GAVS Corp » This

Have You Seen This? If Not, Why? Are You Still In The Dark?

admin — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 02:29:07 +0000

This was the answer to a question, I think its great and should be on the front page of every newspaper and the internet until everyone has seen it, what do you think?
With his lies, racist ties, and lack of experience, what else would we think?
Obama’s LAUNDRY LIST OF LIES.
1.) Selma Got Me Born – LIAR, your parents felt safe enough to have you in 1961 – Selma had no effect on your birth, as Selma was in 1965.
2.) Father Was A Goat Herder – LIAR, he was a privileged, well educated youth, who went on to work with the Kenyan Government.
3.) Father Was A Proud Freedom Fighter – LIAR, he was part of one of the most corrupt and violent governments Kenya has ever had
4.) My Family Has Strong Ties To African Freedom – LIAR, your cousin Raila Odinga has created mass violence in attempting to overturn a legitimate election in 2007, in Kenya. It is the first widespread violence in decades.
5.) My Grandmother Has Always Been A Christian – LIAR, she does her daily Salat prayers at 5am according to her own interviews. Not to mention, Christianity wouldn’t allow her to have been one of 14 wives to 1 man.
6.) My Name is African Swahili – LIAR, your name is Arabic and ‘Baraka’ (from which Barack came) means ‘blessed’ in that language. Hussein is also Arabic and so is Obama.
7.) I Never Practiced Islam – LIAR, you practiced it daily at school, where you were registered as a Muslim and kept that faith for 31 years,until your wife made you change, so you could run for office.
8.) My School In Indonesia Was Christian – LIAR, you were registered as Muslim there and got in trouble in Koranic Studies for making faces (check your own book).
9.) I Was Fluent In Indonesian – LIAR, not one teacher says you could speak the language.
10.) Because I Lived In Indonesia, I Have More Foreign Experience – LIAR, you were there from the ages of 6 to 10, and couldn’t even speak the language. What did you learn, how to study the Koran and watch cartoons.
11.) I Am Stronger On Foreign Affairs – LIAR, except for Africa (surprise) and the Middle East (bigger surprise), you have never been anywhere else on the planet and thus have NO experience with our closest allies.
12.) I Blame My Early Drug Use On Ethnic Confusion – LIAR, you were quite content in high school to be Barry Obama, no mention of Kenya and no mention of struggle to identify – your classmates said you were just fine.
13.)An Ebony Article Moved Me To Run For Office – LIAR, Ebony has yet to find the article you mention in your book. It doesn’t, and never did, exist.
14.) A Life Magazine Article Changed My Outlook On Life – LIAR, Life has yet to find the article you mention in your book. It doesn’t, and never did, exist.
15.) I Won’t Run On A National Ticket In ‘08 – LIAR, here you are, despite saying, live on TV, that you would not have enough experience by then, and you are all about having experience first.
16.) Present Votes Are Common In Illinois – LIAR, they are common for YOU, but not many others have 130 NO VOTES.
17.) Oops, I Misvoted – LIAR, only when caught by church groups and democrats, did you beg to change your misvote.
18.) I Was A Professor Of Law – LIAR, you were a senior lecturer ON LEAVE.
19.) I Was A Constitutional Lawyer – LIAR, you were a senior lecturer ON LEAVE.
20.) Without Me, There Would Be No Ethics Bill – LIAR, you didn’t write it,introduce it, change it, or create it
21.) The Ethics Bill Was Hard To Pass – LIAR, it took just 14 days from start to finish.
22.) I Wrote A Tough Nuclear Bill – LIAR, your bill was rejected by your own party for its pandering and lack of all regulation – mainly because of your Nuclear Donor, Exelon, from which David Axelrod came.
23.) I Have Released My State Records – LIAR, as of March, 2008, state bills you sponsored or voted for have yet to be released, exposing all the special interests pork hidden within.
24.) I Took On The Asbestos Altgeld Gardens Mess – LIAR, you were part of a large group of people who remedied Altgeld Gardens. You failed to mention anyone else but yourself, in your books.
25.) My Economics Bill Will Help America – LIAR, your 111 economic policies were just combined into a proposal which lost 99-0, and even YOU voted against your own bill.
26.) I Have Been A Bold Leader In Illinois – LIAR, even your own supporters claim to have not seen BOLD action on your part.
27.) I Passed 26 Of My Own Bills In One Year – LIAR, they were not YOUR bills, but rather handed to you, after their creation by a fellow Senator, to assist you in a future bid for higher office.
28.) No One Contacted Canada About NAFTA – LIAR, the Candian Government issued the names and a memo of the conversation your campaign had with them.
29.) I Am Tough On Terrorism – LIAR, you missed the Iran Resolution vote on terrorism and your good friend Ali Abunimah supports the destruction of Israel.
30.) I Am Not Acting As President Yet – LIAR, after the NAFTA Memo, a dead terrorist in the FARC, in Colombia, was found with a letter stating how you and he were working together on getting FARC recognized officially.
31.) I Didn’t Run Ads In Florida – LIAR, you allowed national ads to run 8-12 times per day for two weeks – and you still lost.
32.) I Won Michigan – LIAR, no you didn’t.
33.) I won Nevada – LIAR, no you did not.
34.) I Want All Votes To Count – LIAR, you said let the delegates decide.
35.) I Want Americans To Decide – LIAR, you prefer caucuses that limit the vote, confuse the voters, force a public vote, and only operate during small windows of time.
36.) I passed 900 Bills in the State Senate – LIAR, you passed 26, most of which you didn’t write yourself.
37.) My Campaign Was Extorted By A Friend – LIAR, that friend is threatening to sue if you do not stop saying this. Obama has stopped saying this.
38.) I Believe In Fairness, Not Tactics – LIAR, you used tactics to eliminate Alice Palmer from running against you.
39.) I Don’t Take PAC Money – LIAR, you take loads of it.
40.) I don’t Have Lobbyists – LIAR, you have over 47 lobbyists, and counting.
41.) My Campaign Had Nothing To Do With The 1984 Ad – LIAR, your own campaign worker made the ad on his Apple in one afternoon.
42.) My Campaign Never Took Over MySpace – LIAR, Tom, who started MySpace issued a warning about this advertising to MySpace clients.
43.) I Inspire People With My Words – LIAR, you inspire people with other people’s words.
44.) I Have Passed Bills In The U.S. Senate – LIAR, you have passed A BILL in the U.S. Senate – for Africa, which shows YOUR priorities.
45.) I Have Always Been Against Iraq – LIAR, you weren’t in office to vote against it AND you have voted to fund it every single time, unlike Kucinich, who seems to be out gutting you Obama. You also seem to be stepping back from your departure date – AGAIN.
46.) I Have Always Supported Universal Health Care – LIAR, your plan leaves us all to pay the 15,000,000 who don’t have to buy it.
47.) I Only Found Out About My Investment Conflicts Via Mail – LIAR, both companies you site as having sent you letters about this conflict have no record of any such letter ever being created or sent.
48.) I Am As Patriotic As Anyone – LIAR, you won’t wear a flag pin and you don’t put your hand over your heart during the Anthem.
49.) My Wife Didn’t Mean What She Said About Pride In Country – LIAR, your wife’s words follow lock-step in the vain of Wright and Farrahkan, in relation to their contempt and hatred of America.
50.) Wal-Mart Is A Company I Wouldn’t Support – LIAR, your wife has received nearly a quarter of a million dollars through Treehouse, which is connected to Wal-Mart.
51.) Treehouse Is A Small Company – LIAR, the CEO of Treehouse last year, made more than the CEO of Wal-Mart, according to public records.
52.) University Of Chicago Hospital Pay Is Fair – LIAR, your wife’s pay raise was nearly 150% her already bloated rate and the hospital is a Non-Profit Hospital, which made $100,000,000 in the last 3 years. They overcharge blacks VS whites for services, and overcharge everyone in general by 538%!

