Economy

Human Events editor Jason Mattera set out recently to answer the age old question "how, exactly, does a socialist go about selling a book through a major American corporation". Apparently the answer for avowed socialist senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT.) the answer is "with a heavy dose of cognitive dissonance".

You would think that a story about the awful summer job outlook for teens this year would be receiving more than a little media play. So far, it's not getting much at all. Here are key paragraphs from the relevant unbylined Associated Press report ("Summer 2011 could be worst ever in teen job market, study finds"):

The Washington Post hopes you may want to "Widen Your World," with online "Master Class" courses that cost $200-$300 a pop. For example, there's Steven Pearlstein's "Introduction to Economic Literacy." [Lesson number one: don't spend $300 to have a liberal journalist lecture you.] Budding oenophiles can bone up on "The Wines of Bordeaux" with Joseph Ward, which you may need after…

Shortly after 8:30 this morning, I began thinking that my CNNMoney.com e-mail alerts had stopped arriving. So I went to the Census Bureau's web site and learned that its monthly report on housing starts, building permits, and other construction-related news had indeed been released. The news for the already moribund industry was awful: Building permits in April fell by a seasonally adjusted 4%…

Ed Schultz re-introduced his "Psycho Talk" segment on Monday after deciding in January to shelve the feature following the tragic shooting of Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords (D-Ariz.) in Tucson. This ended up being quite fitting, for earlier in the program, Schultz engaged in some psycho talk of his own accusing Republican presidential candidate Newt Gingrich of wanting to end the food stamp…

Martin Crutsinger's Wednesday, May 11 coverage of that day's release of Uncle Sam's April 2011 Monthly Treasury Statement was such a train wreck that I had to turn away before I could get through it, hoping against hope that if I came back a few days later it wouldn't seem so bad. Of course I was wrong. How was Marty Crutisinger's report erroneous, incomplete, misleading, and from all…

In the 10AM ET hour on NBC's Today on Monday, co-host Kathie Lee Gifford applauded the new HBO movie on the 2008 financial crisis, 'Too Big to Fail,' as "not a partisan film at all." However, after asserting that "It didn't take one side or the other," she touted the liberal moral of the story: "that greed is what got us there and lack of regulation." Left-wing actor Ed Asner, who plays the…

In an unbylined report this morning on homebuilders' continued pessimism, the Associated Press continues to mislead its readers and other news consumers about just how bad the market for new homes has been during the past two years. The government has been reporting new home sales since 1963. The 320,000 news homes sold in 2010, which followed sales of only 375,000 in 2009, are the two worst…

When an admittedly liberal Nobel laureate in economics thinks trying to balance the budget is holding America hostage, one has to wonder if there are any adults remaining on the left side of the aisle. Consider what New York Times columnist Paul Krugman wrote Monday:

Newt Gingrich came in for some serious criticism on today's Morning Joe.   Reacting to footage of Newt on Meet the Press alluding to Paul Ryan's health care proposal as "radical," Joe Scarborough accused Gingrich of being in "the mushy middle." Pat Buchanan came with the unkindest cut of all, saying Gingrich is "out on the left wing of the Republican party." View video after the jump.

The opening paragraph of Saturday morning's Associated Press report by Stephen Ohlemacher and Ricardo Alonso-Zaldivar on the state of Social Security and Medicare and an additional sentence from the third paragraph give away the fact that theirs will not be a missive that should be taken seriously (bold is mine): The bad economy is worsening the already-shaky finances of Medicare and…

New York Times columnist Paul Krugman said Sunday that Democrats should risk a debt default to avoid being blackmailed by Republicans that are holding a bomb "over our head" in the form of serious budget cuts. This came moments after FDIC chair Sheila Bair told ABC's "This Week" panel, "I think maybe there's a little too much testosterone in this debate. It’s too much about winning and losing…

"Inside Washington" host Gordon Peterson on Friday joined the ranks of liberal media members claiming Republican calls for Democrats to stop saying the GOP is trying to destroy Medicare is hypocritical due to their support for Congressman Paul Ryan's (R-Wisc.) budget proposal. When he got his chance to address this absurdity, syndicated columnist Charles Krauthammer marvelously set the record…

NPR's Nina Totenberg on Friday pleaded with Congress to raise taxes in order to balance the budget. When she did so, her fellow "Inside Washington" panelist Mark Shields, as if at a revival meeting, said "Amen" (video follows with transcript and commentary):