CNBC host Jim Cramer acknowledged on the January 17 "Today" show that the media's consistently negative reports about the economy contribute to the possibility of a recession by lowering consumer confidence and spending.
"Today" anchor Matt Lauer told Cramer, "People come up to me and say on the street ... they say, ‘Why don't you stop talking about recession? Because simply by talking about it, you're going to freak out consumers and definitely push us into one.' Is there any logic to that thinking?"
"The answer," Cramer said, "is that we have to point out the positives with the negatives." What a novel concept!
In the first two weeks of 2008, the media have focused heavily on fears of a recession in spite of the fact that two surveys of economists put the chances of recession at less than 50 percent. The media have focused on the likelihood of a recession by a ratio of 4-to-1 over the probability the U.S. economy won't see one.
But Cramer also defended the negativity. "We have to report the news," he said, "and there is an astounding decline in business in the country. If we say that there isn't, we cannot be possibly doing our jobs."
No one is saying to not report the news. All we're asking is that the media report all the news, both sides of the news. And even Jim Cramer realizes they're just not doing that when it comes to covering the economy.
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"No one is saying to not
January 17, 2008 - 11:44 ET by Chris Norman"No one is saying to not report the news. All we're asking is that the media report all the news, both sides of the news."
May I add to that: ...and not sensationalize and hype any negative news for the purpose of aiding the Democrats in the upcoming election?
You're right about the media
January 17, 2008 - 11:55 ET by landsharkWith the recent successes in Iraq, the Dems have had the carpet yanked out from under them. What does that leave them with? The economy.
The problem for them is that the economy has been booming for 6 straight years and they have to resort to calling an economic slowdown a recession. Good thing the MSM has been carrying their water, huh?
When the media stoops to
January 17, 2008 - 11:59 ET by Chris NormanWhen the media stoops to gimmicks as looking at the sales of ladies sweaters as an economic forecast, I'd say they are trying way too hard to look for bad news anywhere they can find it - legitimate or not.
The left's attack on this
January 17, 2008 - 12:04 ET by rbosqueThe left's attack on this administration continues. If the anti-Iraq tactics didn't work, fear-mongering on the economy might... They're going to run out of ammo soon.
...and global warming is
January 17, 2008 - 12:07 ET by tater...and global warming is turning to global climate change. I'm glad to see more snow...it's less bullets in their gun.
Do you realize how much it costs to run for office? More than any honest man could afford. -Montgomery Burns
As soon as the
January 17, 2008 - 13:06 ET by mattmAs soon as the RooseveltLincolnClinton/Hussein Obama ticket gets elected, the MSM will start talking up the economy again. Just like in 1992, they'll start crediting Cli-bama with "creating a sense of optimism that is already translating into real economic progress even before taking office!"
Liars
Can someone help me out?
January 17, 2008 - 14:14 ET by tracyz20So I have several friends who state that the economy is "terrible" and the US dollar weak abroad solely because of the war (of course it all ends up being Bush's fault) and the billions "wasted" there. I am pretty awful at understanding economics but I am pretty sure this is nonsense but don't know how to defend my argument. It is true that the exchange rate of the dollar isn't so great in many countries now but I don't think it can possibly all be because of wartime spending. Can anyone give me a brief economics lesson?
When you or I don't have any
January 17, 2008 - 18:33 ET byWhen you or I don't have any money and can't pay our bills, they don't get paid.
When our government is out of money and can't pay its bills, they just print up more cash.
It's bastards like this
January 17, 2008 - 17:54 ET by KhyrisIt's bastards like this moron who are the reason my 401k has been maimed by 10% within the first 2 weeks of the year.... creating panic and skittishness over NOTHING!!!
The media was loath to say
January 17, 2008 - 21:09 ET by liberal_bug_zapperThe media was loath to say anything good about the economy when it was roaring... and all they did was talk about recession, for the last four years, it's been "Lost Jobs" and "Possible Rescission" and "Failing Housing Market" when of all three of those topics they've touted over the past four years, only two have happened just in the last six months. So, essentially, they reported bad news so often, they pushed the economy into recession. This should be a crime... these people are criminal for what they've done.
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"We can only reason from what is; we can reason on actualities, but not on possibilities." ~ Thomas Paine
Bingo we've done it
January 17, 2008 - 21:33 ET by algoa456It goes without saying that a recession in 2008 is ideal for getting a Dem elected so........ there is no doubt that the media have helped to talk the nation into a major downturn. I'm not a conspiracy theorist - no Dem or lefty sat down to plan this, but the thousand little media voices, the thousand points of darkness have achieved their aim.
In the last year of Bush senior the NYT and WaPo reported extensively on homeless people sleeping in parks and under bridges. It all helped. According to LexisNexis the homeless stories fell to almost zero two weeks after Clintoon was elected. A miracle of the Clintoon presidency.......