Posted by
Andrews on Monday, October 06, 2008 1:04:57 AM
I wrote before, during the media's first Obama love fest, as they prepared the chrism for his coronation, that there was no reason to be so somber on the right, but I feel the message has been lost, so I want to write it once more.
It is hard to recall, among the media's constant tales about Hoovervilles (or are the Bushvilles now?) springing up in every town square and armies of unemployed roaming the streets, but the economy is, as McCain rightly said (before losing his backbone) the economy is
basically sound. Debts totaling,
at absolute worst, 2% of the holdings of the Federal Reserve system are at risk, and that doesn't even take into account the amount that can be reclaimed through foreclosures or more aggressive collection efforts. While the media is telling us that every debt has a value of zero, and that the debts are equal to the money allocated by congress for the bailout,
that is absurd.
The economy
is hurt, but
probably less than either the dot com bubble or the S&L bailout hurt it, surely less than 9/11 and its aftermath, and nowhere near even the damage done by Nixon and Carter, much less the recession Hoover and FDR turned into the great depression.
Unless we give in to media driven panic and let the government
do its worst, this is going to be an easy storm to weather. On the other hand, if we give Obama (or McCain)
free reign to play
FDR the Sequel, we could easily see another depression, but that is true
any time we give government
that much power. Government doesn't need an underlying recession
to destroy the economy, they can do that all on their own.
And on the election front, things are hardly as bad as some conservatives think. Of course
the media is saying Obama is winning, they have been
saying that from the start. They
never stopped saying Obama
is winning. The difference is that conservative pundits,
after a moment of clarity, have returned to the fold of the MSM and are telling us all that
McCain is losing.
Is it true? Let me answer this way, every pundit is telling the story that McCain is losing, but would win if only he would follow their advice. Does that sound like an honest assessment, or narcissism of the MSM model? When Dick Morris says McCain is a sure loss unless he follows the Morris agenda, do we take it seriously? So why believe it any more from George Will or even Charles Krauthammer. (Sorry, Mr. Krauthammer, I usually agree with you on everything, but on McCain and the election, you veered dangerously off course.)
The news is bad, the news is depressing, but that should tell you something. How many times have there truly been days where nothing good has happened? And on the few days when that was true, didn't you notice signs in the world around you? But in this case, we are being told the economy is crashing, but without seeing any signs in our everyday life. And we are being told McCain has suddenly lost, but without seeing any outward signs of any change of heart. I see no more Obama signs or stickers, nor a disappearance of any McCain signs.
When the
media tells you the world has changed, and more than that, has changed to match the media impression of how the world should be, take a look around. If things look pretty much the same, take the news with a grain of salt. All too often
the media is more interested in shaping the world and guiding events than actually reporting what happened.