economy

Entries Tagged as 'economy'

Distorting the Dialogue on Debt

July 24th, 2014 · No Comments · budget policy, economy, journalism

By Arthur Alpert The Albuquerque Journal editorial on U.S. debt in the Wednesday, July 23, edition provides an excellent opportunity to demonstrate how management distorts the political dialogue. It was yet another Journal warning that unless we cut the debt soon and the US learns to “live within its means,” there’s an “impending fiscal calamity” […]

Inaccurate and Bigoted Editorial Evokes “The Paranoid Style”

July 21st, 2014 · 2 Comments · economy, environment, health care reform, immigration, inequality, journalism, regulation, role of government, tax policy

Wow! What a July 4 editorial! I found it angry, bitter, twisted, deeply ignorant and inaccurate. That is to say, very satisfying. Let me explain. I have been reading the Albuquerque Journal closely for years but cannot figure out why it’s an insult to journalism. Why do the editors regularly violate its simplest requirements, like […]

Samuelson and Piketty: It’s the “political” economy, stupid!

June 21st, 2014 · No Comments · economy, labor, tax policy, Uncategorized

By Arthur Alpert I’m lucky to have fallen, years ago, into journalism, where they paid me to learn how the world works. The cherry on the cake was a crash course in financial markets and economics courtesy of Financial News Network, CNBC and the Wall Street Journal Business Report for TV, tuition-free again with paychecks. […]

Klein, Kliff, Pincus and Sloan

June 16th, 2014 · 2 Comments · economy, journalism, role of government, tax policy, Washington

By Arthur Alpert It’s a great offer. The Albuquerque Journal announced Wednesday, June 11 that its subscribers can get the Washington Post online at no additional cost. I have been reading the WP on my iMac for years now, with particular appreciation for the contrast between it and the daily that hits my Albuquerque driveway […]

Leadership Opportunity Dodged With Climate Change Editorial

June 9th, 2014 · 2 Comments · economy, energy policy, environment, journalism, regulation

By Denise Tessier For decades, climate scientists have been warning of the catastrophic effects of earth-warming pollution on the planet, effects that have accelerated in recent years. That history was laid out quite clearly for a mass audience with the June 2 episode of the Fox network program “Cosmos” (which played again June 3 on […]

Journal Doesn’t Get TTIP Memo

May 27th, 2014 · No Comments · economy, energy policy, journalism

By Denise Tessier Apparently, the Albuquerque Journal editorial board hadn’t seen the memo. Or maybe it did and didn’t care. How else to explain its editorial advocating – pretty much without reservation – adoption of the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership? The May 20 editorial, “TTIP would strengthen U.S. and EU economies,” talked about the […]

Austerity Pitch: AP laces news with opinion… again

February 5th, 2014 · 2 Comments · budget policy, economy, Fact Check, inequality, journalism, tax policy, Uncategorized, Washington

By Arthur Alpert This is a tale of two opinions. Winthrop Quigley of the Albuquerque Journal offered his in a recent UpFront column Thursday, Jan. 28, on inequality and higher minimum wages. I disagree with his conclusions, but so what? Quigley stated his premises and marshaled evidence (income inequality is real, extreme and bad for […]

A Question of Institutional Intellect

January 21st, 2014 · 1 Comment · economy, Education, journalism, labor, Uncategorized

By Arthur Alpert Sometimes I feel like Pavlov’s dog. Because editors at the Albuquerque Journal regularly substitute political for journalistic decisions, they’ve trained me to salivate at the prospect of identifying the paper’s barely disguised editorial agenda in the news columns. And as you know, I find it and bark. However, on looking away from […]

Censoring The Pope

December 20th, 2013 · 3 Comments · economy, inequality, journalism, Uncategorized

By Arthur Alpert As I was saying, power and its distribution by hierarchy – are fundamental. Naturally, the folks atop the ladder fear nothing more than challenges to that inequality. And now, after the U.S. elite has spent 40 years restoring the rampant inequality of the Gilded Age, with its poisoned fruits, Americans are protesting […]

News From The Aerie Dwellers

December 12th, 2013 · 2 Comments · economy, financial coverage, journalism, Uncategorized

By Arthur Alpert Journalism is superficial, of course. With some praiseworthy exceptions, it’s basically a gloss on politics. Politics is superficial, too, relative to what it revolves around, power. Power, however, is fundamental. So is its distribution along the vertical axis we call hierarchy. “It’s good to be the king,” said Mel Brooks, reminding us […]