782 Can they ever report good news?

The December economic figures posted in today's Wall Street were good--didn't jot them all down but personal income up +3.1%, productivity +1.9%, unemployment steady at 5.4%. Then while flipping through the USAToday I noticed a photo full page story on "State of the Union," with mostly negative slant from the subtitles, unless you looked closely.

What a surprise to see Ron and Mary of our church featured in a story about a corporate couple who bought a bakery (Great Harvest Bread Company) so they could spend more time with their children as a family. I was in an aerobics class with Mary, and we received some free gifts from their shop when we moved here three years ago. Their baked goods are to die for and the owners are right there.

A black doctor was interviewed for this story--he was worried about red tape and paperwork hurting patients. Hmmm. I wonder who's to blame for that? A Pensacola tax marketer was complaining about not having enough money to eat out more and enjoy more entertainment. An architect worried about the deficit and our international image, but they apparently interviewed him on the job based on his photo. A Puerto Rican who is loving his Chicago job and location and opportunities apparently finds work that some locals don't want, because he was thrilled. At the bottom of the page were tiny charts--eating out, up; federal debt, up; employment, up; satisfaction, up; foreclosures, down; deliquent loans, down.

It sure is hard to report on bad news these days. Need to call in John Kerry and Ted Kennedy who managed to put a negative spin on the first free Iraqi election in history for help in composing those make-believe economy stories. John ("let's not over-hype this") Kerry's stock could have soared if he'd just complimented the Iraqis. But he was his usual pompous, my-way-or-the-highway, doomsayer self.