One way I cut my expenses in “inflationary times” is to drop my subscriptions to WaPo and NYT (and use that money for outstanding writing at Substack. 😉
The self-produced documentary of the NYT editorial board's Dem primary endorsement process was a revelation in that it showed how astoundingly dumb the questions to the candidates were. I gasped when they said to Joe Biden, "Tell us about a time that made you sad." They asked equally tone-deaf and irrelevant questions to other candidates, including one to Bernie Sanders, who froze the nitwit questioner with silence and an icy glare. And after all of their smug condescension, they wound up rendering the process a complete joke by "endorsing" two candidates. The ghost of the Gray Lady had to be sobbing.
In 1973, my 8th grade social studies teacher brought the Times into class and told us it was the most important newspaper in the world. I took that very seriously.
Yeah. Then came Bill Clinton and Howell Raines' hatred of him and Hillary seeped into every nook and cranny of The New York Times. Raines and his fellow presstitutes gladly fabricated Whitewater and went into overdrive with the stained blue dress.
My friends in France are still baffled as how that led to Clinton's impeachment especially after Larry Flynt exposed how a whole bunch of Republicans who were pushing impeachment were caught doing far more than Bill when it came to adultery.
And what NYT reporter rose to fame on Whitewater? Peter Baker! And what story got him noticed before that? Why, that would be the Lewinsky scandal, which he reported on for WAPO.
That was then. It was the era of the Watergate case, and the Pentagon Papers. Now we have a toothless, lazy editorial staff trying to please everybody with bothsidesism, when it's not cranking out Biden hit pieces in the name of "objectivity."
I have been amazed to see Dowd become just a snark. There have been times in the past where she wrote some brilliant pieces. As to Hewitt and Olsen please add in Thiessen; just awful pretend journalists.
Marycat2021 took the words out of my brain - agree - it WAS the most important THEN. I was in Peace Corps Jamaica and couldn’t wait for the next issue to be delivered.
Why aren't they making a bigger deal out of businesses that are using "inflation" as an excuse to raise prices? Meaning they don't need to raise them, but they are because they can...because inflation.
And since you're getting started with Christmas songs Eric I am going to share my favorite one here. For those who have never experienced Robert Earl Keen you're in for a treat 😂 https://youtu.be/P37xPiRz1sg
A glaring example is oil companies having plenty of capacity but not expanding production in response to demand. Biden has asked the FTC investigate their price gouging, another story the media is choosing to ignore.
I have to say that while people aren’t buying the inflation part, they do appear to be eagerly embracing the supply chain ‘drama’(?) Went out with an R friend Friday and it was mentioned/emphasized multiple times throughout the afternoon.🙄 Never in context of the global situation, not much detail - always framed as a D weakness.
Something’s gotta fill the vacuum I guess?!… (Thx for normalizing rooting against the country, FG) :/
Also - CNN ratings down 73%??! Thx for the context - THAT should run as a *note* after every ‘gas on a fire’ article they run. Infotainment, indeed…
Funny how before 24/7 cable news there was never a vacuum. Huntley/Brinkley, Cronkite and real newsmen crammed more U.S.and World News into 30 minutes than these cable nitwits can all day.
In my 8th grade class we were reading up and studying about the “Cyprus crisis”. Today’s newsmen and students couldn’t even show you where Cyprus is on a map. The television test pattern had more information than Chuck Todd gets on Meet the Press. <off soapbox now>
Truly amazing that it’s the comedy writers that are stating the truth about our country. Trevor Noah, Stephen Colbert, Jimmy Kimmel (with the exception of him giving too much coverage of the pillow dude). Fallon has been a disappointment.
I remember reading about the conflict over oil in My Weekly Reader when I was in grade school in Appalachia in the late fifties. It said that it was a likely place for a war to break out.
I might be confirming my bias, but I’ll take a chance: when I go to my local indie coffee shop that has daily of the Seattle Times and NYTimes available for anyone to read, the section that is untouched is Business (Sports is mauled, btw).
I really don’t think that most of us average Joes understand economics (and it is most definitely not a science) and skip over economic stories. That said, if inflation was truly hitting Joe Sixpack in such a way that s/he felt it, then maybe these stories would have more traction.
I went to the grocery last night, and there were some gaps in the shelves but the stockers were filling them. One told me that they got clobbered at Thanksgiving and ran out of stuff then, but it was normal. “Come back tomorrow, we’ll be back to normal.” Unsold turkeys were on sale, btw.
