Unemployment

The economy shed far more jobs in December than economists had expected.The Labor Department announced moments ago that nonfarm payrolls declined by a surprising 85,000 workers last month. Economists had been expecting no change or maybe a small decline.One bright spot was healthcare which added another 22,000 jobs. Despite efforts by Democrats to "reform" this industry, it remains one of the few…

In the eyes of many in the liberal media, President Obama can do no wrong. If he does, it's not his fault; he is simply a victim of circumstance, or he made the best decision he could given the options. One can tell news items portraying Obama in this light by their descriptions of problems in the passive voice.Take yesterday's New York Times article by Jackie Calmes, for instance. The piece…

This is the fifth year I have looked into how the media treats these two topics: The use of “Christmas shopping season” vs. “holiday shopping season” (note how the AP photo at right uses “holiday” and not “shopping,” even though there is a C-C-, Chr-Chr-Christmas tree in the picture). The frequency of Christmas and holiday layoff references. I have done three sets of simple Google News…

In keeping with the tradition of the holidays - the minds at MSNBC, the place for politics if you're of the lefty persuasion, decided rate the top 10 political stories of the decade. And leading this gang of masters of the political journalism universe was "Hardball" host Chris Matthews, who on the broadcast of his Dec. 24 program, announced that conservative activism, mainly the tea party…

On December 8, Susan Gustafson at MLive.com proclaimed that "GM's announcement of no more layoffs is good news after years of hemorrhaging jobs": General Motors' announcement this morning that it plans no further layoffs in the immediate future is huge news for both the automaker and Michigan as a whole after years of steady erosion in the ranks of hourly and salaried workers..... the company…

Angry, frustrated, troubled, disappointed, disgust, disrespect - words not normally associated with holiday season. However, they were words Katie Couric used to describe where she sees the mood of country right now. Couric, the anchor of the "CBS Evening News," in a live Facebook video chat on Dec. 22, took on illustrating her view of the populace - a not very sunny picture (emphasis added). "I…

If you believe polls, current Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke favorability has been slipping. A recent Rasmussen Reports poll indicates that only 21 percent of Americans favor his reappointment as the Fed chair. And this hasn't gone unnoticed by some members of the Senate, where Bernanke's fate lies. Bernanke's reconfirmation passed through the Senate Banking Committee by a 16-to-7 vote…

In his 1981 inaugural address, former President Ronald Reagan said, "Government is not the solution to our problems; government is the problem." Nearly 29 years later, that still holds true according to CNBC "Mad Money" host Jim Cramer and former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan. Both Cramer and Greenspan were guests on NBC's Dec. 13 "Meet the Press" and although neither was making a vain…

A sign reading "Welcome to Obamaville Colorado's Fastest Growing Community" appeared at a homeless tent city in Colorado Springs this week.You probably didn't hear about it because outside of two Colorado television stations nobody found this newsworthy.By contrast, when word got out in March of a tent city in Sacramento, California, news media couldn't get enough of the story.Is it because that…

Newsweek writer Kathleen Deveny found a strange way to spin the current economic recession as a blessing in disguise. In a column published Friday called "Unemployed Families Need to Man Up," Deveny visited the topic of working mothers and the difficulties of raising children while juggling a career. Conservatives who broach this subject are usually met with disdain from the liberal media for…

This is the fifth year I have looked into how the establishment media treats these two topics: The use of "Christmas shopping season" vs. "holiday shopping season" (the AP photo at right uses "holiday" and not "shopping," even though there is a C-C-, Chr-Chr-Christmas tree in the picture). The frequency of Christmas and holiday layoff references. I have done three sets of simple Google News…

Each year the Business & Media Institute looks back on the year's news and selects the top 10 worst economic myths. Here is our 2009 list: 10. CBS, NY Times Support Ecuadorian Shakedown of U.S. oil company9. Media Fail to Scrutinize Obama's Job Claims  8. Government Stimulus is the Answer to Our Economic Problems7. No Tax Increases for the Middle Class6. The Recession was Over ... by July…

Comedy Central's Jon Stewart used crude sexual humor Monday to bash President Obama's jobs summit.After playing a videotape of the President asking those in attendance at last Thursday's forum "for specific recommendations that can be implemented that will spur on job growth as quickly as possible," Stewart offered a somewhat vulgar idea.Delicately paraphrased, "The Daily Show" host suggested…