Blaming the media? Responsibility!

lostinrates

I've been lurking on some equestrian websites today, really to see if they are oblivious to whats going on in 'my' future client base (should they not have wiped them selves out). There is a lot of blaming the media..as we have here...for propelling a molehill to a mountain, saying there is still lots of money in the world (agree, bt not how they are saying) and very occasionally a not of fear from a banker's wife or someone made redundant recently.

NOONE says anything along the lines of'you know what, I overspent, we hould have put more aside/spent less/not mewed' and infact one poster on one forum is a very worried property developer, and other posters still blame just the greedy bankers.

A lot say they haven'tnoticed the recession at all, therefore it is ALL a fiction of the media.

When we say here that people cannot be aware, it seems we are terribly terribly wrong. There is a shocking lack of understnding how to economise.

The thing that makes me sad is while we all know the media sell a story its also given those of us who care oppertunity to protect our savings, to make wise financial and life decisions about the way we live and finances etc etc.

Will people ever understand that to accept their part in it gives them power to change their spending decisions and protect themselves?

Kez100

It depends a bit where their income is coming from. Some streams are less affected than others. For example, insolvency practitioners are probably doing ok! If they have horses as hobbies and spend most of their days in the open air they may be less aware and thus panic'y. TBH being on here a lot is probably the equivilent to them, just in the opposite direction!

Jorgan_2

I think the media do need to be more responsible with the way they report things. TV & radio reports constantly ramming home to people that this or that market has fallen to its lowest level for three years do make make people wary or in some cases panic. My memory isn't what it used to be, but the majority of people were not living in debt ridden squalor three years ago.

lostinrates

Kez100 wrote: »

It depends a bit where their income is coming from. Some streams are less affected than others. For example, insolvency practitioners are probably doing ok! If they have horses as hobbies and spend most of their days in the open air they may be less aware and thus panic'y. TBH being on here a lot is probably the equivilent to them, just in the opposite direction!

i agree, but the horses have been paid for somehow. Those who feel their spending unchanged fit in the group you descirbe, sure, but the others really are, IMO, just passng the buck.

slipthru

Jorgan wrote: »

I think the media do need to be more responsible with the way they report things. TV & radio reports constantly ramming home to people that this or that market has fallen to its lowest level for three years do make make people wary or in some cases panic. My memory isn't what it used to be, but the majority of people were not living in debt ridden squalor three years ago.

At the beginning of the year the media were saying it was all going to be ok, just a little blip nothing to see here.

They have slowly been building it up to reality. Most people probably haven't noticed much change to there lives unless they have a mortgage or work in a sector that has been affected. But I have a feeling we will all start noticing things next year.

lostinrates

Jorgan wrote: »

I think the media do need to be more responsible with the way they report things. TV & radio reports constantly ramming home to people that this or that market has fallen to its lowest level for three years do make make people wary or in some cases panic. My memory isn't what it used to be, but the majority of people were not living in debt ridden squalor three years ago.

But the alernative might be for the media to not report the truth?

I accept that there have been some shocking headlines. I also wonder what the media DON'T know, but thats a bit by the by, there will always be those things.

I'd rather know whats happening so that I, taking full responsibility, can judge the situation and any advise I receive for myself.

(nb there are times when the press is silenced for security whch I think is fair enough to silence it now would, I believe, be more risky than not)

Jorgan_2

I agree people need to be made aware of what is happening, so they can make their own decisions. My gripe is the sensationalism that a large art of the media seem to be keen on using.

lostinrates

Jorgan wrote: »

I agree people need to be made aware of what is happening, so they can make their own decisions. My gripe is the sensationalism that a large art of the media seem to be keen on using.

But if we do have the biggest falls in x or the biggest rises in y how can one say that with out using fairly dramatic words like 'biggest'.

The average person, I would submit, is not hugely economically aware. Making comparisons to previous eras to put things in perspetive is of benefit to them. When you read the articles below the hedlines some element of perspective is given, but each cannot be a break down of economic education!

Mark-W_2

There is no one group or factor to blame in the whole "crisis" from start to end (when it ends).
However each little factor has played a part, including the media with over sensationalised reports, using dumbed down terminology while giving only the briefest summary of what is happening and why.

For example the ITN news reported all week on the "Crisis" using a logo with a down arrow as the bottom of the R in the word crisis..reporting on how all banks were doomed and peoeple were queing to withdraw their savings from halifax... (i dont know anyone who has, who would nor have i seen anyone doing so) yet on friday with the largest one day gain on the FTSE it was reported as "Termoil" in the markets.... i presume to fit the overall theme of the days reports that were already produced.

Once faith/confidence is lost in a brand/product/market its value will tumble, continually reinforcing this lack of confidence only speeds up the donwards spiral.
Look at ratners for one example.

Yes house prices were/are overpriced in a lot of areas but not all, where i live you can still by a nice 3 bed semi in a nice semi rural location for around £100k...

Davesnave

Most people don't like bad news, so they almost shut it out rather than give it the attention it ought to deserve. The media don't always present things well or responsibly, but that scarcely matters when the message is mangled up so much during processing in people's brains!

As an example, back in the early summer, MIL informed my wife that we were foolish for keeping our house on the market, because the Sunday Times said it was 'the wrong time' to be selling a house. Had we sold then, we'd have achieved a good deal more than we shall now, or in the forseeable future, but that isn't really the point. The fact is, I scanned the Sunday Times from cover to cover, but found no such statement. The message that MIL had taken was the one she wanted to see, simply because our intended move troubles her.

I dare say many people have not yet witnessed first hand any immediate signs of recession. If I'm honest, I have to say that last time we had a serious downturn, I was in a bomb-proof job and not the least concerned either, so I understand how unreal all this information on the telly may seem. Then, it was all happening to other people, but I had 'serious stuff' to sort out on a day-to-day basis, so even my shares were never looked at.

Looking back, I know that a bit more responsible thought & planning years ago would have made things easier for me now. However, that box in the corner produces so much soap opera, it's sometimes easier to class it all like that than fully admit the problems of the world into our living rooms and our consciousness.

Lotus-eater

A downturn is only noticed when you or a friend is affected. So unless you lose your job, or have a friend that has, unless your mortgage payments have gone sky high, unless your fuel and food bills are so big, they are affecting your lives.. you ain't gonna notice.
And I think that a large portion of the population are as yet unaffected.