Favorite Indoor Sport: Bash the Media

Liberal media. Conservative media. Corporate media. I hear the media labeled all the time and it is never good. But maybe that is what the media are there for. They make a handy target when I am in a foul mood and need something to bash. I can physically hit the punching bag and mentally hit the media.

At the Smalltown Kiwanis Club meeting this morning, we had a financial advisor from Edward Jones speak to us about how the stock market works. I learned that the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) is a composite index of 30 of the nation's top public companies. Each company is weighted based on its market capitalization. The combined value of all 30 equals the DJIA. The companies are chosen to give a broad reflection of publicly traded firms in the U.S. While the DJIA is an accurate measure of how the economy is faring, it represents only 30 stocks out of hundreds.

The media have done much hand-wringing over the DJIA recently. The Kiwanis speaker noted that the financial talking heads like to say either that the DJIA "plunged" or it "soared." He recommended a more moderate approach. The DJIA always goes up and down, and it goes in cycles. This time is no different. He expressed doubt that we were going to have another Great Depression like we had in the 1930s. He reported that the majority of level-headed economists say we are in a recession, and that it may or may not last through the first two quarters of 2009.

He added, "However, if you took 100 economists and laid them end to end, they would all point in different directions."

He ended by noting the media hysteria again. "If the media bought elevators from Otis, they would not have Up or Down buttons. They would have Soar and Plunge buttons." That echoes the old Jewish proverb, "If you die in an elevator, be sure to press the Up button." I hope that when I die I soar and do not plunge. Fortunately the grace of Jesus Christ and His work on the Cross assure me that I'm destined to soar.