CNNs Kitty Pilgrim Slams Economy

Ken Shepherd

May 31, 2006 - 2:00pm

CNNs Kitty Pilgrim Slams Economy
Dobbs reporter takes Treasury secretary nomination as chance to rehash attacks on Bush economy, ignore strong economic growth.

By Ken Shepherd
Business & Media Institute
May 31, 2006

     President Bushs pick of Henry Paulson to as new Treasury secretary gave Lou Dobbs Tonight another opportunity to mint a biased report on President Bushs economic policies.

     Leading off her story on Paulsons nomination on the May 30 program, correspondent Kitty Pilgrim derisively asked what competitive edge America has in global trade given 30 years of consecutive trade deficits. She followed it with a one-two punch from liberal think tanks blasting the economy.

     The trade deficit has been a recurring theme [1] on Dobbss program as a harbinger of economic illness in the Bush economy, and has been bandied about by anti-free trade activists for years.

     In 1998 [2], Cato Institutes Daniel Griswold concluded that rising trade deficits correlate with falling unemployment rates. At that time, the trade deficit had almost tripled from 1992 to 1997, when it reached a then-record of $198.7 billion. The current deficit stood at $726 billion [3]at the end of 2005, a year which saw the creation of 2 million new jobs [4].

     Sandwiched between two sound bites from experts from liberal think tanks the Center for American Progress and the Brookings Institution, Pilgrim coined a list of criticisms including rising debt, skyrocketing bankruptcy rates, soaring energy prices and other costs which have taken their toll on the middle class.

     Pilgrim not only failed to mention the leftward leanings of those groups, she left out any rebuttals by free market advocates or Bush administrations spokesmen who might point out:

The 4.7 percent unemployment rate lower than the average of any three previous decades. Thirty-two consecutive months of positive job growth. The 5.3 percent 1st quarter growth.

The Business & Media Institute [5] has previously documented the slanted, pessimistic view of free markets and free trade that has underscored economic reporting Lou Dobbs Tonight.

Publication: News [6]

Division: MRC Business [7]

Tags: Employment [8], jobs [9], softdrink [10], Soda [11], Labor [12], Union [13], WallStreetJournal [14], AlGore [15], CurrentTV [16], Smoking [17], economy [18], GasHysteria [19], Drugs [20], autism [21], HousingBubble [22], oil [23], gas [24], RecordPrice [25], Kyoto [26], FannieMae [27], Advisors [28], USAToday [29], NewYorkTimes [30], WashingtonPost [31], CSPI [32], consumerconfidence [33], Insourcing [34], outsourcing [35], China [36], LouDobbs [37], TradeSecrets [38], Live8 [39], BalanceSheet [40], SupersizedBias [41], MediaMalpractice [42], personalaccounts [43], GasPrices [44], biasedaccounts [45], MorganSpurlock [46], obesity [47], Mercury [48], Tax&Spin [49], FairTax [50], Wal-Mart [51], FX [52], DiscoveryChannel [53], NBC [54], abc [55], cbs [56], SocialSecurity [57], runawaylitigation [58], GlobalWarming [59], ClimateChange [60], CharlesSimpson [61], AmyMenefee [62], DanGainor [63], HermanCain [64], news [65], MediaRealityCheck [66], FreeMarket [67], videos [68], taxes [69], newsbias [70], networknews [71], mediawatchdog [72], lbrentbozell [73], bozell [74], BrentBozell [75], LiberalBias [76], MediaResearchCenter [77], Cyberalert [78], MediaBias [79], bias [80], media [81], conservative [82], BusinessandMediaInstitute [83]

