I fully appreciate the severity of the economic retraction we are currently working through, in fact having written much about it myself here and on my twitter stream. Having said that, I find myself shaking my head in disbelief at the degree to which the media continues to talk down the economy in anticipation, almost hope, that it gets worse.

Case in point, today Good Morning America (I like watching in on Sunday morning) had a segment about declining consumer confidence and they interviewed a husband and wife from a single family, in the kitchen of their very nice McMansion in name-your-favorite-suburb, about their new family budget in light of their economic sentiment. The money quote was when the wife said “we’re absolutely terrified!”.

Tucked in the report was the fact that “the couple both work for the family auto dealership”. Crikey, that’s like asking a homeless person about the state of housing.

The only reason GMA featured this couple is that the producer wanted an interview subject that would present the worst possible forecast on the economy and someone who was taking truly draconian actions in light of current economic condition… yep, someone who works in a “family auto dealership” would certainly fit that bill.

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