Maybe it is just us, but three categories of prediction have become so laden with spin, obfuscation and ass-covering, their prose so muddied, that really it would be better if they were merely never spoken of again. These three are energy prices, terrorism and inflation. Pronouncements about the risk of these three-horsemen are so utterly devoid of content that one feels lighter after listening to them. It is possible that the recent abject uselessness of public debate and the public officials who publicly debate it has jaded us. But, actually, we don’t think so. Consider, for example, the opaque blathering of European Central Bank President Jean-Claude Trichet today, conveniently filtered through the prose-sanitizer of financial journalist William Watts:
Inflation pressures in the euro zone have diminished “somewhat” and downside economic risks have increased, European Central Bank President Jean-Claude Trichet said Thursday, following the central bank’s decision to leave its key lending rate unchanged at 4.25%. Trichet warned, however, that inflation was likely to remain elevated for some time and noted that wage growth has been picking up despite weaker economic activity and declining labor productivity.
I think you will agree that the floor of the House yields more meaningful content.
Also, a hint for aspiring financial journalists everywhere: If you really have to torture headlines to work in both the name and the title of the article’s primary subject to make sure your readers know who and what the hell you are talking about, or if you have to remind them that short sellers profit when share prices fall, just save everyone the headache move on to a simpler subject.
ECB’s Trichet: Inflation pressures diminished ‘somewhat’ [MarketWatch]
100% concurr with your final paragraph. Its absolutely sickening to read an article in WSJ where they feel it necessary to explain that if you buy a stock you profit if it goes up (sic).
Grrrr!!!
Reads pretty much like every statement Greenspan made between 03 and 06.
Apparently the onion like mayo jokes too…
http://www.theonion.com/content/news_briefs/playoff_bound_brewers
Morning masters of the microverse, what’s o/n LIBOR?
Did you guys pick up on Sen. Reid’s comment that a brand-name insurance company is days from the B word? Retracted it shortly thereafter and blamed it on senility and confusion. What’s the scuttle?
DB doesn’t need Javon Carney to break a story..
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122289398567695523.html
nice work.
Why are you surprised by WSJ’s decline? Hello, Murdoch? The guys’ rapidly turning it into a print parody of FBN… will be a subway-sized tabloid by the time he’s done with it. Money buys many things but not class.
What’s the deal with those Europeans leaving rates unchanged in the midst of the “greatest credit crisis” since sliced bread? You’d think they’d help a brother out and cut a few points for solidarity…
@5- what’s the significance of that link?
@8, a commenter on DB scooped this yesterday a.m.