It’s a game I play and since we are in a debilitating rain-loop, thought I’d pass it on. Play it with your kids for hours of happy fun time! It’s easy! Let Grandma play too!
Simply pay attention to headlines and first lines of news stories about the economy (or the war, or anything!). It’s educational! Teach your children how to compare and contrast by studying how first lines can make economic news seem either positive or negative, for fun economic, polling and presidential impact!
Here’s one!
Headline: New jobless claims plunge, retail sales improve.
Sub-header: New jobless claims plunge unexpectedly to 610,000, while retail sales improve in April
New applications for jobless benefits plunged to the lowest level in 14 weeks, a possible sign that the massive wave of layoffs has peaked. Still, the number of unemployed workers getting benefits climbed to a new record.
First line: positive.
Now, let’s look at another news story, this time from 2005:
Headline:
There go 800,000 jobs out the door
Subheader:
UCLA: Housing slump to hit building and finance employment, slow the economy, but no recession seen.
The expected downturn in the housing market could end up costing 800,000 construction and finance jobs, putting a big dent in economic growth over the next two years, a report from UCLA said.
First line: Really, really negative. Incredibly negative. Terrifying.
Yes, that’s right, President Bush would have killed for a “first line positive” on economic stories while he was president; unemployment was 4.8% and tax-revenues were at all-time highs. Instead, during his presidency, we got, “Economists worry about possible downturns, despite 3 percent growth in this quarter.”
Think I’m kidding? Then read this and remember.
Remember this?
Our pals over in the MSM certainly do know how to confuse an issue. Check out these two headlines from the SAME news service, and the SAME writer, one day apart:
Greenspan Gets High Marks Despite Economy
U.S. economy grows at strong 3.8% rate in third quarter, despite hurricanes
That second headline, of course, is from the Canadian press who I suppose have less invested in trying to continually portray the economy as “troubling.”
Remember this and this, and this and this and this?
Remember when Durable goods were up 5.2%? It wasn’t that long ago, back when news was delivered with a poisoned rag.
So, there is a fun game for a rainy day. Read all the good news in 2009 and compare it to the terrible news of 2005!
I guess we should call this the “Remaking America Game!”
Meanwhile, the Massachusetts “free car” system is a “wash” because it cost $6,000 a family, but saves the government laying out $6,000 in cash to a family.
When does the actual budget cutting begin, anywhere? Is this really the government’s job? Free cars with free insurance and free maintenance? Hey, I’m starting to feel like a chump, over here. Stupid me, when I was a member of the working poor and couldn’t afford a car, I took public transportation.
Btw the way, Nancy got her millions. That sounds like a book or a play, doesn’t it?
More:
Sunbeams from Cucumbers!
Even George McGovern!: is against the egregiously-misnamed “Free Choice Act” aka Card Check aka “only Senators get secret ballots”
Lorie Byrd on the real deal on Jobs Now
Ed Morrissey: The Whims of Madmen
Lileks: Big Drop in Piano Prices!
Afghan Civilian Deaths: General says Don’t jump to conclusions.
WELCOME: HotAir/Greenroom/Slublog Readers! While you’re here, please look around. In the past day we’ve also linked to a heartbreaking amount of negative-leaning economic analysis, found a bunch of Great Summer Reading Lists, watched Boston Red Sox fans (!) help a handicapped kid sing the National Anthem and used a cartoon to explain the gist of Benedict XVI’s latest encyclical.
May 7th, 2009 | 4:56 pm | #1
Nancy got her millions
Hey, outside of DC a few million dollars is a lot of money, you know… Oh wait, oops! That’s the PR tag line for Obama’s budget cutlets. Ahem: A few million dollars is not that much money in the overall scheme of things, you know!
May 7th, 2009 | 5:57 pm | #2
“When does the actual budget cutting begin, anywhere?”
We had about 12 years of booming economy and record tax receipts, then a little downturn a couple years ago and many state and city governments were immediately in crisis mode (not budget cutting mode, obviously, but record deficit hand-wringing mode).
What were extraordinarily good times were treated as ordinary forever times so the moment the economy showed signs of normalcy, budgets went into collapse. Hardly a cent was put into rainy day funds, instead politicans spent like drunken sailors, and not just one time expenditures either. No, the budgets were full of new entitlements that had to continue come hell or high water. And my own New York just came out with an “austerity” budget of 8% spending increases and a dizzying array of new taxes to pay for it (especially dramatic tax increases forced by the inexplicable decline in receipts from existing tax sources).
When does the government share in this recession? Never? When they’re staring down the business end of our pitchforks?
May 7th, 2009 | 6:29 pm | #3
I think maybe people see through this better than we realize. After all, Fox is number one for a reason. I read somewhere that CNN is number 3 now and msnbc is number 2 and 2 and 3 together do not have the ratings of Fox. That is not because Fox has such great news, it is because it is the only network not saying the same thing over and over and over.
A trillion is a thousand times a billion. When Obama talks about the budget, that is what people need to understand. And they will not hear it from AP.
May 12th, 2009 | 11:02 am | #4
[...] ANCHORESS– “So, there is a fun game for a rainy day. Read all the good news in 2009 and compare [...]
May 21st, 2009 | 10:19 am | #5
[...] during the Bush administration. The low unemployment rate, the sustained growth; the good news always came with a “but” and a prediction of doom around the corner. When the doom finally came, though, the press [...]
July 9th, 2009 | 11:15 am | #6
[...] that happy news headline with how CNN headlined a story about potential job losses when a different party controlled the White [...]
July 9th, 2009 | 7:26 pm | #7
[...] that happy news headline with how CNN headlined a story about potential job losses when a different party controlled the White [...]
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