ABC Train Trip Finds Economic Misery, Desperation

Photo of Scott Whitlock.

Beginning on September 15 and continuing through the 19th, "Good Morning America" has been touring America via train and finding economic misery and despair along the way. During the three special shows that have aired so far, which ABC has dubbed the "Whistle-Stop Tour '08," the program traveled to struggling towns in Massachusetts, Ohio and New York. On Monday, while talking with an elderly man who had lived through he Great Depression, co-host Diane Sawyer described him as someone who had survived "another time of economic crisis." (As a comparison, a quarter of the population was unemployed during the Great Depression. Unemployment today stands at just over six percent.)

On Tuesday, co-host Robin Roberts mentioned the people of Rome, New York and their "tough times." "...Some of them are feeling hard times," she added. On Wednesday, near Gustavus, Ohio, Roberts reported from a small town that "is not booming." While visiting the "suffering town" of Niagara New York on Tuesday, Sawyer talked to parents at a high school hockey game and lamented, "There were moms up in the bleachers, who say they have to look across the river [to Canada] too and wonder about American leadership."

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Now, of course, some Americans are going through tough economic times, but the U.S. is not in a recession. (That requires to quarters of negative growth.) Further, where are the segments on American entrepreneurs and those actively living the American dream?

Instead, GMA repeatedly featured stories of extreme desperation and sadness. On Tuesday, an unidentified husband in New York told Roberts, "My mother called and asked when we are going to visit? We've had to put a visit aside. It's only a five hour drive. But just taking the time off from work and the fuel money, we just had to postpone it."

Paul Cantrell, the 89-year-old who Sawyer said remembered "another time of economic crisis," despondently told the host, "I owe a oil bill from last year. My taxes are not completely paid up. This never happened to me before. And I really don't know what I'm going to do about it. It's just not -- it's not the same life as I've always had."

Now, his pain and suffering is obviously real. But is this what GMA's train tour is going to exclusively focus on? Despair? At the very end of Wednesday's segment on "economic misery," Roberts proved that it is possible to highlight bright spots. Speaking of Eerie, Pennsylvania, she observed, "When those jobs disappeared, the city government shifted its focus from industry to tourism investing in promoting its sparkling late, a state park and a casino. Today, over four million people a year visit the Gem City." During this week long trip, it would be nice if GMA could devote full segments, not just asides, to such American success stories.

A transcript of one of the economic misery segments, which aired at 7:31am on September 16, follows:

DIANE SAWYER: You know, we've been talking so much about the fact, all day yesterday, you and I kept hearing from people, their plea, just jobs for this area. Please, jobs for this area. They want to work. And here's a cautionary tale. If you look at the American side, used to be 100,000 people here about 50 years ago. And so many jobs from left, even since 2000. Look at the Canadian side. I thought I was in Brunei for a moment. What is the cautionary tale? Last night, when we got in, we went out to take a tour to give a tale of two cities.

ROBIN ROBERTS: Quite a contrast. We're in Stockbridge, Massachusetts. Rockwell country. Rich in culture, art and theater. And as we were making the train ride here, we saw quite a difference.

CHRIS CUOMO: Boy oh boy. You know, in the '90s, when Wall Street was peaking, the manufacturing jobs were leaving this country, in a town like Niagara, New York, you really. see it.

ROBERTS: They lost a huge chunk of the population, especially in the '90s.

[Touring the city and abandoned buildings.]

CUOMO: Look at it. It's just totally fallen into disuse. They say that this used to be the big avenue to shop.

SAWYER: I, too, first visited the U.S. Side of Niagara, where the average income, $27,000. Look at these places. My gosh. Just imagine, turning a corner. Looking across the water and seeing this. Is it Las Vegas? No. Is it Oz? No. Welcome to Canada. Same river. Same falls. Same mist. But the average household income here in Canada is almost double. The average home on the New York side, about $61,000. But on the Canadian side, worth more than $100,000. Here it is, dark, dark, dark, dark. One casino, and voila, the Canadian side, all lit up like this. What's the lesson here? That's what we keep asking? What is the lesson for the U.S. economy and for jobs? [On the Canadian side of the border.] I wonder how many jobs there are on this side of the border, just right here. Jobs, teeming. Up four percent in the last year alone. And we'd even heard that, on a Monday night, in September, these hotels, these massive hotels, were full? [Walks into a hotel.] Hi. Nice to see you. I'm with "Good Morning America." Want to say hello to you. I just wondering, how full are you right now?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We are sold out, almost. We only have a couple rooms left.

