Since When ...
Posted by Carolan Gladden at 4/8/2009 7:00 PM 
Categories: Protesting, Current Events, Stupidity, Economy
Categories: Protesting, Current Events, Stupidity, Economy
Just when did Analysts become crystal ball seers? That's what I can't figure. I mean, it used to be that companies released their profit (or loss) figures TO Analysts. And invested their own time and money in due diligence in advance of potential mergers or acquisitions. And governmental agencies compiled statistics on unemployment, spending, GDP and so on.
But sometime in the not too distant past, the first line of so many economic news stories quotes the expectations of Analysts -- met or unmet -- up or down -- good or bad. No matter what the subject, Analysts want us to know they set the standard.
Now, back in the day I worked for a large public utility with some 200 companies under their control, with earnings statements, annual reports, mergers and acquisitions everyday happenings. Not to mention that during one potential merger, it was my job to keep the Analysts in New York informed of media attention by faxing any local mentions of the deal. Their role was strictly to advise from the perspective of the company hiring their services.
But now Analysts seem to be predicting virtually everything. And it's not happening only in the U.S.A. Consider this recent headline: "Economic analysts now predict Slovak economy to shrink by 1% in 2009"
The strange thing is we never ask just who are these Analysts or what they know, how they came by their soothsaying abilities. And, maybe more important, who pays their salaries?
Frankly, to me it seems a lot like the recently revealed unregulated financial world peppered with incomprehensible equity systems, the commingling of commercial banks with brokerage houses and all the Ponzi or other schemes extant in the land. And not one whit of it employed in the service of truth or ethics.
(But Still) Positively,
Carolan
But sometime in the not too distant past, the first line of so many economic news stories quotes the expectations of Analysts -- met or unmet -- up or down -- good or bad. No matter what the subject, Analysts want us to know they set the standard.
Now, back in the day I worked for a large public utility with some 200 companies under their control, with earnings statements, annual reports, mergers and acquisitions everyday happenings. Not to mention that during one potential merger, it was my job to keep the Analysts in New York informed of media attention by faxing any local mentions of the deal. Their role was strictly to advise from the perspective of the company hiring their services.
But now Analysts seem to be predicting virtually everything. And it's not happening only in the U.S.A. Consider this recent headline: "Economic analysts now predict Slovak economy to shrink by 1% in 2009"
The strange thing is we never ask just who are these Analysts or what they know, how they came by their soothsaying abilities. And, maybe more important, who pays their salaries?
Frankly, to me it seems a lot like the recently revealed unregulated financial world peppered with incomprehensible equity systems, the commingling of commercial banks with brokerage houses and all the Ponzi or other schemes extant in the land. And not one whit of it employed in the service of truth or ethics.
(But Still) Positively,
Carolan
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