Category Archives: Media watch

Guest post: BRICS or CRIBS? – Meeting in Moscow to coordinate policy

Submitted by Edward Harrison of the site Credit Writedowns. Marc Chandler, Global Head of Currency Strategy at Brown Brothers Harriman has a good piece out today highlighting the differing economic policy agendas of the BRIC group (Brazil, Russia, India and China). In it he suggests CRIBS is a more appropriate moniker for the group as […]

World Bank Downgrades Growth Forecasts Yet Again (And More Doubts on Chinese Data)

I am beginning to feel as if I am being gaslighted. For those not familiar with the reference. Gas Light was a 1930s play in which a scheming husband keeps turning the gas lights in his house up and down, then keeps telling his wife that she is crazy when she comments on the changes. […]

More Data Casting Doubts on Green Shoots Theories

The bits of evidence that provided the strongest support to green shoots backers have been the rise in stock prices and possible signs of slowing in job losses. However, the rally warrants considerable critical scrutiny. First. violent rallies are more characteristic of bear market head fakes than new bull markets. And this rally has featured […]

Pangloss Watch: Japan’s Industrial Production "Surges"

The Japanese have a wonderful expression that I will take some liberty in translating. They use it to signify when someone is trying to claim great distinctions among low levels of activity or achievement. The phrase is roughly “A height competition among peanuts.” Reader DoctoRx flagged this Bloomberg report as a Pangloss item. What is […]

Blogging Needs to be Rebranded

I returned this week from giving a speech in Washington State to a very nice group of economists (the Pacific Northwest Regional Economic Conference, if you must know). I sat in on some of the other presentations. One, on the challenges of measuring inflation, had speakers from the BLS and the BEA. The BLS presentation […]

Telegraph to Restore "TARP is a ‘Sham’" Story

Clusterstock has reported that the Telegraph is to restore the article that Ambrose Evans-Pritchard wrote about one Mark Patterson, a distressed investor who used TARP funding to acquire a bank in Michigan, then said not-so-nice things about the program at a conference in Qatar. He apparently then complained to the Telegraph which yanked the piece […]

Elizabeth Warren on Bill Maher

Elizabeth Warren is facing the peculiar experience of being Mr. Smith in Washington. I am a big fan of her position and message, and have come to notice that (not surprisingly) the posture of her interviewer makes a great difference in how well she comes off. Bill Maher pitched a bunch of softballs, and Warren […]

Thought Police II: Media Airbrushing (Including Removal of Article With Negative Comments on TARP)

We asked readers to clue us in to when the media posted stories where the headline spun the underlying report. Remember, many people read only the headline of certain news items, and even if they read the entire article, it might not dispel the impression conveyed by the headline. Sighting of the day, from reader […]

Yet More Stress Test Doubts

The unduly charitable coverage of the stress tests continues. Even though the New York Times does raise a few questions, it still features industry preening and misses some of the important lapses: Industry executives reacted with jubilation, as if they had proved their critics wrong and passed the tests with flying colors. “The results off […]

The Banks and Orwell

I continue to be amazed at the bank cheerleading in the press. Admittedly, article writers are not responsible for headlines, so I do not know who to hold responsible for this New York Times item, “As Stress Tests Are Revealed, Markets Sense a Turning Point.”. How much have bank stocks rallied since March 9? Declaring […]

Richardson and Roubini Call for Bank Resolution, Diss Stress Tests

History repeats itself, the first time as tragedy, the second time as farce. But when it’s your farce, sometimes it’s hard to appreciate the humor. We’ve railed about the stress tests since they were announced, but the chicanery, starting with the March 10 Citi and Bank of America pronouncements that they had had a decent […]

New Stress Trial Balloon Floated

I am coming to realize there might be method in the seeming madness of changing dates and shifting sneak previews via favored members of the press as to what the stress tests might entail. Tire out the critics, numb the casual followers, and leave the boosters in firm control of share of mind. Let’s face […]

Are the Knives Coming Out for Geithner?

The clout of the press has decayed enormously over the last 40 years. The fourth estate was feared, resented, and begrudgingly respected in the corridors of power. But rule by beancounters, savvy media spin, and access journalism (journalists who write pointed stories get frozen out) have largely leashed and collared the press. Indeed, a friend […]