Yeah, suuuure the traditional media and CNN are friendly to Democrats. I think I've heard more reporters (not economists mind you) worrying about the deficit and federal spending over the course of this morning than I heard over the entirity of the Bush administration. This isn't to say they are tax-cut friendly (Krugman is very concerned about the size of those) - they appear to be cringing about both tax cuts and spending. Because the anchor just did the math and noted ... we're going to be spending more money than we are taking in!
One really wonders 1) where these people were while Bush exploded the deficit the last 8 years, and 2) if they understand even the slightest thing about the current economic situation.
Posted by armand at January 5, 2009 09:28 AM | TrackBack | Posted to MediaI'm quite sure they don't really understand the situation. Many professional business and finance pundits don't -- hell, many economics profs don't. I recently had a conversation with a mildly eminent economist in which we together puzzled out exactly what the fuck the Fed has been doing with its balance sheet recently, what its implications really are, and why those screaming about imminent Weimar-style inflation are off base. (Those wishing a good readable summary are strongly encouraged to go here to read the article that helped us sort it all out.)
The average business-beat talking head doesn't have a clue and is just seeing things in terms of who was "right" in predicting various superficial aspects of the current crisis -- while overlooking the fact that many of these folks have been predicting doom for decades and are only "right" in the stopped-clock sense, making them a dubious source of forward-looking guidance.
Posted by: jacflash at January 5, 2009 11:37 AM | PERMALINK