1115.org

It’s New Year’s resolutions time, but since I’m a perfect little snowflake*, I’m just going to point to things other people could do better in Oh Seven.

Dean Baker wants better economic reporting:

1) Put Numbers in Context

Virtually no one can attach any meaning to the $40 million appropriation for a particular earmark, the $196 billion transportation budget for the next six years, or the projected $70 trillion budget shortfall over the infinite future. These numbers can be made meaningful by putting them in some context. In the case of budget items, this is probably best done as shares of total spending and/or as per person expenses. In the case of deficits, the appropriate denominator is GDP over the relevant time frame (annual GDP for a current year deficit, all future GDP for an infinite horizon calculation). These calculations require almost no extra time from reporters and zero extra space (substitute a percentage or per person number for a meaningless million, billion, or trillion dollar figure).
[…]
7) The Stock Market is Not the Home Team: A Rising Stock Market Is Not Good News

A run-up in stock prices means that people who own stock are richer. Stock prices can go up because the future of the economy looks brighter and therefore the future prospect for corporate profits also looks brighter. In this context, where everyone stands to gain from more economic growth, a rising stock market can be seen as a good thing. However, the stock market may also rise because investors anticipate redistributions from wages or government to profits. In this case, the rise in stock prices is purely redistributive. Alternatively, the rise in stock prices may be just an irrational bubble, like in the late 90s. This is also not good news.

Unless a reporter can identify the cause of a run-up in stock prices, he/she cannot say whether it indicates good news for the economy as a whole. Therefore, it should not be reported as good news.

Too much to ask for.

Reuters looks at Lake Superior State University’s 32nd annual List of Words Banished from the Queen’s English for Mis-Use, Over-Use and General Uselessness:

The list gave short shrift to media shorthand for celebrity duos such as “TomKat,” for the union of Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes, and “Brangelina,” for Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie.

*Not entirely true. I am setting one goal for this year, I’m going to shoot 365 informal portraits, more or less one-per-day. I am 1-for-1 so far:

If you live in the Bay Area or Pittsburgh (or somewhere cool that I should visit) and want to step into the line of fire, email mc [at] 1115 [dot] org.