Media Gloom While Economy Roars

[John McKenna]

Media Push Doom & Gloom While U.S. Economy Roars Ahead


By Rich Noyes | November 5, 2007 - 11:49 ET

Back in the 1990s, TV journalists worried that Bill Clinton wasn’t getting enough credit for the wonderful things that happened while he was President. NBC’s then-White House correspondent Andrea Mitchell whined on CNN’s Larry King Live back on August 18, 1994 that her fear was that Clinton “doesn’t get credit for a lot of the good, positive things he’s done.... The economy is in better shape....He should be getting some credit for the economy.”

Now that a tax-cutting Republican is in the White House, however, big media types are working to bury the news of America’s strong economy. Today’s Investor’s Business Daily has a fine summary of recent good news in an editorial headlined, “The Media’s Blackout on the Boom.” Here’s a key excerpt:

Friday's employment report, showing a much-higher-than-expected increase of 166,000 in nonfarm payroll jobs, was only the latest in a spate of remarkable reports showing the economy's stunning resilience. Earlier this week, we discovered that, contrary to fears and forecasts of much slower growth in the third quarter, the U.S. economy in fact expanded at a 3.9% rate — even in the midst of a vicious housing downturn, soaring mortgage delinquencies and a credit crunch.

Inflation showed its lowest annual rise since the 1960s, despite oil touching $96 a barrel. Employment costs, rising in the third quarter at 3.8% annual rate, are well under control. The broad stock market, despite an up and down year, has mostly been up — punching repeatedly through its previous highs.

Just three weeks ago, the Office of Management and Budget reported that the budget deficit fell to $163 billion, or 1.2% of GDP, its lowest level in five years. Meanwhile, even the big, bad trade deficit has begun shrinking, as the weak dollar sets off a U.S. export boom.

What's funny about all this is how little is being made of it.

The media have been quiet as church mice about the good news — much the same way they're ignoring signs of a victory in Iraq (see editorial, top left.) But they've found lots of bad news.

Gee, you'd almost think they have an ax to grind.

As the Business and Media Institute pointed out in September, this isn't a recent phenomenon. For at least four years now, journalists have pretended this boom doesn't exist....We've been treated with never-ending stories about the seriousness of the housing collapse and credit crunch and why the good times simply can't last. As recent surveys show, despite the positive trends, Americans are convinced things are horrible.

A CNN/Opinion Research poll taken in mid-October found 46% of Americans think the U.S. economy's in recession. A fluke, you say? Another poll by the American Research Group released Oct. 22 found 40% think we're in a recession, up from 25% a month before.

"A year before voting, a discontented nation" is how a USA Today headline summed it up Friday. Discontented? Why not, after a nonstop media barrage playing up all that's bad and playing down all that's good.


http://newsbusters.org/blogs/rich-no...my-roars-ahead

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=78Xs_8lzMA4
(funny)

[Randy D. Stufflebeem]

Originally Posted by jmckenna1

Media Push Doom & Gloom While U.S. Economy Roars Ahead


By Rich Noyes | November 5, 2007 - 11:49 ET

Back in the 1990s, TV journalists worried that Bill Clinton wasn’t getting enough credit for the wonderful things that happened while he was President. NBC’s then-White House correspondent Andrea Mitchell whined on CNN’s Larry King Live back on August 18, 1994 that her fear was that Clinton “doesn’t get credit for a lot of the good, positive things he’s done.... The economy is in better shape....He should be getting some credit for the economy.”


Now that a tax-cutting Republican is in the White House, however, big media types are working to bury the news of America’s strong economy. Today’s Investor’s Business Daily has a fine summary of recent good news in an editorial headlined, “The Media’s Blackout on the Boom.” Here’s a key excerpt:

Friday's employment report, showing a much-higher-than-expected increase of 166,000 in nonfarm payroll jobs, was only the latest in a spate of remarkable reports showing the economy's stunning resilience. Earlier this week, we discovered that, contrary to fears and forecasts of much slower growth in the third quarter, the U.S. economy in fact expanded at a 3.9% rate — even in the midst of a vicious housing downturn, soaring mortgage delinquencies and a credit crunch.

Inflation showed its lowest annual rise since the 1960s, despite oil touching $96 a barrel. Employment costs, rising in the third quarter at 3.8% annual rate, are well under control. The broad stock market, despite an up and down year, has mostly been up — punching repeatedly through its previous highs.

Just three weeks ago, the Office of Management and Budget reported that the budget deficit fell to $163 billion, or 1.2% of GDP, its lowest level in five years. Meanwhile, even the big, bad trade deficit has begun shrinking, as the weak dollar sets off a U.S. export boom.

What's funny about all this is how little is being made of it.

The media have been quiet as church mice about the good news — much the same way they're ignoring signs of a victory in Iraq (see editorial, top left.) But they've found lots of bad news.

Gee, you'd almost think they have an ax to grind.

As the Business and Media Institute pointed out in September, this isn't a recent phenomenon. For at least four years now, journalists have pretended this boom doesn't exist....We've been treated with never-ending stories about the seriousness of the housing collapse and credit crunch and why the good times simply can't last. As recent surveys show, despite the positive trends, Americans are convinced things are horrible.

A CNN/Opinion Research poll taken in mid-October found 46% of Americans think the U.S. economy's in recession. A fluke, you say? Another poll by the American Research Group released Oct. 22 found 40% think we're in a recession, up from 25% a month before.