Will Anyone Who Understands Why The Economy Is Struggling Vote Democrat This Year?

admin — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 14:29:41 +0000

How can anyone who is upset with the current economy vote for a democrat right now? Do people not look into things more than what they are told by pundints?
For those democrats that want to blame republicans on this financial mess, I BEG you to read this:
Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae were the first domino to topple. Freddie and Fannie were corrupt, and wrote the bad loans that were sold to the banks. Freddie and Fannies executives milked every dollar of profit from the books, and gave them out to themselves as bonuses, leaving as little as $3 on the books. The banks failed because of the bad loans, which started tanking the stock market, because there was less money to loan in the banks.
Now, let me show you something, you probably will not read, because you obviously love to hate Bush.
President Bush tried to implement more oversight in 2003, but was successfully blocked by democrats. This went on and on for the next 5 years. Here is ONE article from the NY times:http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.ht…
Here is video of the democrats blocking the oversight:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_MGT_cSi7…
here is a letter john mccain wrote, with 19 signatures from republcians trying to get floor time to avert the disaster he saw coming:http://www.humanevents.com/article.php?i…
Now, lets talk about where Obama fits into all this. First, lets mention that Obama received over 100k from freddie and fannie in campaign donations, so he had no interest in tying their hands:http://www.opensecrets.org/news/2008/07/…
But it goes farther back than that. Lets go to acorn. Acorn is where it all began, with their pilot program with subprime loans. Obama worked for acorn, and trained people.
How many uninformed people are there in this country, who have no idea what is going on?

