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[quote Fritz]I agree. I think happy media political sales are at an all time high. The media thinks, and is somewhat right, that Americans are like mushrooms, feed them bull and keep them in the dark.
And let's wait to call it a recession until the bottom drops out.
Always cracks me up when people use the word "media" as if it were singular.
"The Media". As if were a monolithic entity.
Which medium were you referring to?
The Wall Street Journal? NPR? The Socialist Daily Worker? Newsweek? Dermatology Today? Tractor Equipment monthly?
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> The layoffs may have an impact but it will take 6 mo. for that to have an impact.
Business -- which was booming right up until January -- fell off sharply.
My boss is talking layoffs.
It's impacting people right now.
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I'm laid off and I'm scrambling for free lance graphic jobs.
I'm recessed but not depressed.
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"TAKE IT TO THE BANK, WE ARE IN RECESSION."
When did the definition of recession change?
Two consecutive quarters of negative growth. It hasn't happened. The definition hasn't changed. Take it to the bank.
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Nope, they just changed how they calculate the statistics. Besides, the early prognostication before the official figures came out Friday was for 10K growth in jobs. Instead they got a 20K loss instead. The only way you get that and still have the unemployment rate not move up is if there a lot of people in the "discouraged" job seeker category.
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The figures HAVE been cooked distorted and withheld to keep it from meeting the definition. If you need to read tomorrows weather report to know it rained on you today, you are missing something important. The important thing is that by delaying the official pronouncement, it's hoped they can then say well now we're on the way out of that brief "market adjustment".
Semantics and economics, they go well together.
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Okay, the doomsayers prevail! Let the horror begin! Or make sure and remind everyone the horror already started, but you were among the first to accurately "call" it! Who cares what they call it? It's not exactly a secret, recessionary factors are adding up, the economy sucks. Economic analysts and news experts add a new dark chapter to the story every day. Many of us know that's not bad news, it's actually good news. Let's rub our hands together with glee. A bad economy right before an election is a good thing to talk up. We wouldn't want the economy to be okay, not yet. The timing is perfect.
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[quote guitarist]Okay, the doomsayers prevail! Let the horror begin!
Who is calling for doom? Saying that we're in a recession is not calling for doom. The economy is bad. It happens. Trying to extrapolate this to "the sky is falling" is just a strawman.
[quote blooz]I'm laid off and I'm scrambling for free lance graphic jobs.
I'm recessed but not depressed.
A recession is when your neighbor gets laid off. A depression is when you get laid off.
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[quote Lux Interior]
Who is calling for doom? Saying that we're in a recession is not calling for doom. The economy is bad. It happens. Trying to extrapolate this to "the sky is falling" is just a strawman.
It's a variation on the the point I was making. The whole deal is a strawman. Making a case to prove there's a recession. Or making a case to prove there isn't one. it's an imaginary argument. If it doesn't qualify as a recession according to the definition, then the validity of definition is dismissed. Why? Because the opposing Administration's appointees are in power, and they're distorting the definition by cooking the numbers. But if the favored Administration's appointees are in power, the numbers are accepted, and serve as proof the critics are wrong. It's characteristic of how national economic news is politicized during an election year.
One side is invested in denying, disproving, or minimizing bad economic news. The other side is invested in the opposite, and collect evidence to prove things are bad and getting worse every day. It's a predictable story. If Iraq makes progress, earth's surface temperatures are stable, or economic news appears hopeful, christ, that's "bad". But if Iraq is a hopeless quagmire, the environment is on the brink of disaster, and the economy is horrible and getting worse, that's "good"! There's ample reason to be skeptical on both sides.
Not all economic discussions are politically motivated, I realize that. I admit I'm being cynical because it's an election year. We get an earful from the anti-recession naysayers and pro-recession doomsayers on the news, I shouldn't be surprised that we occasionally see it in here, too. There's two birds in this Fairy Tale, one is Chicken Little, the other is an ostrich. Sky is falling, or head-in-the-sand. Of course there's a pro-doom constituency. No one is calling for actual doom, just the perception of doom. In an election year, perceived doom is a valuable thing to promote!
[quote Lux Interior]A recession is when your neighbor gets laid off. A depression is when you get laid off.
Good one!
Reminds me of this, I thought t was Carl Reiner, but it was Mel...
"Tragedy is when I cut my finger. Comedy is when you walk into an open sewer and die."
--Mel Brooks
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Who says it is the opposing administration? Both parties have been cooking the figures the last couple decades, just happens that it is "W" in place at the moment.
