A month ago I asked:

How long before MSM stops acting surprised about this economy?

Apparently not yet…

Sales of new homes rose unexpectedly in April to the fastest pace this year as the housing sector showed resilience in the face of rising mortgage rates.
…
The pace of activity caught economists by surprise. They had been expecting a decline in sales, reflecting the fact that mortgage rates have been climbing in recent weeks and now stand at the highest level in nearly four years.

Caught which economists by surprise? The ones on MSM payroll?

But never fear. The MSM isn’t coming around to actually believing our economy is strong. They make sure to temper every piece of good news with the requisite amount of negativity.

The unexpected jump in April home sales was not likely to change the overall view that the booming housing industry is beginning to cool off after setting sales records for five straight years.

It’s ironic that when then-Governor Bush commented on the impending economic downturn he was inheriting, he was accused of “talking down” the economy.

So are they going to now accuse him of “talking up” the economy?

1. Jason, I decided to try and answer “which economists?” were “caught by surprise” by first reading the story. Oddly enough, there was no mention of “which economists” in the article! Just…”economists.”

   Not a quote from one. Not a name of one. Not a place of employment or an organization of an economist. Basically, it was like “Oh, trust us…ECONOMISTS are surprised, and don’t worry about which ones were surprised!”

   Other that any other day, since when does the MSM use ambiguous and non-specific terms in their articles?

   Comment by Jonathan — 9:33 am
   

2. Anything good or positive about this administration is “surprising” to the LSM; so, what’s the big deal?

   Comment by Old Soldier — 12:18 pm
   

3. Jason,I work in the housing industry as a consultant to developers. It is my job to identify trends in the economics of new home development. The fundamentals are in place, supply vs. demand. The nation is still under supplied and cannot meet the demand for housing. Top economists understand that the new home market will not continue to see the price appreciation experienced the last few years, and the rate of sales will slow somewhat. But no one in the industry that I know is surprised that home sales are still strong. All the talk about bubbles, froths, tides, etc., has the media in a tailspin, not the economists.

   Comment by Jim U — 3:45 pm
   

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