Is This The Cure For Liberalism?!?!?

admin — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 02:29:49 +0000

I thinkthis 12 step program may work. Give it a shot liberals!
The Program:
Step 1: Admitting that you’re a liberal This is the first step for every liberal on the way to recovery. It is important to understand that you’re not “progressive,” “moderate,” or “enlightened.” You’re a liberal, and you need to be honest with yourself about that fact.
Step 2: Pledge to support your beliefs with facts Realize that truth is more important than moral superiority and is the only way to come over to reality. You must research beyond propaganda from the Sierra Club, Hillary Clinton, and CNN (the Communist News Network) to understand things as they really exist in the world. You can no longer argue based on “feelings” or emotion. You will actually need to back up your arguments with real information. This is a difficult step, because it means you can’t be lazy any more.
Step 3: Love America This may be the most difficult step for those of you who are hippies and peaceniks. Admitting that the country you hate actually stands as a beacon to defend freedom throughout the world can make some of you physically ill. You might want to make a visit to a military cemetery to better understand that these men and women gave their lives so that you could spew hatred. Otherwise, you would currently be living in a police state that would never let you wear that nasty patchouli oil, let alone speak out against your government.
Step 4: Take a college level economics class I’ve always defined a Socialist as someone who’s never taken an economics class. Most Socialists I’ve spoke with would have a hard time balancing their checkbooks, let alone explaining the simple concept of supply-and-demand. It’s time to flush your complete ignorance of basic economics down the toilet and understand how the world actually functions. This concept will be very important for the next steps that involve communism, facts about corporations, and the inefficiencies of government.
Step 5: Say “no” to Communism and Socialism While this concept is obvious to most of the free world, it is an important step in your recovery process. If you have difficulty with this step, spend a week living and working in Cuba.
Step 6: Corporations are not evil If you’re reading this article online or in an e-mail, it’s thanks to corporations. If you get some kind of paycheck, you can thank corporations. If you work for a non-profit or the government, you still have to thank corporations. The non-profit sector and the government wouldn’t have any money to pay you without corporations. It is also important that you understand that making a profit doesn’t equate to “greed” or exploitation. Capitalism has created the greatest society in our world’s history. Even communist countries need corporations to survive, so enjoy a nice, hot cup of reality.
Step 7: The government is inefficient If you are one of those liberals who believe the government should tax us more in order to take care of society, you need to pay special attention to this step. You need to realize that government bureaucracy will waste most of your tax dollars, while the private sector will put your money to much better use. Even most Democrat politicians understand this to some degree, which is why Hillary’s socialist healthcare proposal was voted down by a majority of both Democrats and Republicans. Go to your local post office or call the IRS to ask a tax question if you need a reminder about government inefficiency.
Step 8: The earth is not your “mother,” and she’s not dying The time has now come to stop your donations to Greenpeace, The Sierra Club, and every other EnviroNazi organization to which you belong. Face the reality that the earth, society, and our environment are better off today than ever in recorded history and that they are continuing to improve. I realize that many of you tree huggers will have a very difficult time letting go of the Douglas Fir on this one. I would suggest reading The Skeptical Environmentalist by Bjorn Lomborg. Mr. Lomborg is a former member of Greenpeace and is currently a statistics professor at a university in Denmark. He set out to prove the world was in bad shape and ended up surprising himself by proving the exact opposite.
Step 9: Stop smoking the wacky tobaccy Okay, some of you might need to enter another 12-step program to complete this step. Marijuana is distorting your sense of reality, and you need to stop using it. Besides, you’ll save a fortune on snacks.
Step 10: Eat a hamburger If God didn’t intend for us to eat animals, he wouldn’t have made them out of meat. You can put your sprouts and tofu on the hamburger, but get some meat into you. You’ll look and feel better than you ever imagined. You can always remind yourself that Adolf Hitler was a vegetarian to get you through this step.
Step 11: Stop re-writing political history It’s now time to admit that Bill Clinton is a lying-cheating-sexist-racist-rapist jackass, Hillary C

