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This week begins as last week ended. All three networks led with the rising cost of gasoline and the federal government's efforts to stave off recession by injecting a fiscal stimulus into the economy: CBS led with the rebate checks; NBC with the marketing efforts of retailers to get those checks spent; ABC with the prospects that prices at the pump will continue to climb. ABC, with substitute anchor George Stephanopoulos, expended its newshole (24 min v CBS 19, NBC 20) for the fourth Monday in a row, thanks to Pfizer's Celebrex brand, its single sponsor. Despite each newscast's decision to lead with the economy, a Campaign 2008 topic turned out to be Story of the Day: Barack Obama qualified, thanks to his longtime pastor Jeremiah Wright's defense of his provocative preaching at the National Press Club.

What will the nation's 130m recipient households do with their $600-per-adult, $300-per-child rebate checks? CBS' Anthony Mason unveiled his network's opinion poll findings: 51% will pay already-incurred bills; 27% will add to their savings; and 18% will make new purchases. Mason quoted University of Maryland economist Peter Morici as reassuring us that paying down credit card debt does not undermine the economic principle behind the stimulus plan, since a lower balance one month provides leeway to spend extra the month after.

Trish Regan of CNBC, NBC's sibling financial news cable channel, ticked off those retailers planning to offer a "rebate special"--Sears, Wal-Mart, Staples, Kmart, not to mention grocery store chains such as Supervalu--before noting that it is unclear "whether or not the rebates are enough to jumpstart the economy or prevent a recession." Regan's economic rationale for the stimulus contradicted that of Morici on CBS. The government is "borrowing the money to issue the rebates," she pointed out, so she implied that if that increased federal debt merely becomes reduced household debt, net-net, the macro-economic stimulus amounts to zero.

On ABC, Dan Harris (embargoed link) reminded us that the stimulus plan was rushed through Congress when "they did not foresee these record high gas prices. So what was supposed to be a big economy booster may end up largely a pain reliever." Harris' economic worry was that households will spend their rebates on gasoline and "most of that money goes out of the country to Saudi Arabia, Russia and Venezuela instead of to American companies like Apple or The GAP." Can someone fact check that claim? Is it true that a higher proportion of the revenues at Apple or The GAP remain in the domestic economy compared with money spent at the local filling station?

By the way, Harris pointed out that global price hikes for crude oil have been slow to filter through the refinery system and arrive at that filling station. He warned that a gallon of gasoline will cost "50c or 60c more in the next couple of weeks."

CBS rounded out the day's economic coverage with Seth Doane's Hitting Home profile of the poverty-stricken Castellucci family of Gloucester Mass. The family's auto body shop went into debt and had to close. Father David was unemployed for five months before finding a job as a copier technician. The family of four children now eats pantry donations and groceries bought with food stamps. The house has home improvements that were halted in mid job. Mother Lisa collects cans off the street for the deposit money to help pay her bills. The Castelluccis, at least, could use that stimulus.


Andrew Tyndall 4/30/08 8:17:03 pm

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