JayStream

Professional journalists consider themselves professionals, although they are not licensed and can’t be charged with malpractice. Too bad, because malpractice was on display during President Obama’s 100th day press conference.

The president has just succeeded in enacting the largest budget and budget deficit in American history, one which will require us to print additional money for decades to come. Yet there was not one question about it, nor his outrageous stimulus package, during the press conference. The gross domestic product (GDP) shrank by 6.1% in first quarter figures released several hours before the press conference, but none of the professional journalists asked the president about it.

President Obama again claimed in his scripted remarks – and was unchallenged in his assertion – that he has “saved or created” 150 thousand jobs. I guess he believes that every American who has not been laid off has had their job preserved by himself.

Clearly the president is dedicated to preserving the jobs of every union auto worker. He has dumped billions of taxpayers’ dollars into the failing auto companies, and addressed a question about Chrysler thusly: “Let me speak to Chrysler first because the clock is ticking on Chrysler coming up with a plan.” Really? Does anyone believe he went into the press conference not knowing his administration was going to force Chrysler into bankrupty the following morning?

With the president available to convince us he is not out to destroy the economic fabric of this country through overspending, a reporter for the New York Times came forth with another hard-hitting question: “During these first 100 days, what has surprised you the most about this office, enchanted you the most about serving this in office… ”

I doubt that President Bush ever considered a prime time press conference “some enchanged evening.” But, feeling the love in the room, President Obama just might.

UPDATE, 4/30/09: How do other journalists view their performance at the press conference? Consider this line from a columnist at the Washington Post:

The questions put to Barack Obama at his news conference last night covered nearly every topic but the Craigslist Killer, and if that had come up, Obama probably would have answered it in stride.

Jay News, Television industry economy, journalism

The current economy seems bad, horribly bad to most folks. It’s so bad that the media has run out of words to describe it, since it already accepted and repeated Barack Obama’s claim we were in the “worst economic crisis since the Depression” last year – just as it accepted and repeated the claim of candidate Bill Clinton that his opponent had the “worst economic record in 50 years” sixteen years ago. To reporters it may feel like the worst economy they have ever known – if they weren’t alive or don’t care to recall 1971. Unemployment was at 6% and inflation was at 4%. Both would be somewhat manageable numbers today, but in 1971 they were enough to create a crisis mentality, and the public demanded drastic action by the federal government.

I was barely a teenager, but I clearly remember. Prices and wages were spiralling out of control, with the value of a dollar shrinking in freefall. Price tags seemed to change in the stores every day, and everyone was concerned about the runaway cost of living. On the night of August 15, 1971, President Nixon addressed the nation in a (back then) rare, live television appearance. Barack Obama and FDR notwithstanding, he made what – to me – is the single most sweeping economic statement ever made in a presidential speech:

I am today ordering a freeze on all prices and wages throughout the United States for a period of 90 days.

I did not see the speech live, because I was at a grocery store shopping with my father. But I saw the effects of Nixon’s order as an economic lesson played out before my eyes. The grocery store manager, who had been continually raising prices due to runaway costs, suddenly feared that Nixon’s order might drive him out of business. He called in all of his employees to work that night, and they frantically grabbed grease pencils and label machines and set about the task of marking up the price of every item in the store. Since this was before the age of computers, the cost of our groceries was literally going up while we were shopping. There was panic, there was fear, and it became the night our economy nearly collapsed.

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Ultimately, the wage and price freeze did not work. There were shortages of some items in stores because they simply could not be produced and sold at a price that was fixed for three months. A deep recession ensued, and inflation reached 10% when Gerald Ford succeeded Nixon as president. One term later, during Jimmy Carter’s term, inflation peaked at 13.5% and unemployment hit 7%. (I use the presidents’ names here only for historical reference, because everyone but journalists know that presidents receive too much credit and too much blame for economic conditions.)

When government takes bold action in an attempt to fix an economy, it doesn’t really know if the cure will work. Often the action is something of a gamble, a bet that no one in Las Vegas would take. Sometimes, as I saw in my teenage years, government can only make things worse.

Expecting governments to fix economies is ludicrous, because in the free market it is only business and consumer confidence that drives recovery. The public puts its faith in the wrong place during economic downturns when it demands government “just do something.”

Jay News economy, inflation, nixon, price freeze

It is three months to the day after Thanksgiving – but I think we need to re-visit that holiday. It seems to me it came and went without a lot of appreciation.

On Thanksgiving Day 2008, we had just elected a new president who campaigned on, “the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression.” Remember how abysmal it was when we went to the polls? Unemployment was at 4.7%, the Dow at 9,625.

Back in those days, workplace grumblers and complainers were grumbling and complaining. They bemoaned their jobs, their salaries, their lives. Thanksgiving was observed in the usual manner – the network newscasts treated us to an onslaught of expectations for the Christmas shopping season.

Fast forward one-quarter of a year. People are losing their jobs, businesses are losing their customers, Dow is losing its points. But people aren’t grumbling and complaining about work as much. I think it is because our definition of thankfulness has changed.

Last night on television, a story aired about a man and his wife. They both have jobs, but recently found out that their salaries would be involuntarily reduced due to the economic slowdown. They must lower their household budget to cope with the shortfall. And the reaction of the man who was asked about having his salary cut?

“To be honest my first reaction was, I’m just thankful and blessed I have a job.”

I expect more people will have similar sentiments nine months from now, when we observe our next Thanksgiving Day.

Jay News, Television industry economy, layoffs, recession, Thanksgiving