Economy

Superheroes, the naming of a new royal and an adorable child umpire were all more important to ABC, CBS and NBC news than the latest U.S. economic data. The Commerce Department announced a better-than-expected estimate of GDP — 2.3 percent — for the first quarter of 2018. In recent years, first quarters have been beset with weakness and economists expected the number to be 2 percent or a little…

On-air editor Rick Santelli announced the first quarter gross domestic product (GDP) estimate for CNBC’s Squawk Box on April 27. “Holy cow! Better than expected up 2.3 percent. You know many were thinking, and there’s a lot of reasons to believe so, that it would be a bit under the 2 percent. So 2.3 of course, as follows 2.9 last quarter,” Santelli said.

CNBC’s on-air editor Rick Santelli reacted to the April consumer confidence numbers positively, but the same night ABC, CBS and NBC evening news programs all ignored the latest update of consumer attitudes toward the economy, as did their Spanish-language counterparts, Univision and Telemundo. “Some breaking news: Consumer confidence, we are looking for a read on April and the number is 128.7,…

In a stunning departure from MSNBC’s normally steadfast adherence to Democratic Party talking points, on her 9:00 a.m. ET hour show on Thursday, anchor Stephanie Ruhle actually grilled Democratic Hawaii Senator Brian Schatz over his party’s obsession with impeaching President Trump and questioned whether “centrist” “capitalist” voters would really vote for “far left” Democrats in the November…

The Federal Reserve and the Conference Board both issued positive progress reports about the U.S. economy last week. Neither got a peep from the broadcast networks on those days. In fact, on April 18 and 19, the evening news broadcasts on ABC, CBS and NBC included just one economic story — and it wasn’t about either of those positive economic updates

Looking at the grief Starbucks has received for problems with two patrons at a Philadelphia store, one might ask why current Executive Chairman and former CEO Howard Schultz didn't buy some media protection by purchasing a major newspaper. Fellow Seattle-area resident and Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos did that with the Washington Post in 2013. Amazon's alleged engagement in 21st-century sweatshop…

The GOP-passed tax legislation passed in late 2017, remains a centerpiece of the 2018 mid-term elections. One side will be praising it, the other attacking it. USA Today only seems to care about who backs one side of that battle. Advertisements celebrating or attacking the tax bill were the focus of an April 17, USA Today front-page exclusive. It reported that “GOP groups and candidates have run…

Celebrity promotion of liberal views are predictable as death and taxes. But these days the media also take these opinions seriously, trying to turn absurdities into news. The latest example was the media frenzy over a Tweet from Sen. Bernie Sanders promoting 25 year old rapper Cardi B’s economic opinions. The rapper was already a fan of Sanders, having encouraged people to “Vote for Daddy Bernie…

When World War II ended, Washington, D.C.'s population was about 900,000; today it's about 700,000. In 1950, Baltimore's population was almost 950,000; today it's around 614,000. Detroit's 1950 population was close to 1.85 million; today it's down to 673,000. Camden, New Jersey's 1950 population was nearly 125,000; today it has fallen to 77,000. St. Louis' 1950 population was more than 856,000;…

When President Bill Clinton signed the welfare reform act in 1996, which he negotiated with then-Speaker Newt Gingrich, the left claimed people would starve. They didn't. According to the nonpartisan Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, between 1996 and 2000, the employment rate for single mothers increased from 63 percent to 76 percent. 

Robert Johnson, the founder of BET television and America’s first black billionaire, had some positive things to say about the economy in April, but most liberal media failed to notice. The one national paper to cover it delayed including it in the print edition for more than a week. Citing multiple factors including “fairly stable” interest rates, the “Trump tax cut,” and historically low…

Whether America is still racist probably depends on how the term “racism” is being defined in the discussion. Are we talking about official government policies? Are we discussing genetic determinism and innate inferiority? Are we referring more broadly to negative opinions about people from different racial or ethnic backgrounds? Or are we simply talking about people who disagree with us on…

You’ve probably heard already. April 10, was “Equal Pay Day,” a symbolic day media, politicians and celebrities use each year to complain about gender-based pay discrimination — by abusing a statistic that does not illustrate that.

A fuzzy animal, faulty directions and famous murderers all outranked the latest jobs report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The BLS announced on April 6, that the U.S. added 103,000 jobs in March and unemployment remained low. However, the more than 25 million combined viewers of the broadcast networks' evening shows weren’t notified that night.