SAWYER: You're almost sold out? I head back over to the American side. And we decide on a spur of the moment, to visit my first town hockey game. It looks like some rough hockey out there. There were moms up in the bleachers, who say they have to look across the river too and wonder about American leadership.

UNIDENTIFIED MOM: Right. I can't figure out why our government doesn't see what's going on there to bring it over here. And the tourism.

SAWYER: These moms also worry that their children will not only leave the nest, they're going to leave town.

SECOND UNIDENTIFIED MOM: We have great universities. Great state colleges, to educate your child here is wonderful. But to go beyond that, they have to relocate.

SAWYER: And the young fans down front, told me the options are, really, fast food, a bit of construction, even though they would love to stay at home. Why not go some place you know there's a lot of work?

UNIDENTIFIED TEEN: Just home spirit. I like staying at home.

SECOND UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm not going to leave.

THIRD UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm thinking about it.

SAWYER: Readiness to work and pride in their suffering town. We heard it all over. Whistle stop GMA 2008.

—Scott Whitlock is a news analyst for the Media Research Center.


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Hmm any Horse and Buggy dealers featured

Hey, you think GMA will feature some Horse and Buggy dealers who can't make ends meet due to them there new fangled things called Cars?

How about all those people who did repetitive jobs that were placed by machines and computers?

Every advance in modern technology brings with it a period where a generations skills become outdated and essentially useless for the masses.

As great as the boom of the 90s seemed, it also brought with it greater productivity and a need for less people.

Liberals, however, see a job as a right.  If a person doesn't have a job it must be because someone denied them a job.  Also, they think, are act like they think, skills are learned once and kept for a lifetime of usefulness.

In today's market, you have to constantly learn new skills or find ways to make your current skill set useful to employers.

Name That Party

While visiting the "suffering town" of Niagara New York....

Did GMA happen to mention the mayor of Niagara, NY Paul Dyster is a progressive Democrat that is throwing taxpayer money at everything green?  Didn't think so.

What is Mayor Dyster's own assessment of the job he and other Niagara city officials are doing?  "So far, our track record is not exactly stellar."

"There were moms up in the bleachers, who say they have to look across the river [to Canada] too and wonder about American leadership."

Makes sense.  Your local leadership, that in their own words "is not exactly stellar" is evidently too depressing to wonder about.

So the MSM can find a

So the MSM can find a city/town where the local economy is poor and they paint the whole economy that way. It would not be surprising to me if you could find cities/towns that are in bad shape during an economic boom and make the economic picture in this country look grim. This is “cherry picking” journalism at it’s best. Why not look at the economy in say Chicago or Minneapolis or Dallas, and not in some obscure town in upstate New York? Why do they lack drama and not help your ratings nor push your liberal political point of view MSM?

Actually....

What we call "the economy"  is far worse than you imagine; we are looking at a potentially devastating collapse, not because of "democrats" or "republicans" but unbridled greed - read this link below: the FDIC itself, the supposed guarantor of banks, may run out of money! What do we do? Print money like the Germans did after WW One? That worked out pretty well, didn't it?  

Bear, Washington Mutual, Lehmans, AIG, etc, are all collapsing, yet the top dogs are walking away with up  to $100 MILLION golden parachutes - think of that = $100M  PER EXECUTIVE - the very people who fiddled while Rome burned; this is like rewarding a heart surgeon for killing his patients, or an automobile maker who sold dangerous, explosive lemons - blamed the customer - and got bailed out, with bonus $$$ to boot !

 

 

http://news.yahoo.co...

 

Zucco

Any particular reason you left the CEO's of Fannie and Freddie out of your golden parachute club?

Do you think the Feds should ask for a special prosecutor to look into Fannie and Freddie?  After all, Fannie and Freddie are NOT strictly private firms such as the ones you mentioned but are in fact government-sponsored entities.

"....not because of "democrats" or "republicans"..."

Oh really?  Fannie's regulator, the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight, has reported that Fannie has been cooking its books for years.  Then why isn't the leadership of the House and Senate calling for special investigators to look into Fannie and Freddie?  Based on the Fannie and Freddie 'special' arrangement with the Federal Government shouldn't they be held accountable to all US taxpayers?

"Fannie Mae isn't an ordinary company and this isn't a run-of-the-mill accounting scandal. The U.S. government had no financial stake in the failure of Enron or Worldcom. But because of Fannie's implicit subsidy from the federal government, taxpayers are on the hook if its capital cushion is insufficient to absorb big losses."  Source

Maybe Americans need to take a closer look at which Party has been in bed with Fanny and Freddie and which Party has been critical of Fannie and Freddie's questionable accounting practices.  Perhaps this information will get you up to speed.  There are a wealth of links provided at the above source that should open the eyes of all US taxpayers to which Party has been profiting from the corruption at Fannie and Freddie.  If not for the Congressional leadership covering for Fannie and Freddie there would already be a public demand for a special prosecutor and subsequent grand jury investigation of the relationship between Fannie, Freddie and individual politicians.  Don't you agree? 

