I am tired of the cheerleading by the mainstream press where they see every positive sign as a sure sign of recovery and every negative sign as “unexpected.” Every article I read on new data from the Wall Street Journal or Bloomberg is the same–with mind numbing regularity. Worse is that they always find some economist to give them a positive quote to the effect that we are “turning the corner” or “the recovery is self-sustaining.”

Here are some examples from recent news. These aren’t cherry-picked:

Initial jobless claims rose by 18,000 for the latest reporting week of April 3, up to 460,000.

WSJ: ” jobless benefits rose unexpectedly last week.”

Bloomberg: “More Americans unexpectedly filed claims for jobless benefits …” They like to get someone who is bucking the report to make us feel better and it’s either Home Depot or Caterpillar: “Home Depot Inc., the largest U.S. home-improvement retailer, is adding store jobs for the first time in four years as it expects a rebound in sales, Chief Executive Officer Frank Blake said.”

More on the unemployment situation later. … Continue reading Cheerleading By The Media