I read an article the other day about the state of unemployment in our country. What struck me was the headline. In a moment, I'll share with you the title of the article.
I found the heading of the article so fascinating that I did some research about how the situation was handled in the past. I found that, historically, unemployment and the president were inexorably connected. As the article dealt with the fact that we have a high jobless rate right now, I focused my research on that specific situation. Here are some of the headlines I found from the past:
From G. W. Bush's era:
"Bush's Economy: Unemployment Soars"
"Bush Can't Revive Economy"
"How the Bush Tax cuts reduced employment."
From the Bush Senior era:
"Bush can't create jobs"
From Carter's era:
"Carter's jobless rate a big plus for Reagan"
Now, here we stand, close to a year since Obama's Economy saving stimulus package was unveiled and distributed. This package was to create 3.5 million jobs. Where are they? In February, when the stimulus passed into law the unemployment rate was 8.1%. It had increased from 6.8% when Obama was elected. Now it stands at 10.2%. Not only did the stimulus package not create jobs, it didn't even save the ones that were already in existence!
California, that received over $7.2 Billion currently has a 12.5% unemployment rate. Michigan stands at 15.1%. According to the US Department of Labor nine states saw a "significant change" in their unemployment rates since September, all of them increased.
So what are the current headlines saying?
"Obama's stimulus can't revive economy"
"Stimulus unsuccessful at creating jobs"
"White House needs a new plan to cut Unemployment"
"Obama can't create jobs"
One would think this is what we'd be reading.
Here is the headline that I saw:
"Higher Jobless Rates Could be the New Normal"
As though the jobless rate were completely unrelated to the efforts of the current administration. "It's not their fault, it's the new normal." It doesn't matter that historically we've blamed to the president in times like these. We can't point a finger at this president because it's just the new normal.
Why do I have such a hard time believing that there is no such thing as the Liberal Media?
5 comments:
THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS THE LIBERAL MEDIA...the job of a journalist (me having been one for two years in college and then one week working as an "extern" for the Eagle Tribune and me blogging and posting and writing all the time as some sort of experiential advice) is to get at truth. The truth is that no matter how biased you may be as a journalist, you have to report the truth, and the bias of culture is to blame the Govt even when the real blame is on the businesses and market, and never solely on the govt.
Welcome Mr. Mckeen!
Please. I'm begging you, explain to me how we can have two completely different viewpoints: on the one hand it's the president's fault, on the other it's just the way it is and not have any bias there? They can't BOTH be true. Either the bias was in the past and we shouldn't be blaming the government or the bias is now and it's appropriate to say "you tried and you failed. Now try again!"
Can you explain this? We can't have it both ways.
Objectively speaking ... the truth could be that a particular present is at fault for a particular result and on a different day a new norm is to be expected. Now, I'm not saying that the former president was to blame and the current is not, I'm simply saying that blaming an individual does not mean that you have to blame all presidents or none of them.
Wait until your little Wild Card is a little older and she and Full House are fighting over something. It's tempting to blame both just to be "fair" and "equal", but sometimes the only truly fair thing is to blame the one who is actually at fault.
The same could be true of a leader. One leader might be the cause of a problem and another might have to pick up the pieces or adjust the country's expectations, and it's not bias to report it that way, but simply fact.
Personally, I think there's generally too much finger pointing at presidents and not enough at the other sources of trouble in our country, but that's .... just my opinion.
Oops. that should read "president" and not "present" -- evidently my "id" got lost in their somewhere! Be Freud would have fun with that!!
CONGRATULATIONS! SO HAPPY FOR YOU
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