fire of hatred that I have in my heart for them.
I thought everyone abandoned OPB and PBS after the Bush Coup.
Currently, 7 out of the 9 members who direct the Corporation for Public Broadcasting are Dubya appointees.
F PBS. I moved by monetary support to KBOO and Democracy Now years ago.