News Media too alarmist

  • Thread starter Thread starter edwest2
  • Start date Start date
Status
Not open for further replies.
edwest2 said:
I have no optimism about newspapers. And no, it’s not just a matter of time. Individual people make individual decisions. We are not all alike, and the media pushes the “everything is going to change” mantra constantly. TV was going to destroy the movies. Didn’t happen.

I would like to point out that the scary part about young people not reading or being interested in real news – The scary part is their parents who are not raising them. Who can’t be bothered. Who are taking them to the mall and dumping them there. Who, unlike my mom who did, aren’t taking them to a library or sitting down with them to read a book. The TV or computer becoming babysitters while the parent(s) sit and text their buddy.

That’s scary. But things could turn around quickly if mom and dad woke up and realized – Hey! These are my kids, my responsibility and it’s my job to raise them right.

Peace,
Ed
Click to expand...
All so very true!

I remember our twice-a-month visits to the library, where I read everything I could get my hands on. There is NOTHING better than a good book. I’ll never adapt to things like Kindle, either. I don’t want any electronic version of a book or newspaper; I want something with pages I can turn.

I LOVED the time my girls were growing up (really just a few years ago.) We read to them, spent as much time as possible, had family dinners (just the girls and I M-F, as dh has always worked from early afternoon to at least 10 pm, doing his newscasts.) We always traveled with them, even out of the country, from the time they were infants. Thus, they have experienced much more than most of their friends - in a good way. We had high expectations, but tried to say “yes” more often than “no”; but then again, they simply didn’t ask to do anything we had to say no to, anyway! Because of their dad’s work, news and current affairs were very much a part of everyday life; it was the family’s bread and butter!

Sadly, I don’t see things turning around, though I do know many, many wonderful, Catholic parents who are trying to do the best they can, and often succeeding.
 
People need to wake up and smell the financial roses.

Why do we so ignorantly think that what happened before could not happen again, that history could not repeat itself?

That’s backwards thinking, and I’ll have no part of it.

The News Media is not ringing the warning bell loudly enough. Read and learn from history people.​

1985 BBC Documentary**
“1929 - The Great Wall Street Crash & Depression”**
youtube.com/watch?v=ulVQ-kH1MAA

**Irving Kahn (then 103 yrs. old) said: **
I started in 1928, because like many young people I wanted to go to the place where
everyone was making all of this money. My first job was to be messenger boy on the
floor of the exchange. It took only a week or two to find out that most of the time,
people are greedy.

Days after the inauguration speech of Herbert Hoover, prominent and highly respected banker Paul Warburg broke ranks with the Wall Street aristocracy and issued a bleak warning:
*If orgies of unrestrained speculation are permitted to spread too far, the ultimate collapse
is certain to bring about a general depression involving the entire country. *(March 1929)

**He was shouted down, disregarded. A “party-pooper”. His predictions fell on deaf ears. ****In September, the market became increasingly volatile.

Herbert Hoover was concerned, and he received a memo from Thomas Lamont (senior partner of JP Morgan, the most powerful man on Wall Street). Mr. Lamont ended his memo saying:**
The future appears brilliant.

5 days later, the stock market crashed.​

Brilliant, just “brilliant” …
 
The media is not ringing the bell loud enough?

The horse has left the barn with the TARP money.

Based on your quotes, both then and now, the people on Wall Street knew what was going on and let it happen. Problem is, they weren’t going to let people like the President in on their scheme.

And what does the average person know about “opaque deals” going on right now on Wall Street as testified to by Fed Chairman Bernanke?

Any thoughts?

Peace,
Ed
 
edwest2 said:
I encourage everyone to complain to their local and national news media, including those on the internet. They are promoting a wild-eyed and irrational hysteria over the current economic crisis. Words like carnage have been used to describe job losses, while a photo shows people calmly waiting in line, some with cell phones, looking for work or help.

Instead of providing information in a calm, level-headed voice, like the President, the media is helping to lower morale in America and around the world. Those responsible for this crisis are currently hammering out deals behind the scenes so profits can get flowing again.

