Friday's 'Strong Jobs Data Brought Down Markets' Meme Doesn't Hold Up
Stocks took a beating yesterday. The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 279 points. The S&P 500 and the NASDAQ each declined by over one percent.
The subject line of a USA Today email I received shortly after the closing bell crystallized the establishment press "wisdom": "Dow plunges nearly 280 points as strong jobs data raises Fed rate hike fears." The problem is that even though the…
Mother Jones: Three Meals a Day Is Racist
Leave it to a writer at Mother Jones to dispense condescending healthy eating advice while serving up a side dish of alleged historical racism with a tincture of capitalism bashing.
Kiera Butler, a senior editor there, didn't have to engage in either exercise to make her nutritional points, which may have some validity. She must have felt that her primary headline ("Why You Should Stop Eating…
CNBC's Kudlow And Others: Why Is Economic Growth 'Controversial?'
Several conservative economic thinkers including CNBC's Larry Kudlow and media magnate Steve Forbes recently formed the Committee to Unleash American Prosperity in an effort to persuade aspiring presidents to focus on “the paramount challenge facing our country: slow growth and stagnant incomes.”
Three economists in the group explained their goals in a March 3, Investor's Business Daily op-ed.
AP Only IDs 4 of 5 Reasons Not to Worry About Downward GDP Revision
After yesterday's government report on economic growth reduced the fourth quarter's originally estimated increase in gross domestic product from an annualized 2.6 percent to 2.2 percent, you just knew that the Associated Press, aka the Administration's Press, would try to ride to the rescue.
Late Friday afternoon, the AP's Martin Crutsinger gamely tried to concoct five reasons why we shouldn't…
New Republic Writer: The Next Reagan Might Be Obama
Well before Obama moved into the White House, he believed his presidency would have “the potential for shifting the national paradigm” to the left as Reagan’s moved it to the right, and Brian Beutler contends that such a shift still could happen if “the economy’s rapid growth in recent quarters” continues.
Fiscal Times Falsely Claims Food Stamp Caseload Is Down 11 Percent
The Fiscal Times is a generally strong and informative online publication. That said, it has occasionally exhibits symptoms of what could be seen as either serious leftist bias, quite disappointing ignorance, or both.
One such example arrived in my email box early this morning. It contained the following headline and opening tease for a story about the food stamp program:
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Boehner Blowing Kisses Brings Back Bad Memories for Brzezinski
On today's Morning Joe, Mika Brzezinski suffered a bad bout of PKSD: Post Kiss Stress Disorder.
After a clip was rolled of John Boehner blowing kisses at a reporter, Mika got all verklempt, exclaiming "I know a lot of dirty old men who did that to me. I'm throwing up. That brought back bad memories." Things got so bad for poor Mika that she eventually fled the set and had to be coaxed back.
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Guess Who Said 'Decline of Middle Class Tied to Decline of Unions'
Who said: "I've always believed the decline of the middle class could be tied to the decline of unions. And when you have 7%, 8% of the work force in unions, when you have CEO pay going up to record heights, you're going to have a hollowing out of the middle class." Was it a. Elizabeth Warren; b. Robert Reich; or c. Ed Schultz?
Correct answer: d. None of the above. It was Joe Scarborough on…
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Schultz Guest Attacks GOP 'Patriotism': 'Undermining Security'
In a classic example of phony political jujitsu, an MSNBC contributor has tried to turn the patriotism issue back against Republicans. Appearing on today's Ed Show, Steve Clemons attacked the "patriotism" of GOP congressional leaders, accusing them of "undermining the security of the nation."
This because Republicans have attached amendments to the DHS funding bill denying funds for President…
AP's Kuhnhenn Enjoys Obama 'Taunting' GOP Over 'Improving' Economy
On Friday, Jim Kuhnhenn at the Associated Press, aka the Administration's Press, seemed to enjoy President Barack Obama's rant against Republicans and others grossly dissatisfied with the economy's performance on his watch. He described Obama as "taunting Republicans" in his speech at the Democratic Party's winter meeting in Washington.
The wire service itself seems less enamored of Kuhnhenn's…
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Saturday Night Humor: Cavuto Admits That It's All Fox News's Fault
Thursday on his Your World show, host Neil Cavuto went after the Obama administration's near obsession with the coverage it gets on Fox News.
While Team Obama can count on the Big Three triumvirate of ABC, CBS and NBC to toe the line, promoting its points while generally avoiding damning information, Fox has generally remained fair and balanced, an approach which has clearly gotten under their…
Shhh! Looks Like Economy Didn't Grow That Fast at End of 2014
On February 12, in a report on inventories, the Associated Press's Martin Crutsinger referred to an economist who believed, in Crutsinger's words, "that the economy expanded at a 2 percent annual rate in the final three months of the year (2014)." That result would be a fairly significant downward revision to the 2.6 percent rate the government estimated in late January.
The next day,…
Blogger: GOP Wants Dems to Sneer at Dropout Walker
The American Prospect’s Paul Waldman argues that “anti-intellectualism has often been an effective way for Republicans to stir up class resentment while distracting from economic issues. It says to voters…[d]on't aim your disgruntlement at Wall Street, or corporations that don't pay taxes, or the people who want to keep wages low and make unions a memory. Point it in a different direction, at…
Another Month, Another Selective AP Federal Deficit Report
The federal government today reported a $17.5 billion budget deficit for January. That brings this fiscal year's shortfall through four months to $194.2 billion, up from $182.8 billion during the same period last year.
As usual, the Associated Press's coverage, this time delivered by Martin Crutsinger, named the nation's "Worst Economic Writer" by National Review's Kevin Williamson two years ago…
