Business Coverage

Prior to the Friday afternoon White House press briefing, CNN’s Wolf attempted to tamp down on the Trump administration’s positive vibes regarding the February jobs report, wondering if President Donald Trump is really able to “claim credit” for such a strong month. 

There is little doubt that the big economic news Wednesday was payroll and employee benefits giant ADP's estimate that the economy added 298,000 seasonally adjusted private-sector jobs in February. Over seven hours later, the New York Times did not have the news on its website's home page — or even at its "Business Day" business and financial news web page.

What everyone knew would happen as a result of Philadelphia's 1.5 cents-per-ounce soda tax began materializing on Wednesday, as Pepsi announced that it would lay off roughly 20 percent of its workforce there over the next several months. Coverage at both Philly.com and Associated Press allowed the city to engage in fantasy by claiming without meaningful challenge, or even clarification, that…

A week ago, the Columbus Dispatch reported that Wendy's, the fast-food chain, announced "plans to install self-ordering kiosks in 1,000 of its stores — about 16 percent of its locations — by the end of the year." Although company officials observed 18 months ago that such a move would be inevitable if the trend towards laws demanding far-above-market minimum wages continued, both J.D. Malone's…

In June, the City of Philadelphia, in what was hailed as a "historic moment for public health," passed a deliberately misnamed 1.5-cent per ounce "soda tax." What anyone with a lick of sense could have predicted would happen is happening, and the national press is mostly ignoring the tragic results.

On Tuesday morning's MSNBC Live, Louise Mensch, though she claims to be a conservative, put forth what I suspect will be the left's core economic argument if the economy improves under Donald Trump. That argument: The economy is "fantastic" already, and Trump will have had nothing to do with whatever economic improvements over what is already "fantastic" we might see.

UPDATE, Feb. 7: On Feb. 5, Jake Tapper tweeted that "if you're concerned about things being 'incomplete' maybe consider adding into your post Manchin on same show response to rule." I attempted to find that video, and could not. If it was so important, and in the interest of balance, one would hope it would be part of the CNN video at the web link cited below — and it's not. As Nicholas…

A January 24 item in the East Bay Times, which serves the San Francisco East Bay area, wondered: "What’s behind the spate of recent restaurant closures?" While it didn't ignore the problem, the article made only glancing references to current and planned increases in state and city minimum wages. Preliminary year-end statistics at the U.S. government's Bureau of Labor Statistics show that Bay…

Business people or companies who chose to endorse, donate or praise Donald Trump have been under attack from the left in recent months. Yet, the network news have failed to inform their viewers about it. The left took aim at L.L.Bean, Yuengling, New Balance and MyPillow for various forms of support  for President-Elect Donald Trump or for his proposed policies. Gay bars and other customers…

MRC Vice President of Business and Culture Dan Gainor denounced NBC’s attempt to downplay President-elect Donald Trump’s role in bringing new jobs to the U.S. On Twitter, Trump credited himself for new job creation on Jan. 17. The next day, NBC’s Today ran a “fact check” on Trump’s claim with MSNBC’s Chief Legal Correspondent Ari Melber, who said Trump had a “very small or non-existent” impact.

President-elect Donald Trump's threats against American companies looking to relocate in foreign countries have won favorable review from many quarters. Support comes from those alarmed about trade deficits, those who want a "level playing field" and those who call for "free trade but fair trade," whatever that means.

Broadcast networks slammed Trump’s plan to prevent his businesses from being conflicts of interest during his presidency, and provided scant balance to defend him. During his first press conference on Jan. 11, President-elect Donald Trump introduced his lawyer who explained Trump’s multi-pronged approach to prevent conflicts of interest. Trump’s plan included giving control of his businesses…

President-elect Donald Trump started a controversy on January 3 when he alleged in an early-morning tweet that "General Motors is sending Mexican made model of Chevy Cruze to U.S. car dealers-tax free across border. Make in U.S.A. or pay big border tax!"

In June, when UK voters decided to leave the European Union in the "Brexit" referendum, the U.S. press told the American people that the UK economy would suffer greatly as a result. Moody's economist and max Hillary Clinton contributor Mark Zandi predicted that it would be "going down the rabbit hole." At CBS News, Mellody Hobson said that "they're acting as if a recession is a foregone…