I wrote another piece for @FAIRmediawatch about media reporting on the pandemic-related economic crisis -- this time about troubling trends in @nytimes reporting on debt. TL;DR: stop worrying about debt right now! (1/n) https://fair.org/home/learning-all-the-wrong-lessons-from-the-2008-financial-crisis/

The @nytimes is doing better than certain other publications (ahem @FT and @WSJ) where debt related fear mongering is concerned, the scale of our problems are such that we only need to fear the limits of our imagination in how to provide funding at all levels. (2/n)

This is not to say that we shouldn't name and shame Trump's cronies and the cruise industry, but that we should think in a comprehensive way about how to transform our economy as we bail it out/stanch gaping wounds/provide life support/insert your metaphor of choice here. (3/n)

I think @Claudia_Sahm and @rortybomb and @JWMason1 have been getting at this well in their responses. Employees of large businesses need relief the same way that care workers do. And arguments by @FinGregg and @steelewheelz that we should not deregulate as banks demand. (4/n)

Media reporting shapes perceptions of our circumstances and what is possible. Let's not spend another 5 years arguing with relatives that just because they read something about tax evasion in the Eurozone periphery in the @nyt that they somehow deserve what's coming. (5/n)

The structural problems these pieces raise are important, but keeping those stories separate is crucial to maintaining perspective on how we respond, and the costs of failing to respond adequately. (6/n)

Thanks again to @JNaureckas and @FAIRmediawatch for the opportunity to weigh in. And thanks also to @jimtankersley @bencasselman and @jeannasmialek among many others emphasizing the huge costs workers and the growing ranks of the vulnerable bear. (7/7)