And cranberries, and Christmas Trees, and well, EVERYTHING, because the shelves are empty!!! At least that's what the media keeps saying, even though it's not true.
I saw several reports showing empty shelves but we haven’t seen anything remotely like that here in the Southeast and my brother in Arizona says they don’t see a lot of empty shelves either.
The msm has been gaslighting us for years. Remember how they told us Ken Starr was not political, Gore was a great big liar, Hillary had jeopardized national security with her emails, Paul Ryan was a fiscal genius, Rudy Giuliani was a hero?
I avoid most televised news. I read the news and make my own decision as to what is worth believing and what isn’t. I do notice there is a lot of opinion written about Biden and politics rather than facts. The sad part is that it is not labeled as such and it should be. People are freaking out about inflation right now. Inflation happens no matter who is in the White House. Republicans act like prices don’t go up when they are in charge. Democrats don’t speak up and the media doesn’t talk about the hypocrisy.
I've noticed my supermarket trips cost a little more at the checkout counter. So, I adjust the number of luxury items I buy as opposed to necessities. If it's like $20 more - I can afford it. However, I'm frugal anyway so I make due. As for Christmas - honestly, they should be happy they got a card.
Thanks for bring that up! I know the Prez. Cannot single handedly rid the world of Mr. Helipad~Fancy house Dejoy! ~ Look it up you should see his residence! But some people ought to be leaning/rallying on the:
This is anecdotal, of course, but last week I read an article that said that there was inflationary pressures on purchasing...(wait for it)... yachts. Seems that there is a backlog of orders and not enough people to make them.
When the ruling class —who own hedge funds that own the press— are inconvenienced, well, they have to fire the mail room clerk, in this case Joe Biden.
I am so angry and frustrated by the relentless, clearly deliberate effort by the mainstream media to drive down Biden’s approval ratings that I am afraid I will stomp myself into the ground a la Rumpelstiltskin. However I disagree with Eric that the public isn’t buying the media’s inflation spin. Just because they are still spending doesn’t meant they aren’t buying the storyline that inflation is a big problem due to excess spending that will last and threaten our economy. In fact there is evidence that this is the case. According to the NY Times’s Upshot:
“ Americans Are Flush With Cash and Jobs. They Also Think the Economy Is Awful.
The psychological effects of inflation seem to have the upper hand”
Recent polls are showing that both Republicans and Democrats “….give ratings about as low as they did in the early 2010s, when unemployment was much higher and Americans’ finances were a wreck.”
The article goes on to explain why inflation has such a negative effect on people’s perception of the health of our economy even when they are personally doing well. Of course there is no mention of the fact that the media’s obsessing over inflation while ignoring good economic news is a big driver of that perception.
There is no sense of self-reflection in that article about why the public’s perception is so far off. It should be shocking that the public rates the economy about as low as they did in 2010, a time when our economy was actually terrible. Objective journalists would look in the mirror anytime they see evidence that public opinion doesn’t match reality.
I am willing to bet that the media’s hyping of crime stories — I have seen several stories implying that smash and grab attacks are widespread across the country — is also having an effect. Yes crime is up but crime rates are still way below what they were in the 80s and 90s.
Other than polls of small numbers of people, nobody knows just what people are thinking. It really means that people are being told what to think in this case, and that cannot be underestimated in a society so heavily influenced by the media and the internet. People obviously have no problem buying gifts this year, and they show the human tendency to disregard helpful advice (like don't clog up the supply chain further by buying tons of Chinese crap) and then complain about the consequences.
You're right about the scaremongering too. Either the shrimp in your appetizer tray are carrying bacteria, there are hordes of people swooping down on swanky department stores and making off with all the Louis Vuitton bags, or you're gonna run out of toilet paper because it's in a shipping container off the coast of Los Angeles :) And now we're being spooked by the omicron variant even though nobody can tell us why.
Exactly re:media being such an influential voice; to state the obvious, whatever narrative the msm grabs onto 24/7 vis a vis R talking points is the narrative folks hold onto. Inflation! Joe’s calamities! Kamala’s shortcomings! Covid failures! They become embedded in the national lore. That’s the part that makes me want to scream. The msm is so immorally derelict in their duties.
It's common knowledge that presidents are not responsible for either inflation or supply chain problems. Nevertheless, people are believing it. I have seen so many reader comments complete with hand wringing and whining. What's so awful is that Biden's "plummeting poll numbers" are caused by media lies.
