Fox News Debt Clock Manipulated?

Well for starters, this is the official site.
[link to www.treasurydirect.gov]

They update once daily. You can search via history. The sites that show an animated clock are simply using a computer function to mimic the predicted growth rate of the debt and are in NO WAY ACCURATE.

But that still doesn't take away the fact that the clock foxnews is using is much higher than the SAME clock online, right?

I'm not debating what is the official clock. I am pointing out an obvious manipulation.

I guess I don't understand what your problem is. The Fox News clock takes the starting data, runs an algorithm to make the numbers appear to fly, and that's your animated clock. So does the other site. If they are off it can't be by very much. You say "much higher" but to me it looked like 15 billion, 734 million, then some change. Are you really calling "much higher" over less than a million dollars? IF so, as I said, this can be accounted for by simple computer algorithms. And the fact that the two companies are not using the same algorithm. Since its just an approximation anyway.

Did you do the actual calculation? The number is so large it is easy to misread it. The difference was closer to 104 Million, and that is not "some change" in my book. I guess it might not be a big difference relative to the overall size of the debt, which is in the trillions and not billions, but FOR ME it is a fairly big difference for a news source that claims to be "Fair and Balanced". If you look at the .gov website you suggested (which I am not sure I trust any more than the medias numbers) there is an even larger difference in the numbers ALL media outlets are reporting.

[link to www.treasurydirect.gov]

I don't think any other major media outlet is 100% honest, my son just happened to catch this one on Fox News this morning. To be honest, I am pretty amazed my 15 year old noticed. Most don't care about this kind of stuff.


I really despise Media Matters, mainly because I think they are just as dishonest and biased as any other media outlet, but I did find this article to be interesting.

[link to mediamatters.org]

For me, the moral of the story can be summed up with Benjamin Franklins quote to "Believe none of what you hear and half of what you see" merged with Ronald Reagans quote to "Trust but verify."


Anyway, moving on. Gotta make some money so I can pay down my personal debt. Can't have an unbalanced budget in the real world. Thanks for your input. I can check back later this evening. :)

mandy

You have to remember fox is on a time delay, plus it might be stock footage that they ran just as video backdrop.