Here’s a fun fact: People who write for a living are not necessarily great public speakers.
See Washington Post personal finance columnist Michelle Singletary.
The newspaper columnist appeared last week on MSNBC to discuss high inflation and the skyrocketing cost of basic goods and services in the United States. During her appearance, she made a decent point about panic. But sadly for her, she delivered her message in the most condescending and alienating way possible.
“There’s a new poll out by Politico,” said MSNBC host Chris Jansing, “that I think is quite revealing. It shows 38% of Americans say they would rather see a recession than the inflation we are dealing with.”
She added, “I read that to mean more than a third of Americans are so pressed by what they’re having to pay for gas, for food, everyday items, rent, that they’d rather see a recession. Is that where we are right now?”
Singletary responded, saying consumers need to calm down and “back off.”
“You know, I’m just going to say this, and if I’m banged for it, I don’t care. There’s a great deal of Americans where it is uncomfortable that they’re spending more, but they are not going to go under,” she said. “You know you got to stop complaining when there’s so many people who literally the inflation rate means they may only have two meals instead of three. There are Americans who did extremely well in the last two years in the market. You still have your job.”
Singletary added, “And yeah, it’s costing you more for gas, but guess what, you’re still going to take that holiday, that Fourth of July vacation. You can still eat out. So, I’m going to need you to calm down and back off because it feeds into this fear, and then this fear feeds into people making decisions that creates the very thing they’re fearful of.”
You can see that she made a reasonable point when you sift through the layers of contempt, glibness, and condescension. She clearly tried to say: “Don’t panic because mass panics exacerbate existing economic crises.”
It’s a reasonable and true statement — delivered in the worst imaginable way.
Maybe stick to writing, Singletary. Public speaking clearly isn’t your strong suit.
Delusional
At 8.6%, the current inflation rate in the United States is the worst it has been in 40 years. As the cost of everything from fuel to groceries has jumped exponentially in the past several months and goods are in short supply, it’s not far-fetched to suspect a debilitating recession is just over the horizon.
But try telling that to the Los Angeles Times, which assured its readers last week things aren’t so bad.
“Yes, a recession looks inevitable,” reads the headline of a story dated June 22. “But it may not be that bad. Here’s why.”
The story explains: “Whether it’s President Biden insisting a recession is avoidable or his critics arguing that the wolf is at the door, both sides are acting as if the nation faces an unprecedented catastrophe.”
Well, yes. High inflation and scarcity will do that.
“Behind the rhetoric,” the story continued, “the reality is that recessions are a normal part of American economic life. The U.S. has had one, on average, every 6 1/2 years since 1945.”
Don’t worry about that 40-year high! This sort of thing is normal.
“Many households are flush with cash, and jobs are plentiful with demand for new workers strong,” the LA Times report argued. “Banks are well capitalized, which gives them a solid buffer against a business contraction. The rebound since [the pandemic] has been fast and strong, largely because of unprecedented government aid to households and businesses.”
It continued, addressing the pandemic savings that will supposedly bolster the hard-pressed: “Those extra savings, along with historically low household debt and loan-servicing burden — many homeowners locked in low mortgage rates before the recent increases — suggest that most people are better positioned financially and could help make the next recession milder.”
Speaking of pandemic savings, that “money is rapidly evaporating for 26 million low-income families,” noted Bloomberg’s Saleha Mohsin.
This is to say nothing of what we’d need to see from the unemployment rate, which currently rests at 3.6% (the U-6 unemployment rate, considered a broader measure of actual unemployment in the U.S., presently registers at 6.7%), to help get inflation back under control.
“We need five years of unemployment above 5% to contain inflation — in other words, we need two years of 7.5% unemployment or five years of 6% unemployment or one year of 10% unemployment,’” former National Economic Council Director Larry Summers told an audience recently in London.
Put simply, we’re going to need more unemployed people if we want to rein in inflation, according to Summers.
Anyway, for no reason at all, here’s an LA Times headline from 2008, back when a Republican president presided over a recession: “$4 gasoline? It’s news to Bush.” The story reported specifically, “During a White House news conference, Bush tried to put the best spin on months of bleak economic news.”
“Spin on months of bleak economic news,” you say?
Delete
USA Today is feeling a little embarrassed these days after a now-former reporter was discovered to have inserted falsehoods and outright fabrications into a whopping 23 news articles.
Twenty-three.
The publishing giant announced the misconduct this month, explaining it had taken the unusual step of removing the tainted articles, authored by Gabriela Miranda, from its online news pages.
“After receiving an external correction request, USA Today audited the reporting work of Gabriela Miranda,” managing editor of standards Michael McCarter said in a memo. “The audit revealed that some individuals quoted were not affiliated with the organizations claimed and appeared to be fabricated. The existence of other individuals quoted could not be independently verified. In addition, some stories included quotes that should have been credited to others.”
“As a result,” the note added, “USA Today removed 23 articles from its website and other platforms for not meeting our editorial standards.”
Miranda, whose many falsehoods ended up in the print edition of USA Today, tendered her resignation soon after her editors confirmed the malfeasance. The paper added an editor’s note to its print edition, explaining the misconduct.
Miranda joined USA Today in April 2021, just one month before she graduated from the University of Georgia. She has since deleted some of her social media accounts while setting others to “private.”
The list of removed articles includes stories with headlines such as “Washington, DC couples call wedding dance ban excessive,” “TikTok bans ‘milk crate challenge’ from its app, citing concerns over dangerous acts,” and “Real life Squid Games? Hit show a chance to spotlight Korean culture.”
In other words, stories of no real import. Miranda’s beat focused almost entirely on relatively trivial “viral” matters.
It profits a man nothing to give his soul for the whole world, but for TikTok stories?
Becket Adams is the program director of the National Journalism Center.
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