The news isn’t good — and neither are the implications.
But could this just be a hiccup? Could this just be the recovery hitting a soft patch?
President Barack Obama issued this statement.
A debate will ensue about whether the recovery is truly a recovery or whether the economy is now completely stagnant or backtracking. Partisan positions (and political hopes) will color it. But there will be stand-back-and-analyze voices worth being not just heard but considered.
Just don’t expect to get the full picture on left or right ideological radio and cable talk shows which increasingly resemble partisan propaganda programs and not even entertainment anymore. (I’ll be monitoring left and right talks shows and cable shows via XM radio today as I go on a long drive to events in Los Angeles and Torrence).
Joe Gandelman is a former fulltime journalist who freelanced in India, Spain, Bangladesh and Cypress writing for publications such as the Christian Science Monitor and Newsweek. He also did radio reports from Madrid for NPR’s All Things Considered. He has worked on two U.S. newspapers and quit the news biz in 1990 to go into entertainment. He also has written for The Week and several online publications, did a column for Cagle Cartoons Syndicate and has appeared on CNN.