Links:
[1] http://www.businessandmedia.org/news/2005/news20051215b.asp
[2] http://www.freetrade.org/pubs/pas/tpa-002.html
[3] http://quote.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=10000006&sid=apZkjDDu0pS4&refer=home
[4] http://www.bls.gov/opub/ted/2006/jan/wk2/art01.htm
[5] http://www.businessandmedia.org/specialreports/2005/lou_dobbs/dobbs.asp
[6] http://archive2.mrc.org/news
[7] http://archive2.mrc.org/division/mrc-business
[8] http://archive2.mrc.org/tags/employment
[9] http://archive2.mrc.org/tags/jobs
[10] http://archive2.mrc.org/tags/softdrink
[11] http://archive2.mrc.org/tags/soda
[12] http://archive2.mrc.org/tags/labor
[13] http://archive2.mrc.org/tags/union
[14] http://archive2.mrc.org/tags/wallstreetjournal
[15] http://archive2.mrc.org/tags/algore-0
[16] http://archive2.mrc.org/tags/currenttv
[17] http://archive2.mrc.org/tags/smoking
[18] http://archive2.mrc.org/tags/economy
[19] http://archive2.mrc.org/tags/gashysteria
[20] http://archive2.mrc.org/tags/drugs
[21] http://archive2.mrc.org/tags/autism
[22] http://archive2.mrc.org/tags/housingbubble
[23] http://archive2.mrc.org/tags/oil
[24] http://archive2.mrc.org/tags/gas
[25] http://archive2.mrc.org/tags/recordprice
[26] http://archive2.mrc.org/tags/kyoto
[27] http://archive2.mrc.org/tags/fanniemae
[28] http://archive2.mrc.org/tags/advisors
[29] http://archive2.mrc.org/tags/usatoday
[30] http://archive2.mrc.org/tags/newyorktimes
[31] http://archive2.mrc.org/tags/washingtonpost
[32] http://archive2.mrc.org/tags/cspi
[33] http://archive2.mrc.org/tags/consumerconfidence-0
[34] http://archive2.mrc.org/tags/insourcing
[35] http://archive2.mrc.org/tags/outsourcing
[36] http://archive2.mrc.org/tags/china
[37] http://archive2.mrc.org/tags/loudobbs
[38] http://archive2.mrc.org/tags/tradesecrets
[39] http://archive2.mrc.org/tags/live8
[40] http://archive2.mrc.org/tags/balancesheet
[41] http://archive2.mrc.org/tags/supersizedbias
[42] http://archive2.mrc.org/tags/mediamalpractice
[43] http://archive2.mrc.org/tags/personalaccounts
[44] http://archive2.mrc.org/tags/gasprices
[45] http://archive2.mrc.org/tags/biasedaccounts
[46] http://archive2.mrc.org/tags/morganspurlock
[47] http://archive2.mrc.org/tags/obesity
[48] http://archive2.mrc.org/tags/mercury
[49] http://archive2.mrc.org/tags/taxspin
[50] http://archive2.mrc.org/tags/fairtax
[51] http://archive2.mrc.org/tags/wal-mart
[52] http://archive2.mrc.org/tags/fx
[53] http://archive2.mrc.org/tags/discoverychannel
[54] http://archive2.mrc.org/tags/nbc
[55] http://archive2.mrc.org/tags/abc
[56] http://archive2.mrc.org/tags/cbs
[57] http://archive2.mrc.org/tags/socialsecurity
[58] http://archive2.mrc.org/tags/runawaylitigation
[59] http://archive2.mrc.org/tags/globalwarming
[60] http://archive2.mrc.org/tags/climatechange
[61] http://archive2.mrc.org/tags/charlessimpson
[62] http://archive2.mrc.org/tags/amymenefee
[63] http://archive2.mrc.org/tags/dangainor
[64] http://archive2.mrc.org/tags/hermancain
[65] http://archive2.mrc.org/tags/news
[66] http://archive2.mrc.org/tags/mediarealitycheck
[67] http://archive2.mrc.org/tags/freemarket
[68] http://archive2.mrc.org/tags/videos
[69] http://archive2.mrc.org/tags/taxes
[70] http://archive2.mrc.org/tags/newsbias
[71] http://archive2.mrc.org/tags/networknews
[72] http://archive2.mrc.org/tags/mediawatchdog
[73] http://archive2.mrc.org/tags/lbrentbozell-0
[74] http://archive2.mrc.org/tags/bozell
[75] http://archive2.mrc.org/tags/brentbozell
[76] http://archive2.mrc.org/tags/liberalbias-0
[77] http://archive2.mrc.org/tags/mediaresearchcenter
[78] http://archive2.mrc.org/tags/cyberalert
[79] http://archive2.mrc.org/tags/mediabias
[80] http://archive2.mrc.org/tags/bias
[81] http://archive2.mrc.org/tags/media
[82] http://archive2.mrc.org/tags/conservative
[83] http://archive2.mrc.org/tags/businessandmediainstitute-0
[84] http://www.tellthetruth2012.org