Awful, too, that the same people who tarred and feathered Andrew Cuomo are now defending Chris Cuomo against his bosses at CNN, who have acted ethically about 6 months too late in saying that unethical behavior can't be excused by family ties.
Joe B was in MN yesterday (BBB), and right after his speech the NPR anchors did a tsk-tsk recap as to how ‘he only got 13 House Rs to vote for it’ - so it was, what - weakly bipartisan I guess??? W O W.
(So how many R votes makes it ‘full-fledged’ bipartisan? No mention that Rs offer nothing to counter - by paying NO price, all of their energy can go into obstruction…)🔥
I heard complaints about Black Santa’s on the radio today. Interviews w/actual volunteer Santa’s attribute the decline to fears of Covid. And remember, Kelly what’s her name insisted that Santa is white.
Are these inflation pieces pushed by editors despite pushback from critics such as Eric’s/ours? It seems to me that consumers are busy living their lives, not reading the fine print in newspapers, nor hearing from honest media sources. If this is the case, all we can do imo is to continue to beat the drum, cancel subscriptions, rant on platforms of choice, hammer politicians, call out the lies and the dangerously negative impact msm is having on our country’s present and future. If money is all the msm covets, we have to hit them in the pocketbooks. Money talks....usually.
Apropos of nothing, I’m awaiting my ‘Brandon won’ sticker for the car. Jerks can be trolled for a change. A little bit of power on my end, fun but mad as hell.
Great piece, Eric. Without you validating what I'm seeing in the media coverage of Biden's presidency, I would think I'm delusional.
The two things they clutch their pearls over, for no reason, are inflation and the midterms, neither of which are in danger - that is, unless the media causes that danger by endlessly harping on "Dems face crisis" and "Biden policies cause rifts and infighting among Dems" types of coverage. Meanwhile, we're treated to Republican malfeasance, dirty politics and extremism - all normalized and not nearly as important as Biden and his "plummeting" popularity.
What's interesting is that except for the consumer spending, Washington Post readers seem to believe that inflation is killing the economy and that we're on the verge of a depression. Twice I have read comments that claim "people are hurting" but when I respond by asking for examples, I get nothing. The media could very well throw the elections in favor of the GOP; it wouldn't be the first time.
I have to disagree with Eric’s claim that the inflation BS in the media isn’t having traction with the masses. IIRC, polling shows that it does. In turn, this might explain the increase in buying: to buy now before prices go up. And I’m sure that supply chain fear is also contributing; again, buy now because the replacement shipments aren’t coming or whatever.
Too, it has to be noted that mainstream economics reporting is incredibly dishonest and has been such for decades. BTW, Prof. Krugman says that the 70s inflation cycle fear of which is apparently fueling the ruling class’ anxiety was a historic anomaly.
All that notwithstanding, the primary factor in the reporting failures Eric notes is the mainstream need to bash the Democrat. If facts have to be distorted or made, so be it.
the polling is very interesting and I didn’t address in piece but basically I agree…and there’s a disconnect. on one hand consumer confidence is down (driven largely by Republicans who get polled), and on the other hand consumers are spending at a record rate. and yes, I do think the onslaught of inflation coverage is hurting Biden’s numbers
The Times article says that Democrats are polling about the same as Republicans so it looks like its the media coverage driving the numbers down. As Bannon has said it’s the mainstream media that does the real damage to Democrats.
I was thinking that while folks are enjoying spending in a growing economy - they aren’t necessarily ‘connecting the two dots’ required to admit the press is distorting and Joe ‘might’ be doing a great job in terrible circumstances… Not even in office for a year. Love to see an article about him being the hardest working guy in 🇺🇸 right now!!!
In the past after a president has been in office for a few months I have heard journalists say things like he is now responsible for this problem and can’t blame it on his predecessor implying that if he can’t solve neatly the problem the blame is all on him. That dynamic was clearly in operation when we withdrew from Afghanistan. Almost all the blame was put on Biden, not Trump.
They're still publishing articles on how awful life is in Afghanistan, especially for women, but there were no such weepy pieces during Trump's reign, even though the Taliban was still terrorizing the people in the territories it held. What's implied is obvious, that Biden caused tremendous suffering by not evacuating the entire population of Afghanistan. Meanwhile, we're also seeing quiet little pieces on how the GOP doesn't want any Afghans in the red states. Sorry I'm off-topic, but the pattern of blame here is so obvious.
And Obama got blamed for not immediately fixing the economy which had collapsed on Bush’s watch, then got blamed for trying to spend to much money fixing it.
