In a stunning example of how the mainstream press manipulates public opinion, as well as a clear explanation as to why the majority of the American people believes that the economy is doing poorly despite mountains of statistical evidence to the contrary, the press today decided to largely ignore one of the biggest one-day declines in energy prices in many months.
As I reported here yesterday, oil prices at the NYMEX dropped by almost three dollars per barrel, with gas prices declining by almost ten cents. Yet, after scaring the American public with regular predictions of economic gloom and doom concerning inflationary fears tied to escalating energy prices the past few weeks, America's two most prominent newspapers -- the New York Times and the Washington Post -- must have decided that good news on the energy front wasn’t deserving of the public’s attention. (cont'd...)
To be more precise, the Washington Post published a market recap from Bloomberg with this paragraph buried deep on page D03:
Crude oil for September delivery tumbled $2.83 a barrel in New York, the steepest decline since April 27, as a government report showed that inventories were sufficient for refineries to make gasoline for the final weeks of the summer./>
And, America’s newspaper of record didn’t put reporters on this story either. Instead, buried deep on page seven of the business section, the New York Times’ editors ran an Associated Press article with this as the fourth paragraph:
The slide in oil prices cheered investors enough to send stocks higher. September crude futures fell $2.83, to $63.25, on the New York Mercantile Exchange - down nearly 6 percent from Friday's record peak of $67.10.
That's it! AND, NO reference to gas declining by ten cents per gallon!
Do you think either of these fine papers would have devoted more space and time to this story if oil had gone up by three dollars, and gas rose by ten cents in one day? I guess energy news is only news to these people if prices are going higher.
And people wonder why the American public feels poorly about an extremely strong economy.
