What the Republican Debate
Says About the Media

By Charles Delvalle

Dear Reader,

People who know me well know that I love politics.  So being the dork that I am, I naturally watched the Republican and Democratic primary debates during the past few weeks.

But something about the Republican debate really got me steamed.  And I thought I’d share it with you because it’s a perfect example of how the media can distort what’s really going on.

During the Republican debate, most people who tuned in wanted to see how well McCain, Giuliani, and Romney would do.  These viewers are the political diehards.  They know most of the candidates and just wanted to see them in action.

But there was a shocking standout.  And viewers showed their love for him by calling him the winner in subsequent ABC and MSNBC online polls.

That person is Ron Paul.

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For those who haven’t heard of Ron Paul, he’s considered a libertarian.  He advocates a smaller government, lower taxes, abolishment of the IRS and the income tax (which he says is illegal since there is no law saying you have to pay them), he’s against unbacked currency (are you listening, Rusty McDougal?), and most importantly, opposed the Iraq war from the beginning.

He’s the type of person advocates of a free market love, while representing everything politicians hate.  Let me explain.

American politicians do well by listening to lobbyists.  So if I was a politician and Google asked me to support a bill on net neutrality (which supports a network free from hardware and communication restrictions, thereby treating every bit of traffic that goes through the network the same), I would figure out whether I was for or against it.  If I was for it, I’d introduce a net neutrality bill and Google would help me get re-elected.

Now, if you’re a politician who’s against government spending, lobbyists won’t cozy up to you.  And this is where Ron Paul finds himself.

This is what pissed me off.

After the debate, articles on CNN and MSNBC declared either McCain or Romney the winner.  How on God’s green earth did they come to that conclusion?  It’s pretty clear that the MSNBC poll and ABC Poll showed that viewers considered Ron Paul the winner.

Perhaps they came to the conclusion that Ron Paul would never support their interests.

Now granted, I don’t know that Ron Paul could ever win the Republican nomination against social conservatives like Romney (who the right wing loves).  But the blatant deceit these news organizations are practicing when it comes to American politics is downright disheartening.

If politics isn’t sacred ground, then what is?  Certainly not your average employment or inflation report, which are commonly misrepresented.

Take, for example, a new reporter for a financial website reporting that core consumer inflation rose less than expected.  Meanwhile, that inflation report showed inflation up 0.8 percent for the month, while the core was up only 0.1 percent.  Sure the core was up less than expected, but considering everyone buys gas and food (which is excluded in the core), the inflation number he should be reporting is the higher number (which may have come in above expectations).

In this instance, the misrepresentation happened because the reporter really didn’t understand what he was looking at.  Or maybe the market was bullish at the time, so he wrote a report to support the bull market.

Another reason why some of these numbers are twisted is simply due to laziness.  Lets say you’re a reporter and you have 15 things on your plate that need to be done by tomorrow.  One of those things is talking about the latest employment report.  So when you report the employment numbers, you conveniently forget to mention that unemployment is conducted by a survey of about 60,000 people.  In other words, it’s not that representative of the nation’s actual unemployment.  Therefore, unemployment could be a few percentage points higher than reported.

Due to this reporter not taking the time to dig deep enough and discover what the employment report consists of, most investors will believe unemployment is lower than it actually is.

And these are the things you have to consider as an investor.

You have to understand that there will always be pork barrel spending in government bills.  And in the long term, increased government spending, deficits, bailouts, and a declining dollar could sabotage your investments.

Most importantly, you should realize that when it comes to the media, there are no sacred cows (except political correctness).  Just about every news report that hits the wire could essentially be manipulated or inaccurate.

So keep a wary eye on what you see and dig deep to discover the truth.

P.S.  To let me know what you thought of today's article, send an e-mail to: feedback@investorsdailyedge.com.

[Ed. note: Speaking of Politics, the front runners in both the Democratic and Republican primary debates are hell-bent on destroying you Social Security nest egg. Click here NOW to find out how to avoid the total wipeout of YOUR Social Security Account.]

Market Watch

Just Another Day in the Financial Media

By Charles Delvalle

Today, I’ve got two great examples of manipulation.  One is from MarketWatch and the other from CNNMoney.com

In a sign of a tight labor market, U.S. weekly jobless claims fell to their lowest level since mid-January, the Labor Department reported Thursday.

-- MarketWatch

My Take: Yes, unemployment is going down, but not nearly as low as you think.  First of all, unemployment is calculated by means of a survey that determines whether people are unemployed, have actively looked for a job in the past four weeks, and are currently available for work.  If someone isn’t actively looking for work because they don’t have the proper skills, they aren’t considered unemployed.  Instead they are considered “marginally attached” or “discouraged workers” who are not in the labor force.  I just wonder how many of the tens of thousands who were laid off from car manufacturers aren’t considered in the labor force.

“Purdue ... acknowledged that it illegally marketed and promoted OxyContin by falsely claiming that OxyContin was less addictive, less subject to abuse and diversion, and less likely to cause withdrawal symptoms than other pain medications - all in an effort to maximize its profits,” said U.S. Attorney John Brownlee.

-CNNMoney.com

My Take: Just last week, I received a reader e-mail from Ira F, who asked me how pharmaceutical companies can be unethical.  Well, Ira, here’s an example.  The truth is if a pharmaceutical company has a blockbuster drug, they will try everything they can to continue to make money from it.  You see, curing disease isn’t what they’re really concerned about.  They’re concerned about their bottom line.

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