Reporting "the News"

Here's another posting by Dean Baker that points out the willful ignoring of facts by the supposed "fact gathering" media:

Ummm, Bernanke and the Fed Did Cause 10 Million People to Lose Their Job

This minor point might have been worth noting in a piece discussing the Fed's efforts to prevent more congressional oversight. The Fed's decision to let the housing bubble grow unchecked was the cause of the current economic disaster, leading to a cumulative loss in output that is likely to exceed $5 trillion ($17,000 per person).

Most people would get immediately fired from their jobs if they made a mistake that was remotely near this serious. It would be difficult to imagine how the Fed could have done worse at its job, yet because of the almost complete lack of accountability, no one there has lost their job or even missed a promotion because of its failure. Good reporting would point this out.

I never cease to be amazed at the divergence of treatment in society. The lower on the totem pole, the more a problem or mistake at work will result in severe disciplinary action. But at the top of that pole, bad mistakes usually mean that you get shifted to a "desk job" or are given an "office with no staff and no responsibilities (but still the big bucks salary)". Nutty.

I was outraged working on a military project where in the thousands of pages of specifications there were details about how small the private space of an enlisted person was constrained to be and compared that to the palatial standard set out for the officers. It really brought home to me the way people are treated. The worse your job the less you are paid. The more cushy and pleasant your job, the more rewards, the bigger the space, the more "help", etc.

I remember as a kid hearing stories about how "tough" it was to be an executive and that, consequently, they had an inordinate amount of heart attacks. It was a big lie. Real research shows that the lower you are on the totem pole, the more anxiety you experience, the more stress, and the more heart attacks. The elite are the healthiest portion of the population. They have the best diet, the most resource, the best relaxation, the best psychic rewards from their jobs, and of course the biggest pay package. So I'm not surprised that the Federal Reserve big shots can torpedo the economy and then get a pass from the media. Incompetence at the top has been the history of civilization.