http://stream.publicbroadcasting.net/production/mp3/kcur/local-kcur-883400.mp3
Kansas City, Mo. – Some of the nation's top economics bloggers have a breathtakingly pessimistic outlook. The findings come from the respected Kauffman Foundation on February 2, 2010.
Economic growth numbers from the last quarter of 2009 may look promising but they don't impress many of 200 economics devotees surveyed by The Kauffman group. Tim Kane is senior fellow with the foundation and engineered the first-of-its-kind study for the organization.
He said among those with an opinion, gloom outweighed optimism five to one. Kane estimated 48 percent say the economy is worse than data shows--"and that's really relevant for this group because they're every day digging, not just what the numbers from the government say but what's underneath those numbers . And some of the things that can't even be quantified, or not easily."
The panel assessed conditions as bad' or very bad' for small business. Fifty two percent found it so. Fifty percent of economics bloggers surveyed cited the same terms for individual Americans. The outlook for entrepreneurs, though, is a relative bright spot. Opinions were mixed between 36 percent calling conditions "bad" and 26 percent "good".
Kane typified the bloggers as "independent thinkers immersed in discourse via the innovation of blogging." He said economics writers have a unique voice and perspective, and potentially, profound influence.