Unpredictable ups and downs in covering the economy

Dan Gainor of The Business & Media Institute writes a column in Tuesday’s Washington Times about how the media has been covering whether the economy has entered into a recession.

Gainor wrote, “Nearly every network newscast is filled with the latest ‘recession’ news — housing, rising unemployment, a declining dollar. Merrill Lynch’s Chief North American economist David Rosenberg is even telling clients that ‘Friday’s employment report strongly suggests that an official recession has arrived.’ Goldman Sachs sees that happening later this year.

“There are two sides, however. Noted economists Brian S. Wesbury and Robert Stein, both of First Trust Advisors L.P., are among those who go the exact opposite direction. Reminding readers that unemployment numbers are often revised, they give an optimistic outlook for the year. ‘We remain confident that neither a recession, nor any significant consumer slowdown, is in the cards,’ the two write in their Jan. 7 Monday Morning Outlook.

“Even Mr. Cramer, on a one-man crusade against the Federal Reserve causing ‘Armageddon,’ takes an upbeat look at the upcoming year. CNBC’s ‘Mad Money’ host tells the Jan. 1 ‘Today’ audience ‘This is going to be another good year. I know it sounds like I’m a cockeyed optimist, but there’s a lot of good things happening.’ He says the end of the year could be a time ‘to start looking at real estate as an investment again.'”

Read more here.