I see Zucco didn't answer

Let these companies fail. It's called capitalism. This idea of public risk and private gain is a recipe for failure and invites reckless behavior, as seen in the case of Fannie and Freddie. The reckless CEO then goes over to Obama's campaign and vet his VP choices.

"Do you think the Feds

"Do you think the Feds should ask for a special prosecutor to look into
Fannie and Freddie?  After all, Fannie and Freddie are NOT strictly
private firms such as the ones you mentioned but are in
fact government-sponsored entities"

The Obamassiah won't allow it.  Half of the people working his campaign would be under investigation and headed off to Federal Prison. *Big grin at that thought*

the ceo s of those two

the ceo s of those two giants sure have a lot to answer for...and should be thoroughly investigated..as an independent,i do not follow any party bull..the dems sure did nothing to halt what went  on there..but just as bad as that was, phil gramm was point man in repealing the glass-steagall act..which was a huge factor in things getting out of control...greed has no party affiliation..neither does criminal activity and when the backbone of this great nation ,the american people realize this ,only then will we pull ourselves out of this hole

the ceo s of those two

the ceo s of those two giants sure have a lot to answer for...and should be thoroughly investigated..as an independent,i do not follow any party bull..the dems sure did nothing to halt what went  on there..but just as bad as that was, phil gramm was point man in repealing the glass-steagall act..which was a huge factor in things getting out of control...greed has no party affiliation..neither does criminal activity and when the backbone of this great nation ,the american people realize this ,only then will we pull ourselves out of this hole

I heard the ABC Heartbreak

I heard the ABC Heartbreak Express will not exceed 10mph due to all the hopeless Americans trying to hurl themselves onto the tracks.

Realy? Hope it comes round

Realy? Hope it comes round here : ]

 

"Television is a freak show" Bernie Goldberg

The train should take a

The train should take a detour to California. First, to interview the poor downtrodden Hollywood types that gave $9M to Obama last night.

Second, to go down to Mexico to visit the new Natural Gas facility that California refused to be built in the state. $1B facility; 3000 jobs lost because of -- ENVIORNMENTALISTS. These left-wing wackos are doing more to bring down our economy than anything else -- except for Congress, of course.

___________________________________ 

If you can read this, thank a teacher. If it is in English, thank a Soldier. - My barber

This is a pattern for the

This is a pattern for the MSM during election cycles.  Back in 1991, they played up the recession.  Nothing but bad news.  You were made to believe that almost everyone in the country had either lost their jobs or were in imminent danger of losing their jobs.

Rest assured, any time there is a divided government wherein one party controls the legislative branch and the other the executive branch, the MSM will  emphasize that the Republicans are to blame for a dismal economy and the Democrats are responsible for a healthy economy.  In fact, the economy's ups and downs will occur no matter what party is in control.

If Bill Clinton were President now and the Republicans controlled Congress, who do you think the MSM would blame?  And they would be sure to emphasize the (R) next to the names.

Sort of like the problem of

Sort of like the problem of "disenfranchising" certain minority voters, and Republicans not wanting "all of the votes to be counted" somehow magically disappeared in 2006 when the Dems. took back control of congress.  Amazing!!  How did the Dems. accomplish that feat in one election, and now it's back again, and we haven't even voted yet?

Living in Southern Ontario,

Living in Southern Ontario, I'd have to say Niagara Falls Ontario is about the slimiest town in the country. Lousy food, hustlers, government casinos addicted to people with the gambling disease. cheap entertainment....kinda gross. The reason it is popular is Canada got the Tourist side of the falls. The falls are spectacular from the Cdn viewing points. Too bad about what grew around them. On another note, shouldn't reasonably priced housing be celebrated? 

"On another note, shouldn't

"On another note, shouldn't reasonably priced housing be celebrated?"

It shows you how out of touch celebrities really are.  An income of $27,000(if you don't have a huge family) may be ok in a small town where the avg. housing price is only $61,000, rent is lower and things are generally cheaper.  Of course, you couldn't live on that in LA or NY or many part of the country, but you might be able to there.

Ahhh, The ABC misery tour.

Happens just about every 4 years. Except in the '90s. They skipped it then for some reason.

You want change? Give me a dollar.

Who was President then??