This Isn’t Happening; Dr. Horrible

admin — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 08:33:44 +0000

A video based on the amazing webseries Dr. Horrible’s Sing Along Blog, starring Neil Patrick Harris, Nathan Fillion, and Felicia Day. If you haven’t seen it, you’re definitely missing out, and need…

This Isn’t Happening; Dr. Horrible

admin — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 23:39:10 +0000

You Need This To Thrive With Your Internet Business

admin — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 03:08:58 +0000

http://www2.the7figuremarke…
You Need This to Thrive with Your Internet Business
Opportunity
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Great Article Below

You Need This to Thrive with Your Internet Business
Opportunity

by Shane V…

I Dont Understand This Accounting Information, Can Someone Help Please!!!?

admin — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 14:32:45 +0000

This has to be 1-2 par
Many high-technology companies, like Nortel Networks, Micron Technology and JDS Uniphase, have written down massive amounts of their inventory. For example, Nortel Networks revalued some of its inventory parts at $0, though the inventory initially cost Nortel $650 million.
Companies are required to report whether they write off the cost value (or book value) or their inventory even if they do not dispose of the inventory. Later on, they may sell this inventory but are not required to report the sale for cash of previously “worthless” inventory. The effect may be that in future years, when the inventory is sold, profits are overstated.
Also in the article, JDS Uniphase said it will write off $250 million of its inventory but promised to disclose any future sale. On the other hand, Micron Technology, which wrote down $260 million, won’t disclose any future sale (Krantz, 2001). Should the Securities and Exchange Commission do anything? Why?

Nafta Superhighway? What Is The Purpose Of This?

admin — Sun, 27 Sep 2009 14:41:56 +0000

Highway 407 toll-road helps provide proof that U.S. Ambassador is misleading Canadians on fascistic NAFTA superhighway agenda
by Paul Chen
U.S. Ambassador to Canada David Wilkins.
The Highway 407 toll-road, helps provide proof that U.S. Ambassador to Canada, David H. Wilkins, is misleading Canadians on the construction of a North American Free Trade (NAFTA) Superhighway, to enable the creation of a fascistic North American Union.
On 8 December 2004, the Canoe Network that is associated with the Sun Newspaper Chain, in Christina Blizzard’s article “Hwy 407: Que Pasa?”, reported that Cintra, witch is part of a Spanish Consortium, owns the 407 toll-road. It had been a public mystery, why would a company all the way from Spain, spend the time to own and construct a toll-road. Even more of a mystery to me, had been, why would government in Canada award a foreign Spanish bid over a Canadian company?
The Coalition to Block the North American Union revealed that the same Cintra company is behind the Trans-Texas Toll-Road Corridor.
Map shows apparent intent to eventually link the Spanish built 407 toll-road, to the Trans-Texas corridor, owned by the same Spanish consortium.
Maps accredited to the North American Forum on Integration (NAFI), which is a non-profit organization based in Montreal, clearly reveals an apparent intention to link Cintra’s Trans-Texas Corridor to the Hwy 407 Toll-Road, which clearly appears to be being built toward Ottawa, within a vast integrated continental toll network.
The 407 Toll-Road in turn was being planned since the late 1980’s, and supports the assertion by the Coalition against the North American Union, that the Security and Prosperity Partnership (SPP), was a part of the agendas of both former Prime Ministers Mulroney and the U.S. President at that time, even before its formal signing in 2005.
Map of the Spanish corporate private owned 407 toll-road around the Greater Toronto Area.
The Trans-Texas Corridor is being designed to provide U.S. and certain Canadian Big Business interests, with easier access to the importing of the outsourced manufacturing of goods, from a further exploited Mexican labour pool, as well from a further exploited Chinese labour pool. U.S. and certain Canadian corporations which have also been exploiting Chinese labour, have been planning a NAFTA superhighway linked with enhanced port connections, to further increase the ability of Big Business interests to make exploitative commercial profit.
Spanish corporate built NAFTA-NAU Superhighway: Looking east from the Highway 50 overpass towards the Highway 407/427 interchange. This interchange is a large 4-level interchange.
U.S. Ambassador to Canada, David H. Wilkins wrote in the Ottawa Citizen on Monday, August 20, that “while conspiracy theories abound, you can take it to the bank that no one involved in these discussions is interested in, or has ever proposed a “North American Union”, a “North American super highway,” or a “North American currency”. The first thing to appreciate is that owners of CanWest Global that owns the Ottawa Citizen have been principal financial donors to Prime Minister Stephen Harper and the Conservative Party of Canada. Mr. Harper who is a principal ally of the Bush administration, is also a signatory of the Security and Prosperity Partnership (SPP). Therefore, CanWest Global’s provision of editorial space to Mr. Wilkins can be seen as an attempt to manipulate the masses through political propaganda.
Spanish built NAFTA-NAU Superhighway: Looking east along Highway 407 from the Bathurst Street overpass in Thornhill. Bathurst Street is located roughly at kilometre marker 75. Notice Highway 7 running through the left-side of this photo. Between Dufferin Street and Bayview Avenue, Highway 407 parallels Highway 7 very closely.
Secondly, there is ample proof that a NAFTA superhighway is currently being constructed. The NAFTA superhighway is being constructed and developed to facilitate the Big Business agenda that indeed seeks to create an anti-democratic “North American Union”. The curiosity of the Hwy 407 toll-road under Spanish corporate ownership is apparent proof of in Canada, of such a SPP-North American Union (NAU) transportation network, that is to be linked with an American toll-road network, with the same ownership.
The “NAFTA superhighway”, is to become a series of very wide toll-roads to stretch all the way into Canada’s north, to rape and pillage Canada’s environmental heritage for elite interests connected to a U.S. political-military-industrial complex. NAFTA superhighway is to facilitate the planned consolidation of Canada as an American colony under the clandestine SPP-NAU agenda.
It was former U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower who warned the American people upon his retirement from Office that the political-military-industrial complex constitutes a singular threat to democracy.
Dr. Ron Paul is among the critics of the NAFTA superhighway. The U.S. Ambassador to Canada does not seem to be demonstrating candour on the on-going construction of the NAFTA superhighway.
“This superhighway would connect Mexico, the United States, and Canada, cutting a wide swath through the middle of Texas and up through Kansas City. Offshoots, would connect the main artery to the west coast, Florida, and northeast. Proponents envision a ten-lane colossus the width of several football fields, with freight and rail lines, fibre-optic cable lines, and oil and natural gas pipelines running alongside,” says Ron Paul, who represents Texas in the U.S. Congress.
The NAFTA superhighway map and agenda appears to have been generated by leaked documents associated with SPP related proceedings, which various groups have sought to disseminate.

