Media Matters Needs A Lesson In Economics
A June 1, 2006, post by Media Matters absurdly claims that hosts at ABC voiced "GOP spin" by simply asserting the fact that "the economic numbers are pretty good."
Good grief … How about some facts? The Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is viewed by nearly all reputable economists as a reliable indicator of a nation’s economy. Whether you like him or not, President George W. Bush has reigned over a very healthy economy.
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The GDP for the first quarter of 2006 was a very robust 5.3%.
- See that third quarter of 2003? It was the highest quarter of economic growth in nearly 20 years!!
- The unemployment rate in the United States is now a low 4.6%.
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George W. Bush began his second term with a lower unemployment rate than the one with which President Clinton began his second term! (Jan. 1997, 5.3% (Clinton) vs. Jan. 2005, 5.2% (Bush)). (I know a lot of people won’t believe this, so here is the link from the Bureau of Labor Statistics: http://data.bls.gov/PDQ/servlet/SurveyOutputServlet?request_action=wh&graph_name=LN_cpsbref3.)
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The inflation rate is a respectable 3.55%. (Clinton had inflation rates of 3.04% and 3.19% during selected months of 1997 and 1995, respectively.) http://inflationdata.com/Inflation/Inflation_Rate/Inflation.asp
Saying that the economy is "pretty good" is hardly "GOP spin."
MMatters tries to rebut the great economy by whining that "wages are barely keeping pace with inflation." There are two problems with this response:
1. Wages are keeping pace with inflation, even if it’s just "barely" by Media Matters’ standards.
2. Even if wages are not keeping pace with inflation as much as MMatters would like, the economic numbers suggest that this is having virtually no effect on the nation’s economy. (Witness the 1st quarter GDP in 2006!) ABC’s Stephanopoulos and Gibson had no reason to bring up MMatters’ point to begin with; it’s inconsequential.
Media Matters also implies that an ABC News/ Washington Post poll "showing 60 percent of Americans disapprove of President Bush’s handling of the economy" is evidence that the economy is not doing well. Well, rather than this poll supporting Media Matters’ contention that the media disperses "conservative misnformation," this is a textbook example of how the mainstream media (MSM) reeks of liberal, anti-Bush bias. The nation’s economy is doing sensational, yet the public is having a hard time believing it! Why? Because the MSM is either ignoring or downplaying the country’s terrific economy, and/or it is misleading its audiences! (For example: How many of you readers knew that Bush’s unemployment rate at the start of his second term was better than Clinton’s second term start? If not, why not? How many of you readers knew about that 20-year-high GDP in 2003?)
"Conservative misinformation"? "GOP spin"? One word: Ugh. 
