Article • Dean Baker’s Beat the Press
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Okay, we should all be happy that the economy seems to be growing more rapidly that it was at this time last year, but can we try to be a little serious about this. The Census Bureau reported that housing starts fell by 1.1 percent in February. That’s not a big deal, starts had been trending upward and the monthly numbers are always erratic, but nonetheless a fall in starts is a negative sign.
Apparently, the Post did not want to utter a discouraging word. Its business digest section only discussed the 5.1 percent rise in permits for the month, never mentioning the decline in starts. It also featured a graph showing the rise in permits which was mislabeled as a rise in starts (print edition only).