Catholics..really Do You Beleive This?

admin — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 02:51:35 +0000

Outside the Church there is no Salvation….if yes can you show some biblical references that support such an arrogant pridful statement???
“Outside the Church there is no salvation” is a doctrine of the Catholic Faith that was taught By Jesus Christ to His Apostles, preached by the Fathers, defined by popes and councils and piously believed by the faithful in every age of the Church. Here is how the Popes defined it:
“There is but one universal Church of the faithful, outside which no one at all is saved.” (Pope Innocent III, Fourth Lateran Council, 1215.)
“We declare, say, define, and pronounce that it is absolutely necessary for the salvation of every human creature to be subject to the Roman Pontiff.” (Pope Boniface VIII, the Bull Unam Sanctam, 1302.)
“The most Holy Roman Church firmly believes, professes and preaches that none of those existing outside the Catholic Church, not only pagans, but also Jews and heretics and schismatics, can have a share in life eternal; but that they will go into the eternal fire which was prepared for the devil and his angels, unless before death they are joined with Her; and that so important is the unity of this ecclesiastical body that only those remaining within this unity can profit by the sacraments of the Church unto salvation, and they alone can receive an eternal recompense for their fasts, their almsgivings, their other works of Christian piety and the duties of a Christian soldier. No one, let his almsgiving be as great as it may, no one, even if he pour out his blood for the Name of Christ, can be saved, unless he remain within the bosom and the unity of the Catholic Church.” (Pope Eugene IV, the Bull Cantate Domino, 1441.)
But man, following the example of his natural father, Adam, often disobeys the authority of God. The fact that the doctrine had to be thrice defined itself proves the Church’s paternal solicitude in correcting her erring children who fall into indifferentism. The first goal of Saint Benedict Center is to defend this doctrine. We present here a selection of various articles written for that end

Can You Summarize This Article?

