FU WSF

Hey what do you know, in the midst of capitalism's global implosion there were two very different economic forums being held at the same darn time! There was the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, representing the interests of global capitalism and the World Social Forum (WSF) in Belem, Brazil, representing alternatives to predatory globalization.

Well, dang, lets see how NPR - which has been touting the merits of journalists "trained to see patterns in data and ask informed questions" - covered the dueling forums:

Here's a little search of "World Social Forum" on the NPR site. What do you know, nothing from 2009, 2008, or 2007! In all just 8 results.

Let's compare that to a little search of "World Economic Forum" on the NPR site. Hmmm...seems NPR was a bit more interested in the big money at Davos. You can see a wealth (128 results) of stories on the capitalist forum, including a whole story featuring the pro-terrorism, bad Samaritan, and always wrong Thomas Friedman.

UPDATE: Readers have asked for more on "always wrong" Friedman, so here's a few interesting links - enjoy:

• Mark Rubert at Syracuse University has an Anti-Friedman page (taking on Friedman's love of global corporatism)
• Dean Baker takes Friedman to task for being a know-nothing about the role of the housing bubble crash.
• Lionel Beehner contemplates how Friedman sucks up to powerful CEO's instead of researching their practices.
• The Dim-Post has a rather cheeky look at the pillars of Friedmanism.
• Matt Taibbi reviews Friedman's The World is Flat and concludes that the same could be said of Friedman's book.