It worked then. It'll work now. And of course, a party like the GOP that survives by its grievances, negativity and aggressive smear tactics will use every means available.
For the past four years, I was a proud member of Daily Kos, as I had found the blog a lifeline to help me keep my finger on the pulse of things in the Trump era.
I started my semi-permanent tenure making posts and comments during the brouhaha over Al Franken and the allegations of sexual misconduct against him, and warning that the move to cast him out of the Senate and the party would be a tremendous mistake and effectively lead to Republicans weaponizing allegations in bad faith and firebrands, extremeists, and even liars, to hijack Me Too and corrupt it from within.
I received a bit of scolding and ribbing for my comments, calling me a worrywart and even a rape apologist for my continued expressions of belief in Franken's innocence.
Even so, I managed to basically persist and continued to crank out stories and comments at a good clip. I even became labeled a "trusted member", someone with impressive points to make and pay attention to.
My entire record in making comments and stories is below, so you can get an idea of what I've done over this period.
But apparently, the fact that I continued to express concern about certain figures being falsely accused of sexual misconduct when the evidence has clearly shown otherwise, earned me a lot of enemies, who insisted that I was a right wing shill or a "fascist in disguise."
This especially became more clear when I started making posts about certain particular cultural thought police excesses regarding media and entertainment, such as regarding The Rolling Stones' song "Brown Sugar," or the cultural appropriation/representation debate. I made clear that I take these concerns quite to heart and support them, but that overreach will do us no favors.
I said all these things in the hope of fostering debate, of pursuing civil, rational and honest discourse. Instead I was lobbed with an absolute litany of character assassination, calling me everything from a white supremacist to a Q shill, and everything in between. The straw that broke the camel's back for them came in my comments in the story below.
All from this particular story, my status as "trusted member" was revoked, I was given a "death sentence" and labeled toxic. I can currently log in, but I can't make comments, favorite other users' comments, or write stories anymore.
I spent four years of my life helping these people, supporting the cause, working to get out the vote to elect "more and better Democrats." And this is the thanks I get? To be cast aside, judged guilty without trial? My record, my reputation speaks for itself, and they choose to invert reality and say I'm just a right wing troll in disguise. I'm extremely bitter about all of this.
I guess I'm giving this all to you because I really need someone to talk to. Someone to basically hear me out.
One way I cut my expenses in “inflationary times” is to drop my subscriptions to WaPo and NYT (and use that money for outstanding writing at Substack. 😉
see, consequences! 😉
Me too.
You know it's time to cancel when you literally avoid reading it, like I was doing with the NYT.
I’ve watched the NYT run downhill from the Pentagon Papers to today’s corporate joke.
The self-produced documentary of the NYT editorial board's Dem primary endorsement process was a revelation in that it showed how astoundingly dumb the questions to the candidates were. I gasped when they said to Joe Biden, "Tell us about a time that made you sad." They asked equally tone-deaf and irrelevant questions to other candidates, including one to Bernie Sanders, who froze the nitwit questioner with silence and an icy glare. And after all of their smug condescension, they wound up rendering the process a complete joke by "endorsing" two candidates. The ghost of the Gray Lady had to be sobbing.
In 1973, my 8th grade social studies teacher brought the Times into class and told us it was the most important newspaper in the world. I took that very seriously.
Yeah. Then came Bill Clinton and Howell Raines' hatred of him and Hillary seeped into every nook and cranny of The New York Times. Raines and his fellow presstitutes gladly fabricated Whitewater and went into overdrive with the stained blue dress.
My friends in France are still baffled as how that led to Clinton's impeachment especially after Larry Flynt exposed how a whole bunch of Republicans who were pushing impeachment were caught doing far more than Bill when it came to adultery.
And what NYT reporter rose to fame on Whitewater? Peter Baker! And what story got him noticed before that? Why, that would be the Lewinsky scandal, which he reported on for WAPO.
Appreciate the friendly reminders ~ !
🔥
Bob Packwood et al.
That was then. It was the era of the Watergate case, and the Pentagon Papers. Now we have a toothless, lazy editorial staff trying to please everybody with bothsidesism, when it's not cranking out Biden hit pieces in the name of "objectivity."
And we have Maureen Dowd's endless snarking on the Times Op-Eds while liars like Hugh Hewitt and Henry Olson dominate the Post Op-Eds.
