MMMM # 427 -- Relentless Optimism vs Reality

     If you live in Montgomery and your personal economy isn't going so well, you might want to let The Montgomery Advertiser know.  
     The graphic they used to illustrate a front-page story on Sunday about the area economy is so joyously optimistic you have to wonder who they are trying to convince. 
     It shows a chart with the line bouncing way high and a smiling cartoon guy who has just hit a spring-loaded boxing glove resulting in an upswing in the economy. The gain shown in the illustration is much better than any actual overall economic recovery, but the headline tell us there are...

BRIGHTER DAYS AHEAD!!

     ...which sounds like a Chamber of Commerce rah-rah headline than an actual newspaper story. Or that "We're in The Money" song from The Great Depression.

     Hey, I want the economy to improve too, but if you read the article, the news isn't quite as bouncy. One economist offers this: “It looks like it’ll be a better year than last year.” Unstated is the fact that last year was at best a so-so year.
     The much touted real estate improvement..."buying is up 20% over last year" in the Montgomery area"... may be true, but according to the same source they quote,  prices (home values) are down compared to the previous year in Montgomery. And there are more homes on the market, which may depress sales prices more.
   

  It reminds me of the interview with a Montgomery real estate agent (not Ms. Nickel) in which he blithely suggested people wanting to sell their homes should "just lower the price". So much for the "American Dream".
    
     Look, it is better to be headed up than down, for sure, but the cartoonish illustrations in the paper seem more PR boosterism than journalism.

      Deeper in the Sunday paper,  perhaps in an effort to spur the economy, an investment column asks and answers a question:

Q: Can investors profit from hepatitis C breakthroughs?

The answer is yes, sort of.
 If you don't mind profiting so nakedly from misery.

[NOTE: The headline in the online version of that front page story was somewhat less optimistic: 

Brighter days may be* ahead for Montgomery economy.

(*my underlined emphasis)

Here's hoping your personal economy is up this week! 

ALSO: this is one of the stock pictures I took on Dexter Avenue to use with media stories on this website. I took it in 2009....

...but now look at what's left of the onetime phalanx of machines. Is it a sign of the diminished sale of printed newspapers? Or did the city, or the property owners, evict most of them. I'll try  to find out. 

The only papers still standing: The Birmingham News, The Montgomery Advertiser, and The Tuskegee News.

[The Monday Morning Media Memo is a regular feature of TimLennox.Com]