A Sign of the Times...
You know things are bad when headlines such as "U.S. Companies Reduce Payrolls by 491,000 in April" are considered positive. A few weeks ago, the news that "Ford Lost $1.4 billion in the First Quarter" was met with applause.
In both cases the numbers were considered good because they were "lower" than expected. So now, we're actually at the point where we're excited because companies are hemmoraging jobs and capital at slower rates than at the very worst point of this downturn -- assuming we've even actually hit that point.
Naturally, after months of bleakness, it makes sense to start looking for brightsides amidst all the negative news. Newscasters can't just say NOTHING, can they? And frankly, I don't know, we could be at the bottom of this mess and climbing our way out.
But, I think it's very telling about the state of the economy when the above headlines are considered positive news.
In both cases the numbers were considered good because they were "lower" than expected. So now, we're actually at the point where we're excited because companies are hemmoraging jobs and capital at slower rates than at the very worst point of this downturn -- assuming we've even actually hit that point.
Naturally, after months of bleakness, it makes sense to start looking for brightsides amidst all the negative news. Newscasters can't just say NOTHING, can they? And frankly, I don't know, we could be at the bottom of this mess and climbing our way out.
But, I think it's very telling about the state of the economy when the above headlines are considered positive news.
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