Economy

On Tuesday's Early Show, CBS's Bigad Shaban, seemingly grasping for straws for any reason to report on "Occupy Wall Street," played up the music performances from protesters down in lower Manhattan. Shaban emphasized how "music has helped spur movements," and gushed that "some believe if history is any indication, they could provide harmony to a movement." The correspondent highlighted that…

If you listen to Occupy Wall Street-loving media members, you'd think income inequality in America is worse than anywhere else in the world. Quite the contrary, a chart from World Bank economist Branko Milanovic's book "The Haves and the Have-Nots” paints an entirely different picture:

New York Magazine, no right-wing rag by any stretch, recently asked 50 Occupy Wall Street protesters some basic questions about U.S. fiscal policy. While the survey is not scientific, the rank-and-file protesters in Zuccotti Park seem to be woefully ignorant on such basic questions as what the SEC stands for (Securities and Exchange Commission), what the top marginal income tax is (35 percent…

In a softball interview with Senator Kirsten Gillibrand on Monday's Today, co-host Ann Curry praised the New York Democrat for "galvanizing women to become economially empowered" and "trying to inspire a lot of people." In a segment free from any challenging questions, Curry helped promote a women's economic summit that Gillibrand organized in New York City: "Why do you believe that women…

While media gush and fawn over the Occupy Wall Street protests wondering how President Obama can take advantage of the sentiments being expressed, they're conveniently ignoring a crucial detail. As MSNBC's Joe Scarborough said on Tuesday's Morning Joe, "He got more money from Wall Street than any candidate in the history of U.S. politics" (video follows with transcript and commentary):

It comes as no surprise that Occupy Wall Street protesters continue to be arrested due to their disruptive and violent behavior, but according to a new video released by EAGtv, it seems as though being paid to protest is not the only Occupy Wall Street scam. The video captures protestors pre-arranging who in the crowd is going to be arrested so cameras can catch the most dramatic footage of the…

Actor Martin Sheen thinks that Barack Obama is "a very special man" that is "doing a great job." In an interview with HLN's Joy Behar to be aired Tuesday, Sheen also said the President is "still the only adult in the room" (video follows with transcript and commentary):

UPDATE, 4 p.m.: NB gets results? The Lowe's story is currently #10 on the AP's Business home page (saved here). It's a good thing I heard this on the radio at about 11:00 a.m., because I might otherwise have missed it. With yours truly's opinion along for the ride, I'll let readers judge whether the news of the Lowe's home improvement chain announcing that it will close 20 stores and cut its…

Appearing on Sunday's NBC Today, Meet the Press host David Gregory proclaimed that the Occupy Wall Street protests would "...dovetail nicely into a big message that the President's selling, which is that the wealthy should pay more....that banner of going after Wall Street and the banks, talking about unfairness that a lot of protesters that are complaining about." [Audio available here]…

In the wake of the Occupy Wall Street protests, former Jimmy Carter National Security Advisor Zbigniew Brzezinski said Monday that lists of citizens "who make largely through speculation enormous amounts of money" should be created and made public in order to "pressure some of those people to give some of it back, back to society." "I think public disclosure by the mass media could go a long…

On Saturday's NBC Nightly News, correspondent Michael Isikoff filed a report recounting criticisms of GOP presidential candidate Herman Cain's 9-9-9 plan, as Isikoff asserted that "critics see more pain, not gain, for struggling families." His report continued:

Sometimes it's really hard to understand why certain events get heavy national press coverage while others which are arguably at least as significant and serious get little if any notice. This is one of them. Scott Walker, who solved a $3 billion projected deficit in Wisconsin, is a media and leftist (but I repeat myself) arch-villain because much of the balancing was done by adjusting public-…

On Friday's Inside Washington on PBS, regular panel member Nina Totenberg of NPR incorrectly claimed that the "top tenth of one percent" of income earners in America "controls something like 20 or 30 percent" of the nation's income, and went on to characterize the economic situation as being worse than it has been in "hundreds of years," as she suggested income gaps were at a level that "people…

Yesterday, Joe Weisenthal at Business Insider reacted to the mixed economic news of the day by observing: "Lots of folks are scratching their head about today's dismal UMich/Reuters consumer sentiment number coming in so ugly, just as retail sales for September came in so strong." It seems that the folks at the Associated Press were not among the head-scratchers. From all appearances, the…