CHRIS CUOMO: Boy oh boy. You know, in the '90s, when Wall Street was peaking, the manufacturing jobs were leaving this country, in a town like Niagara, New York, you really. see it.

 Let's see now, who was President when all of those manufacturing jobs were leaving this country??  Oh well, it was probably Bush's fault anyway . . .

You know, I've just about

You know, I've just about had it.  I'm an engineer for an OEM in the auto industry, so trust me, I know about economic uncertainty.  But all this doom and gloom perpetuated by this train wreck - excuse me, trek - throughout the hinterlands is just too much. 

Of all the millions of people they pass by on their journey, what, nobody's doing okay?  Nobody's making ends meet or better?  Nobody's got a spare dollar in their wallet?  Puh-leeze.

For example, FTA - On Tuesday, an unidentified husband in New York told Roberts, "My mother called and asked when we are going to visit? We've had to put a visit aside. It's only a five hour drive. But just taking the time off from work and the fuel money, we just had to postpone it."

First of all, taking time off is called "vacation", dude.  Look into it.  You're actually being paid while you're not working.  Secondly, doing a quick calculation on a five-hour road trip, presuming a 70mph speed limit and a gas-guzzling fuel efficiency of 15mpg, I figure it takes less than $200 for the round trip (at $4/gal).  And yes, I understand that $200 is still a lot of money for some folks to spend, but is it the end of the world?  Let me go out on a limb here and say, NO.  If you really want the kids to see grandma, I've got to believe that you can find a way to work the gas money into the budget, even if you have to spread it over a few months. 

Seems like the only things missing from this great adventure are huge dust clouds swirling across the plains, soup kitchen lines stretching around the corner of the buildings, and photos of hobo's being knocked upside the head as they try to hitch a ride on ABC's train to better times. 

Is there absolutely no integrity left in the news media today?  At long last, is there no integrity, sir?

And in magic instant...

they will become all better if Obama becomes president. The same train will find people excelling and succeeding....amazing isn't it?

How about Grandma &/or

How about Grandma &/or Grandpa getting off their butts and going to visit the kids and grandkids?  (Yes, I'm speaking to you, Mother, even though you don't read this, and we don't have kids.)  And, do the people need to go to their parents house monthly?  How often did they go to visit before?  Can they emotionally handle not seeing the parents/grandparents?  Has it been a year or more since they last visited?  So many questions not answered in the story.  Who knows, maybe they went to visit every weekend, and can only go 1X/month now, or maybe they went 1X/month and can only go 3-4X/year.  Is that really such a big deal?  Surely, a 5 hour trip is possible.  That isn't that far!  We're not talking a trip to Disney World here.

Integrity?

... in the news media?  That made me laugh, but you are correct, sir.

I don't watch ABC or any other alphabet soup media so I rely on others like you all to let me know what they are up to.  Thanks for that by the way!  I really wouldn't have expected anything else from these people.  All they want to do is show despair and suffering so people will think the economy is in the toilet and that the country sucks.  Then they can propose the solution, in Obama of course.

They should come to my small town in Washington where we're doing just fine, where my husband and I pay our mortgage with no problem and still save, where we make choices with our finances and one of those choices is keeping our football season tickets.  We may not eat out as much and my husband doesn't drink as much diet Mt. Dew (which is probably a good thing!), but as responsible adults we have to make choices and can't always do the fun stuff like we want to.  You can't drive to Grandma's house?  Give me a break, examine your finances and make it work if you want to go there!  This is part and parcel of being an adult.  You make choices and face the consequences.  I think a lot of people out there need to realize that and grow up. 

Republicans believe every day is the 4th of July.  Democrats believe every day is April 15th ~ Ronald Reagan

So if they don't have a casino

how is that the President's fault? States make laws about gambling, not the feds. Petition Albany and fix the problem, or create some other new industries in Niagara. The heavy manufacturing ain't coming back. I know it's not easy but it's better than complaining and watching your town go downhill.

I was up in Vermont last

I was up in Vermont last summer and took a day trip over the border into Canada.  The first thing that struck me was what were all these tree carrying trucks doing going north.  The answer is that the environmental wackos ran the paper pulp companies over the border into Canada.  Along with the companies went thousands of American jobs.

The next thing that struck me was that on this side of the border was this huge multi story building under construction.  I asked our friends what it was.  They stated that it was a new hospital.  I stated that it couldn't possible be for the rather modest population on our side of the border. They said you're right.  It is for the Canadians - the land of "free" health care. They come over the border to use our health care system because theirs is so lousy.

