The media pompoms are out again.
In his July 28 “ [1]Street Sweep” blog, Fortune.com reporter Colin Barr highlighted a [2]paper by Moody’s Analytics claiming government stimulus funds “averted what could have been called Great Depression 2.0.” The paper was authored by notorious [3]spending-advocate Mark Zandi and [4]Keynesian sympathizer Alan Blinder of
“What makes the current 9.5 percent unemployment rate look good?
How about one that reaches 16.5 percent? A paper by Moody's economist Mark Zandi and
Barr heralded the paper as a much needed “endorsement” for another stimulus package given the country’s current financial situation:
“With
Not until the second to last paragraph did Barr mention Zandi’s 2008 prediction that unemployment would hit 10 percent without a stimulus package. Barr noted:
“Obama, meanwhile, has been [5]criticized in some quarters for having predicted unemployment would top out at 8%.”
Despite Zandi and Obama, unemployment did reach [6]10 percent even with the stimulus package that would supposedly keep it under [7]eight percent. Furthermore, the stimulus package increased the [8]national debt and created a [9]negative business environment.
Given the state of the economy, one would think the media would wise up to the stimulus’s flaws, but the media continue being Obama’s [10]biggest stimulus cheerleaders.