Media predicts recession or boom amid tariffs, stock volatility: Bias Breakdown

[Karah Rucker]

WELCOME TO BIAS BREAKDOWN.

I’M YOUR HOST KARAH RUCKER.

THERE’S BEEN VOLATILITY IN THE STOCK MARKET SINCE PRESIDENT TRUMP’S TARIFFS WENT INTO EFFECT.

THE MEDIA IS REACTING – ANALYZYING, MAKING PREDICTIONS. AND ITS EVERYTHING FROM A RECESSION TO A MARKET BOOM.

WITH SO MANY DIFFERENT VOICES – LET’S CUT THROUGH THE NOISE. 

THAT’S THE FOCUS OF TODAY’S BIAS BREAKDOWN.

“My fellow americans, this is liberation day.”

“Today we’re standing up for the american worker and we are finally putting america first.”

“Starting tomorrow the united states will implement reciprocal tariffs on other nations.”

LAST WEDNESDAY – TRUMP ANNOUNCED 25 PERCENT TARIFFS ON FOREIGN CARS AND AUTO PARTS –

A BASELINE 10 PERCENT TARIFF ON ALL COUNTRIES – AND HIGHER RATES FOR COUNTRIES THAT TRUMP CALLED “THE WORST OFFENDERS” – 

COUNTRIES IMPOSING SOME OF THE HIGHEST TARIFFS – **PLUS THE VALUE OF ANY TRADE BARRIERS – ON **U.S. GOODS.

IN RESPONSE TO CHINA’S 67% TARIFF ON U.S. GOODS – THE U.S. IS ADDING A 34 PERCENT TAX ON IMPORTED CHINESE PRODUCTS – ON TOP OF AN ALREADY 20 PERCENT TAX PREVIOUSLY IMPLEMENTED OVER FENTANYL.

THAT COULD GO UP BY 50 PERCENT THIS WEEK BECAUSE OF CHINA’S RETALIATORY MOVES.
THAT MEANS CHINA COULD END UP WITH A 104 PERCENT TARIFF.

AS FOR OTHER COUNTRIES FACING SOME OF THE HIGHEST TARIFFS ON THEIR GOODS SHIPPED TO THE U.S. –
VIETNAM – 46 PERCENT

TAIWAIN – AT 32 PERCENT –

INDIA – A 26 PERCENT TARIFF – 

AND THE EUROPEAN UNION WITH A 20 PERCENT TARIFF.

ALL OF THESE TARIFF RATES ARE ABOUT HALF OF THE TARIFF RATE BEING IMPOSED ON U.S. GOODS INTO THEIR COUNTRIES.

TRUMP’S TARIFF ANNOUNCEMENT CAME WITH PLENTY OF COVERAGE – WITH OUTLETS LEANING IN.

FOX NEWS ON THE RIGHT – TOUTED THE IMPORTANCE OF “LIBERATION DAY.” 

7:48-7:50 “Happy liberation day.” 8:15-8:24 “today donald trump fundamentally changed the country as we know it this is the biggest shift in economic policy since world war 2 when we liberated europe and asia. 47 says we’re not liberating ourselves from globalization.”

7:32 ish “5 american presidents helped dig us into this trade deficit hole that we currently find ourselves in and only one donald trump had the guts to try and dig us out.”

19:00-19:08 “it is liberation day in america and tonight we will shatter the myths surrounding donald trump’s american first economic vision.”

AND NETWORKS ON THE LEFT – MSNBC AND CNN – CALLING THE PRESIDENT’S TARIFFS A BAD IDEA.

“is there any positive take on this? Well i can answer the 2nd question first, i don’t think there’s a single positive take on this. Its all just bad. Its bad for inflation. Its bad for economic growth. Its bad for everything.”  

“Tariffs on basically the entire world will do what for the economy? It will send the world in reverse. Let there be no doubt about this – the president today said a bunch of economic nonsense.”

“24 hours after trump detonated a bomb in the heart of the most resilient economy on the planet – the sights and sounds of his failure to protect the american people’s pocketbooks are everywhere.” 

