Financial Crisis or Media Scam?

By: ActionCOACH | 20 Shares 2,565 Reads

How an unsavvy business and mainstream media have fueled economic fears – even as the roots of recovery are starting to grow.

Las Vegas, NV, --(PR.com)-- The headlines screamed doom and gloom as the economy was headed for its worst performance since the 1930's.

Judging from the covers of both business and mainstream media outlets, the world economy was in a precarious financial position from which it may never recover.

If that "template" sounds familiar, it is – and has been at the forefront of media reporting over the past 18-months.

However, those headlines and the media prognosis for the global economy's financial future actually appeared in 1977 and 1978, during one of the more turbulent era's of the world economy.

A sense of history may have helped ease the fears of businesses and consumers, according to one CEO, who likens the coverage of recent economic events to a huge media scam.

"As consumers and customers of the various news outlets, people should feel they have been ripped-off in terms of credible coverage because it is a rip-off," ActionCOACH CEO Brad Sugars says. "Without any context, critical reporting or historical perspective, the media has helped fuel what was essentially a credit-driven crunch in a small area of finance into a global recession – with stories saying we are headed into a full-blown depression, which we clearly are not.

"People, especially business people, should be upset – and they have a right to be," he says.

Sugars, who heads ActionCOACH, the world's number one business coaching firm with more than 1,000 offices in 26 countries, uses an analogy of the seasons to explain the current economic climate, and backs it up with readily available numbers about the length and duration of recoveries and recessions.

"We have been in a very dark and cold economic winter, but things are starting to thaw and we are slowly moving to our next economic spring," he says. "It's just part of a business cycle that has been around as long as there has been commerce – which is basically since time began."

"What the media failed to do is to show that the average recovery lasts four to five times longer than any recession, and most recessions don't last longer than 12 months," he says. "And this is data that goes back more than 150 years. It's not hard to find. Anyone can type it into Google to uncover it. But obviously, none of the so-called 'expert' journalists did."

Sugars adds the negative coverage has prolonged the downturn, and made viable businesses less prone to risk-taking and investment.

"The good news is if you are a truly a student of economic cycles and are doing the exact opposite of what the media is telling you do to, you will emerge from the downturn in a very financially healthy place," he says. "You can do what even the biggest businesses aren't doing because they are still in many cases gripped by panic and fear."

Sugars' best advice for current or would-be entrepreneurs looking for a different perspective on the future of the global economy?

"Go on a news diet," he says. "Not only will your perspective improve, you'll start thinking about your own business situation in new and creative ways. Trust me, even the most untrained entrepreneur in many cases has more business sense than some of the people writing about business for even the top publications or broadcasts.

"It will never pay any dividends to listen to bad advice – especially from people who don't know anything about business."

ActionCOACH is the world's number one business coaching and executive coaching firm, with more than 1,000 offices in 26 countries.