Back Talk

She said the major outlets do not report the news, they report the bad-news and they invariably left her feeling mildly depressed. I merged this information with my more recent awareness that the major media are monopolized by liberal thinkers who color their news writing with liberal ideas. I am still surprised at how long it took me to recognize how much news reports influence public opinion. I have accepted this condition as one of those things that I cannot change ala the serenity prayer, however, it still rankles me when I read articles that the Associated Press writers, who provide most of our so-called news stories, provide articles that are tainted with opinions. The most recent hackle-raiser was one more of those gloom and doom, the sky is falling, pieces in the business section scaring us about our country’s economic future, warning us of that worst of all ogres, stagflation. The writer clearly relished this one big time as it sends a double-barreled fright into the public – recession and inflation at the same time. These economic ignoramuses have been calling the economy “troubled” for Bush’s entire presidency, even during the economic boom after the tax cuts, either oblivious to the fact that economic problems are 80% mental or, more likely, hoping their bad news drumbeat will create the situation where people stop buying, investing, and contributing to growth and cause a recession. The writer filled in what few bad news statistics he could find with phrases such as, the economy is “probably” barely growing, and, the economy “nearly stalled” in the last quarter. The thing is that the economy is growing, albeit at a slower rate, and the economy did not stall in the last quarter. This twaddle came from an AP economics news reporter, no less.