... banks remained reluctant to extend affordable loans.
Now, I haven't done an extensive survey, but every bank I looked at (from big to small) had published loan rates, openly available, which is highly suggestive (anecdotally) that they are very willing to extend loans. Given that rates are at historical lows, I would go as far as to say the are very eager to extend affordable loans, although I'll concede that "affordable" should not be in the original sentence, since the affordability of a loan has nothing to do with the banks' offerings, and everything to do with the borrowers' financial situations.
In other words, that statement is blatantly false. Banks are more than willing, if not eager, to extend affordable loans. Perhaps what the author, one Courtney Schlisserman, meant to say was "I have no idea what I'm writing about", or "unfounded populist BS goes here", or "I'm sorry, my head is up my ass, I'll have to get back to you." Or maybe she truly is just dumb as a brick, and wrote whatever thought happened to be floating through the gossip grapevine at the time because it sounded cool and insightful. Either way, this garbage doesn't belong in anything purporting to be related to "news", and Bloomberg should be ashamed of itself on behalf of it and all other "news" media outlets spewing similar populist garbage as facts.
Whenever I read a newpaper or watch the news I now have to ask myself if the info they are giving is true or made to LOOK true. Isn't sad that our press is like that now?
ReplyDeleteNick, we could blog 24/7 on just the topic of misleading/lazy/biased/incorrect media. I was with my wife at the coffee shop and San Diego UT had the leading front page article "Obama Portrays New Image of US" New image according to who? The author of the article? Liberals? Europe? Just the title alone is an opinion....
ReplyDeleteWell, in fairness to the San Diego UT, by all accounts Obama does portray a new image of the US to many other foreign countries. For example, Europe likes him more because he's a socialist, which gives them the impression that the US is moving more toward socialism (which is likely accurate). Chavez wouldn't likely be calling for the US to embrace a socialist dictatorship regime under Bush, but he has under Obama; that's probably due to a new image of the US he has. I'm sure Iran and North Korea feel they have a much better opportunity to advance their agendas under Obama than Bush; again, new image of the US.
ReplyDeleteI don't doubt that the article itself was probably one-sided and very opinionated about the pros/cons of our new image to the world, but I can't really agree with faulting the title. Obama not only portrays a new image of the US to other countries, but seemingly represents a fundamental change in how our country will operate, both foreignly and domestically, for better or for [much, much] worse.
I have no idea what the line about banks being reluctant to lend means. I have not observed reluctance in my interactions with banks. I e-mailed the author to ask her what she meant. I will tell you what she says.
ReplyDeleteYour claim that Obama will make it easier to for the governments of Iran and North Korea to advance their agendas seems completely backwards. The "image" I see is he will make it much harder for them to stay in power in their current forms. Maybe newspapers should be cautious about reporting image.
I would guess different people would have different perceptions of the difference in image of the US projected by Obama vs previous US presidents. For example, North Korea has had some success historically with bullying Democrat US presidents (namely Clinton) into giving concessions and money to the country while not impeding their weapon development programs in the slightest. Bush, on the other hand, called them out on their BS, stopped the aid programs, and tried to take a tougher stance toward negotiations... a different image entirely. I don't see how someone would have the impression that Obama will be worse for America's enemies, but I readily admit that each person can and might have an entirely different impression of Obama and what he may or may not do; that was the brilliance of his campaign rhetoric, and it carries over into his similarly scripted rhetoric as president.
ReplyDeleteI still haven't heard anything from Courtney Schlisserman at Bloomberg. We may never what journalist mean when they say banks are not lending.
ReplyDeleteI know! I keep seeing that lie reported everywhere and it could not be further from the truth. I don't know where they get off just making this stuff up.
ReplyDelete