While Wednesday’s CBS Evening News was the only broadcast newscast to report on the stock market’s rally following a breakthrough with coronavirus-fighting drug Remdesivir, they threw cold water on anyone who dared to have hopeful thoughts about the economy improving.
“But even as the market rises, the economy is in a tailspin,” declared anchor Norah O’Donnell. “New numbers out today reveal the GDP, that’s the broadest measure of the nation's output, fell for the first time in six years.”
CBS’s attitude against an improving economy went beyond just stating the numbers. Anti-Trump White House correspondent Weijia Jiang actively scoffed at and disproved of President Trump’s hopeful predictions. “President Trump is brushing off those numbers saying he can feel a pent-up demand to stimulate the economy, so he's looking ahead to the fourth quarter,” she told O’Donnell ahead of the video portion of her report.
“President Trump offered an optimistic forecast for the U.S. economy...But that does not match the dire conditions on the ground,” she sneered. What Jiang was trying to debunk was a comment Trump made to the press while in the Oval Office. “We had the best economy ever, and we're going to have it again.”
She went on to add: “The GDP's first-quarter drop was the sharpest since the great recession, and the second quarter could see a record 40 percent plunge. Today, Boeing announced it will slash 10 percent of its workforce and cut back on making jets, while Hertz is preparing for possible bankruptcy after failing to make lease payments. Consumer confidence and spending also plummeted.”
The TDS must have been really getting to her, because Jiang (a liberal journalist) pushed back against the federal relief checks the administration was sending out with conservative arguments against the welfare state:
RAY WASHBURNE: The government program disincentivizes people from coming back to work.
JIANG: Ray Washburne opens several restaurants in the Dallas area and serves on President Trump's reopening task force. He says some staffers are ditching their jobs to continue collecting unemployment benefits, which amount to double their salaries.
This wasn’t the first time Jiang had demanded Americans remain miserable in this crisis. On April 6, she decried the President’s suggestion there was “light at the end of the tunnel.” “President Trump insisted that all 50 governors are happy with his administration's response and said again there is ‘light at the end of the tunnel.’ But some of his own health experts say we're not even in the tunnel,” she chided at the time.
Americans should have hope during these dark times. It helps people cope. Or at least to tick off the liberal media.
The transcript is below, click "expand" to read:
CBS Evening News
April 29, 2020
6:36:34 p.m. EasternNORAH O’DONNELL: And that encouraging news on Remdesivir helped boost Wall Street today. The Dow was up 2.2 percent, putting it on track for its biggest monthly gain since 1987. But even as the market rises, the economy is in a tailspin. New numbers out today reveal the GDP, that’s the broadest measure of the nation's output, fell for the first time in six years. CBS’s Weijia Jiang is at the White House tonight. Weijia.
WEIJIA JIANG: Well Norah, President Trump is brushing off those numbers saying he can feel a pent-up demand to stimulate the economy, so he's looking ahead to the fourth quarter. In an effort to get back to business, the President said today those federal social distancing guidelines will be faded out when they expire tomorrow.
[Cuts to video]
President Trump offered an optimistic forecast for the U.S. economy.
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: We had the best economy ever, and we're going to have it again.
JIANG: But that does not match the dire conditions on the ground. The GDP's first-quarter drop was the sharpest since the great recession, and the second quarter could see a record 40 percent plunge. Today, Boeing announced it will slash 10 percent of its workforce and cut back on making jets, while Hertz is preparing for possible bankruptcy after failing to make lease payments. Consumer confidence and spending also plummeted.
TRUMP: We're throwing money at the people that lost their job unfairly.
JIANG: The stimulus checks come with a personalized letter from the President saying the administration is working around the clock to protect the American worker. With 26 million of those workers having filed for unemployment, many employers are facing a new challenge.
RAY WASHBURNE: The government program disincentivizes people from coming back to work.
JIANG: Ray Washburne opens several restaurants in the Dallas area and serves on President Trump's reopening task force. He says some staffers are ditching their jobs to continue collecting unemployment benefits, which amount to double their salaries.
WASHBURNE: Our argument back to them is, you know, "Your job might not be here at the end of July, because we're going to hire somebody else." We need people now and to bring them online.
[Cuts back to live]
JIANG: Well tonight, the U.S. Postal Service is warning people to be extra vigilant as those stimulus checks continue to roll out. In Brooklyn, police have arrested a man accused of stealing U.S. mail, including $12,000 worth of stimulus payments. Norah.
O’DONNELL: That's outrageous. Weijia, thank you.
