The Good, the Bad & the Ugly
CNN’s Velshi bucks trend on housing doom and gloom – upturn by end of 2008; Cramer belittles public: ‘The American public don’t know jack’; ‘World News’ does hit job on global warming scientist.
 

March 26, 2008

The Good
     Over and over again, we’ve heard how far away we are from any sort of rebound in the declining housing market.

     Recently, even CBS’s Anthony Mason made his own prognostication – predicting no recovery until 2010 – but CNN senior business correspondent Ali Velshi admitted he wasn’t buying into those dismal forecasts. He told viewers as long as there are people seeking buying opportunities based on lower home prices and relatively low interest rates, a recovery could be around the corner.

     “If more of those people get in, we could start to see a turnaround,” Velshi said on CNN’s March 25 “American Morning.” “Remember, there are some people who are saying that this downturn continues into 2009, 2010. I’ve heard 2011. I've never agreed that it’s that bad. I've always been saying the end of 2008 might see this turnaround. This is not overwhelming evidence – it’s not like steamy text messages or anything, [referring to recently indicted Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick] but it is a little bit of evidence that things are turning around.”

     Velshi made those remarks on the news that existing home sales increased 2.9 percent, according to the National Association of Realtors.

     “What’s happening is with these prices coming down, people are actually thinking it might be time for them to get into that market,” Velshi said.

The Bad
     Do you think the federal government guaranteeing $29 billion in loans for JP Morgan Chase to take over Bear Stearns was a good idea?

     It really doesn't matter what you think, according to CNBC's Jim Cramer. Cramer defended the move by the Fed from any potential public scrutiny on CNBC's March 24 "Squawk on the Street."

     "The American public don't know jack," Cramer said in response to a question from CNBC correspondent Michelle Caruso Cabrera about justifying the move to the American public. "They're just glad they're just not going to lose their job. I mean, this thing was so out of control. Everybody on Wall Street thought they were going to lose their jobs 10 days ago. We're thrilled."

     Cramer claimed that 10 days ago everyone on Wall Street was worried about losing jobs. But just 15 days ago, on March 11, Cramer said on his "Mad Money" show that Bear Stearns was not in trouble.

     That proved to be incorrect on March 17 when it was announced JP Morgan Chase (NYSE:JPM) was going to take over Bear Stearns (NYSE: BSC) for $2 a share. On March 24, JP Morgan Chase revised its offer to $10 a share.

The Ugly
     So much for getting a fair hearing when you go on ABC’s “World News” for an interview.

     “World News” profile segment on its March 23 broadcast turned out to be an effort to discredit global warming skeptic Fred Singer.

     Dan Harris labeled Singer part of the “denial machine” and accused him of trying to create a “mirage of a scientific debate” in the face of “broad scientific understanding.”

     “Dr. Fred Singer was greeted like a rock star at a recent meeting of global warming skeptics,” Harris said on ABC “World News Sunday.” “This 84-year-old Princeton-trained physicist is the grandfather of a movement that rails against the broad scientific understanding that global warming is real, manmade and potentially catastrophic.”

     Singer released a report at the 2008 International Conference on Climate Change asserting that global warming caused by man-made carbon emissions is negligible and that all warming trends can be attributed to solar activity. Rather than address those claims, Harris picked an environmental activist from the left-wing organization Greenpeace to scoff at Singer’s credibility.

     “Kert Davies, an environmental activist, says Singer is connected to a whole web of organizations, many funded by oil and coal companies, that have spent millions trying to convince the public there’s a scientific debate about global warming – slowing down government action on a phenomenon that could lead to storms, droughts, famines, massive refugee movements and even wars,” Harris said.

The Good, the Bad & the Ugly tracks the best and worst media coverage of business and economics. Readers are invited to submit suggestions or news tips to Staff Writer Jeff Poor at jpoor@mediaresearch.org.