I have been amazed to see Dowd become just a snark. There have been times in the past where she wrote some brilliant pieces. As to Hewitt and Olsen please add in Thiessen; just awful pretend journalists.
Marycat2021 took the words out of my brain - agree - it WAS the most important THEN. I was in Peace Corps Jamaica and couldn’t wait for the next issue to be delivered.
Why aren't they making a bigger deal out of businesses that are using "inflation" as an excuse to raise prices? Meaning they don't need to raise them, but they are because they can...because inflation.
And since you're getting started with Christmas songs Eric I am going to share my favorite one here. For those who have never experienced Robert Earl Keen you're in for a treat 😂 https://youtu.be/P37xPiRz1sg
absolutely, very little coverage re: old fashion gauging
Grammar Patrol: gouging
Happens to us all :)
Probably a typo
A glaring example is oil companies having plenty of capacity but not expanding production in response to demand. Biden has asked the FTC investigate their price gouging, another story the media is choosing to ignore.
Why are gas prices so different depending on where you live? I think that is BS.
Gas prices have always varied from region to region and state to state but they are up everywhere relative to what they were.
https://www.cnbc.com/2021/10/26/why-us-gasoline-prices-vary-so-much-from-state-to-state.html
There is pressure coming from Wall Street to pump less to keep prices high.
https://www.cnbc.com/2021/10/26/why-us-gasoline-prices-vary-so-much-from-state-to-state.html
Right, but I can drive a mile in my city and the price is higher than the last place. Taxes on gas make a big difference, as well.
Great piece! Thx for all the NYT receipts…
I have to say that while people aren’t buying the inflation part, they do appear to be eagerly embracing the supply chain ‘drama’(?) Went out with an R friend Friday and it was mentioned/emphasized multiple times throughout the afternoon.🙄 Never in context of the global situation, not much detail - always framed as a D weakness.
Something’s gotta fill the vacuum I guess?!… (Thx for normalizing rooting against the country, FG) :/
Also - CNN ratings down 73%??! Thx for the context - THAT should run as a *note* after every ‘gas on a fire’ article they run. Infotainment, indeed…
I think “filling the vacuum” is the key element
Funny how before 24/7 cable news there was never a vacuum. Huntley/Brinkley, Cronkite and real newsmen crammed more U.S.and World News into 30 minutes than these cable nitwits can all day.
In my 8th grade class we were reading up and studying about the “Cyprus crisis”. Today’s newsmen and students couldn’t even show you where Cyprus is on a map. The television test pattern had more information than Chuck Todd gets on Meet the Press. <off soapbox now>
Sure was amazing how Cronkite, Huntley, Brinkley and Howard K Smith packed more news into 30 minutes than CNN does in a week.
Funny/not funny quote from news anchor character on 30 Rock: “It’s a 24 hour news cycle - we don’t have time to get it right”…
Truly amazing that it’s the comedy writers that are stating the truth about our country. Trevor Noah, Stephen Colbert, Jimmy Kimmel (with the exception of him giving too much coverage of the pillow dude). Fallon has been a disappointment.
I remember reading about the conflict over oil in My Weekly Reader when I was in grade school in Appalachia in the late fifties. It said that it was a likely place for a war to break out.
I might be confirming my bias, but I’ll take a chance: when I go to my local indie coffee shop that has daily of the Seattle Times and NYTimes available for anyone to read, the section that is untouched is Business (Sports is mauled, btw).
I really don’t think that most of us average Joes understand economics (and it is most definitely not a science) and skip over economic stories. That said, if inflation was truly hitting Joe Sixpack in such a way that s/he felt it, then maybe these stories would have more traction.
I went to the grocery last night, and there were some gaps in the shelves but the stockers were filling them. One told me that they got clobbered at Thanksgiving and ran out of stuff then, but it was normal. “Come back tomorrow, we’ll be back to normal.” Unsold turkeys were on sale, btw.
Remember when they told us that there wouldn’t be enough turkeys because of supply chain issues?
Yeah.
And cranberries, and Christmas Trees, and well, EVERYTHING, because the shelves are empty!!! At least that's what the media keeps saying, even though it's not true.
I saw several reports showing empty shelves but we haven’t seen anything remotely like that here in the Southeast and my brother in Arizona says they don’t see a lot of empty shelves either.
I’ve seen nothing in Boston Globe, local press about pissed off supermarket customers.
Don’t believe your lyin’ eyes. Now we’re being gaslighted by msm!
