Where Have All the Stories Gone?

I've noticed something strange in the headlines for the past few days. I couldn't find one article about real estate. Not one. After digging around, I found this article last night. But it's so unworthy of being news and so boring that it doesn't really count. There was the story in the business section about obscene ads displayed in the mall. Why target one retailer? Hello! They're everywhere in the mall. That's why my kids never go. Then I saw something about stocks. Yada, yada, yada.

I know it's Super Tuesday (woo-hoo), but what happened to the media trying to scare us to death with all of the negative real estate articles? Maybe they grew tired of them, too. MSNBC e-mails me the business headlines every weekday. Let's see, today we have two about Superbowl ads. One about Wesley Snipes (how did he pull that off anyway?), and three regarding Microsoft/Yahoo. We have Toyota, News Corp, and oil prices. A few months ago, there would be at least five articles about the housing market.

So I bounced to AOL and CNN and not a word about how the drop in housing prices will stop the world from turning. I would bet that the Wall Street Journal and other business publications are still reporting about foreclosures, falling interest rates, and the demise of certain lending institutions, but I'm just talking about the mainstream media here.

I stopped writing this post for several minutes because I became distracted by this story on CNN. It's very long (I didn't have time to read all of it), but fascinating--a glimpse into how the other half (or 1% is more like it) lives. I'll stay on my half, thank you very much! But that's the closest I could come to finding anything remotely related to real estate.

OH, NO! Without the news telling me how to feel about real estate values, what am I supposed to do?! Wait . . . I think I may feel . . . what's the word I'm looking for . . . optimistic . . . yeah, that's it. I know that property values are in the toilet. I know that they're falling lower as we speak. I know that, one of these years, it will turn around, then happen again. But, without the constant barrage of the news media (online anyway) blaring negative and depressing teases at me every time I check the headlines, I have an overwhelming desire to be optimistic--all day, not just when I'm thinking about something else. For me, though, optimism comes naturally. I just have to allow it to surface.

Tomorrow is the day after Super Tuesday, but I wonder what the business journalists will be reporting about for the rest of the week.