Pundits fixate on the short-term

It is hard to resist despair at the poor quality of media coverage of recent financial and economic events in the eurozone and America. Supposed experts fixate on the extremely short-term including such indicators as stockmarket movements, sometimes even over minutes, and monthly employment figures from America.

I can confidently say that such indicators reveal nothing of value. In the short-term markets are often volatile, moving up and down all the time, and over the long-term they are a poor indicator of economic health. Employment figures can be more meaningful but not on a monthly basis. All the pontificating by the pundits only reflects their prejudices rather than economic reality.

The up side is that those who look at the economy more deeply, and with a longer-term perspective, should be able to make an impact.