THESE CLIPS COME FROM– SOME OF THE NETWORKS’ TOP RATED PROGRAMS – WITH MILLIONS OF VIEWERS.

WE LIKE TO DO THESE COMPARISON SOUNDBYTES – OR AS WE CALL THEM SOTS – TO SHOW THE CONTRAST INCOVERAGE ON MAJOR NEWS STORIES ON SOME OF THE TOP WATCHED NEWS PROGRAMS IN THE COUNTRY.

SO IF SOMEONE WERE TO ONLY CONSUME NEWS FROM A NETWORK ON ONE SIDE OF THE POLITICAL AISLE – IT’S CLEAR THEY WOULD ONLY GET ONE PERSPECTIVE WHEN ITS CLEAR THERE ARE MULTIPLE NARRATIVES.

NOW MOST OF THE NEWS COVERAGE SINCE TRUMP’S ANNOUNCEMENT – 

HAS BEEN FOCUSED ON THE STOCK MARKET.

LET’S GO THROUGH SOME OF THE NUMBERS FIRST – THEN LOOK AGAIN AT THE NEWS COVERAGE.

AT THE CLOSE OF TRADING THURSDAY, THE FIRST FULL DAY FOLLOWING TRUMP’S TARIFFS –

U.S. STOCKS CLOSED IN THEIR WORST DAY SINCE JUNE 2020 DURING THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC.

THE NASDAQ FELL 5.9 PERCENT.

THE S&P 500 DROPPED 4.8 PERCENT.

AND THE DOW – DOWN 3.9 PERCENT.

THE NEXT DAY – FRIDAY – A SIMILAR TALE.

THE NASDAQ – FELL 5.82 PERCENT.

THE S&P 500 DROPPED 5.97 PERCENT.

AND THE DOW – ANOTHER 5.5 PERCENT DOWN.

AND WHEN MARKETS OPENED AGAIN MONDAY – AND CLOSED FOR ITS THIRD DAY AFTER TRUMP’S TARIFFS –

THE NASDAQ – TICKED UP POINT ONE PERCENT.

THE S&P 500 – TICKED DOWN POINT 23 PERCENT.

AND THE DOW – DECREASED POINT 9 PERCENT.

THE PLUNGE IS AMONG THE STEEPEST OF THE LAST DECADE.

THE TRUMP ADMINISTRATION SAID – MARKET VOLATILITY WAS EXPECTED.

AND AS TRUMP WAS LEAVING THE WHITE HOUSE THURSDAY – TRUMP REITERATED HIS STANCE – THAT THE MARKETS WILL EVENTUALLY BOOM FROM HIS TARIFF POLICY.

“The markets today are way down – the worst day in years because of the tariffs, so how is it going?”

“I think its going well. It was an operation. Like when a patient gets operated on. Its a big thing. I said this would be exactly the way it is.    

“The market is gonna boom, the stocks are gonna boom, the country’s gonna boom.”

AND IN THE MEANTIME – THE PRESIDENT SAYS DON’T PANIC – OR BE A ‘PANICAN’.

POSTING TO TRUTH SOCIAL MONDAY – 

“The United States has a chance to do something that should have been done DECADES AGO. Don’t be Weak! Don’t be Stupid! Don’t be a PANICAN (A new party based on Weak and Stupid people!). Be Strong, Courageous, and Patient, and GREATNESS will be the result!”

RIGHT-LEANING NETWORKS HAVE LARGELY SHARED THE PREDICTION OF A MARKET BOOM –

CITING OTHER ECONOMIC FACTORS THAT THE COUNTRY IS CURRENTLY SEEING –

SUCH AS LOWER OIL PRICES, INFLATION. AND A POSITIVE JOBS REPORT FROM FRIDAY.

ALL OF THESE THINGS ARE TRUE.

LEFT-LEANING NETWORKS ARE LARGELY HIGHLIGHTING THE TARIFF TURMOIL COULD SPIN THE U.S. INTO A RECESSION –

CITING ECONOMIST AND BILLIONAIRE OUTLOOKS THAT HAVE **RAISED THE ODDS OF A RECESSION SIGNIFICANTLY SINCE THE TARIFFS TOOK EFFECT –

WHICH IS ALSO **TRUE.