The msm has been gaslighting us for years. Remember how they told us Ken Starr was not political, Gore was a great big liar, Hillary had jeopardized national security with her emails, Paul Ryan was a fiscal genius, Rudy Giuliani was a hero?
Yes, I do. I’m thinking social media has cranked things up to 11, not a factor then. But, point well taken.
Oh and they're continuing with that BS! Turkey shortage for Christmas! GASP!
They seem to want to play into our national case of entitlement fever.
I avoid most televised news. I read the news and make my own decision as to what is worth believing and what isn’t. I do notice there is a lot of opinion written about Biden and politics rather than facts. The sad part is that it is not labeled as such and it should be. People are freaking out about inflation right now. Inflation happens no matter who is in the White House. Republicans act like prices don’t go up when they are in charge. Democrats don’t speak up and the media doesn’t talk about the hypocrisy.
I've noticed my supermarket trips cost a little more at the checkout counter. So, I adjust the number of luxury items I buy as opposed to necessities. If it's like $20 more - I can afford it. However, I'm frugal anyway so I make due. As for Christmas - honestly, they should be happy they got a card.
Meanwhile DeJoy is still at it delaying the mail so he can get his pals in the press to blame Joe for that as well.
Thanks for bring that up! I know the Prez. Cannot single handedly rid the world of Mr. Helipad~Fancy house Dejoy! ~ Look it up you should see his residence! But some people ought to be leaning/rallying on the:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Board_of_Governors_of_the_United_States_Postal_Service
To Get Him OUT! PLEASE!
Looks like Biden has moved to make that possible:
https://www.thenation.com/article/politics/louis-dejoy-usps/
This story should get more attention.
This is anecdotal, of course, but last week I read an article that said that there was inflationary pressures on purchasing...(wait for it)... yachts. Seems that there is a backlog of orders and not enough people to make them.
When the ruling class —who own hedge funds that own the press— are inconvenienced, well, they have to fire the mail room clerk, in this case Joe Biden.
I am so angry and frustrated by the relentless, clearly deliberate effort by the mainstream media to drive down Biden’s approval ratings that I am afraid I will stomp myself into the ground a la Rumpelstiltskin. However I disagree with Eric that the public isn’t buying the media’s inflation spin. Just because they are still spending doesn’t meant they aren’t buying the storyline that inflation is a big problem due to excess spending that will last and threaten our economy. In fact there is evidence that this is the case. According to the NY Times’s Upshot:
“ Americans Are Flush With Cash and Jobs. They Also Think the Economy Is Awful.
The psychological effects of inflation seem to have the upper hand”
Recent polls are showing that both Republicans and Democrats “….give ratings about as low as they did in the early 2010s, when unemployment was much higher and Americans’ finances were a wreck.”
The article goes on to explain why inflation has such a negative effect on people’s perception of the health of our economy even when they are personally doing well. Of course there is no mention of the fact that the media’s obsessing over inflation while ignoring good economic news is a big driver of that perception.
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/11/06/upshot/inflation-psychology-economy.html
There is no sense of self-reflection in that article about why the public’s perception is so far off. It should be shocking that the public rates the economy about as low as they did in 2010, a time when our economy was actually terrible. Objective journalists would look in the mirror anytime they see evidence that public opinion doesn’t match reality.
I am willing to bet that the media’s hyping of crime stories — I have seen several stories implying that smash and grab attacks are widespread across the country — is also having an effect. Yes crime is up but crime rates are still way below what they were in the 80s and 90s.
Other than polls of small numbers of people, nobody knows just what people are thinking. It really means that people are being told what to think in this case, and that cannot be underestimated in a society so heavily influenced by the media and the internet. People obviously have no problem buying gifts this year, and they show the human tendency to disregard helpful advice (like don't clog up the supply chain further by buying tons of Chinese crap) and then complain about the consequences.
You're right about the scaremongering too. Either the shrimp in your appetizer tray are carrying bacteria, there are hordes of people swooping down on swanky department stores and making off with all the Louis Vuitton bags, or you're gonna run out of toilet paper because it's in a shipping container off the coast of Los Angeles :) And now we're being spooked by the omicron variant even though nobody can tell us why.
Exactly re:media being such an influential voice; to state the obvious, whatever narrative the msm grabs onto 24/7 vis a vis R talking points is the narrative folks hold onto. Inflation! Joe’s calamities! Kamala’s shortcomings! Covid failures! They become embedded in the national lore. That’s the part that makes me want to scream. The msm is so immorally derelict in their duties.
