We Get It: The Stock Market Is Sinking

Yesterday I mocked President Trump for being more concerned with the stock market than with the coronavirus. I stand by that, but it’s hard to blame him too much when I wake up to headlines like this:

Sure, you say, but that’s the Wall Street Journal. They’re supposed to be obsessed with the stock market. But here’s the New York Times:

And the Washington Post has a live feed so you can watch the stock market crater before your eyes:

I could forgive this infatuation with the stock market if it was connected to some actual change in the broader economy, but it’s not. It’s handy only because most economic indicators are calculated monthly at best, and that’s boring. The stock market may not have much to say about the real-life state of the economy, but it changes daily—hourly, even—and that makes it exciting.

But that’s no excuse. A serious piece about how the coronavirus is likely to affect the global economy is fine. But stock porn? Spare me.

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AN IMPORTANT UPDATE

We’re falling behind our online fundraising goals and we can’t sustain coming up short on donations month after month. Perhaps you’ve heard? It is impossibly hard in the news business right now, with layoffs intensifying and fancy new startups and funding going kaput.

The crisis facing journalism and democracy isn’t going away anytime soon. And neither is Mother Jones, our readers, or our unique way of doing in-depth reporting that exists to bring about change.

Which is exactly why, despite the challenges we face, we just took a big gulp and joined forces with the Center for Investigative Reporting, a team of ace journalists who create the amazing podcast and public radio show Reveal.

If you can part with even just a few bucks, please help us pick up the pace of donations. We simply can’t afford to keep falling behind on our fundraising targets month after month.

Editor-in-Chief Clara Jeffery said it well to our team recently, and that team 100 percent includes readers like you who make it all possible: “This is a year to prove that we can pull off this merger, grow our audiences and impact, attract more funding and keep growing. More broadly, it’s a year when the very future of both journalism and democracy is on the line. We have to go for every important story, every reader/listener/viewer, and leave it all on the field. I’m very proud of all the hard work that’s gotten us to this moment, and confident that we can meet it.”

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