When the Biden administration says, “jump,” it looks like the mainstream media asks, “How high?” Of course, the answer to that question would be enough to cover rising inflation. But after a report this week showed that the White House was allegedly meeting with media outlets to help “reshape” coverage of the economy, all of the sudden, several media outlets started touting this economy as one of the strongest ever.
On Tuesday, The Daily Wire reported that “Democrat President Joe Biden’s administration is reportedly meeting privately behind the scenes with journalists to change the coverage it is getting on the supply chain crisis and other economic woes that have been a serious issue for Biden as his approval ratings continue to plummet.”
As noted by The Daily Wire, CNN had the first scoop:
The White House, not happy with the news media’s coverage of the supply chain and economy, has been working behind the scenes trying to reshape coverage in its favor. Senior White House and admin officials — including NEC Deputy Directors David Kamin and Bharat Ramamurti, along with Ports Envoy John Porcari — have been briefing major newsrooms over the past week, a source tells me.
The officials have been discussing with newsrooms trends pertaining to job creation, economic growth, supply chains, and more. The basic argument that has been made: That the country’s economy is in much better shape than it was last year. I’m told the conversations have been productive, with anchors and reporters and producers getting to talk with the officials…
Then, CNBC’s Jim Cramer stated on his TV show “Mad Money” on Thursday that the economy was “stronger than [he’s] ever seen.”
“First of all, to me, we have the strongest economy perhaps I have ever seen. Did you see that number this morning? That unemployment number? It’s the best in years, the best since ’69,” Cramer stated.
He continued, “We have all spotted the endless help wanted signs, the housing and apartment shortages, the tremendous demand for goods and services — a marvel to behold. Oh, people are confident about their jobs, I say fantastic, and the ability to [even] get better ones if they want to. They’re spending more than I’ve ever seen, but they’re doing it with cash, not on credit.”
“They’re doing so in a roaring 20s style,” he concluded.
Does any of that sound like a strong economy to you? No?
Then perhaps you’re part of the 61% of American voters who believe the economy is heading in the wrong direction.
But Cramer has — more or less — gone off the deep end recently. Last week, he said the military should enforce a vaccine mandate, and those who didn’t want the vaccine should have to make their case in court.
But Cramer wasn’t the only one saying that we have a great economy. MSNBC’s Joy Reid said America’s dour outlook is a direct result of poor media coverage and that the media needed to describe the economy in a different way.
Reid said that the “low” unemployment numbers were a “really big deal, and [speak] to the incredible disconnect between the way things are, and the way we in media too often describe them. The U.S. economy is in incredibly good shape — especially given the ongoing pandemic. Yet the conversation is ‘Biden is doomed.’”
This is is a really big deal, and speaks to the incredible disconnect between the way things are, and the way we in media too often describe them. The U.S. economy is in incredibly good shape — especially given the ongoing pandemic. Yet the conversation is “Biden is doomed.” https://t.co/bc1h2E04YI
— Joy-Ann (Pro-Democracy) Reid 😷 (@JoyAnnReid) December 9, 2021
It sounds as if Reid is lazily copying and pasting Biden talking points from the aforementioned White House memo CNN released.
Others have pointed out that the low numbers can be partly explained by seasonal employment, Beaumont Enterprise reported:
Seasonal volatility likely contributed to last week’s drop as the Labor Department adjusted the numbers to reflect job market fluctuations around the holidays, said Stephen Stanley, chief economist at Amherst Pierpont Securities. Before seasonal adjustments, claims actually rose by nearly 64,000 to almost 281,000.
Still, Stanley said in a research note that “the underlying trend remains downward and should be lower than it was prior to the pandemic … The unfilled demand for workers is much larger than it was then and layoffs appear to be noticeably lower.”
Of course, it is speculation on the author’s part that Reid and Cramer were possibly influenced by the White House memo asking to reshape coverage. But — despite math being called racist by some these days — it doesn’t take an economist to add two and two together and see what’s potentially going on here.
The views expressed in this piece are the author’s own and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.