Wednesday Edition: Check Out These Kamala Headlines
Plus: What happened to drinking and smoking?
Bubba
14 Aug
1. How the Media Covers Kamala
Critics are accusing the mainstream media of shamelessly boosting the Harris-Walz campaign. (Washington Free Beacon)
The latest: A number of commenters cited the stark contrast in CBS News’ coverage of Kamala Harris and Donald Trump’s “no tax on tips” policies.
That’s not all: Washington Free Beacon resident satirist Andrew Stiles compiled a list of headlines characterizing Harris’ campaign as “joyful” — a stark contrast to media depictions of Trump.
The New York Times: “Harris Used to Worry About Laughing. Now Joy Is Fueling Her Campaign.”
The Washington Post: “Harris and Walz seize on joyful message in contrast to darker Trump themes.”
Associated Press: “Harris is pushing joy. Trump paints a darker picture. Will mismatched moods matter?”
NPR: “Harris and Walz reintroduce joy to Democrats their first week on the campaign trail.”
Vanity Fair: “Joy Ride: Upbeat Dems Are Spreading Optimism to a Divided (and Newly Delighted) Nation.”
Stiles:
Mainstream journalists keep writing the same story about how Harris and her "joyous" running mate, Gov. Tim Walz of Minnesota, are bringing "joy" back to American politics. What they mean by that is Democratic activists, including the vast majority of mainstream journalists, were demoralized after months of feigning excitement about Joe Biden, lying about his fitness to serve, and still seeing polls that showed him losing to Donald Trump. They feel joy now because they believe Democrats are going to win. It's that simple.
The other side of the coin: In a recent New Yorker essay that’s sure to raise conservatives’ blood pressure, liberal journalist Jonathan Chait agrees the press’ coverage is unfair — to Kamala.
Chait:
[Conservatives] are correct that Kamala Harris has enjoyed fairly positive coverage to date. But their conviction that the media are employing a “double standard” is actually backward. It is Donald Trump who is being held to a lower standard than Harris.
Related: A 2020 Media Research Center study found 95% of broadcast coverage of Trump was negative.
Bubba’s Two Cents
These two charts say it better than I can:
This chart shows that a majority of journalists don’t think every side deserves equal coverage.
This one shows most donations from people working in news and media go to Democrats.
2. Business vs. Government Politicians
The private sector backgrounds of the GOP and Democratic tickets couldn't be more different. (NYT)
The New York Times
A New York Times analysis: While Republicans Donald Trump and Sen. J.D. Vance have extensive private sector experience, Kamala Harris and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz have none.
Instead, Walz and Harris’ careers have consisted almost wholly of public service or government roles.
The trend: Journalist Matt Yglesias recently wrote about an unspoken staffing taboo among Democrats, whose skepticism toward business and corporations has led them to shy away from hiring people from the private sector.
Yglesias:
There has been a concerted, years-long, somewhat successful pressure effort inside the Democratic Party to start counting private sector experience as a negative. And I’m reliably told that, up and down the Biden administration, job candidates from the private sector are at a disadvantage.
Related: In 11 of the last 14 presidential elections, the candidate with the most federal government experience lost.
Bubba’s Two Cents
One interesting thing to note about this is Democrats’ antipathy toward business types doesn’t mean they’re hiring a bunch of blue-collar Americans. As Yglesias notes, President Biden filled his administration “with professors and nonprofit lifers.” I think a mistake some people on the left (and right) make is thinking taking an anti-corporate stance is going to automatically appeal to working class Americans. It’s not that simple, as Donald Trump, who’s drawn waves of working class voters into the GOP while also being openly pro-business, has shown.
3. Two Body Blows for China
China’s facing some discouraging recent economic developments. (Bloomberg)
Declining foreign investment: Foreign investors pulled a record $15 billion from China in Q2 2024.
Inbound foreign investment into China has dropped significantly from its 2021 peak of $344 billion.
Chart: Bloomberg
Bloomberg:
The fall comes despite Beijing’s growing efforts to attract and retain foreign investment, following the smallest increase on record last year. The government wants to show it remains open and attractive to foreign businesses, in the hope that companies will bring advanced technologies and resist pressure from the US and elsewhere to decouple from China.
Manufacturer bankruptcies: 30% of China’s industrial firms were operating at a loss by June 2024, the highest rate since the 1998 Asian financial crisis.
The number of loss-making companies surged by 44% in the first half of 2024.
At least 8 large electric vehicle manufacturers in China have shut down or halted production since 2023.
Nearly 11,000 semiconductor firms went out of business in China in 2023, averaging about 30 per day.
Chart: The Economist
Zongyuan Zoe Liu, Maurice R. Greenberg Fellow for China Studies at the Council on Foreign Relations:
For years, Beijing’s industrial policies have led to overinvestment in production facilities in sectors from raw materials to emerging technologies such as batteries and robots, often saddling Chinese cities and firms with huge debt burdens in the process.
Simply put, in many crucial economic sectors, China is producing far more output than it, or foreign markets, can sustainably absorb. As a result, the Chinese economy runs the risk of getting caught in a doom loop of falling prices, insolvency, factory closures, and, ultimately, job losses. …
Since the mid-2010s, the problem has become a destabilizing force in international trade, as well. By creating a glut of supply in the global market for many goods, Chinese firms are pushing prices below the break-even point for producers in other countries.
4. The Marlboro Man Would Be Disappointed
Americans are increasingly opting out of smoking tobacco and drinking. (Gallup)
Cigarettes: Just 11% of U.S. adults say they’ve smoked cigarettes in the past week, tying an 80-year low, according to Gallup.
Chart: Gallup
Alcohol: With drinking, it’s much the same story.
45% of Americans believe drinking one or two alcoholic beverages daily is bad for health, up 6 percentage points from last year and 17 points since 2018.
A recent study found that, for the first time ever, daily cannabis use surpassed drinking in the U.S. in 2022.
Much of the anti-drinking sentiment is driven by young adults, who are the most likely to view alcohol as harmful.
Chart: Gallup
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