admin — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 14:32:23 +0000

People say that economics is complicated. But it sure looks simple to me. After all, what’s so complicated about a sector that can be represented in a single arrow? Up for good, down for bad. And if that weren’t easy enough, we’ve got green for good, and red for bad. It’s child’s play. It even looks like a toy I played with as a child. The green arrow made a cow moo, as I remember.
Looks, however, can be deceiving. And so it is with the ubiquitous stock ticker arrow that increasingly serves as a stand-in for broad economic data. More and more, the arrow is all that’s discussed — did stocks rise or did they fall? — as if the movement of the market were synonymous with the fortunes of the economy.
This approach is perhaps best demonstrated by CNBC commentator Larry Kudlow, who routinely writes and says things like, “The stock market actually rose in August, and opened higher in the first day of September trading earlier this morning. If stocks are optimistic, then so am I.”
But Wall Street is not Main Street. Its fluctuations may demonstrate economic health and distress, but they may not. The stock market can go up for a variety of reasons. It can be reacting to evidence of rapid, broadly shared economic growth — or the prospect of such growth — and in those cases, it should elicit a cheer from us all. But it also can be reacting to higher corporate profits that come not from increased productivity or growth but directly out of wages, benefits, higher prices or a variety of cost-saving, corner-cutting measures that don’t make the median American’s life any better.
Sometimes, the market is just reacting to shortsighted business practices that supercharge earnings, but only temporarily — as in the case of the housing boom. Or it can go up because of simple irrational exuberance that is reversed with the next morning’s trading — or the next year’s crash. The market’s fluctuations may not say much about the economy, they may not be as simplistically positive or negative as they seem at first glance, and they may not signal durable trends. They must be treated with care.
The media, however, don’t have a whole lot of time to treat them with care. In an age of 24-hour financial channels and daily business broadsheets, the allure of an easily comprehensible number that comes out every few seconds and can serve as the subject for further commentary is hugely seductive. Increasingly, the stock tickers serve the same purpose in economic reporting that poll numbers serve for political scribes: They provide constant, reportable data that can be used to draw broad conclusions about the subject as a whole — but at a cost of accuracy, random fluctuations and significant separation from the issue at hand.
Just as polls are used because the more significant data (such as vote totals) only come out sporadically, so too is the stock ticker helpful to fill time between the monthly job reports, quarterly growth numbers and yearly census data. But polls at least pretend to reflect the relevant metric: election results. The stock market, however, lays claim to no such relevance. If the jagged line tumbles down, it does not mean the average American’s income has fallen as well. If the line shoots up, it does not mean child poverty has abated.
Indeed, in an era of inequality like the one we’re going through now, in which the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities says the top 1 percent control an astounding 19 percent of the nation’s income, the market is less attached to the fortunes of ordinary Americans than ever. In 2004, the wealthiest 1 percent of Americans owned 36.9 percent of all stock. The wealthiest 10 percent controlled 80 percent of all stock. That means the skips and dips of the market tell you very much about how the best-off are doing, but considerably less about how the great bulk beneath are faring.
To focus on the performance of the market, then, is to zero in on an economic indicator that can do well even as the country does poorly. In 2006, for instance, the Dow Jones industrial average hit highs. According to the just released census data, however, median earnings fell 1 percent, and millions more Americans entered the ranks of the uninsured. Indeed, from 2000 to 2007, the S&P 500 gained more than 500 points; meanwhile, the median household’s income, at least as of 2006, fell by more than $900.
Part of the reason the movements of the stock market get so much more attention than those of the labor market is that the stock market more directly affects those with the power to publicize it. It is said that a recession is when your neighbor loses his job, and a depression is when you lose yours. Both, however, may pass without the individuals who run the nation’s media properties feeling even the slightest tremor of insecurity.
This is not their fault. We are an unequal nation, and our experiences of the economy are deeply varied. But the professional classes do own stock. When the market goes down, that represents, for them, real losses, and, on a gut level, a real story. Conversely, when the census numbers are released and earnings continue to stagnate, those are numbers without any connection to the economy that reporters and editors tend to experience. And that’s not even to get into their need to attract wealthy readers and viewers — those who are more likely to own stock — in order to keep advertisers happy. It’s no wonder, then, that the twists of the market are followed closely by the media.
The economy, however, is a complicated thing, particularly as inequality wrenches us further and further apart from one another. The merry green arrow not only neglects the hungry child but the median worker. It tells the story of one of our many economies, but not all, nor even most. And we can’t be unduly distracted by it.
This piece originally appeared in the Los Angeles Times.