modern mythology

http://www.businessandmedia.org/specialreports/2007/toptenmyths/mediamyths.asp

Something tells me if we had a dispassionate media we might have a more involved public. Since our public has to go to such lengths to get actual information, most of it seems pretty lazy and contented to swallow whatever strangeness is offered at the news desk.

10 -- Airlines. One thought that came up, virtually any level of infrastructure has become utterly outdated -- bridges collapsing. Airplanes are running on 1940/50s technology. Water and sewer pipes are over one hundred years old. Not a good things. I'm not impressed that airlines are blameless. The behavior of airlines (as noted at times by the strange expulsion of young women on their clothing) is not helping either. But to hear the media, making a profit is a vile thing. Not when it comes to efficiently moving hundreds of people from one side of the country to the other. It would be better if they could hire 3rd party screeners (rather than government idiots) and take better care of our luggage. But that's about the only gripes I have right now.

9 -- Consumers should stop spending themselves into the poor house at the behest of these strange economic indicators that make no sense. Saving money is much more important in economic sense. While there are economic theories that say government should spend money, it's hard to say that even those theories make any sense. It is expected that there will be a good deal of spending, especially in retail sectors, at this time of year. I would rather see more savers (hint: stop buying me gift cards and just go with cash).

8 -- Stock market is always seen as some hideous monster that will devour people's money. Or it's only evil rich people with hedge funds that own stocks. When in reality, often through retirement accounts, most people own some stock somewhere. And as described, it's not overvalued as a whole. The global economy is huge and America's stake in it is still fairly large. On the plus side, people who panic about stocks have other ways to invest money or save it. But the long term prospects of stocks are what most people are 'investing' for. So who cares if it crashes once in a while.

7 -- Been there and done that. But seriously global warming causing allergies, wildfires (which happen predictably every few years.. ) and obesity? We're clutching at straws here.


6-- I'll eat what I want thank you. I do think that while we're subsidizing health care for the poor, it might make sense to make unhealthy choices more expensive (and thus subsidize healthy choices like quit smoking aids or local produce).

5 -- People who are losing their homes made screwy loans. It does sound like the facts that were quoted were wrong. I'm glad I never heard those numbers and instead had real information. It was inevitable that the real estate market would fall apart. The same thing happened in Tokyo some years ago. At one point the entire city was worth more than the entire continental US in book value. Obviously people didn't want to pay what someone claimed it was worth, as now in America. There was a reason why Japanese investors went nuts buying properties in America at crazy prices. It was still cheaper than what it was in Japan.

4 -- There's some truth here. Not everything green is cheap. But much of it is cheaper in the long run, if not immediately. Halogen lights/LEDs or hybrids are more expensive up front than their conventional alternatives. But they can pay for themselves over time easily enough. Recycling eventually should reduce the cost of new goods or at least provide used/recycled goods at reasonable prices as an alternative. Not everything green is bad either. But it's not always great press and great money. It might be useful if instead of a 'man on the moon' project, the government simply incentivized 'going green' in practical ways like purchasing fuel efficient vehicles and the construction of zero energy or alternative energy homes and so forth. Occasionally it's necessary to game the system (the free market I mean).

3 -- Lenders do need to release information in English. But really all they did was provide loans to people who wanted stuff or property and didn't want to be bothered with reading.

2 -- Free health care isn't free. It'd be nice if it was.

1 -- who cares. Do you have a job? Is there any reason to believe it won't be there next year? Aside from manufacturing, it's probably still going to chug along.