Anthony Mason: CBS News Reporter, Indie Music Junkie
Anthony Mason might be old, but don’t say he isn’t hip. Though Imus chewed him out for including the band Vampire Weekend’s song “A-Punk” among his five favorite, Mason defended himself, saying, “My kids love it, but I actually gave it to them.”
Eclectic musical taste was not the only thing Mason, a reporter for CBS News, displayed this morning. He also showed off his smarts, commenting on what he believes is the genesis of the Tea Party movement in this country.
“I always look at things like that and try to figure out what is actually going on,” he said, referring specifically to yesterday’s anti-tax Tea Party rally in Washington, DC. “To me, anytime a country goes through a major jolt or crisis, you get a whole variety of reactions that kind of compress, and I think that’s part of what you’re seeing here.”
The other part, Mason continued, has to do with a phenomenon he witnessed firsthand during the 2008 campaign, when he traveled around the country reporting on the impact of each candidate’s proposed tax plan.
“What was most striking was the enormous and deep-seated frustration and resentment of the American middle class,” Mason said. Besides feeling forgotten, their mentality is that “the folks on the bottom get taken care of, the folks on the top get more than taken care of, and those of us in the middle who do the real guts of the work in this country just get taken for granted.”
Looking back over the last decade or two, Mason said, “The wealthy have done well, and the middle class have largely gotten nowhere.” Additionally, the sort of manufacturing jobs normally associated with middle class workers have slowly eroded, contributing to the growing sense that “the walls are closing in, and nobody is helping us,” said Mason.
The Tea Party movement is thus not necessarily a bunch of crazy people. “This is what happens when a group of people are sat on for ten years,” Mason concluded.
Bush’s tax cuts are set to expire in 2011, but Mason said they’ll likely stay in place for the middle class. There is a dilemma over whether to let the cuts lapse for the so-called “upper” class, because while taxing them more could help pay off some of the national debt, it could also further contract the economy.
“You want to grow your way out of this to some degree,” said Mason. “You want to basically get the economy humming so it creates its own tax revenue, but on the other end you gotta start paying some of these bills.”
Back to the whole Vampire Weekend thing: Mason explained that a few years ago he committed to staying in touch with the current music scene, after feeling disconnected from it while raising his kids. He is now often sent on assignment to cover a burgeoning Brooklyn band in a standing-room only venue, and Mason, who is no spring chicken, has just one requirement.
“Find me a chair,” he said, ever the diva.
-Julie Kanfer
Anthony Mason 
Reader Comments (1)
Anthony, I caught this interview on Imus, then saw you again the same week on CBS. You are the man! Early in the financial crisis I sent emails and pings to different people to suggest that every tax paying american should get $1 Million dollars deposited in their checking account. Ultimately, this would have
A. Cost less than the total bailout
B. Put the economy back on track by encouraging people to pay off and buy
C. The folks at the top would not have gotten healthieer and wealthier by making money off others' financial woes
D. Unemployment would not have become necessary
Margaret Mobley, Savannah, GA