Posted on 02/18/2009 7:12:07 PM PST by Lorianne
A former Wall Street Journal writer dissects why business reporters bought the bull—and missed the biggest story on their beat. for casual readers of business coverage—that is, most of us—the past 18 months have been a crash course in things we never knew existed but that, we are told, have already done us all irreparable harm. Not only are the problems catastrophic, goes the somewhat frustrating message, but it is already too late to do anything about them—other, that is, than pay for them.
In looking back on how we got here, the business press assumes a tone of rueful omniscience, as in this late-2007 New York Times piece on regulatory laxity under Alan Greenspan: "Had officials bothered to look, frightening clues of the coming crisis were available." Of course, the clues the Times cites in the very next sentence—the ceaseless research of the North Carolina-based Center for Responsible Lending—were available had anyone bothered to look. So, a reader might well ask, why didn't the media?
(Excerpt) Read more at motherjones.com ...
The left-wing media was more focused on blaming republicans and scaring people rather than informing them. CNN ran a crapload of moronic, unrelated stories about bankers that were caught stealing and spent time blaming the crisis on republicans.
Pretty much how it went with all the mainstream news outlets.
The business media sucks just as much as all the other media. It’s meant for entertainment purposes only. They only give out the information that people want to hear; and they’re still just as bad as they ever were, having learned nothing.
All very true. But media outlets like FOX news, who were NOT busy blaming Republicans/Bush for everything, missed the story too ... deliberately mocking people they interviewed who predicted this meltdown.
Ditto the WSJ
So it was pretty evenly ignored IMO.
I am a subscriber to the Wall Street Journal, and I can remember reading in 2006 about how real estate was getting over inflated and the consequences thereof.
This vindication and $1.50 might buy you and hydroshock a cup of coffee.
I had to stop watching and listening to the news because it is heavily concentrated on what various governments are doing for (to) us.
That, and apparently chicks are in charge of every local news outlet, because I keep getting warned to put on my coat and buckle my seatbelt.
Mostly because they are stupid.
The financials and mortgage/real estate businesses was one of tv and print media biggest cash cows for advertising revenue. Thats why it was all ignored by most of these reporters. They didn’t want to bite the hand that feed it. They only really started reporting about this once the crap had already hit the fan and all that potential advertising revenue dryed up.
The business press, like other parts of the media, is nothing more than a bunch of lemmings parroting whatever they are told that will allow them to keep getting invited to the parties where they get to rub shoulders with the important people. These important people told them to shut up and pump out the propaganda of endless wealth and nirvana, and they said “yes,sir!”. It is a great shame that we have no real reporters anymore doing any real investigative work to keep the public informed.
Now, they are damage control mode, and we are all learning what happens when you spend yourself into oblivion and beyond. Next stop, national bankruptcy, as the same idiots that wrecked our economy are now kicking it into overdrive to bring back the good old days so they can all go back in time to the nirvana of imaginary wealth. Even now, the incompentent business press continues to push the PR talking points and act like high school cheerleaders.
The illusion of prosperity was a powerful mind altering drug. The junkies addicted to the imaginary wealth wanted to keep believing because they could keep living the good life today while borrowing against the future. Anyone who tried to apply common sense and point out the flaws in this illogical, economically-suicidal stack-of cards was poo-poo’ed and told they were idiots and that they should leave the thinking to the big boys.
Bottom line, never believe your own propaganda, and always realize that reality has a persistent voice.
I kept wondering why no Congresscritters ever watched Flip This House.
Most business news services are so in bed with the companies they cover...you never get any real analysis.
Logic would have told people that this stuff was going to go bust. In Florida, we had real estate going up so high, and expecting people to afford it with service-job paychecks...that was economic suicide in planning
And we still have economic stupidity....the whiners about “protectionism” (when every other nation does it)....bailouts of failed businesses....using disproven economic theories to explain away the economic reality...it just continues
Do you think debt caused this crisis?
these problems have been talked about for two years......with really serious talk about 1 1/2 yrs ago.....
The people who have the responsibility to keep us safe from this greed didn’t.
The Center for Responsible Lending? Give us a break. That is the group which first used the instruments of destruction. Was this article written by the New York Times?
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/2187033/posts
http://www.responsiblelending.org/pdfs/senate-testimony-10-16-08-hearing-stein-final.pdf
http://www.responsiblelending.org/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herb_Sandler
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