Today's entirely predictable shaming of the regular folks by the business press comes from CNN Business:
Americans are slashing their spending, hoarding cash and shrinking their credit card debt as they fear their jobs could disappear during the coronavirus pandemic.US credit card debt suddenly reversed course in March and fell by the largest percentage in more than 30 years. At the same time, savings rates climbed to levels unseen since Ronald Reagan was in the White House.
The dramatic shifts in consumer behavior reflect the unprecedented turmoil in the US economy caused by the pandemic. Although caution is a logical response to that uncertainty, hunkering down also poses a risk to the recovery in an economy dominated by consumer spending. A so-called V-shaped recovery can't happen if consumers are sitting on the sidelines.More than 33 million Americans have filed for initial unemployment claims since mid-March, and economists warn the jobs market won't return to pre-crisis levels for years. [emphasis mine in all quotes]
This gem by Matt Egan is entitled "Americans create new economic threat with their own savings" and I think I should retire from this gig now, because there really is no hope for this society. These shaming stories are a regular feature in the business press; "you working people better get out there and spend until you are blue in the face or the economy will collapse!" I used to take them somewhat seriously, not sure exactly when I realized what bullshit it is to scare people into going into debt just to keep the system that keeps them permanently a paycheck away from homelessness running.
The business press used to run stories in the long, long ago decrying the evils of federal budget surpluses. Thank God the Supreme Court gave the presidency to the most irresponsible drunk to ever contend for high office (to that point) and saved us from that horror. It's hard to believe that once upon a time there was a president who sacrificed brownie points with the oligarchs (temporarily anyway) to get a small tax increase through and clean up the Reagan/Bush mess. Though I'm pretty sure budget surpluses or even approaching balance in revenue vs. spending is a pipe dream forevermore.
But this is really some fascinating projection. Americans have been running faster and faster on their treadmills to stay afloat financially for decades, a pandemic hits, tens of millions are tossed out of their jobs through no fault of their own, everyone is scared, no one knows exactly how hard doughfacedonny will try to screw them so of course anyone who can cut spending and improve their positions is going to try and do so. But here's CNN Business to wag their fingers at us. Egan even qualified his awfulness by writing:
The unemployment rate soared to 14.7% in April — the most severe unemployment crisis since the Great Depression — and Americans are bracing for more challenging times ahead.
The perceived probability of losing one's job over the next 12 months soared to nearly 21% in April, according to a New York Federal Reserve survey released Monday. It was the second straight month of a record high for this metric in the survey, which the NY Fed launched in 2013.
Workers are also worried about how they'll land another job if they lose theirs. The perceived probability of finding a job in the next three months tumbled 6.1 percentage points to 47% in April, the largest monthly decline ever recorded.
The survey described "considerable deteriorations" in household expectations, including record lows for expected earnings, income and spending growth.
"We know that Covid has not gone away," said Danielle DiMartino Booth, CEO and chief strategist at Quill Intelligence. "That is going to keep in place an element of uncertainty and fear and hold back consumers' ability or desire to spend."
Who exactly is this story aimed at? Everyone I've seen react to this shaming is outraged. Giant corporations that were raking in unprecedented profits and paying next to nothing in taxes in January couldn't lay people off fast enough and now cry poverty to swipe as big a slice of bailout money as they can. Meanwhile, some of us got $1,200 and a Blue Angels flyover. No shit people are scared for their lives! Now let's compare two subheadings in the story.
Credit card debt collapses
And...
Savings rate spiked to Reagan-era levels
Aren't reporters usually wagging their fingers at people for not having savings? Aren't they also usually complaining that Americans have too much credit card debt? In the fine print Egan admits that the "collapse" he irresponsibly splashed on the page is due in large part to banks canceling credit lines people had because they lost their jobs. Why did we abandon using stocks on people who are a public menace again? I think my favorite line is here:
Visa has warned that payments volume in the "hardest-hit" categories of travel, fuel, restaurants and entertainment plunged by more than 50% in April. Travel spending collapsed by about 80% last month.
Gee, I wonder why that happened? Oh right, there's a highly contagious virus loose in the country with no cure and the national government is too hobbled and incompetent to give a damn about regular people. But feel sorry for oil companies, chain restaurants, the torture factories called airlines, billionaire sportsball owners, and a Hollywood that hasn't had an original idea in a decade. Boo-fucking-hoo!
The shifts in consumer behavior are another reminder of the pain on Main Street that often gets lost given the near-euphoria on Wall Street. The US stock market has raced back to life since late March as investors have celebrated the response from the federal government and signs of hope on the health front.
Remember when the stock market took a hit and it looked like investors would actually have to suffer some losses? That lasted about 3 days I think before the Federal Reserve acted with lightning speed to dump $1.5 trillion into it, and #MoscowMitch and #doughfacedonny sprang into action to propose a $500 billion slush fund for corporations. I saw a tweet recently that said something to the effect that the stock market is just a measure of rich peoples' feelings. I don't think there is any other way to look at it now, Noam Chomsky once quoted a government economist in a South American military dictatorship as saying "the economy is doing fine, it's just that the people aren't." People are scared, food pantries are bare, nobody can be sure they'll have a job tomorrow but hey, Wall Street investors are euphoric.
The most frustrating thing is, no matter how many blog posts get written about how awful the entire business press is, no matter how uniformly negative the responses are on Twitter, or even if regular people continue to lose jobs, homes, and go hungry; Matt Egan will wake up tomorrow still employed.
Because there is no change when there are no consequences for behavior. The teabaggers protesting at state capitols today because they can't get a haircut or go to Applebee's, got away with pretending to be independents who never heard of George W. Bush a decade ago. They get away with threatening elected officials and violating rules because they are insulated from COVID-19 by dint of living in the wilderness. If there was any competition in the elite press club for news, most of these writers would have been kicked out a long time ago. It's amazing, the owners and managers of the political and business press must also be totally insulated from the real world if they just keep doing this crap over and over. If Matt Egan ever did grow a conscience he'd probably be out on his ear in a news cycle or two.
A nearly unprecedented time of pandemic with an unprecedented level of fascism from a major political party, and an actual traitor in the White House and CNN Business still finds time to shame working people for doing what in other times mainstream media implores them to do.
