Neglected News

Damn. There's no text version, only a Realaudio clip. You can get it from the PBS site.

On the news tonight Shashi Tharoor, the U.N. undersecretary general for communications and public information, listed ten stories that have been pushed off the page by the world's focus on Iraq. He listed them, chosen from over sixty listed by the agency heads at the UN. I know, there's little to be done about the world's problems, but I think it's my duty to know what's happening on my planet. Rises in coffee prices don't affect too many Americans, who pay over three dollars to get it from Starbucks, and happenings in the Sudan and Nigeria aren't as important to viewers of the nightly news as exploding car tires or the fact that a reduced carbohydrate diet results in bad breath. Still, I think it helps to keep things in perspective by knowing that probably 90% of the world would kill for my problems.

The news stories mentioned aren't all bad, either. As Mr Tharoor points out, good news never makes it on TV, but years of fighting and slavery and genocide in places like Liberia and Rowanda have stopped, and the people there are living in relative peace for the first time in their lives. I smiled when I heard that (even though I kinda knew), knowing that existence was a trifle better for a couple million people.

And I laughed--though not out loud--at this tidbit on CNBC. On Wall Street they use the term "factor in" to describe how changes in the world affect stock prices. Thus, if there's going to be coffee shortage, Starbuck's stock may fall (since they'll be spending more for their supply and won't be able to pass on the additional expense immediately). After the coffee price goes up, Starbucks, Dunkin' Donuts, Dennys, and Folgers stocks will go down. After a time, the prices will adjust (after the panic) and they'll say that the increased commodity (coffee) price has been factored into the stock price.

Today, in response totremendous news from Mexico, one trader quipped "Aliens aren't factored in to the market."