Say Anything Blog

The preliminary GDP numbers on the economy just came out and I think considering all of the challenges they are pretty good.  Obviously nobody is saying we are doing great right now but if the economy only contracted by a third of a percent we’re not doing that badly.  I think we have to be proud of what this economy can take and still keep providing the opportunity that’s out there for the people that actually want to produce.

Of course with the election just next week, the Obamamedia has to spin it to be worse than it is.  That’s expected but the AP went so overboard doing it that it’s funny.  I think I’ll just point out some of the more obvious histrionics for fun. 

WASHINGTON (AP)—The economy jolted into reverse during the third quarter as consumers cut back on their spending by the biggest amount in 28 years, the strongest signal yet the country has hurtled into recession.

“Hurtled into a recession?”  Hmm, wouldn’t the economy have shrunk by more than a third of a percent if that were the case?

The broadest barometer of the nation’s economic health, gross domestic product, shrank at a 0.3 percent annual rate in the July-September quarter, the Commerce Department reported Thursday. It marked the worst showing since the economy contracted at a 1.4 percent pace in the third quarter of 2001, when the nation was suffering through its last recession.

Well it might be the worst showing since 2001, but that wasn’t a recession.  We only had one quarter that was in negative growth.  But is the AP writer aware that that bump in the road was 4 or 5 times larger than the third quarter 2008?

The latest GDP reading marked a rapid loss of traction for the economy, which logged growth of 2.8 percent in the second quarter,

I’m surprised.  I didn’t realize that the AP was aware enough to realize that the economy was pretty good in the second quarter.  Of course they are only using those good numbers to contrast with this slight drop in national income.

“No question. We’re definitely in a recession. That is just a reality,” said Brian Bethune, economist at IHS Global Insight.

Well no.  A recession is an extended period of downturn, at least two quarters.  I guess you can always find an idiot that will say anything to get their name in the paper.  This isn’t to say that I believe we won’t find ourselves in one.  After all with the Democrats posed to increase their power the economy IS going to suffer.  Look how bad everything went after Nancy Pelosi took the reigns in the House.

The deterioration reflected a sharp retrenchment by consumers, whose spending accounts for the largest chunk of national economic activity. Consumers ratcheted back their spending at a 3.1 percent pace in the third quarter.

Aren’t these same guys saying that we have to cut back on consumer spending.  It looks to me like the consumers are getting spooked by all of the scare talk in the media.  Of course destroying consumer confidence is going to have ramifications with the economy as a whole. 

Underscoring the strain faced by consumers, the report showed that Americans’ disposable income fell at an annual rate of 8.7 percent in the third quarter, the largest quarterly drop on records dating back to 1947.

Are you comparing with the money we got in the stimulus check?  Are you surprised that that didn’t continue?

But finally we get to the reason the AP writer wrote this story:

The grim reports come just days before the nation picks the next president on Nov. 4.

I don’t know how bad this international finance meltdown is going to affect the real economy.  What I do know is that media lies like nothing else during election season.  Just remember Bill Clinton ran against the “worst economy in 50 years” in 1992 and ran for reelection on a great economy in 1996.  The problem is that, empirically, the 1992 economy was stronger than the 1996 economy.

Aside from the truth what does the news media have to sell?  Is there any reason why their readership and ratings are plummeting?