"A year before voting, a discontented nation" is how a USA Today headline summed it up Friday. Discontented? Why not, after a nonstop media barrage playing up all that's bad and playing down all that's good.


http://newsbusters.org/blogs/rich-no...my-roars-ahead

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=78Xs_8lzMA4
(funny)

Man, the media is just depressing. Bad news is good news, and political agendas have made it almost unbearable to watch or read.
Randy

[Joseph Burkeson, CMI]

It is all local & personal, don't get me wrong I never liked Clinton, but you can bet your *** I made money during the Clinton years, six-figures every year like clockwork. No doubt the real estate crash (which is leading to a banking crash) will in the end crash the economy.

Juggle the numbers anyway you like but, we don't get out of this without first going through a full-blown recession, anyone who thinks otherwise should pass the bong.

[Randy D. Stufflebeem]

Originally Posted by jburkeson1

It is all local & personal, don't get me wrong I never liked Clinton, but you can bet your *** I made money during the Clinton years, six-figures every year like clockwork. No doubt the real estate crash (which is leading to a banking crash) will in the end crash the economy.

Juggle the numbers anyway you like but, we don't get out of this without first going through a full-blown recession, anyone who thinks otherwise should pass the bong.

I am not convinced a full blown recession is coming the "pass the bong" comment is extremely funny!
Randy

[Barry Adair]

just don't inhale and all will be well

[dbronsted]

I know things are slowing to a stop here in Blue Ridge, GA. Builders are being foreclosed on and others are turning in the keys to their spec homes because they are not selling. Almost every family here depends on the housing market for income. It was a boom economy here until just recently. A lot of our business is from nice Florida folks that either move here or buy a mountain cabin to put into rental programs. Works out very nice in that the cabins usually pay for themselves. The rental industry hasn't slowed any at all though. But I'm afraid it is gonna be a hungry (quite literally) winter for a lot of good folks here. Our market will improve when Florida does.

[gporter]

They wondering why their number for the nightly news keeps falling.

[ekartal6]

The economy will have to hit rock bottom before housing will pick up. A few busy years, then rock bottom again. Then..well you get it.

[William J. Decker]

A good part of this is because rank ametaure (sp) think thet can do it better than the professionals. And, they are haiving great encouragment from the "semi-pros" to earn their living from doing seminars are the like.

If you don't know what you are doing, DON't DO IT!.

[Jeff Merritt]

IMO, We will never see a full blown recession in the USA again, we are to global. yes we have a housing issue, lets face it some people that purchased houses should not have, the mortgage industry let loose with credit requirements and this is what you get. if we see a full blown recession it will be world wide. I have friends in the CBT they say what they learned 20-years ago is not the norm today. look at it this way, a US company as little as 15- years ago depended on most of its income from the U.S, that same company now has 40% of its income comming from outside the U.S. today. hence no full blown recession, with the value of the dollar dropping that will increase export and raise MFG output, lets remember with technology what it is today we don't need 20- people on a production line any more. we are changing to a service sector economy, get used to it. this is a reset in wages and income. some may not think fair. just my 2-cents

[Joseph Burkeson, CMI]

Mortgage Loan Losses Pose Risk of Systemic Shock, Peters Says

By Carol Massar and Fabio Alves

Bloomberg News Video

Nov. 13 (Bloomberg) -- There's a greater than 50 percent probability that the financial system ``will come to a grinding halt'' because of losses from mortgages, Gregory Peters, head of credit strategy at Morgan Stanley, said.

The world's biggest banks and securities firms have written down at least $45 billion in the value of assets linked to subprime mortgages for the third quarter after borrowers with poor credit histories failed to keep up with payments. Structured investment vehicles have defaulted on debt, forcing lenders including Legg Mason Inc. and SunTrust Banks Inc. to prop up their money-market funds to cushion them from possible losses.

``You have the SIVs, you have the conduits, you have the money-market funds, you have future losses still in the dealer's balance sheet in the banks,'' Peters said in an interview in New York. ``That's all toppling at once.''

The risk of systemic shock from the current subprime meltdown is quite large in the near term, Peters said. ``It's an overarching concern that we have,'' he said.

Losses stemming from the subprime mortgages have caused a seizure of a lot of other markets, especially the securitization market, Peters said.

The U.S. asset-backed commercial paper market had its biggest weekly drop in two months in the week ended Nov. 7, according to a Federal Reserve report. Debt maturing in 270 days or less and backed by mortgages, credit-card loans and other assets fell $29.5 billion, or 3.4 percent, to a seasonally adjusted $845.2 billion.

Sales of U.S. corporate bonds slowed to $11.1 billion last week, the lowest in two months, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

``While the near-term concern is the systemic shock of the subprime-related losses, the medium- and long-term concern is the impact on the average consumer,'' Peters said. ``The ultimate irony here is that the U.S. consumer now needs readily available capital more easily than ever, but they're going to have the most difficult time getting it.''

To contact the reporters on this story: Carol Massar in New York at cmassar@bloomberg.net ; Fabio Alves in New York at falves3@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: November 13, 2007 09:58 EST

[Michael Larson]

Joe, me thinks he is lobbying for a government bailout similar to the one that occured after the Savings and Loan Crisis of the 1980s.
Hold on to your wallets folks.