{"id":1165,"date":"2009-04-20T11:32:44","date_gmt":"2009-04-20T16:32:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/?p=1165"},"modified":"2020-11-29T12:18:27","modified_gmt":"2020-11-29T18:18:27","slug":"you-say-recession-i-say-tomato","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/2009\/04\/you-say-recession-i-say-tomato\/","title":{"rendered":"You Say Recession, I Say Tomato"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The 24-hour news and\/or business channels, which can&#8217;t fill the time with analyses and opinions &#8212; fresh information only takes a couple of minutes &#8212; more frequently use predictions to round out the cycle. Can you take their forecasts to the bank?<\/p>\n<p>Can your bank then take them to the Fed?<\/p>\n<p>Never mind the truth, can anyone <a title=\"If Jack Nicholson says it, it's the truth\" href=\"http:\/\/www.imdb.com\/title\/tt0104257\/quotes\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">handle the sooth<\/a>?<\/p>\n<p>This morning, we wake up to broadcast news of <a title=\"I heard it on NPR\" href=\"http:\/\/money.cnn.com\/2009\/04\/20\/news\/economy\/NABE_survey\/index.htm?postversion=2009042007\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">definite signs<\/a> the recession has peaked. But<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>If you&#8217;ve been laid off or fear that day is coming<\/li>\n<li>If you&#8217;ve gone to the mall and found it less crowded even for this time of year<\/li>\n<li>If your credit card company lowered your ceiling, because you&#8217;re following decades of advice and paying the balance off or nearly so every month<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>That last definitely is me, in today&#8217;s mail.<\/p>\n<p>Then (after all those <em>ifs<\/em>, you are entitled to a <em>then<\/em>), CNNMSNBCCNBCFoxNews lose that much more credibility.<\/p>\n<p>Economic news borders on <a title=\"Other wolves, &quot;breaking&quot; or &quot;developing&quot; TV news sequences\" href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/The_Boy_Who_Cried_Wolf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">wolf-calling<\/a>. We&#8217;ll know times are better when we see proof in our own households, if not our community.<\/p>\n<p>What then to call this worldwide event? I have been preferring depression to recession <small>(the Great Depression was suffered by the Greatest Generation, and at best we\u2019re just a Good Generation)<\/small> due to its evident breadth and hints of length. Today&#8217;s <em>Wall Street Journal<\/em>, though, may offer a better term, <em>zud<\/em>.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>Falling demand for cashmere among recession-hit shoppers in the West is cutting into earnings among nomadic herders in Mongolia, whose goats produce the soft fiber used in high-end sweaters, scarves and coats. The result: herder loan defaults. Mongolians are calling the current situation a financial zud, invoking a local term for unusually harsh winters that devastate herds.&#8221;<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>This is the nut graf (story summary) from the front-page &#8220;A-Hed&#8221; feature, &#8220;The Global Downturn Lands with a Zud on Mongolia&#8217;s Nomads&#8221; by Gordon Fairclough. <small>If you subscribe, here is <a title=\"There's always the library if it won't open\" href=\"http:\/\/online.wsj.com\/article\/SB124017991210632815.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">the link<\/a>.<\/small><\/p>\n<p>Here is my vote for &#8220;zud&#8221; as what all of us should call this economic crisis, even if your tent and herd are not threatened by foreclosure.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: right;\"><small>Copyright 2009 Ben S. Pollock<\/small><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The 24-hour news and\/or business channels, which can&#8217;t fill the time with analyses and opinions &#8212; fresh information only takes a couple of minutes &#8212; more frequently use predictions to round out the cycle. Can you take their forecasts to the bank? Can your bank then take them to the Fed? Never mind the truth, [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1165","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news-spin"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":401,"url":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/2008\/01\/how-thou-art\/","url_meta":{"origin":1165,"position":0},"title":"How Thou, Art?","author":"Ben S. Pollock","date":"January 28, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Copyright 2008 Ben S. Pollock DATELINE MIRTHOLOGY -- The way to be left alone in Fayetteville's Wilson Park is to mutter to no one in particular. It's not a particularly small town, but if you do leave your house you often run into people you know. So look moderately troubled,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;News, Spin&quot;","block_context":{"text":"News, Spin","link":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/category\/news-spin\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":37,"url":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/2003\/12\/fixing-a-hole\/","url_meta":{"origin":1165,"position":1},"title":"Fixing a hole","author":"Ben S. Pollock","date":"December 15, 2003","format":false,"excerpt":"Copyright 2003 Ben S. Pollock Monday, December 15, 2003. The Army's capture of deposed Iraqi President Saddam Hussein ultimately is bad politically for King George II. Better explain why. Yes, it looks good: George W. Bush was right. Saddam went down like a coward not a martyr. The post-war skirmishes\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;News, Spin&quot;","block_context":{"text":"News, Spin","link":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/category\/news-spin\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2464,"url":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/2010\/11\/taking-a-constitutional\/","url_meta":{"origin":1165,"position":2},"title":"Taking a Constitutional","author":"Ben S. Pollock","date":"November 11, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"What happens when a blogger, columnist or occasional writer dawdles is the the topic either gets away, gets old or gets stolen. Hats off to colleague John Brummett. As of Nov. 2, Arkansas has three fresh amendments to the Arkansas Constitution. That will make the 88th Amendment, 89th Amendment and\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Body, Home, Street&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Body, Home, Street","link":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/category\/body-home-street\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":425,"url":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/2008\/05\/yes-in-my-backyard\/","url_meta":{"origin":1165,"position":3},"title":"Yes, In My Backyard","author":"Ben S. Pollock","date":"May 8, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Coincidences are happy flukes, I say, maybe rarely signs of a higher significance. My Beloved, true to our tomayto-tomahto nature, calls nearly all of them synchronicities. It was over the weekend when MB had a cartoon light bulb flash over her head: We need a cell-phone tower in the yard,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Body, Home, Street&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Body, Home, Street","link":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/category\/body-home-street\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":315,"url":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/2007\/05\/hail-commodius-seen-caesar\/","url_meta":{"origin":1165,"position":4},"title":"Hail, Commodius, seen Caesar?","author":"Ben S. Pollock","date":"May 14, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"Copyright 2007 Ben S. Pollock Commodity. I didn't know that was a bad word. During the early years when I covered business while reporting a lot of subjects, I learned that one invested in commodities. It is an article of trade or commerce, especially a product that can be processed\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;The Course of Words&quot;","block_context":{"text":"The Course of Words","link":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/category\/course-of-words\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":8094,"url":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/2025\/03\/assess-then-rouse-the-crickets\/","url_meta":{"origin":1165,"position":5},"title":"Assess, then Rouse the Crickets","author":"Ben S. Pollock","date":"March 26, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"2 of 2. See 1. One of the most disturbing bits about President Trump's rapid destaffing and defunding of federal agencies and programs is the silence. What about cable news channels and social media, they won't shut up about it, you ask. 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