Gloom and Doom...???

I usually don’t pay attention to msn.com news because it’s all under a liberal bias. The only reason I go to their site is because it’s easier to check the stock market on their homepage, and you don’t have to click a link to see them. However, I did notice something that really kind of got on my nerves. Keep in mind that things aren’t nearly as bad as the media would love for you to believe. They’re feeding this recession and making it much worse than it really is.

Well here goes. The name of a headline on msn.com read “Even those with jobs are cutting back”. That phrase alone seems to indicate that most of American’s don’t have jobs, which is absurd. Yes, many Americans are hurting, and yes many have lost their jobs in the last couple of months. The news media wants you to believe that we’re not in a recession, but a depression, which is simply not true. I’ll be the first to admit that the economy is hurting right now, but it could be worse. In a depression, employment is 25%, right now, it’s at 6.7%. There’s a huge difference between those two numbers. One in four Americans were out of a job in the great depression. Right now not even seven out of every 100 are out of a job, so things could be a lot worse.

The big three are getting at least some of the funds that they need to fix their problems. I’m not sure how this is going to work, but a complete reform and restructuring are needed for each of these three companies. Personally, I think the CEOs who got them into this mess to begin with should be fired. As I have written before, they didn’t market their vehicles properly. They didn’t make enough fuel efficient cars to begin with, and then they continued to mass produce trucks and SUVs that weren’t selling! If I’m working at a company I want a leader and a boss who has more intelligence than that! Another huge reason for the problem they’re in is the labor union. Many of the people in big three are making $70-$80 an hour, and the companies therefore have to raise the prices of their products! Now I’m not against by any means telling someone how much they could pay their employees. I have nothing against the fact that these CEOs are rich, I just have a problem with their lack of common sense. If you want to pay that much to your workers, that’s fine with me, I couldn’t care less, but don’t expect me to pay for it when I’m shopping for a car. As a libertarian, I understand that the majority of the rich in this country got where they are through their hard work, and I respect them for it. And if these companies want to pay extremely high wages, who am I to say that they shouldn’t? Look where it got them though.

So now that the big three are going to have a chance to change their business model, and if the government does what they intended to do with the $700 billion, maybe we will soon see a turnaround. Don’t expect to hear that on the news though. The MSNBCs, CNBCs, CNNs and the local news stations want you to be terrified and part of it is so that they can blame the failing economy on George Bush. The truth is that a failing economy occurs when people don’t spend money. The definition of a recession is 6 months when retail reports a loss instead of a gain. When people hear the word recession, they panic and don’t spend money, which causes recessions, and can extend them and make them worse! My advice to the majority of people who aren’t directly affected by the recession is to do what you normally would do and live the way you usually live! Actually, spend more money than usual because businesses are hurting now and have lowered their prices! If you are looking to buy a car, house, or other expensive item of some type, and you have good credit, there has never been a better time to buy! Not only do you get a good deal on whatever it is that you want, you also do your part to improve the economy!

I listen to talk radio everyday to get the news, and on many shows have heard experts talking about the economy. When asked if they think that the U.S will soon see another great depression, an overwhelming majority of them say absolutely not. That leads me to believe that the media is very selective on what they report. Think about this for a second. When was the last time you really heard any good news in the media? I’m not talking about the tabloids because Britney Spears’ eighth wedding ceremony is not real news. I’m talking about any news station that actually reports any good news. Granted, FOX does better than anybody, but other than them I can’t think of any off the top of my head. Think about the previews that you always see for the local news. “What are your kids really learning in public schools? Tune in at News 14 at 11:00 to find out!” Their defense would be that they were trying to inform and warn you about things. The truth is though that they’re actually trying to make you afraid. Good news doesn’t sell; bad news that is “informative” does.

An event that occurred yesterday in San Diego California is proof of the media’s negativity. A military jet crashed in a neighborhood in San Diego, and destroyed four homes, and killed 3 people, and one is still missing. Of course it’s sad that 3, maybe 4, people lost their lives, but think about how much worse it could’ve been! What if that had happened in the evening when everyone was home, then we could have 15-20 people who were killed. The media probably isn’t picking up on that. Of course we mourn and pray for the people who were affected by it and who lost their lives and their homes. But the fact is that it could have been much worse than it really was, and we should be thankful that it wasn’t! Everyone thinks that the world is getting worse and worse, and in many ways it is. However, we have more avenues to get the news, such as the internet and more news channels, and as I have pointed out, they only report the bad news. So maybe things aren’t as bad as we think, maybe we’re just hearing that it is from the growing media outlets. Maybe we shouldn’t listen to all the gloom and doom that we’re led to believe we’re dealing with.