Economy

In its April 2018 Monthly Treasury Statement, the federal government reported that it ran an all-time single-month record $214 billion surplus, primarily because it took in a record $510 billion in receipts. The Associated Press's Josh Boak ignored the collections record, even though the AP noted the previous record when it occurred in 2015. Instead, Boak presented a different and far smaller out…

You don’t see this very much on network television: CBS This Morning on Thursday allowed a spirited defense of the free market. Home Depot co-founder Ken Langone appeared to promote his new book I Love Capitalism: An American Story. Co-host Bianna Golodryga quizzed Langone as to why Bernie Sanders prompted the billionaire to finally write his memoirs: “You said you were motivated because you saw…

On Wednesday, the California Energy Commission adopted "standards requiring solar systems for new homes" beginning in 2020. Kathleen Ronayne at the Associated Press published a virtual press release celebrating the move, and presented woefully incomplete information about the alleged financial benefits of this unelected body's latest move.

Media outlets been hyping the recent increase in retail gas prices to nearly $3 per gallon, and primarily pinning the blame on President Trump's withdrawal from the Iran nuclear "deal." In 2012, when the price approached $4, CNN told readers that they "aren't as bad as you think," and that they weren't "a big drag on the economy" — and besides, according to the New York Times, "Gas prices are out…

In spite of recent media attempts to speculate about when the economy might experience another downturn, a recent survey of global businessmen found a majority anticipate the U.S. economy to remain strong over the the next three years. Zurich Insurance Group, EY, and the Atlantic Council surveyed 497 CFOs in 30 countries and found most of them confident about U.S. investment. The survey was…

The media are treating the economy like a good-news/bad-news story. The good news is the economy is going well and unemployment is down to just 3.9 percent — the best since 2000. The bad news is ABC, CBS and NBC evening news programs don’t want to talk about it. ABC's World News Tonight, CBS Evening News and NBC Nightly News continued to supply minimal reporting of economic issues between April 1…

The press has mostly gone off the rails in covering President Trump's proposal to rescind $15 billion in unspent funds, insisting on characterizing the move as "cuts." The competition for the worst coverage is fierce, but Andrew Taylor's story at the Associated Press, as carried at the Washington Post, probably wins the prize for the most incoherent headline: "Administration proposes cutting $15…

Before the massive growth of our welfare state, private charity was the sole option for an individual or family facing insurmountable financial difficulties or other challenges. How do we know that? There is no history of Americans dying on the streets because they could not find food or basic medical assistance.

The force might have been with ABC on May 4, but interest in the U.S. labor market certainly wasn’t. That night World News Tonight with David Muir spent a meager 15 seconds announcing the April jobs report which showed the lowest unemployment rate since 2000. That 3.9 percent was what other journalists called a “wow number” that could even help re-elect President Donald Trump.

You had to figure that a left-leaning journalist somewhere would denigrate Friday's news that the nation's seasonally adjusted unemployment rate fell below 4 percent for the first time since 2000. Jordan Weissmann, in a Slate.com column beginning with a headlined contention that "The Unemployment Rate Is Meaningless," came through.

It isn’t news that The Washington Post often attacks the Trump administration and downplays good news regarding its policies. This is the same Jeff Bezos-owned publication where an editor praised Michelle Wolf’s White House Correspondents dinner jokes, that has blasted Trump’s tax cuts and promoted Trump critics.

The unemployment rate dropped below 4 percent for the first time since 2000, prompting analysts to call it a “wow” number. It also provoked a surprising election analysis from MSNBC Morning Joe contributor Donny Deutsch on May 4.

Protests by workers and activists and, in some cases, violence by anarchists marked the far-left holiday May Day this year. But most American news consumers would not have known that some London demonstrators carried communist flags and banners of brutal Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin. They weren’t told that communists marched in Athens, Greece, or that anti-capitalist anarchists destroyed…

At Slate.com on Friday, Felix Salmon called the Ford Motor Company "heartless" for its plans to phase out most of its car models, because "The losers, of course, will be the workers." Saturday, Ford responded that no jobs will be lost at its Chicago Assembly plant in converting it to light truck production. Salmon posted that response at the end of his column, but in three days he and Slate haven…