Searching for Christmas, and the Missing Layoff Stories
This is the sixth year I have looked into how the media treats these two topics: The use of "Christmas shopping season" vs. "holiday shopping season," and the frequency of Christmas and holiday layoff references.
I have done three sets of simple Google News searches each year -- the first in late November, followed by identical searches roughly two and four weeks later.
A graphic containing…
LA Times Notes How Bureaucracy Bedevils Aspiring Chefs, Bakers
When it comes to business reporting, the media often tow a pro-bigger government line at the expense of the private sector. Profit-motivated businessmen are often portrayed as much less sympathetic than the allegedly altruistic souls that comprise the nation's core of politicians and bureaucrats.
But from time to time, a news outlet does shine a spotlight on just how much of a pain in the…
Robert Reich: Palin's a 'Realistic Candidate' for President, Not Clear
Former Clinton labor secretary Robert Reich made a couple of rather startling comments on ABC's "This Week" Sunday.
During the Roundtable segment, the devout liberal not only defended former governor Sarah Palin as a "realistic candidate" for president, but also questioned whether or not the government bailout of GM was necessary (video follows with transcript and commentary):
BBC’s Kay Suggests Tea Partiers Put Beating Obama Ahead of ‘Countr
Appearing as a panel member on Sunday’s syndicated Chris Matthews Show, the BBC’s Katty Kay suggested that Tea Partiers are willing to go against the "country’s interest" rather than to "deal" with President Obama. Kay: " And if there is going to be a wing of the Republican Party that says, do not on any issue, on any case, even on its merits, compromise with the President, it’s gonna be the…
Name That Party: In Iowa, With Lame Duck Raise-Granting Dem Gov, Drudg
The seemingly endless variety of "name that party" stunts has yet another wrinkle.
In this case, Matt Drudge is currently linking to a Des Moines Register story ("Culver OKs state pay raises"; also saved here at host for future reference) about how outgoing Iowa Governor Chet Culver has decided to rush through union contracts granting thousands of state employees 3% raises (before considering…
AP Dresses Up a Housing Confidence Index's Tiny Rise From Near Rock-Bo
On Thursday, I noted (at NewsBusters; at BizzyBlog) that the Associated Press's Marty Crutsinger and Chris Rugaber worked very hard to gloss over October's horrid housing market news as reflected in the Census Bureau's reports on housing starts and building permits.
That's bad enough. But a Tuesday report covering the latest release of the Housing Market Index (HMI) by the National…
Not News: IPCC Economist's Statement That 'Climate Change' Is Really A
I owe Ottmar Edenhofer thanks for two things.
First, I am grateful that Edenhofer, a German economist who is "co-chair of the U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change's (IPCC) Working Group III on Mitigation of Climate Change," has a last name on which searching is easy. I quickly determined that his name last name doesn't currently come up in searches at the Associated Press's main web…
Krugman: GOP Only Opposes Fed Easing Because Bad Economy Hurts Obama
New York Times columnist Paul Krugman on Friday said the reason so many Republicans are opposed to the Federal Reserve's new monetary stimulus scheme of quantitative easing is because they really want the economy to stay weak in order to harm President Obama.
Readers are advised to strap themselves in tightly in preparation for the paranoid lunacy on display:
Olbermann: FNC & Conservative Side ‘Close to Playing With Its Own Po
On Thursday’s Countdown show on MSNBC, after guest Howard Fineman of the Huffington Post predicted that Republican Congressmen would be reluctant to extend unemployment benefits, host Keith Olbermann asserted that, referring to congressional Republicans, "They don't live in this world. They don't live in this country. And I think we'd be better off if they didn't live in this country."…
Psst! Housing Market News Was Really Bad Wednesday; To AP, That Means
Gosh, what's a bigger story -- that to the extent it was ever happening at all the housing recovery "seems to have been aborted," or that according to the government there was very little inflation in October?
Undisclosed NBC Conflict of Interest Again Arises in Annual 'Green Wee
On Sunday, NBC Universal launched its annual "Green Week," as part of the company's "Green is Universal" environmental awareness campaign.
As NBC embarks on yet another week of "environmentally themed programming," it falls to media watchdogs to point out the massive conflict presented by NBC parent company General Electric's significant financial interests in the policies "Green Week"…
Buried or Ignored by MSM: Calif. Supreme Ct. Says Illegal Immigrants M
Yesterday the California Supreme Court ruled "that illegal immigrants are entitled to the same in-state tuition breaks that are offered to citizens who attend public colleges and universities."
The Associated Press reports that "[t]he high court unanimously upheld a state law that says any student, regardless of immigration status, who attended a California high school for at least three…
George Stephanopoulos Chides Michele Bachmann: Why Is It 'Okay' to Ext
For the second time in two days, Good Morning America's George Stephanopoulos on Tuesday lobbied for tax increases, wondering why it's "okay" for the "wealthiest Americans" to continue to receive a tax cut.
The GMA host pushed Congresswoman Michele Bachmann to accept a deal in exchange for extending the Bush tax cuts. After the conservative leader expressed skepticism about extending…
Nothing Certain Except Death and a Fair Tax
Every week, we receive more bad news about the American economy. Last week was no exception.
The Fed began monetizing the national debt, while China's gross domestic product for the third quarter expanded 8.9 percent from the previous quarter, Dagong (the Chinese quasi-government ratings agency) downgraded the credit rating of the United States, and billionaire George Soros expanded his…
