BCT Editorial – 6/28/08

This page was last updated on June 29, 2008.

Pivotal point; Editorial; Beaver County Times; June 28, 2008.

The editorial subtitle is “How we respond to today will impact the future.”

The editorial laments whines about consumer confidence then says, “No one needs to be told why Americans are in the dumps. Just about everywhere they look, things aren’t going very well.”

Actually, that’s not entirely accurate. The editorial conveniently failed to mention any role the press has to play. For at least the last several years, polls reported what appear to be inconsistent results. Polls tend to report people OK about their own economic situation but are worried about other people. The reason for this apparent inconsistency is press reports saying how bad everyone has it.

There have been several editorials on this topic since September 2004 and they are all basically the same editorial with the words moved around. Among these retreads are “Even worse,” “A real challenge,” “With us always,” “Morally right,” “Dire straits,” “Bottom line,” “Disturbing trend,” “Crisis stage,” “Hard times,” and “The new poor.”

“Hard times” and “The new poor” came within two weeks of each other this month and you may recall “Hard times” told us “Food banks and soup kitchens are doing a booming business,” “Despair is in the air,” and we got a comparison to the Great Depression. That’s how people who feel OK about themselves conclude everyone else is having trouble.