LIKE JP MORGAN CEO JAMIE DIMON – SAYING THIS IS NOW THE MOST PERILOUS ECONOMIC ENVIRONMENT SINCE WORLD WAR 2. 

TWO DIFFERENT SETS OF INFORMATION TO COME UP WITH TWO DIFFERENT TAKEAWAYS – BASED ON A NEWS OUTLETS POLITICAL LEAN IN COVERAGE.

TAKE FOX NEWS BUSINESS HOSTS MARIA BARTIROMO, CHARLES PAYNE, AND FOX NEWS’ WILL CAIN. 

That’s what we’ve been pointing out this morning – and the president has been pointing out – rates are plummeting, oil prices are plummeting, deregulation is happening. We’ve got all these things happening. President trump is not going to bend.”

<:00- “What we’re not talking about is oil was 76 dollars now its 65. Gasoline prices are going to plummet. Any other time, that would be the number one story. If you went to the polls, what would get you elected? Much cheaper gasoline or wall street crying?  I’m just being honest. Yeah, people have stocks and 401k’s and guess what. There’s a correction on average every year. There’s a bear market every couple of years. People are accustomed to that.”  

“Oil prices, down about 15 percent since the announcement of tariffs.”

“I would imagine it also matters to you when you go to the bank to get a mortgage on your home, 30 year mortgage rates like oil trending lower. The fundamentals of the american economy including unemployment look strong despite the fluctuations of the market.” 

MEANWHILE MSNBC HOST JEN PSAKI, CNN ANALYST HARRY ENTEN, AND MSNBC HOSE ARI MELBER – SHARED THESE TAKEAWAYS ABOUT A U.S. **RECESSION.

“As for larry fink who is the ceo of the worlds largest money manager, blackrock, he said today that his fellow ceos believe we’re already in a recession. And mark cuban not exactly a trump supporter i know but hes a legit billionaire. He said that if the new tariffs stay in place for multiple years, and inflationary, and doge continues to cut and fire, we will be in a far worse situation than 2008. 2008 is very very bad to state the obvious.”  

“There’s the market but then there’s the chance of broader economic problems and that possibility is rising right? Yeah – a chance of a recession – something none of us want to see. what s the chance? Jp morgan – now up to 60%. Goldman sachs…we’re now up to 35%. 

“The worst could still be yet to come.  The tariff failure risking a full blown recession.“The dumping of so many American stocks reflects what I mentioned, the combined views of so many investors rejecting Trump’s economic actions. even some normally pro-republican ceos now warning this is the trump recession.” 

THE OVERALL SENTIMENTS RIGHT NOW IN NETWORK COVERAGE – IS VERY DIFFERENT.

LEFT LEANING NETWORKS ARE HIGHLIGHTING RECESSION FORECASTS THAT HAVE COME OUT SINCE TRUMP’S TARIFFS –

WHILE RIGHT LEANING NETWORKS ARE HIGHLIGHTING THE POTENTIAL ECONOMIC BOOM ONCE TRUMP’S POLICIES SETTLE IN. 

AND ITS LIKELY YOU AGREE WITH ONE SENTIMENT OR THE OTHER BASED ON YOUR OWN POLITICAL BELIEFS.

“BIAS BREAKDOWN” IS A PODCAST MEANT TO **BREAKDOWN THE POLITICAL **BIASES IN REPORTING.

WE ALL HAVE OUR OWN BIASES – AS SOME OF YOU ARE UPFRONT ABOUT IN THE COMMENT SECTION WHICH I CAN APPRECIATE.

AND SOME OF YOU ALSO CAN APPRECIATE GETTING A GLIMPSE OF WHAT NEWS PEOPLE ARE CONSUMING FROM THE **OTHER SIDE OF THE POLITICAL AISLE.

BESIDES POINTING OUT THE DIFFERENT NARRATIVES –

WE LIKE TO TRY AND STEER YOU TOWARD THE FACTS WE KNOW –

AND BE HONEST ABOUT WHAT WE DON’T KNOW.

