Crickets: Fed Official Finds No Evidence That QE Accomplished Anything
August 20th, 2015 10:26 AM
Imagine if, in 1987, a Federal Reserve official could have pointed to a poorly performing economy and said, "Gee, this supply-side economics hasn't worked out very well." The press would surely have treated the story as a front-page item and ensured that it got air time on the Big Three networks' then-dominant nightly news broadcasts. Of course, there was no such credible report, because the…
Sharpton Lobs Softball Query to EPA Chief Over Animas River Pollution
August 18th, 2015 8:48 PM
Last week, you may recall, an EPA bureaucrat fouled the Animas River in Colorado by accidentally unleashing a torrent of polluted water from an abandoned mine. Fast forward to today and the Obama/McCarthy EPA's announcement of a new rule intended to tighten methane emissions from oil and natural gas exploration. MSNBC host the Rev. Al Sharpton brought on EPA administrator Gina McCarthy to discuss…
Undisclosed Hillary Bundler at CNN: She 'Revived America's Reputation'
August 18th, 2015 3:43 PM
Yesterday, CNN.com published a attempted defense of Hillary Clinton's tenure as Secretary of State by Eleni Kounalakis. An "Editor's Note" before the piece begins describes Ms. Kounalakis as the "United States ambassador to Hungary from 2010 to 2013," the author of a book on her time there, and "a senior adviser to the Albright Stonebridge Group" (as in "Madeline Albright").
The "editor" at CNN…
AP Finds No Policy-Driven Causes Why Millennials Can't Buy Homes
August 17th, 2015 6:32 PM
Several commenters at my econ-related posts during the past several months here at NewsBusters and my home blog have noted how Washington's mix of high deficits, over-regulation, and quantitative easing never seem to get any kind of blame for the economy in establishment press coverage.
One could hardly find a better example of that deliberate avoidance than Josh Boak's writeup today at the…
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CNN's Avlon: Obama's 'Nuanced Negotiating Style' Is 'Inspirational'
August 17th, 2015 5:19 PM
On Monday's New Day, during a discussion of GOP presidential candidate Donald Trump's recent criticism of President Barack Obama's deal with Iran on the Islamic state's nuclear program, Daily Beast editor and liberal CNN political commentator Jon Avlon oddly claimed that Obama has a "nuanced negotiating style" that is "inspirational" as he responded to the GOP presidential candidate's comments.
Japan's Economy Contracts Again; Press Prescribes Even More 'Stimulus'
August 17th, 2015 1:20 PM
Japan, once a feared world economic powerhouse already at "two decades of little or no real economic growth," just reported that its economy contracted during the second quarter at an annual rate of 1.6 percent. The common thread throughout the two-decade slump has been the alleged need for ever-increasing levels of Keynesian "stimulus." Apparently refusing to believe there are any other…
AP Revises Job Growth Description From 'Seemingly Robust' to 'Solid'
August 13th, 2015 2:32 PM
It "seems" that a bit of doubt seeped into an economy-related Associated Press report today. An hour later, it was gone.
An early report by Josh Boak with a 10:22 a.m. time stamp found at a subscribing outlet's site described job growth in the past 12 months as "seemingly robust." An hour later, in an expansion of that early report primarily covering today's government release on July retail…
NPR Anchor Nudges Obama on Race With Praise from Leftist MSNBC Host
August 13th, 2015 2:11 PM
NPR Morning Edition anchor interviewed President Obama about just two topics: the Iran deal and race relations. On Wednesday’s morning show, Inskeep began with a question from the radical left – from black professor and MSNBC host Michael Eric Dyson – and then just prompted the president instead of really asking questions.
Dyson wrote a column for The New York Times going after the usual…
NPR Lets Obama Demonize Dishonest, Illogical Foes on Iran (Corrected)
August 12th, 2015 10:07 PM
NPR Morning Edition anchor Steve Inskeep was granted another interview with President Obama just before he left on another Martha’s Vineyard vacation, and the first story aired on Tuesday's Morning Edition, with a second on Tuesday night’s All Things Considered. The subject was limited to the Iran deal.
Despite the strange notion held by many liberals that NPR is a voice for civility in media…
AP Predictably Ignores All-Time One-Month Govt. Spending Record
August 12th, 2015 9:44 PM
Records are made to be broken, but apparently government spending records are not meant to be reported. The Monthly Treasury Statement released today showed that the federal government spent a mind-boggling $374.86 billion in July. That's an all-time single-month record, surpassing the previous high of $369.39 billion "achieved" in August 2012. Yes, there was a calendar "quirk" which caused this…
NPR Affiliate Host Violates Style Manual, Calling GOPers 'Anti-Choice'
August 12th, 2015 9:15 PM
On the August 10 edition of National Public Radio (NPR) Boston affiliate WBUR's Here & Now program, host Robin Young made reference to pro-life Republicans as "anti-choice." The reference, which violates NPR's own style manual, came in the midst of a discussion with Princeton University professor Julian Zelizer about Republican presidential candidates' plans to roll back various policy…
Arrest of 'Special Asst. to the President' Gets Scant, Poor Coverage
August 12th, 2015 10:52 AM
My, the news about Barvetta Singletary's domestic violence arrest involving gunfire has been kept mighty quiet.
Press reports have typically opened by describing Ms. Singletary as "a White House staffer." Several paragraphs later, readers learn that she is — or perhaps "was," as she has for now "has been placed on temporary unpaid leave and is banned from White House grounds" — the "special…
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Sharpton Astounded Rand Paul Thinks People Who Work Harder Earn More
August 10th, 2015 7:48 PM
In the liberal universe, there's no correlation between hard work or ingenuity and financial success. As President Obama recently put it, the rich are simply "society's lottery winners."
Sounding a similar theme, Al Sharpton today declared it "astounding" that Rand Paul believes that income inequality is due to "some people working harder." Astounding, indeed! What's wrong with Rand? How…
AP: 25 Percent Tax Increase on Earned Income Would be 'Modest Change'
August 10th, 2015 1:52 PM
Democratic President Franklin Delano Roosevelt signed the Social Security Act on August 14, 1935.
In anticipation of the New Deal-era program's 80th anniversary, the Associated Press's Stephen Ohlemacher presented as facts several unfortunately widely believed distortions. His worst offense against common sense was an item in his list of "modest changes" which could "save" the actuarially…