This morning, I heard two different news reports about steps being taken by the government to "end panic" in the markets as a result of the downgrade of US debt from AAA to AA+. Maybe it's me, but I always thought that before one could end panic, there would have to be panic in the first place. The downgrade took place Friday night, and since then none of the markets have been open. How do these geniuses in the media know that there is panic to end when the markets have been closed since the news came out?
The simple truth is that many of those who report about financial matters do not even understand what they are reporting. I wonder how many of them could even spell financial if their computers did not have spell check.
It is a major disservice to the country to have stories about "panic" appear when there is no basis for them. Some folks will hear about the supposed panic and it will affect their actions. Indeed, talking about the "Panic" could help create a problem where none exists.
UPDATE: Now the big story is the the Tel Aviv market in Israel fell 7% in the first trading after the downgrade. This is another of those stupid stories where the reporters do not understand what is happening. Israeli markets are not open on Fridays or Saturdays. That means that the Tel Aviv market has been closed since about 10 am eastern time Thursday. Of course, on Thursday, US markets fell by just under 5% with only a slight recovery on Friday. Tel Aviv had to go down by 5% just to catch up with the rest of the world. A 2% decline in Israel is not a big story, while a 7% decline makes headlines. But the true decline is 2%. So much for reporters telling the world the straight story.
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