大象传媒

Try Google Trends.

I would post a URL but my comment gets automatically deleted when I do.

And I thought the 大象传媒 Trust had told you do MORE linking!

Think about "Depression" and look at the statistics for 1932.

As I recall, house prices had dropped 35% at the bottom of the Depression [check me on this!].

Today, how much have house prices dropped?

Whilst I understand that a PC 大象传媒 would want to have a "precise" definition of the word "recession" my dictionary is quite clear on the subject - "a decline in economic trade and prosperity".

Clearly, in the USA and in the UK and elsewhere we have been and are seeing such a decline. So why the need for a PC definition if not to spare the 大象传媒 from further abrasive comment from Government ministers?

I am very unhappy about having my (as a license holder) broadcasting corporation being in political hands instead of reporting clearly and concisely what the UK is like for the vast majority of people who are just like me.

Most of us are witnessing first hand what this downturn in financial fortunes feels like. We do not have "extra" cash to dispose of or save. We have been feeling the pinch for a long time. People are being laid off; migrant labour is returning to where it came from; and confidence is low.

The building industry is in crisis even with all the Olympic money slushing about. Capitalisation values are falling making more companies feel uneasy about the future.

People do not need to reach the end of a season to know their favourite team is playing well or badly - they know that at each and every game. It is the same with our economy - it is what is happening now that matters not what happens in six months time.

I'll make it very easy for you.

If I've got lot's of spare cash in my pocket, I'm in a period of financial stability. If I have very little spare cash in my pocket, I am in a recession.

Simple.

Now if you hand me over control of the economy I'll fix it for you.

Who needs economists?.

Why the hesitancy over the word "Recession"? It is not an obscene or offensive word.

I keep hearing people say that we (or the media) are "talking ourselves into a recession". I find such reasoning quite worrying when it comes from people in authority. A recession happens because of bad business decisions, e.g. lending too much money to high-risk borrowers. When the borrowers are unable to pay back then things go bad. Currently, we have massive amounts of borrowing and all this has to be paid for somehow.

If things have been run badly then a correction becomes inevitable and may become a recession. If the conditions are set up, then the recession happens whether you talk about it or not. You cannot simply stick your head in the sand and hope it will go away.

To me the "talk yourself into a recession" crowd seem to thing we live in a cartoon world where, when you run off a cliff, you do not actually start falling until you look down. We all know that the real world does not work like that.

Secondly, who has the most to loose from talk of a recession. I would say it is the politician. Most of us are already experiencing huge rises in food and fuel costs so we know what the reality of the situation is. However, the politicians want to tell us it is all OK really, and they are handling it.

I say that it is the job of journalist to hold the politicians to task, and not worry about "soft soaping" the facts for them!

Oh Arh, a recession.

Like the lungs of life, the economy expands and recedes, and for the purpose of life and existence on earth it is just as well. Too much continual expansion - disaster. Too much continual recession - disaster. The ebb and flow of life is uncomfortable and gives us challenges to meet in the best possible way. After all that's what keeps the adrenaline going.

Here's to life on earth and beyond and may it continue. Amen or is it R men?

Recession? I can't speak for ewe folks in London, butt Old Coyote Knose the kulture and the economy of capitalist/fascist Amerika, the essence as captured below.

A recession in Amerika is when my neighbors lose their jobs... and their children are cold and hungry.

A depression is when my cold and hungry neighbors are at my door with guns in hand.

A RRRevolution is when I also pick up a gun... and with my neighbors following behind me, we go in search of the naked emperors. And this is rapidly become a reality.

Here in Amerika, people don't carry knives as they do in London. They carry guns here. There are guns, guns, guns everywhere... and more ominously, there is a seething rrrage percolating beneath the $ocial fabric of Amerikan $ociety. It lusts for a pound of flesh from our glorious (sic) leaders. Europeans don't yet appreciate the rrrage of which I 'espeak' here! I was in the Los Angeles riots back in 1992. What's coming is going to be much bigger and more violent.

I am so pleased to meet ewe folks at the 大象传媒, most of whom are so frightened of my pen that ewe often censor it. Hey! Hope ewe guess my name!

GUY FOX
Key West/Havana, Tampa Bay, L.A.

