Posted by
Defend America on Saturday, August 08, 2009 9:50:50 PM
Times touts economic momentum, recovery; in 1992, not so much
By: Byron York
Chief Political Correspondent
08/08/09 10:01 AM EDT
The front page of the New York Times is filled with hope about the nation's economic situation. The
lead story,
"Job Losses Slow, Signaling Momentum for a Recovery," reporting a
decline in the unemployment rate from 9.5 percent in June to 9.4
percent in July, begins by declaring that, "The most heartening
employment report since last summer suggested on Friday that a recovery
was under way -- and perhaps gathering steam."
Later in York's post:
The Times hasn't always been so optimistic when it comes to
one-tenth-of-a-point declines in the unemployment rate. On this very
day in 1992, in the midst of the presidential campaign between George
H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton, the government also reported that the
unemployment rate ticked downward by one tenth of a point, and the
Times' treatment was far more restrained.
"Jobless Rate Dips a Notch to 7.7% in Mixed Showing," was the
front-page headline
of the August 8, 1992 Times. "The nation's jobless rate improved
marginally last month, edging down to 7.7 percent from 7.8 percent,"
the Times reported. "But the improvement was not enough to signal a
stronger economic recovery or to help President Bush as he heads into
the Republican National Convention." Even though the number of jobs
actually went up in July 1992 (as opposed to the decline of 247,000
jobs in July 2009), the 1992 Times reported that the economic news
"gave no suggestion that the economic recovery was breaking out of its
painfully slow pace or, more important, that the job growth was picking
up enough to push the unemployment rate down significantly before the
election in November." Pollster Peter Hart told the paper that, "There
couldn't be worse political news for George Bush."
http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/blogs/beltway-confidential/Times-touts-economic-momentum-recovery-in-1992-not-so-much-52781412.html