Recession
The Economy: Avoiding the 'U-Word' Doesn't Mean It's Not Still Happeni
June 11th, 2010 10:47 AM
The establishment press is either getting tired of being beaten up over using the U-word ("unexpectedly," or sometimes "unexpected") to the point of excess when economic news disappoints, or has itself wearied of using the word. Here's the Associated Press's Martin Crutsinger on today's retail sales report letdown, courtesy of the Commerce Department. The bolded sentence seen after the jump is…
Newsweek’s Alter: Obama ‘Prevented Another Great Depression
June 8th, 2010 9:12 AM
Appearing on Monday’s The Colbert Report on Comedy Central to promote his book, "The Promise," MSNBC political analyst Jonathan Alter – also of Newsweek – asserted that President Barack Obama had "prevented another Great Depression," and declared that Obama had it more difficult than Franklin Delano Roosevelt because he had to "sweep up" like a "shovel brigade" after President Bush, as he used a…
Sloppy, Erroneous AP Reporting Supports Schumer's Proposed Foreign Cal
May 30th, 2010 11:57 PM
The federal government saw its tax collections fall by almost 20% in fiscal 2009 compared to fiscal 2008. Through the first seven months of the current fiscal year, year-over-year collections were down by another 4.5%. New York Senator Charles Schumer (pictured at right; obtained from wbng.com) is desperately searching for another way to fleece taxpayers (because cutting spending is of course…
Media Tout CBO Stimulus Numbers, Ignore Their Disconnect From Reality
May 27th, 2010 1:19 PM
Update - 5/27, 3:08 PM | Lachlan Markay: A new Harvard study finds that increased government spending actually reduces economic activity, contradicting the basic premise behind CBO's assumptions. Details below. Good economic news is so rare for the current administration, that when some does emerge, many in the media parrot it as fact without really examining the claims that undergird it. New CBO…
Former NYT Bureau Chief Wants Greek-style Riots in US - Media Silent
May 26th, 2010 12:22 PM
The New York Times's former Middle East Bureau Chief thinks violent revolt is a laudable response to economic woes, and that murder is at least acceptable in pursuit of a far-left agenda. The media so concerned with the potential for violence from conservative groups are completely silent."Here’s to the Greeks," wrote Chris Hedges at Truthdig.com. "They know what to do when corporations pillage…
Wayne Newton Slams Obama for ‘Irresponsible, Arrogant’ Shot at Las
May 22nd, 2010 11:35 PM
On Saturday’s Huckabee show on FNC, as the show was broadcast from Las Vegas, singer Wayne Newton appeared as a guest to discuss the economic situation in the city, and, when asked by host Mike Huckabee his reaction to President Obama’s remarks from last year attacking businesses for indulging in trips to Las Vegas, Newton did not mince words: "I think that it was the most irresponsible, arrogant…
Liberal Writer Ponders Media Double Standard on Unemployment, Can't Se
May 14th, 2010 3:12 PM
Believe it or not, there are some who still fail to grasp the notion that the legacy media are overwhelmingly liberal. They act shocked when the media do what they usually do -- toe the liberal line -- and search in vain for some way to explain the apparent bias."Does the Media Care About Unemployment?" asked Kevin Drum, a writer for the liberal Mother Jones. Drum postulated that that "the media…
AP Won't Dare Compare: April Deficit Report Ignores Huge April '07 and
May 12th, 2010 9:50 PM
The comparison of the results contained in the April 2010 Monthly Treasury Statement released this afternoon to April of last year is bad enough. But if the American people knew that April 2010 came in about a quarter-trillion dollars worse than both 2007 and 2008 with almost 40% less in tax collections, most of them would be appalled. Many more than are already doing so would be questioning what…
CNN Money's Plan to Save Social Security: Raise Taxes, Soak the Rich
May 12th, 2010 8:46 PM
Jeanne Sahadi at CNNMoney.com has finally realized Social Security needs urgent reform - and by reform, she means going after the wealthy, of course. On Monday, Sahadi reported on news from the Congressional Budget Office that Social Security is dipping into savings already this year and will not be able to meet its obligations by 2037. That's at least 15 years earlier than what the CBO had…
Man Who Predicted 2008 Financial Crisis Says Today's Sell-off Is 'Just
May 6th, 2010 8:49 PM
The man who predicted the bursting of the housing bubble as well as 2008's economic collapse says that what happened in the markets around the world today is just the next stage in the financial crisis."The first stage was this massive re-leveraging of the private sector that led to the financial crisis and which has responded now with a massive re-leveraging of public sectors with budget…
Media Heresy: Bill Clinton Helped Cause 2008 Financial Crisis
April 24th, 2010 1:04 PM
In the past 20 months, liberal media members have routinely blamed 2008's financial crisis on George W. Bush, Republicans, Wall Street, and greed.Someone that has hardly ever been accused of having a hand in what led to the tumult is former President Bill Clinton.As NewsBusters has been reporting almost since the crash began, it was Clinton who signed into law two key bills -- the Financial…
Pentagon Rescinds Franklin Graham’s Invitation, Al Sharpton is Welco
April 23rd, 2010 10:21 AM
The Pentagon rescinded the invitation of evangelist Franklin Graham to speak at its May 6 National Day of Prayer event because of complaints about his previous comments about Islam. The Military Religious Freedom Foundation expressed its concern over Graham's involvement with the event in an April 19 letter sent to Secretary of Defense Robert Gates. MRFF's complaint about Graham, the son of…
After Obsessing Over Enron's Political Friends, Media Mostly Ignore Mu
April 20th, 2010 5:02 PM
President Obama has extensive ties to Goldman Sachs. Yet even given record-breaking financial contributions and sketchy relationships between Goldman executives and Obama officials at the highest level, the mainstream media will not afford Obama the same scrutiny it gave to George W. Bush during the collapse of Enron.Obama's inflation-adjusted $1,007,370.85 in contributions from Goldman employees…
Obama Lied, Jobs Died: AP Report on Economy Out of Twinsburg, OH 'Forg
April 19th, 2010 1:44 PM
On the surface, it's one of the Associated Press's better dispatches from the real world on the state of the economy as people are experiencing it. Datelined in Twinsburg, Ohio, Megan Barr's Monday morning report, "Recession is ending? Some Americans don't buy it," does a good job of mixing macro and micro elements, painting a picture of a struggling town, a non-improving state economy (now…