It's common knowledge that presidents are not responsible for either inflation or supply chain problems. Nevertheless, people are believing it. I have seen so many reader comments complete with hand wringing and whining. What's so awful is that Biden's "plummeting poll numbers" are caused by media lies.
Awful, too, that the same people who tarred and feathered Andrew Cuomo are now defending Chris Cuomo against his bosses at CNN, who have acted ethically about 6 months too late in saying that unethical behavior can't be excused by family ties.
Joe B was in MN yesterday (BBB), and right after his speech the NPR anchors did a tsk-tsk recap as to how ‘he only got 13 House Rs to vote for it’ - so it was, what - weakly bipartisan I guess??? W O W.
(So how many R votes makes it ‘full-fledged’ bipartisan? No mention that Rs offer nothing to counter - by paying NO price, all of their energy can go into obstruction…)🔥
LMAO at 19th Century Fox blaming Joe for the..."Santa Shortage".
Now who wouldn't want to play Unmasked Santa where anti-vaxers aren't wearing masks and letting Covid mutate out of control?
I heard complaints about Black Santa’s on the radio today. Interviews w/actual volunteer Santa’s attribute the decline to fears of Covid. And remember, Kelly what’s her name insisted that Santa is white.
Are these inflation pieces pushed by editors despite pushback from critics such as Eric’s/ours? It seems to me that consumers are busy living their lives, not reading the fine print in newspapers, nor hearing from honest media sources. If this is the case, all we can do imo is to continue to beat the drum, cancel subscriptions, rant on platforms of choice, hammer politicians, call out the lies and the dangerously negative impact msm is having on our country’s present and future. If money is all the msm covets, we have to hit them in the pocketbooks. Money talks....usually.
I don't watch TV news but I'm willing to bet that the top story on the shows is inflation/supply chain and how it's all Biden's fault. Even NPR.
Apropos of nothing, I’m awaiting my ‘Brandon won’ sticker for the car. Jerks can be trolled for a change. A little bit of power on my end, fun but mad as hell.
Great piece, Eric. Without you validating what I'm seeing in the media coverage of Biden's presidency, I would think I'm delusional.
The two things they clutch their pearls over, for no reason, are inflation and the midterms, neither of which are in danger - that is, unless the media causes that danger by endlessly harping on "Dems face crisis" and "Biden policies cause rifts and infighting among Dems" types of coverage. Meanwhile, we're treated to Republican malfeasance, dirty politics and extremism - all normalized and not nearly as important as Biden and his "plummeting" popularity.
What's interesting is that except for the consumer spending, Washington Post readers seem to believe that inflation is killing the economy and that we're on the verge of a depression. Twice I have read comments that claim "people are hurting" but when I respond by asking for examples, I get nothing. The media could very well throw the elections in favor of the GOP; it wouldn't be the first time.
I have to disagree with Eric’s claim that the inflation BS in the media isn’t having traction with the masses. IIRC, polling shows that it does. In turn, this might explain the increase in buying: to buy now before prices go up. And I’m sure that supply chain fear is also contributing; again, buy now because the replacement shipments aren’t coming or whatever.
Too, it has to be noted that mainstream economics reporting is incredibly dishonest and has been such for decades. BTW, Prof. Krugman says that the 70s inflation cycle fear of which is apparently fueling the ruling class’ anxiety was a historic anomaly.
All that notwithstanding, the primary factor in the reporting failures Eric notes is the mainstream need to bash the Democrat. If facts have to be distorted or made, so be it.
the polling is very interesting and I didn’t address in piece but basically I agree…and there’s a disconnect. on one hand consumer confidence is down (driven largely by Republicans who get polled), and on the other hand consumers are spending at a record rate. and yes, I do think the onslaught of inflation coverage is hurting Biden’s numbers
The Times article says that Democrats are polling about the same as Republicans so it looks like its the media coverage driving the numbers down. As Bannon has said it’s the mainstream media that does the real damage to Democrats.
I was thinking that while folks are enjoying spending in a growing economy - they aren’t necessarily ‘connecting the two dots’ required to admit the press is distorting and Joe ‘might’ be doing a great job in terrible circumstances… Not even in office for a year. Love to see an article about him being the hardest working guy in 🇺🇸 right now!!!
They prefer to criticize him for going home on weekends.
And don't even mention that Thanksgiving trip to Nantucket.
