27 March 2008

What? Still A Positive Growth Quarter?

So the last quarter growth was down to 0.6% of GDP, which is much lower than the previous quarter's "sizzling" 4.9% growth.

The Commerce Department reported Thursday that the gross domestic product, or GDP, increased at a feeble 0.6 percent annual rate from October through December. The reading, unchanged from a previous estimate a month ago, provided stark evidence of just how much the economy has weakened. In the previous three months, the economy had a sizzling 4.9 percent growth rate.

The GDP measures the value of all goods and services produced in the United States and is the best barometer of economic health.

If last quarter's growth was so "sizzling", why were we getting the doom-and-gloom stories throughout the past year?  Why should anyone doubt that the media has been spinning the economic news for the past 7 years?  We still haven't had a single quarter of negative growth and the talk of a recession has been non-stop.  It's disgusting how the media's hatred of the Bush administration has dominated the coverage.  If this were a Democrat in office, this last quarter would have been the "blip" or "market" correction and seen as temporary.  Since it's not, the media deciders inform us that it is just a portent of things to come.

That's not all however, down further in the article we get this:

In a second report, fewer people signed up for unemployment benefits last week, although that did not change the broader picture of a deteriorating job market. The Labor Department said jobless claims fell by 9,000 to 366,000, a better showing than many economists forecast. Still, unemployment is expected to rise this year given all the problems affecting the economy.

Unemployment goes down, so of course that means unemployment is going to go up.  George Orwell ain't got nothing on the MSM.

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23 March 2008

Let's Not Jump To Conclusions

The media will speculate on anything reflecting poorly towards the United States, the military, the police, the economy, or anything else that progressive deem evil.  Notice how careful they are not to speculate in this story?

The owner of the business told police that he believes he may have shot the suspect in the back.

Shortly afterwards, police responded to a call from a man who said he was shot in the back at an address 1/2 of a mile away from the scene of the robbery. It is unknown whether these two incidents are related.

Idiots.  They must think we're idiots.  There's no other explanation.

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They're At It Again

The "doom-and-gloom" media never tire of beating the same old drums.  There is always disaster just around the corner when they talk about the economy.

To the drumbeat of signs that seemed to foretell a traditional recession, this added a nightmarish specter — an old-style run on the bank, customers clamoring to pull their cash, a stately Wall Street firm brought to its knees.

Of course, that "traditional recession" they speak of has yet to see a single quarter of negative GDP.

As economists and Wall Street types grope for historical perspective — which is another way of saying a road map out of this mess — Americans are nervously wondering about retirement savings, interest rates, jobs that had seemed safe.

I'm glad they clarified that for us... feh.  Because Americans have never worried about retirement savings, interest rates, or jobs that had seemed safe.

They are peering over the edge and asking: How far down?
And the scariest part of all? No one can say for sure.

No fear-mongering here, right?  The same tired rhetoric that they've pumped since Bush was elected, even before September 11th, and we're still supposed to be breathless in anticipation of the coming doom.

more...

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15 March 2008

But Wait... Haven't We Been in a Recession? Part 4

DRJ has a post over at Patterico's linking this post by Beldar who echoes much of what I've been saying about the MSM's coverage of our economy and how that coverage influences it.

Specifically, here, and here, and finally here.  This is obviously one of my pet peeves so I'm glad to see two of the more popular sites take up the point on their own.  Go read their posts, especially the comments... then come on back and read Parts 1, 2, and 3 when you get a chance.

While you're at it, look around for a while and see if there's anything else that catches your interest.  I'll be around.



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11 March 2008

But Wait... Haven't We Been in a Recession? Part 3 *UPDATED* *UPDATED AGAIN*

I just can't help pointing out how the MSM thinks we're all idiots by floating one doom and gloom story after another.  It must have really hurt them to put this out:

Economists see US avoiding recession


"We don't see that happening," said Edward Leamer, director and co-author of the forecast released Tuesday. "This is a tough call, but I will be very surprised if this thing actually precipitates into recession."

But all is not lost... they find a way to look on the "bright side":

A recession could still happen though, if the credit crisis that has stifled the housing market deepens

Glad to see they're still looking out for us.  I would just ignore this as typical behavior from our 4th estate/5th column "deciders", but the United States economy is vastly influenced by confidence.  Investors, Consumers, and Producers with confidence will make the economy grow even when things don't go perfectly.  Shake that confidence and it doesn't matter how well our industries run, jobs increase, crops get harvested, etc... the economy is going to take a hit.  The MSM intentionally tries to shake confidence in the U.S. economy trying to damage the administration.  It's just one more reason to despise the media.

*UPDATE*  I figured out why they had to print some good news today... I hadn't looked at the stock market results yet.  More on the Dow here.  Heh.
*UPDATE X2*  That certainly didn't last long.  Imagine my surprise.  Sigh.

"The evidence has built to the point that it is now beyond a reasonable doubt that the U.S. economy has entered recession," said Scott Anderson, a senior economist at Wells Fargo & Co. in Minneapolis.

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09 March 2008

Why Is This In The News?

In the British Police Force there is apparently an investigation into possible infiltrations by Al Qaeda.  At least there was.

MI5 agents are watching the four suspects — who work at different police stations around London — and gathering evidence needed to make arrests.

If these are infiltrators, won't they just stop their activities until the heat is off?  Or just take off and return home to fight another way?  Whoever leaked this story should be shot.  The staff at the Daily Mail responsible for publishing this should be arrested for interfering with an investigation and possibly endangering national security.

I hate the traitorous mainstream media.  An investigation spanning over 2 1/2 years is probably blown now.

Posted by: Stashiu3 at 21:22:42 | No Comments | Add Comment
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01 March 2008

But Wait... Haven't We Been in a Recession? Part 2

More doom and gloom from the MSM.  Here they say:

Analysts said the two new reports Friday were just the latest danger signals that the country was edging perilously close to a recession.

But wait, they go on:

Other than two negative months in August and September of 2005, which reflected the disruptions from Hurricane Katrina, inflation-adjusted consumer spending has not been so weak since November and December of 2001, when the country was struggling to emerge from the last recession.

But was that really a recession?

The classic definition of a recession is two back-to-back quarters of declining gross domestic product.

Notice it doesn't say anything about adjusting for inflation, does it?

From Wiki

The U.S. economy shrank in three non-consecutive quarters in the early 2000s (the third quarter of 2000, the first quarter of 2001, and the third quarter of 2001). Strictly speaking, the U.S. economy was not in recession during this period -- the common definition being "a fall of a country's real gross domestic product in two or more successive quarters."

Go figure.


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