Depression Lust

IBD Editorials ^ | December 10, 2008

[Kaslin]

Media: Some journalists out there seem to be actually rooting for a new economic depression — the very thing that will hurt them more than it will hurt many others.

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Newspapers across the country are in trouble. On Monday, the owner of the Los Angeles Times and Chicago Tribune filed for bankruptcy. The same day, the New York Times said it "plans to borrow up to $225 million against its mid-Manhattan headquarters building, to ease a potential cash flow squeeze as the company grapples with tighter credit and shrinking profits."

Both the Miami Herald and Rocky Mountain News are reportedly for sale, and it's possible they won't find any buyers. In Minneapolis, the Star-Tribune is apparently in financial trouble and has asked its unions to concede to $20 million in salary and wage cuts.

With the survival of network news also in question, the future of the legacy media is bleak. Yet there seems to be no shortage of reporters writing and talking in almost gleeful terms about the possibility of economic ruin. They're careful not to overtly welcome a depression, but in much of the reporting the tone gives it away.

Steven Pearlstein, then a Washington Post business reporter and now a Post columnist, wrote in February that "the best thing that could happen to our economy is for a dozen high-profile hedge funds to collapse; for investment banking to enter a long, deep freeze; for a major bank to fail; and for the price of a typical Park Avenue duplex to fall by 30%."

[happygrl]

I have a pair of boy’s rain boots that I bought from a thrift store when I was broke, returning to my country with two toddlers, two suitcases and $200. My small son wanted boots and I was grateful to be able to make his wish come true.
I, too, keep them as a reminder.

[Cacique]

bump

[norraad]

PBS just did a story about thrift store sales increasing 8-35% as other store sales decline by about the same %.

I like the Goodwill stores, lot's of fun, nice people, uber cheap prices and everyday some of the already low prices are half off.