In the past after a president has been in office for a few months I have heard journalists say things like he is now responsible for this problem and can’t blame it on his predecessor implying that if he can’t solve neatly the problem the blame is all on him. That dynamic was clearly in operation when we withdrew from Afghanistan. Almost all the blame was put on Biden, not Trump.
They're still publishing articles on how awful life is in Afghanistan, especially for women, but there were no such weepy pieces during Trump's reign, even though the Taliban was still terrorizing the people in the territories it held. What's implied is obvious, that Biden caused tremendous suffering by not evacuating the entire population of Afghanistan. Meanwhile, we're also seeing quiet little pieces on how the GOP doesn't want any Afghans in the red states. Sorry I'm off-topic, but the pattern of blame here is so obvious.
He was carrying out TFG’s policy.
To top it off!!!
And Obama got blamed for not immediately fixing the economy which had collapsed on Bush’s watch, then got blamed for trying to spend to much money fixing it.
It can be set in a diner - I’m not fussy
Feels like a concerted effort to link Joe B with Carter/70’s disarray… I really think it’s that simple.
It worked then. It'll work now. And of course, a party like the GOP that survives by its grievances, negativity and aggressive smear tactics will use every means available.
Oh the bogeyman of "stagflation 1970s style" has started to arise, comparing Biden to Carter, including picture of gas lines etc.
If that’s all ya got
Apparently about 20% of consumers stockpiling extra gifts in case their preferred choices don’t arrive in time for Christmas.
https://www.marketwatch.com/story/supply-chain-concerns-causing-shoppers-to-stockpile-gifts-just-in-case-data-shows-11634661479
So… $ not necessarily an object?
Thanks, Joe!😎🇺🇸
Thanks.
What a great thread! We have some awesome contributors here. Really enjoying this discussion you guys!
To whom it may concern,
For the past four years, I was a proud member of Daily Kos, as I had found the blog a lifeline to help me keep my finger on the pulse of things in the Trump era.
I started my semi-permanent tenure making posts and comments during the brouhaha over Al Franken and the allegations of sexual misconduct against him, and warning that the move to cast him out of the Senate and the party would be a tremendous mistake and effectively lead to Republicans weaponizing allegations in bad faith and firebrands, extremeists, and even liars, to hijack Me Too and corrupt it from within.
I received a bit of scolding and ribbing for my comments, calling me a worrywart and even a rape apologist for my continued expressions of belief in Franken's innocence.
Even so, I managed to basically persist and continued to crank out stories and comments at a good clip. I even became labeled a "trusted member", someone with impressive points to make and pay attention to.
My entire record in making comments and stories is below, so you can get an idea of what I've done over this period.
https://www.dailykos.com/users/Toxic34?filter=stories
https://www.dailykos.com/users/Toxic34?filter=comments
But apparently, the fact that I continued to express concern about certain figures being falsely accused of sexual misconduct when the evidence has clearly shown otherwise, earned me a lot of enemies, who insisted that I was a right wing shill or a "fascist in disguise."
This especially became more clear when I started making posts about certain particular cultural thought police excesses regarding media and entertainment, such as regarding The Rolling Stones' song "Brown Sugar," or the cultural appropriation/representation debate. I made clear that I take these concerns quite to heart and support them, but that overreach will do us no favors.
I said all these things in the hope of fostering debate, of pursuing civil, rational and honest discourse. Instead I was lobbed with an absolute litany of character assassination, calling me everything from a white supremacist to a Q shill, and everything in between. The straw that broke the camel's back for them came in my comments in the story below.
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2021/11/28/2066037/-Cultural-appreciation-or-cultural-appropriation-What-s-the-difference
All from this particular story, my status as "trusted member" was revoked, I was given a "death sentence" and labeled toxic. I can currently log in, but I can't make comments, favorite other users' comments, or write stories anymore.
I spent four years of my life helping these people, supporting the cause, working to get out the vote to elect "more and better Democrats." And this is the thanks I get? To be cast aside, judged guilty without trial? My record, my reputation speaks for itself, and they choose to invert reality and say I'm just a right wing troll in disguise. I'm extremely bitter about all of this.
I guess I'm giving this all to you because I really need someone to talk to. Someone to basically hear me out.
Dude, hijacking someone else's blog is rude. Start your own instead of trying to take over.
DailyKos has a ton of community bloggers.
America is, if nothing else, full of voracious consumers. Memo to Media: "Nobody's listening, my friends." (Miss World, Hole)
And with money not spent since March 2020 when we all shut down.
Eric, is there a way to block spam on comments like the work from home crap from “JeanneETorrez” bot?