CNNs Kitty Pilgrim
Slams Economy
Dobbs reporter takes Treasury secretary
nomination as chance to rehash attacks on Bush economy, ignore
strong economic growth.
By Ken Shepherd
Business & Media Institute
May 31, 2006
President Bushs pick of Henry Paulson to as new
Treasury secretary gave Lou Dobbs Tonight another opportunity to
mint a biased report on President Bushs economic policies.
Leading off her story on Paulsons nomination on the May 30 program,
correspondent Kitty Pilgrim derisively asked what competitive edge
America has in global trade given 30 years of consecutive trade
deficits. She followed it with a one-two punch from liberal think
tanks blasting the economy.
The trade deficit has been a
recurring theme on Dobbss program as a harbinger of economic illness in the Bush
economy, and has been bandied about by anti-free trade activists for
years.
In
1998, Cato Institutes Daniel Griswold concluded that rising
trade deficits correlate with falling unemployment rates. At that
time, the trade deficit had almost tripled from 1992 to 1997, when
it reached a then-record of $198.7 billion. The current deficit
stood at
$726 billion at the end of 2005, a year which saw the creation
of
2 million new jobs.
Sandwiched between two sound bites from experts from liberal think
tanks the Center for American Progress and the Brookings
Institution, Pilgrim coined a list of criticisms including rising
debt, skyrocketing bankruptcy rates, soaring energy prices and
other costs which have taken their toll on the middle class.
Pilgrim not only failed to mention the leftward leanings of those
groups, she left out any rebuttals by free market advocates or Bush
administrations spokesmen who might point out:
-
The 4.7 percent unemployment rate lower than the average of any
three previous decades.
Thirty-two consecutive months of positive job growth.
The 5.3 percent 1st quarter growth.
The Business & Media Institute has previously documented the slanted, pessimistic view of free markets and free trade that has underscored economic reporting Lou Dobbs Tonight.
