Media Myths: The Housing Bubble Is Bursting
New from the Business & Media Institute
Media Myths: The Housing Bubble Is Bursting
The housing market is set to come crashing down or so the media say. The
trouble is, theyve been saying it for four long years now. Even the Feds
chairman and soon-to-be chairman have assured the public that local
markets are where the action is, but the media continue the national hype.
The Business & Media Institute debunks this media myth by taking a look at news
coverage versus the reality of the still-strong market.
Bubble, Bubble, Its the Media in Trouble
Its hard to take journalists seriously when their
predictions of doom keep coming out wrong. How many times will they say
the housing boom has gone bust? And whos that singing Tiny Bubbles?
CBS Blows Hurricane Season Death Toll out of Proportion
CBSs Jim Acosta declared the 2005 hurricane season the deadliest of all
time. That claim was far off the reality of several past hurricanes that
killed more than 8,000 people.
**Stay tuned for an upcoming BMI Special Report on
the medias linkage of hurricanes and global warming in the 2005 season.**
The Good, the Bad & the Ugly
The Good, the Bad & the Ugly tracks the best and worst media coverage of
business and economics. Readers are invited to submit suggestions or news
tips to staff writer
Ken Shepherd.
This week: Post reports how states restrict medical
technology; CBSs gas price reporting running on fumes; CNN reporters heap
attacks on restaurant industry.
Also from BMI:
TV Academy Honors Dobbs, Ignores His Slant on News
CNN Unloads Double Portion of Bias
CBS Reporter Misrepresents Pump Prices
Research, News & Commentary
Taxes
News: Turkeys prime minister is proposing investment and
corporate tax cuts to spur economic growth in the European Union candidate
country.
Commentary: If Congress is serious about addressing economic growth and unemployment, writes The Heritage Foundations Andrew Grossman, it needs to re-authorize President Bushs soon-to-expire tax cuts.
Commentary: James Glassman similarly warns that Congress is about to do severe harm to the U.S. economy if it fails to act in the next few months to stop three huge automatic tax increases.
Commentary: National Taxpayers Unions John Berthoud urges Congress to turn the thermostat down on calls for a Jimmy Carter-style windfall profits tax on oil.
Research: The Christmas holiday season upon us, the Tax Foundation releases a report which takes on the charity deduction for income taxes, noting most 501(c)(3) charities now benefiting from the charitable deduction are neither charitable nor providers of public goods.
Environment
Commentary: University of Virginia environmental scientist Patrick Michaels debunks the methodology behind a study which recently attributed 150,000 deaths per year to global warming.
Commentary: Bob Brown of the Center for the Rocky Mountain West points to Montanas forest management as a market-friendly model for the feds to pursue.
Commentary: [T]he more we learn about the climate, the more it is clear our knowledge is just scratching the surface, writes CEI senior fellow Iain Murray at TechCentralStation. Murray adds that the Kyoto Treaty and other treaties like them are simple-minded.
Wal-Mart/Labor Unions
Commentary: Robert Huberty of Capital Research Centers blog mocks an anti-Wal-Mart activist who found it hard to fight Wal-Mart from his hotel in India for lack of an Internet provider.
Eminent Domain
Research: Carla Main details How Eminent Domain Ran Amok in the Hoover Institutions October/November 2005 Policy Review, tracing how the federal courts have turned a constitutional protection of free market capitalism into a cash cow for governments at the expense of economic liberty.
Gas/Oil Prices
Commentary: The Heritage Foundation blogs on how windfall profits are helping to quickly repair refinery infrastructure to ensure long-term stability in gas prices.
