Jobs moving to Mexico

Link to news story.

"Reporters claim PTSD from watching violent news"

Second hand smoke?

Most have never left the comfort of their big city offices, but a growing number of reporters and editors are claiming to suffer trauma from watching and posting violent videos on news sites, according to a new study of media and human rights workers.

Their coping mechanisms can be just as bad: heavy drinking, binge-eating and sex. Said the study: "Unhealthy coping mechanisms included frequent one night stands or, as a documentary journalist called it: 'Head-down sex with different people every night.'"

The study uncovered claims of PTSD and "vicarious trauma" from those working with video and audio showing terrorist beheadings and city shootings. The biggest impact came from the sounds of victims screaming.

"Whether it is a broadcaster, publisher, human rights or humanitarian professional, symptoms associated with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) - which were previously only observed in professionals deployed in the field - are now evident amongst staff working in offices on what we call the digital frontline," said the study from British-based Eyewitness Media Hub.

"Forty percent of survey respondents said that viewing distressing eyewitness media has had a negative impact on their personal lives...."

"Fast moving bad news builds prosperity"

Glenn Reynolds:

Nassim Nicholas Taleb recently tweeted: "The free-market system lets you notice the flaws and hides its benefits. All other systems hide the flaws and show the benefits.”

This drew a response: "The most valuable property of the price mechanism is as a reliable mechanism for delivering bad news." These two statements explain a lot about why socialist systems fail pretty much everywhere but get pretty good press, while capitalism has delivered a truly astounding results but is constantly besieged by detractors...

Last paragraph.

Markets make people better off, but they don’t provide sufficient opportunities for politicians to extract bribes and intellectuals to feel better about themselves. This explains why they’re unpopular with politicians and intellectuals. The real question is why anyone else listens to the self-interested claims of politicians and intellectuals. Maybe because the subject of what works and what doesn't in economics is mostly written by journalists?