Cone, echoing his hero Krugman: "It's a recession because WE say it's a recession"

Arrogant Ass-ism of the Day: "The two-down-quarters or quit your whining stuff is just ignorant."

There are several possible reasons why hacks like Cone post the doom and gloom nonsense.

Politically, the doom and gloom drumbeating supports Obama's empty mantra of "(Chump) Change We Can Believe In". It's very easy and convenient to pin economic bad news on Republicans/Bush/Conservatives/Big Business, and it's even easier to exaggerate the effects of such bad news out of all proportion to the facts.


Cone, and others, fantasize themselves as participants in the grand design of information distribution. Somehow, they've acquired the delusion that they're experts on EVERYTHING, are NEVER wrong about anything, and they're not shy about letting you know that, particularly when you have the audacity to point out their academic and intellectual emptiness.

Furthermore, they see their idols in the big time blahgosphere and in the Lame Stream Media piously pontificate about their "How We're All Gonna Be Screwed In The Coming Depression, So Vote For Obama" talking point, and these small timers want to be on the Depression Bandwagon with the so-called Big Guys .

On the other hand, it's quite possible these folks are actually stupid enough to believe what they're writing. Or perhaps it's just their individual personality disorders taking over their ability to use logic and common sense.

There is of course a danger in what these cretins say about the economy. The negative nay bobbing they so delight in babbling about on a regular basis effectively leads to an undercutting of consumer confidence, which leads to a further downward spiral. In addition, the rumors, half truths selective editing of "facts", and the perceptions they deal in potentially equals big trouble:

"Rumors about America’s two biggest government-sponsored enterprises, the loan-backers commonly known as Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, spread as if from nothing and sent their share prices plunging. What happened?

Maybe nothing! As Charles Duhigg writes, 'The cause of this week’s huge declines remains somewhat unclear.' An economist he interviewed adds: 'There wasn’t really any new news to set off this crisis. The stocks just started falling, and didn’t stop.' Can the markets really be so gullible?

Well, the global media, whose mantra is 'bad news sells,' doesn’t help matters. Just look at our own lead story. The headline reads, 'U.S. considers takeover of two mortgage giants.' But then, down in the sixth paragraph, we read that 'officials involved in the discussions stressed that no action by the administration was imminent, and that Fannie and Freddie are not considered to be in a crisis situation.' So, exactly what is being 'considered' here?"

Cone got his ass kicked by Wharton and Spagnola here on the very subject under discussion, and the result was this half slime-slinging/half apologia/complete fraud of a post.

Cone needs to pay attention to his own advice:

"A lot of this boils down to arithmetic. Pay more attention to the numbers and less to ideologues on teevee or the web who try to tell you different."

No, Cone.

You (and your mentors) use the numbers in a bogus way to make a point which fulfills one or more of your very own ideologies.

Stop doing that.

Start educating yourself about how all this works, instead of relying on what you glean from fellow hacks.