The other fact that our drive by media fails to apprise Americans on is that we get more oil and gas from Canada than any other country on the planet.  The question that has to be asked.  If we have as much or more oil and gas in our country than Canada.  Why aren't we getting it?  

dimocrats = insane

drive by media = DNC talking heads

Amen!

My dad had his hip replaced in North Dakota about 3 years ago.  He had 5 different Canadian patients taking rehab with him at different points during his hospital stay.  One in particular, whose hip joint had degenerated to bone on bone, was told it would be 12-18 months before he could get in for his surgery.

If you're so desperate and

If you're so desperate and want to work so badly, why don't you move and find a job.  Find work elsewhere.  Other people have to do it, so why don't you.  Quit looking wistfully across the river to Canada(and casinos that destroy lives and the economy while giving the appearance of prosperity) and whining about your pathetic existence, and get off  your butt and look for a job ELSEWHERE!!  Good Lord!!  I see that mentality where I live right now.  I am sick to death of it.  People would rather sit around whining and complaining about how awful everything is where they live, but they won't bother looking elsewhere in the country for a job. 

The problem isn't the US Government, it's the mentality of the people living in such places.  They truly don't want to move ahead into the future and what it brings, and this isn't just since Bush was elected(as Sawyer tried to tie the 2 together), it's been going on in my area since the '60's.  The people of the small town I live in(where hubby grew up, but trying to encourage him to take the leap and move to FL--it's the mentality, I tell you) are literally destroying their town by not wanting to look to the future, but the past.  It's really idiotic.  It's the first time I have lived in a place in my life where the population has DECREASED. 

Also, so what if their kids move away and not just "out of the nest"?  Maybe they don't want to live in the past like their parents, but want something more for their lives.  Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying all small towns are like this, it's just a glaring personal example of the above mentality.  And, quit looking to government to solve all your problems in life!!  We're Americans, and we fix our problems personally, not via government.

*hands off the soapbox to the next person*

Ohio and New York Should Despair they are run by Democrats

Way to go NBC in featuring 2 Democrat states who are depressed, because they are ruled by Democrats.

Maybe next time you can go to Illinois and blame Tony Rezko infilitrating Islamocommunist money into the Obama campaign which is corrupt as the Daley machine.

and how about visiting Delaware where Beau Biden tossed an innocent Larry Sinclair into prison and then threatened him with life for a misdemeanor as he was telling the world about his rendevous with bi sexual Barack, and Joe got a Vice Presidential slot for that quid pro quo.

Lot of despair in Democrat run states, go get me ABC.

 

*HIC IACET ARTORIVS REX QVONDAM REXQVE FVTVRVS

Misery and tough times

  The only misery and tough times I am feeling is hearing the warmed over* crap on a biscuit that is (cue music: boom bam boom) Whistling-crap Tour '08.

 

* in the microwave of course

Rush Limbaugh has said it best

Rush Limbaugh has said it best:

1. "Federal spending has skyrocketed through the roof to the point now that we're over $3 trillion federal budget every year.  And yet the Democrats don't change the tone.  The country's still horrible.  Everybody's just a paycheck away from losing their jobs and becoming homeless.  Everybody is just miserable. It's a soup line!  There is no prosperity, there is no opportunity for prosperity, there is no hope -- unless we elect Democrats."

2. "They (liberals) see no America exceptionalism.  They want everybody to believe that everybody else in this country is barely making it, barely hanging on, and that the only solution to this is more and more of what has created the poverty circumstances that the Democrats decry. Because it is liberalism that creates poverty, promotes poverty, extends poverty, and spreads it, and they want eight more years of power to keep doing it."

3. "In every major Democrat campaign this happens.  Soup Line America! This is how they want you to see your country, on the verge of collapse, where indigent citizens are clamoring for a savior to fix their lives, but what would be amazing -- and we never have to worry about them doing this -- it would not be possible because they don't see things this way."

4. "Why, look at these poor people suffering needlessly simply because of eight years of Republican rule.  How can you look at these people and be proud of your country?  That's why we Democrats share with you the fact that we are not proud of our country.  How can you look at these people and hear their stories and be proud of it. How can you look at these people and even feed yourself tonight? How can you look at these people and even let your kids go to college tomorrow without feeling overwhelming guilt."

---------------------------------------------------------------

The liberal media continues to sacrifice ethics and morals for the greater cause: The Election of a Democrat to the Presidency of the United States.

ABC A train wreck in the making

Instead of Whistle Stop Tour 08, I think ABC could borrow a page from the Beatles and Obama and call it The Magical Misery Tour!

All I can say is.......

This should be in the new fall line-up for all MSM news.....

http://www.jibjab.co...