Flynn Files -- <s>News</s>Wishweek

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~~News~~Wishweek

When the economy was booming in the final quarter of 1992, the press reported that the economy was in deep recession. There was a presidential election, and the reality of an economy in expansion for more than a year-and-a-half didn't mesh with Bill Clinton's rhetoric of a "Bush recession." Mission accomplished: the media's candidate won the election. Seventeen years later, Newsweek declares on its cover: "The Recession Is Over!" Highlighting a road construction project in Massachusetts, the Newsweek story's opening paragraph claims this is "one small manifestation of President Barack Obama's ambitious strategy for jump-starting the economy." One anecdote of economic activity doesn't make an economic boom. The rules seem to call for labelling a recovery a recession when a Republican is in the White House and labelling a recession a recovery when a Democrat is in the White House. Evidence that Newsweek doesn't believe what its cover states can be found in the asterisk that accompanies the boast. The latest numbers show that the gross domestic product continues to shrink. In fact, economists predict that when the government releases the data next week it will show the second quarter of '09 as the fourth consecutive quarter of GDP contraction--the first time that's happened since the Great Depression. It is possible that when the numbers get crunched for the third quarter of '09 they will show that recovery has replaced recession. But right now, there is simply no hard evidence, just a lot of wish, to the claim that the recession is over.

posted at 12:17 AM

Comments

From a propaganda perspective, to claim the economy is in a recession when it is actually booming may work to get the media preferred candidate elected. The media could convince the voters that while they have jobs others around them are losing their jobs and unless you vote for a certain candidate your job will be lost as well.

Claiming the economy is doing well when it is actually in a recession will be unlikely to work to help the media prefered candidate. The reason is no amount of media propaganda will help a person who does not have a job because of the recession or is underemployed because of the recession.

If the economy improves markedly in the coming months and more high paying jobs are created, the Democrats will see even bigger gains in the House and the Senate in the 2010 elections. If the economy does not improve, the Democrats will likely face serious challenges in the coming elections.

If the media wants to claim the recession is over even though more people are losing their jobs, this may make things even worse for their candidate. Ultimately politicians rise and fall based on how the economy is perceived. If people are losing jobs, their is likely to be no amount of propaganda the media or anyone else can put out that will help.

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