Tales of TrendBucktu

A few days ago, Clay put together another one of his typically awesome link round-ups. Please take a look at that post at your leisure. Clay brings together a lot of information I'm sure you'll find interesting.

But right now I'd like to call your attention to one throwaway but nonetheless startling assumption Clay makes in this post. Pointing to a report of rising jobless claims in Louisiana, Clay declares, "No more 'bucking the trend'".

What he's referring to here is the goofy tendency the local press has displayed during the deepening economic crisis to push one cheery story after another about how Louisiana is "bucking the trend". Editors grasp daily for any excuse to proclaim our magic immunity to the collapsing national and international economy and banking system. One week, we're saved by our booming business in home demolition, the next it's a spike in the demand for invisible cranes, and then, of course, Mardi Gras comes along and fixes whatever was left over. You can see what a powerful argument this is.

Can this trend-bucking narrative be suddenly overturned, as Clay suggests, by something as quaint as contrary evidence? Well no, not exactly. Not if, like the T-P's Jaquetta White, you have a convenient straw man available in the form of a dubiously designed "unhappiness survey" as well as a working knowledge of journalistic kung fu.

In this article from this morning's edition, we find White ostensibly reporting that Businessweek lists New Orleans 3rd on a list of "America's Unhappiest Cities". I know. It's awful. I had a pretty fun Mardi Gras this year too and I really would hate to have Businessweek come around exploding my illusions about how happy I might be. Thank goodness White's article makes short work of it by quoting a local booster.

Michael Hecht, chief executive officer of GNO Inc., the regional economic development office, called the ranking "profoundly flawed and wrong." The methodology behind the list includes backward-looking indicators like population loss, instead of forward-looking indicators like future investment in infrastructure.

But really this is just another excuse for someone at the T-P to write this sentence.

Although the Louisiana economy is reportedly faring better than others around the country, a BusinessWeek report ranks New Orleans third on a list of 50 American cities where the national recession is taking the greatest emotional toll.

And this one.

"For anybody living here, we know that the New Orleans region is one of the happiest places to ride out the recession," Hecht said.

It's true! We're still bucking the trend! How awesome are we at this? Ask Businessweek a mere five months ago:

NEW ORLEANS -- Despite the country's economic crisis, the national magazine Business Week said New Orleans is the right place to ride out a recession.

One local agency agreed with the Business Week article.

Wall Street is down, but Main Street New Orleans is up.

Friday night along Magazine Street didn't reflect that rest of the country is facing a potential recession.

"There are Community Block Development Grant dollars," Michael Hecht from Greater New Orleans Inc. said. "We're also getting economic development administration dollars in the latest emergency stabilization act. So literally, hundreds of millions of dollars are flowing in."

Amazing. Positive Businessweek story leads to Micheal Hecht concluding that New Orleans is a "happy place to ride out the recession." Negative Businessweek story leads to... Micheal Hecht concluding that New Orleans is a "happy place to ride out the recession." Down really is up here in TrendBucktu.