Most people are in no position to make substantive changes to the way the government is dealing with this crisis. I urge you to contact your elected representatives about this media craziness as well. It’s not needed, it’s not productive and it is doing some real damage.

What is needed is sober and rational presentation of the information people need to get through this and make good decisions.

The media should be ashamed of itself and reminded that it serves the people and should deserve the public’s trust. The current media is showing that it does not want to behave responsibly.

Peace,
Ed
Click to expand...
Ed, I agree with you totally on this (which is nice since we don’t see eye to eye on most issues). I’ve pretty much had to stop listening to the news. I used to listen to Morning Edition on NPR during my commute to work, but I realized that I’d wake up in a good mood but by the time I’d heard and hour of bleak/doomseday “news”, I was ready to drive past my office and right into the Pacific Ocean. :eek:

Anybody who hasn’t realized by now that the economy tanked must be on another planet. And, yes, we need to know what’s going on. But do we really need to hear it over and over and over and over, to the exclusion of more positive items (or even iformative pieces on subjects other than the economy)? I think not. This is just fueling people’s fear and, thus, delaying if not preventing any return of confidence and recovery. I’d change my mind about going out to dinner or maybe making some small non-essential purposes and hoard every cent instead - see the problem?

FDR said “we have nothing to fear but fear itself”. Yet fear mongering is all we seem to be getting. There is a distinct difference between responsible reporting on the economy and fear mongering. Why don’t we hear about the positive things that are going on? We need that stuff now more than ever.
 
That’s all I’m saying. Some companies have met or exceeded their projected earnings but that gets little air time. Citigroup made a profit in January and February. I know people, just like the Stock Market, are driven as much by perceptions as facts. How often do we hear “prices have fallen, or gone up, on Wall Street based on fears of…”? You know?

There really is a Consumer Confidence index. So, no, I don’t think people should just go back to the way things were as if nothing happened, but I see strange things reported like, “People are taking advantage of lower gas prices and driving more.” What? Are they poised with a pair of binoculars, checking the local gas station every day? “Hey, hon. Gas is down by 10 cents today. Le’s buy some and drive around!” Response: “Sure. We can buy gas but we’ve got no extra money to buy anything.”

Peace,
Ed
 
FiremanFrank said:
The media is actually not reporting ENOUGH of an alarm.

Things are bad, and they’re going to be getting much, much, worse.

Look at what these world economic trends forecasters (who have actually been RIGHT with their forecasts) have to say about what is currently going on …

Peter Schiff 3/6/09:
**“What we’re about to experience now, I think, is gonna be horrific. We’ve barely begun.” **
youtube.com/watch?v=U4cr_eE–cI&eurl=http://financialtruth0.blogspot.com/

Gerald Celente 3/3/09:
"Expect Hunger Riots all over."
youtube.com/watch?v=WkeRD0AVNCo&feature=related
Click to expand...

It is very serious - to take a single example, Madoff did not harm people in the US alone; thanks to him, his years of lies & fraud & cheating are hurting people who are neither ginormously wealthy, nor “celebs”, nor in the US. This is a world-wide recession - not a purely US domestic problem; and it is all but guaranteed to have a lot of ill effects for years to come on many national economies. Not that it’s the sole cause of economic misery - but it is extremely grave nonetheless.​

On a lighter note - song 1:
and song 2 - “My Old Man’s a Banker”:
There are 3 “bad words” in both together - a fair exchange IMO.
 
All I have to say is that I am one of the very little people who lost a career in the media industry due to newspapers closing down.

I worked for a press clipping bureau, one of only a handful left in this country. We actually read the Rocky Mountain News in our office. We are going to lose the Seattle Post-Intelligencer soon.

Because of this I am now out looking for a job to support myself and family at an age when I thought I might have seen retirement at the end of the tunnel.

So, remember, it is not just the folks who write and print the papers who are affected by changes in the media, sometimes it may be those of us who “read” for a living.

I will close for now and sit back and cry for awhile, with my Rosary.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top