Business Coverage

Today's release of the Institute for Supply Management's Non-Manufacturing Activity Report, which measures business conditions in the 86% of the economy other than manufacturing, came in with a reading of 60.7, after recording a 59.7 last month. As has been customary, the report whipped the pants off of "expectations." This Thomson Financial article at Forbes predicted a decline to 58.1 instead…

Billion-dollar returns just aren’t good enough for NBC. On June 26, the “Nightly News” attacked wealthy hedge fund managers for making high-risk investments and for trying to do business with the “vulnerable” upper-middle class.Reporter Carl Quintanilla mentioned rich investors who want to become “hedge fund rich,” but then focused his segment negatively on such investment firms.“[T]he people who…

Complete with a background track fit for an indie horror flick, NBC’s “Today” bashed student loan companies and colleges with a segment on “student loan schemes.”On June 21, consumer correspondent Janice Lieberman ignored personal responsibility as she bashed colleges and lenders without giving them a chance to rebut.“You would assume that the college you choose would be on your side and find the…

What you don't know about your kids' sneakers can kill them!Hmm, I'm getting a strange sense of déjà vu.The Washington Post's Fredrick Kunkle let a leftist group skate away with the bland "nonprofit group" tag. The group, the Boston-based World Against Toys Causing Harm (WATCH) named Heelys -- a pair of sneakers with small wheels recessed into the heel -- the worst toy of 2006.But a review of…

The Los Angeles Times is on the case of mean government bureaucrats who are making poor, innocent kids cry in their lunch milk. CHULA VISTA, CALIF. — When too many parents fell behind on paying for school lunches, the Chula Vista Elementary School District decided to get tough — on the children.They told students with deadbeat parents that they had only one lunch choice: a cheese sandwich.The…

You know the scorpion that killed the frog in that old fable? According to Columbia Journalism Review (CJR), that’s Rupert Murdoch.CJR, a magazine for “professional journalists” published by Columbia Graduate School of Journalism fired the latest shot in the mainstream media’s fight to stop the sale of The Wall Street Journal to the News Corporation CEO.“[Bancroft] family members sensibly fear…

That’s right, a food police group has turned cereal killer. What's worse, the media don't see any foul play.Fruit Loops cereal’s brightly colored mascot Toucan Sam, along with Sugar Smack’s Dig ‘Em and Rice Krispies’ Snap, Crackle and Pop are likely to be axed due to an agreement between Kellogg Company and the food police group Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI).“Early Show’s”…

Our friends at Investor's Business Daily are taking a seven-part look at the media's incompetence in reporting market:Media bias has been detected in other studies, but this series raises an additional possibility – media incompetence in analyzing and explaining how the economy and financial markets work.Installments will cover how the media report on subjects like tax cuts, deficits, trade and…