News-Record.com

"Journalists don't make recessions," Leckey said.

Riiight....and they don't sway public opinion by exaggerating things in such a way as to make a current administration look bad because the journalists support the opposition.
Yeah, we get it...

The above comment is mine.

John:

Business reporters should honestly report the available information--good and bad. There is a flip side to realtors, business owners, and politicians benefiting from good news and that is other people being burned by hidden risks and misinformation.

Markets work best when there is full information flowing to both sides (demanders and suppliers). Markets break down when information goes to only one side.

Anon's/Jaycee's comment about exaggerating things in such a way as to make a current administration look bad (or good) reveals much about he or she operates. Such people are going to disagree with any information that doesn't comport with their world view.

Mr. Ribar, as you well know, I'm all about "honest" and fair reporting. Tell both sides, let the chips fall where they may, and let the customer/reader/consumer decide what it means.
That said, it's hard to ignore the editorializing in media, especially the mainstream cable news media, about all things that have even a hint of political connection.

Journalists cause recessions? How could you as journalists are the last to know?

Sorry John, I couldn't resist.

Jaycee, you are so right. I read the want ads to in Va. paper it was full of jobs. Both my wife and I are 66, we retired when we where 57, both of us have job offers, regular, why , because we were both brought up to produce.
I could not get one person to help me, on the farm this year. Ribar, if you want to blame Bush for the recession, then you must praise him for 7 years of growth. Ribar, I ask you again, how you know everything except what goes on in Raleigh.

DJ:

A more systematic summary of the employment situation than your perusal of the local want ads ( http://www.bls.gov/news.release/pdf/empsit.pdf ) indicates that the U.S. lost nearly a quarter of a million jobs on net over the last three months.

During this time millions of individual jobs were created, but millions were also lost. The government tracks job turnover rates ( http://www.bls.gov/news.release/pdf/jolts.pdf ). A downturn does not mean that all or even most economic activity stops. It also does not mean that all hiring stops. Right now, job separations are outpacing position openings and hiring.

President Bush, the Republicans, and the Fed should answer for their inane policies. The six years of expansion did not benefit most Americans (median incomes actually declined during this period)--an astonishingly poor economic performance. At the same time, Bush and the Republicans ran up the deficit and failed to address fundamental economic problems. The administration hindered efforts to rein in predatory lending. And the Fed aided and abetted these efforts by pushing interest rates below where they should have been and inflating the housing bubble.

A recession would have happened sooner or later. And some type of recession would have happened sometime regardless of those policies. It would be foolish to blame Bush or anyone for the recession itself. However, you can certainly blame him and others for dopey policies.

JC:

It's actually quite easy to ignore the editorializing in media. Um, you just ignore it. Unfortunately, you are of the opinion that nearly all reporting is editorializing when it doesn't conform with your world view.

Thought Julianne Malveaux's column today was very good. The lending institutions and the people with the means to buy up real estate get a break and the consumers get shafted.

It really is not right.