Economy

NOTE: Skip to the last paragraph to get the media bias-related conclusion/speculation. ______________________________ The Institute for Supply Management's November report tells us that manufacturing's winning streak is over: Economic activity in the manufacturing sector failed to grow in November for the first time following 41 consecutive months of growth, while the overall economy grew for…

On his November 28 program, CNN's Lou Dobbs accused a major American corporation of sponsoring terrorism. But in leveling his charge, Dobbs didn't bother to give viewers a balanced perspective on American exports and business dealings in foreign countries that, to say the least, are not the nicest neighbors on the geopolitical block.But while it's understandable to be critical of American…

Another exasperating storyline from the MSM: the economy may be just fine overall but its screwing over 20-somethings who have to live with mom and dad.My colleague Dan Gainor wrote up a review of the media's reheating the tired old storyline: In the November 26 “World News Sunday” story “Young & in Debt,” anchor Dan Harris talked up the story about twentysomethings “forced…

For journalists, the answer depends on whether they are covering the shopping season or company layoffs.______________________ Last year, I sensed that journalists in general prefer to call this time of the year in commerce that of "holiday shopping" instead of "Christmas shopping," but that when it came to people losing their jobs, they preferred to describe layoffs as relating to "Christmas…

Mark Trumbull of The Christian Science Monitor has noticed something I mentioned last week, but had to try to get a dig in while doing it (bold is mine): American paychecks are rising again at a pace not seen since the 1990s. The pay increase amounts to 4 percent on average over the past 12 months, and it comes at a very helpful time for millions of households. For three years, pay increases…