The 大象传媒's tabloid mindset has to have a single word soundbite, doesn't it ! What's wrong with 'period of lower growth' or 'zero growth' ? We can handle it, honestly.

And what's wrong with reporting the facts: "So, how should the 大象传媒 report things ... when it FEELS as if the country is in the middle of a recession..." - what makes you think that from within the 大象传媒 bubble you are in touch with the facts, much less want to report them, as opposed to what you 'feel' makes a good tabloid story ?

If you don't believe me, listen again to Martha Kearney at 1pm yesterday - talking us into a recession and tabloid, or what ?

By the way, house prices are still rising in most of Scotland, and there are forecasts that there will be no recession up here, in case you've forgotten a certain recent report.

Let's have more balanced thinking and reporting. It may not sound so dramatic, but it could be closer to reality.

The UK is not in recession!

We are seeing a slowdown but continue to grow. That's not to say that people aren't feeling the pinch but loose talk can make it worse.

To those who don't quite get it it is very, very possible to talk an economy into a recession - so much economic activity depends on confidence and consumer (and to a lesser extent business) confidence is being eroded all to quickly by shock headline media owners who love to hype up bad news.

Please 大象传媒 be very careful with how this is reported and don't make things worse.

I agree with an earlier post that one should be careful to define what one means by a 'decline in growth'. Does it mean the rate of growth has decreased, a slow down, not growing as fast; this is not a recession. Or does it mean rather that we are now contracting rather than growing and are in recession.

I feel that financial and economic journalists should be briefed to avoid headlines involving first and second order derivatives. "House Price CRISIS: The rate of change of house price growth fell by a frightening 57% this week" sounds more dramatically gloomy than "House prices still rising, but not as quickly as last week".

This from an Editor, a first year economics or business student would not waffle as much as this. Come, on, define this to what you understand and stand with if not, then why waste time our time, save us all and just quote whatever the government of the day tells you it is...

yes we accept there are many variations and schools in Economics, sure you are aware of the economic policies and principles of the country and current government, sure you can use this as the basis for your definition...not this it is, maybe, can be or should be waffle

4/10 mate....can do much better

I don鈥檛 pretend to know much about economics but it appears to me that economists attach a significant amount of weight to historical data in an attempt to predict the present direction of the economy. Having looked briefly at the list of past "recessions" I cannot find the one that says 鈥渨e talked ourselves into it鈥�. Can any one else?

I think it is all about sentiment and consumer confidence. Remember, we've been used to many years of outstanding growth and easy credit supported by rising property values, so we did not worry about spending, in other words we didn't see any risk is it because we could get more money easily and if needs be secured against the values of our homes.

Now with the economic cycle turning (as inevitably they always do) the things that gave us this spending confidence have been removed causing people to stop and think more carefully about what and how they spend. In reality they are doing exactly the same as the banks have done in waking up to the need to begin to assess risk more carefully and hence are beginning to value their money more.

In the same way that big industries have built up around the housing boom, they will have to scale down (as they are beginning to do) in the dowturn. Right now the response from these industries seems to be a 'does not compute' rationale, calling for the government to help get the market 'back on track' and prices climbing again. Remember markets go up as well as down, estate agents, builders etc all had it good for many years, I don't recall many complaining that house prices were rising to fast... do you?

For all this I do not beleive we are close to a recession just yet, the market is adjusting from a period of excessive and in my view too long sustained property price growth and too much easy credit. In these circumstances there will be losers but that is the way of the economic cycle. Builders are doing the right thing cutting jobs to preserve cost bases, I think many more industries will follow in the near future. Right now they are holding on to see if things might improve, soon they will follow the builders example and scale back operations.

Then (maybe by the end of Q3) we will begin to move into true recessionary territory - watch this space

Recessions and booms are part and parcel of the capitalistic system: the most successful system we have found so far.
Would you correlate the financial statistics for the last 50 years with the comments in the various sections of the media. Let us know which reports are accurate and which are character assassination of the Prime Minister of the day.
It says a lot for people such as Tony Blair and Gordon Brown that they will continue to serve their Country despite the continuous barrage of distorted rubbish that is thrown at them every day.For how many more years will decent people make themselves available?