Comments on: The Effectiveness of Media http://lukemv.com/talk/2008/the-effectiveness-of-media/ Thoughts from the New Media and Advertising world. Sat, 22 Nov 2008 04:33:42 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.0.5 by: Mike http://lukemv.com/talk/2008/the-effectiveness-of-media/#comment-2970 Mon, 16 Jun 2008 16:02:52 +0000 http://lukemv.com/talk/2008/the-effectiveness-of-media/#comment-2970 I know it's convenient to pick a decade as a whole when selecting a statistical sample but it's a little misleading regarding unemployment. Assuming my sources are sound, it was at a peak from 90-92 and during the Clinton years it pretty consistently improved down to about 4% when he left office. I'm not so sure I'd necessarily place the credit on him in any way though. Job-wise, from 93-00 things were definitely a bit better than right now. Of course with it now around 5% it isn't nearly as bad as the 7+% that it was in from 90-92 which was nearly as bad as 10+% early in the Reagan years. The bad news is I think it's going to get worse before it gets better. How much, who's to say, but it's not exactly end of the world type stuff right now. If history is any guide then it will peak at some point and ebb back down eventually. In terms of happiness, I think some people are actually weathering the economy's downturn quite well. But on the flip side I don't think it's fair to say media spin is solely responsible for the overall down mood. Gas prices are cutting into people a little bit, not enough to crush anyone but I think it's safe to say people (and by people I really mean families) are saving less and buy less unnecessary stuff than they did just a few years ago. And of course there's the foreclosures. That seems like an ugly issue that continues to drag along more quietly than maybe it should. I know it’s convenient to pick a decade as a whole when selecting a statistical sample but it’s a little misleading regarding unemployment. Assuming my sources are sound, it was at a peak from 90-92 and during the Clinton years it pretty consistently improved down to about 4% when he left office. I’m not so sure I’d necessarily place the credit on him in any way though. Job-wise, from 93-00 things were definitely a bit better than right now.

Of course with it now around 5% it isn’t nearly as bad as the 7+% that it was in from 90-92 which was nearly as bad as 10+% early in the Reagan years. The bad news is I think it’s going to get worse before it gets better. How much, who’s to say, but it’s not exactly end of the world type stuff right now. If history is any guide then it will peak at some point and ebb back down eventually.

In terms of happiness, I think some people are actually weathering the economy’s downturn quite well. But on the flip side I don’t think it’s fair to say media spin is solely responsible for the overall down mood. Gas prices are cutting into people a little bit, not enough to crush anyone but I think it’s safe to say people (and by people I really mean families) are saving less and buy less unnecessary stuff than they did just a few years ago. And of course there’s the foreclosures. That seems like an ugly issue that continues to drag along more quietly than maybe it should.

]]> by: erica http://lukemv.com/talk/2008/the-effectiveness-of-media/#comment-2964 Mon, 16 Jun 2008 02:38:30 +0000 http://lukemv.com/talk/2008/the-effectiveness-of-media/#comment-2964 Great point of view. Thanks! Great point of view. Thanks!

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