AP Headline Predicts 'Moderate' 2013 Economic Growth; First Sentence of Actual Report Says It Will Be 'Sub-par'

You've got to hand it to the headline writers at the Associated Press, aka the Administration's Press. They sure know how to abuse their power to shape public perceptions.

The headline at Martin Crutsinger's report this morning on projected economic growth for 2013, which the wire service is treating as this morning's "Big Story," reads: "ECONOMISTS PREDICTING MODERATE GROWTH IN 2013." Many people using computers, tablets and smartphones will see that headline, conclude that the economy's not so bad, and move on without clicking through. Too bad Crutsinger's first two paragraphs directly contradict that headline.

Here's a picture of that "Big Story" page with those first two paragraphs:

Isn't it amazing how "sub-par" and "lackluster" morphed into "moderate" in AP's headline?

Later in his report, Crutsinger has this odd sentence:

Since then economic growth has been modest as the economy has been held back by a variety of factors including prolonged unemployment.

Well, he's right about prolonged unemployment, but that's really the result of an economy which went through a recession followed by poor publicy policy choices, i.e., trillions in Keynesian "stimulus" ($800 plus billion in the 2009 stimulus plan plus over $5 trillion in deficits plus trillions in Federal Reserve "quantitative easing"). The right policy choices would never have allowed the average duration of unemployment to become twice as long (just over 40 weeks) as that seen at any time since World War II.

Getting back to the headline: AP's headline-writing apparatchiks seem to be doing all they can to keep low-information voters uninformed and misinformed.

Cross-posted at BizzyBlog.com.