Consumer Confidence Difference Two Families: Shop vs Save

NYT image of couple's xmas list that they have budgeted for

CNN is trying very hard to make the American public appear to be in dire need.See below.

I enjoyed this article from NYT better: Two Families Show an Uneven Rise in Consumer Confidence

One family worked an extra shift to have the mother working 100 hour weeks in order to get out of debt and be able to spend more this Christmas season. Last year, there was no gifts or dinner for this family.

The other family chose to allow the wife to quit her job in order to work from home and is choose to have a strict budget on their holiday spending. There was no mention of how hard their economics were last year.

I don't agree with either story. The first family should have strict budget regardless of what they're currently making but the second family should not be considered a hardened American family, they took a huge gift in allowing the wife to quit her job in order to stay at home with her new born (they do note that she is returning to her work soon). As both stories are a little irritating, it is good to note that though they are considered "average" families in America both are spending a good amount of money this season. America is doing OK.


CNN did this video on a Thanksgiving worker: I work Thanksgiving Day

After half of the video is spent on her account of how hard her life is, she eventually notes that her  Thanksgiving shift was voluntary, she has a full time job (which I would assume includes benefits) and while she's tending to her daughter you can hear her iphone ringing.

I'm sure there were many people that CNN could have interviewed that had much harder circumstances, why did they chose this person, who is obviously doing pretty well for herself. She gets a bit teary eyed when she realizes that she'll be at dinner late that night and asks her daughter to save some potatoes for her...ie she's still making it to dinner at some point!

Maybe this is CNN's objective, to make us realize that the poor really aren't doing so badly and we can look forward? Either way, this is bad journalism.