Wages & Prices

The economy is about to dive off a cliff and it's all President George W. Bush's fault, according to The New York Times editorial board. A January 2 Times editorial was pretty pessimistic about the economy in 2008, mocking Bush and forecasting doom. "As 2008 begins, house prices are still skidding, bank losses are still mounting, oil is again flirting with $100 a barrel and consumers are…

Just how bad is the economy doing? Well, according to Reuters, it's so bad out there that illegal aliens are heading back to Mexico. Almost sounds like a joke the late night hosts would make during their monologues, doesn't it? As a result, when I first saw this last evening (thanks to whoever sent it to me with apologies for not being able to identify who it was!), I thought it had to be a…

Since the stock and credit market turbulence began in July, NewsBusters has been informing readers that media continually predict recessions that never happen.On the sad flipside, bearishness in the press can become so pervasive that an economic downturn ends up being an unfortunate self-fulfilling prophecy.NewsBusters affiliate the Business and Media Institute made this very point in a late-…

Katie Couric, the "CBS Evening News" anchor who is paid $15 million a year for sinking ratings, can't seem to grasp the concept of free markets in sports.In an interview with New York Yankees star Alex Rodriguez, Couric questioned his new record-setting contract. The deal includes $275 million over 10 years and another $30 million in incentives, according to ESPN."Your new contract is worth $…

Steve Fraser might look mild-mannered, but when it comes to economic doomsaying, he is the Rocky Marciano of recession, the Tiger Woods of turndown, the David Beckham of depression.Speaking of bending one, Fraser's LA Times column of today, "Symptoms of an Economic Depression," twists U.S. economic data into a harbinger of impending doom. Fraser begins by falsely claiming that "no one wants to…

As the 2008 election approaches, the New York Times uses the image of a sinking red "RECE$$ION" to communicate a fear that is so far only a phantom menace. Peter Goodman's Sunday Week in Review cover story, "Trying to Guess What Happens Next," displayed plenty of pessimism about the U.S. economy after years of foreign-financed easy money. But the accompanying graphic communicated even more…

*****Critical update at end of post: Yahoo switched articles inside the link about to be discussed!Was there a directive at the Associated Press on Friday for business writers to do their darnedest to bash the economy? After publishing a truly disgraceful column Saturday practically predicting a depression as a result of the current credit crunch, the AP offered readers an article about the…

*****Update at end of post includes detailed response to unhappy e-mail messages concerning this subject.As someone that has done a lot of economic writing and financial media analysis, I'm used to gloom and doom from journalists. However, Saturday's Associated Press article concerning the credit crunch and how it's impacting the mortgage market could be the worst example of economic and…