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Why You May Not Be Hearing Much About The Economic Recovery-Good News Doesn’t Sell Ad Time [1]

['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.']

Date: 2023-07-13

Inflation rose .2% in June 3% for the year according to data released this week. It has now dropped for 12 straight months.

Wages went up 4.4% June year to year. Unemployment rate is 3.6%, it's been under 4% for 17 months in a row, the longest stretch since the 1970s.

So why isn’t all this good news not getting the same amount of air time by news outlets that the coverage of high inflation did? The answer is that people don’t watch the news for positive content. Outlets like CNN for example, its primary goal is not to inform so much as to titillate. If it bleeds it leads is still the prevailing mantra for content. Don’t blame them for delivering what audiences demand.

Our addiction to negative confirmation bias is never sated it seems so there isn’t much news about the economic recovery. In a healthy society and a responsible journalistic environment it would be the dominant headline. Talk of inflation and a bad economy is comforting to some people, as counter intuitive as that might sound. If you have bought in to the idea that your own plight is somehow part of a trend that is beyond our control and includes many others it actually feels better. Sort of a misery loves company scenario..

Here’s another example. During Covid some people felt elevated by the fact that yes things were bad but at least it was as bad as it was for those who contracted Covid. We would have expected a vaccine to be a joyous occasion for everyone but some were not happy about it and that group started to rail against it. We were told it was because the were misinformed, afraid of health repercussions, etc. and for many that might have been the public face of the reasoning but underneath this was the a taking away a misery benefit. If we extrapolate this out to politics, it shows as large numbers of people supporting a candidate that matches their misery index. Maintaining a negative mindset reinforced by political figures who offer a compatible world view about why you should be unhappy is comforting to the psyche for many people. This is why grievance politics is thriving in one of the political parties. Feeling angry is at least feeling something.

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[1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2023/7/13/2180933/-Why-You-May-Not-Be-Hearing-Much-About-The-Economic-Recovery-Good-News-Doesn-t-Sell-Ad-Time

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