The Economy - By the Numbers
Holiday Sales up 22% From Last Year
Which is it? Both can’t be true at the same time. Either sales are up or sales are down. Looking at the articles and all the associated articles, it appears that sales are up (20+%) across the entire market. The negative numbers are specific sectors or sub-sections (enclosed malls). It appears that the negative articles are written such as to indicate that the market and economy are doing much worse than they really are. This isn’t the first time.
There is a significant amount of “talking down” of the economy. You can see this in the housing bubble theories, companies not doing enough, and the dire predictions of a weak holiday season (since proven untrue).
Unemployment is at 5.0%, despite two hurricanes. This is roughly half the rate of unemployment throughout most of Europe. Current income is up, GDP is growing (3.8%), and the stock market is up. Despite this, pundits insist that doom and gloom is coming even though economic indicators will continue to show increases.
Let’s be honest a moment, it isn’t the Republicans campaigning on a bad economy, it’s the Democrats. It’s in their campaigns that the economy is in the tank and everyone is suffering despite the complete lack of any evidence to support it. Income is up. Home ownership is up. Unemployment is down. Home values are up. Almost every traditional indicator shows that the economy is growing, yet the perception is fostered that we are heading towards the Great Depression.
This trend in reporting shows two things. Democrats are beyond using facts to scaremonger voters about the economy. Instead of coming up with a platform to better America, they spend their time telling America how bad things are. Facts be damned. Second, it shows that the press, once again, is in the tank with the Democrats agenda and is carrying the water for them. The story is a roaring economy, but they search and scour for some shred of evidence to talk it down. Objective reporting or campaigning? I think the answer is clear.
Just like death, taxes, etc., there are a few journalistic certainties in life. One is that every summer there will be a news spot about how poorly the farmer is doing. It will be too hot, too cold, too wet, too dry, prices will be down, aliens will be eating the corn, always something. Another is that every December, there will be reports of how disappointing holiday sales are. Customers will be worried about war, peace, rising interest rates, falling interest rates, whatever. The weather will be be too warm, too cold, too much snow, not enough snow, you get the idea. Inevitably, when reliable retail sales figures come out in February, they almost always show an increase despite the negative reports, but by then the reporters are getting ready for the annual farm disaster.
Comment by barry | November 28, 2005