Malcolm Cutchins: It seems that bad economic news dominates television broadcasts

Several weeks ago I wrote about some significant numbers – numbers that often speak volumes beyond words. Three more are numbers one, 77 and 96.

The first is the rating for the Robert Trent Jones Golf Trail in the Golf Digest “Value for the Money” category. The Trail surpassed Myrtle Beach, S. C. in the 2008 Travel & Destination Study – as Top 10 U.S. Destinations.

The second is the cell phone number for the state police in any state. If you are stopped by an unmarked car, even with “official” looking lights, you can call this number and verify that the situation is legit.

Ninety-six is the percentage of people who are paying their mortgages. It seems the “noise” we hear about constantly is mostly about the 4 percent who probably shouldn’t have gotten a mortgage to begin with. Is all the hype about the mortgage crises really justified?

In fact, we all are probably impacted by news-hype far more than we realize. Some of the cartoons make this point very well. One shows passengers inside a big jetliner. The stewardess comes on the P.A. system and notes that the pilot has asked passengers to buckle their seat belts as there is some turbulence ahead. One man says, “We’re going to die!” while another passenger says, “He’s a financial reporter.”

It seems that now more than ever, bad economic news of some sort dominates television broadcasts.

While not a very recent study, two University professors, Robert Lichter and Ted Smith, analyzed more than 17,000 economic stories broadcast on the three major networks (at the time, ABC, CBS and NBC). They concluded “that when reporting economic news, the three major networks convey a relentlessly negative view.” Economic stories “had a negative tone” 85 percent of the time. The highest periods of negative reports were during good economic times.

I’ll bet the same is true today. Don’t let it affect you. Work hard, invest in this great country and keep a positive attitude.

Many people make a habit of looking at The Dow Jones stock average, an average of only 30 stocks that lately has a lot of ups and downs, sometimes in the triple digits. A better average for investors to watch is the S&P. It’s an average of 500 stocks and the fluctuations are not nearly as alarming.

There are some really good exceptions to constant bad economic news: The Motley Fool in this newspaper each Monday on the Business page is an investment half-page to “educate, amuse and enrich.”

Read the “Name That Company” section each week to learn about good American companies that aren’t robber barons or evil excess profit demons.
“Making A Difference” near the end of NBC News most evenings covers heartwarming stories (some economic and some on other topics) about people who are making a difference in peoples’ lives.

They should be an inspiration to each of us.

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The old saying, “Straining at a gnat and swallowing a camel” is pretty descriptive of all the discussion about reducing the 18 cents of federal taxes on a gallon of gasoline while ignoring that American taxpayers spend $200 billion and 5.4 billion hours working to comply with federal tax regulations each year – more than it takes to produce every car, truck and van in the United States.

Dr. Malcolm Cutchins is an emeritus professor of engineering of Auburn University and writes a column for the Opelika-Auburn News.