Hmmm... guess the MSM still has the juice.

This is both good news and bad news.

The bad news: MSM still has the juice. (Which is terrifying. Look at current democrat behavior, and then remember that Kerry almost won.)

The good news: If they believe their paper that we're in a recesssion, they're also likely to believe their paper when it says that Kerry is better than Bush. In other words, a lot of Kerry voters are not so much leftists as just gullible. But if the media landscape becomes more fair and balanced (as I believe it must, thanks in part to blogs) then a lot (perhaps half) of those 43% will go republican.

But in the meantime, the MSM still has the juice. So, for now, we're losing in Iraq, we're in a recession, America suffers from malaise, etc...

It takes the blogosphere on steroids to keep up with MSM/WORM (Worn-Out Reactionary Media) lies in politics and on the war. There's not much energy left to fight the economy battle.

Also, fewer people follow the economy closely, and are thus more susceptible to the deceptive headliness, top-of-hour radio broadcasts, and pitiful network and local newscasts.

Three possibilities:

1. Some percentage of people are naturally negative about the economy...if you could show me data that this negativity exists at high levels, then I don't blame the MSM.

2. Bad News Sells. Therefore the MSM has to sell every economic story as bad.

3. MSM is politically biased.

Personally, I think it's a mixture of all three, but No. 3 could be fixed.

Arrrrgh...what I meant in point 1, was if there was a persistent trend for the US public to be negative on the US economy even when it's not in recession.

Most of that 43% are probably from states like Michigan and Pennsylvania where the economy does lag behind the rest of the nation.

Me? I got the hell out of the rust belt as soon as the opportunity presented. I check the papers back in Detroit every now and again and am regularly surprised at the negativity up there.

Hey guys,

I'm Canadian, and I was positive the US was in recession. Where do you guys get your info from?

James

Oh, a Canadian.

Well then, I guess we are in a recession since a Canadian is "positive". Look, penguin fucker, we don't go through as much Massengil as you guys do. That's not the same thing as a recession.

I'm Canadian, and I was positive the US was in recession. Where do you guys get your info from?

You're kidding, right?

Recession: A period of general economic decline; specifically, a decline in GDP for two or more consecutive quarters.

American GDP numbers for the last few quarters:

4.0
3.3
3.8
3.3
4.3

Some of us are still in recession. Come to Maine, but bring your own employment, we don't have much to share.

Some of us are still in recession. Come to Maine, but bring your own employment, we don't have much to share.

Really?

That's an interesting, if dishonest, point of view.

I'm from Maine as well, by the way. If we're in recession, no one's told the contractors or new store owners here in Bangor yet.

I'll give you Washington County, though.

That's a depressed place, economically.

It is a myth that "bad news" sells, just as it is a myth that "R" movies make money, while G movies aren't profitable.

"Bad news" is more fun to write and photograph, because of the easy adrenaline rush that a reporter experiences while detailing a disaster...but it doesn't sell. Circulation for newspapers have been falling as negative reporting has risen. G movies make far more money than do PG-13 or R movies, yet Hollywood continues to crank out a higher proportion of "adults only" films.

In short, both Hollywood and the newspaper industry are faltering, at least in part, because they believe not a whit in the truth, nor in accuracy, but they've swallowed whole the lie that "bad news sells."

If they can't understand the economic model FOR THEIR OWN BUSINESS (!!!) how on earth can we expect them to report acurately on the largest national economy (and a hard charging one at that) on the planet? We need to stop expecting kindergarteners to teach quantum physics.

Daddy Bush got burned at the end of his first term. Bush Jr. got burned at the beginning of his (really the end of the Clinton admin.). In conditions that were reasonably worse under Clinton, the MSM story was that inflation was now under control and the market was correcting itself. That is, until Bush Jr. got in the White House, and it was instant recession.

Think about when all those corporations were crapping all over their employees and shareholders. If the terms were reversed, and George W. was outgoing in 2000, then the story would be that Clinton is cleaning up George W.'s mess.