AS OF THIS RECORDING – WHICH USES DATA THROUGH MONDAY’S CLOSING AS I’M SCRIPTING THIS TUESDAY – MARKETS SAW 10 TRILLION DOLLARS IN GLOBAL VALUE WIPED IN THREE DAYS.

THE NASDAQ IS IN A BEAR MARKET – AFTER FALLING 20 PERCENT BELOW IT’S RECENT ALL-TIME HIGH.

THE S&P 500 WAS DOWN AS LOW AS 17 PERCENT.

THE NUMBERS ARE THE WORST RECORDED SINCE THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC.

HIGH-PROFILE RECESSION OUTLOOKS HAVE TICKED HIGHER SINCE TRUMP’S TARIFFS WERE ENACTED.

IT’S ALSO TRUE THAT SEVERAL COUNTRIES ARE COMING TO THE TABLE –

LOOKING TO NEGOTIATE.

THE EUROPEAN UNION, VIETNAM, ZIMBABWE, TAIWAN, AND ISRAEL HAVE ALL OFFERED ZERO-FOR-ZERO TARIFFS.

TRUMP ADMINISTRATION OFFICIALS SAY AS MANY AS 70 COUNTRIES HAVE CALLED FOR A DEAL – TRUMP SAYING TUESDAY SOUTH KOREA HAS A TOP TEAM ON A PLANE ON ITS WAY TO THE U.S. TO NEGOTIATE –

AFTER ISRAEL VISITED MONDAY.

WHILE DEALS ARE “IN THE WORKS” – ITS STILL UNCLEAR WHEN TRUMP MAY ACCEPT ANY PROPOSALS – AND RESCIND ANY TARIFFS.

AS OF TUESDAY AFTERNOON – 

STOCKS ARE RECOUPING SOME LOSSES – UP ACROSS THE BOARD ROUGHLY 2.5 PERCENT – AS OF NOW.

IT’S HARD TO COVER A STORY ABOUT STOCKS –

BECAUSE ITS EVER-CHANGING.

BY THE TIME THE EDITS AND GRAPHICS ARE IN ON THIS STORY –

STOCKS COULD BE EVEN HIGHER – OR HAVE SEEN ANOTHER DIP.

IN SUMMARY –

THE STOCK MARKET HAS SEEN ITS SHARE OF VOLATILITY OVER THE LAST FEW DAYS IN RESPONSE TO TRUMP’S TARIFFS.

LEFT-LEANING MEDIA – ARE SOUNDING THE RECESSION ALARM – POINTING THE FINGER AT TRUMP’S POLICIES.

RIGHT-LEANING MEDIA ARE CALLING THE MARKET VOLATILITY TEMPORARY –

FORECASTING A BOOM AND GIVING TRUMP THE CREDIT.

NEWS OUTLETS WITH A LEFT AND RIGHT POLITICAL BIAS – ARE PICKING THE DATA AND TALKING POINTS TO COME UP WITH STOCK MARKET PREDICTIONS THAT BEST FIT THEIR POLITICAL NARRATIVE.

AND THAT’S YOUR BIAS BREAKDOWN.

THANKS FOR WATCHING THIS WEEK’S EPISODE.

IF YOU FOUND US ON YOUTUBE OR SOCIAL MEDIA –

REMEMBER YOU CAN ALSO FIND US ON SPOTIFY, APPLE PODCASTS AND OTHER PLATFORMS.

IT’S A REALLY BUSY NEWS CYCLE –

THERE’S A LOT GOING ON SO IT WAS HARD TO CHOOSE THE TOPIC FOR THIS WEEK’S EPISODE.

THERE’S ALSO A LOT OF DIFFERENT ANGLES TO THE TARIFF STORY.

BUT I HAD TO NARROW IT DOWN TO THE STOCKS – OTHERWISE THIS EPISODE COULD’VE BEEN 2 HOURS LONG.

A BIG THANKS TO IAN OUR VIDEO EDITOR.

AND ALI ON OUR GRAPHICS.

AND THANK YOU FOR WATCHING BIAS BREAKDOWN.

I’LL SEE YA NEXT TIME.