Amidst all of the talk of hockey moms, jabs at Democrat Barack Obama, and media bashing, there was not much discussion of the weak economy at this week's Republican National Convention.

In fact, the Republican gathering was notably short on talk of the main issue on the minds of voters. Sure, there was "drill baby drill," but is that really an economic policy? Can Americans drill their way out of the credit crisis? Can we drill our way out of the housing slump? Can we drill our way to prosperity?

No less of a flaming liberal than CNBC's Larry Kudlow took note.

"As we head into the closing night in St. Paul, there has so far been no reference to the weak economy," Kudlow said on the network's blog before John McCain's acceptance speech last night. "There has been no economic-recovery message and no growth message."

Interestingly, the Republican platform contained language inserted by economic conservatives rejecting the Bush administration's rescue of Bear Stearns Cos., and possible bailouts of Fannie Mae (NYSE: FNM) and Freddie Mac (NYSE: FRE), according to Bloomberg News. The document purposely did not mention the credit crunch because delegates were afraid that any solution that they would offer might make things worse, Bloomberg says. The GOP's embrace of free trade may sell well on Wall Street, but it won't win votes on Main Street where workers are fearful of their jobs being shipped to lower-cost countries overseas.

No wonder the GOP did not say much on the economy.

Most Americans are suffering because of high gas prices, a volatile stock market and plunging home prices. Though technically the economy may be strong and may not even be in a recession, most people and businesses believe they are worse off than they were a year ago.

The New York Times Co. (NYSE: NYT) and General Electric (NYSE: GE)'s CNBC have agreed to share each other's content, a move designed to counter the synergies that the $5 billion acquisition of Dow Jones brought to Rupert Murdoch's News Corp (NYSE: NWS) empire.

Under the terms of the agreement, Times articles will be posted on CNBC's website while the cable channel's video will be on the newspaper's website, according to a story in the New York Times. Though content-sharing agreements are as common as mud, this one is worth watching because it's so high profile.

It wouldn't surprise me if the Times and CNBC eventually did joint projects, particularly time-consuming investigative stories. Also, expect the Times op-ed columnists such as Frank Rich and Paul Krugman to make more appearances on CNBC shows, no doubt much to the horror of Larry Kudlow.

Though Fox Business Network could get better ratings shouting the news over bullhorn in the middle of Manhattan, CNBC can't afford to take the fledging network for granted. After all, Murdoch now has at his disposal some of the best business journalists in the world who could whip his CNBC competitor into shape,.

NOTE: I've done freelance writing for The New York Times.

Today's report that the US economy grew buy 4.9% in the 3rd quarter even with pressure from the housing market, is a tribute to the strength of the economy. The fact that in the third quarter, the housing slump cut a sizable 1.08% off GDP, makes you admire just how strong and resilient the economy is. I hate to burst the bubble of the mainstream media (could they have a political agenda?), but facts are facts. Unemployment remains low at just 4.7%, the economy is growing, taxes remain low, and interest rates are falling. I admit that fourth quarter (Q4) GDP numbers wont equal Q3's but a recession? Not going to happen. The pessimist always say that the consumer will stop spending and that will be the nail in the coffin. Well I have been hearing this for years and years, and they continue to spend and there is no reason to think they will stop spending.

The claim will be made that foreclosures are surging and that will be a big drain on the economy. What the FED needs to do is drop short-term rates even more. The sub-prime adjustable-rate mortgages (ARMs) are due to reset and since they are linked to Fed Funds markets as well as the LIBOR rate, so if the FED cuts these rates it will provide relief to the mortgage holder.

Believe it or not, News Corp. (NYSE: NWS) Chief Executive Rupert Murdoch does sometimes deliver for shareholders.

Shares of the parent company of 20th Century Fox are down about 2% this year, which while lousy, actually is significantly better than other media conglomerates including Walt Disney Co. (NYSE: DIS), Time Warner Inc. (NYSE: TWX), and Viacom Inc. (NYSE: VIA), which each are down much more. The attraction here isn't shareholder value. It's Murdoch.

Quite simply, the Australian media tycoon is the most dynamic CEO in the industry. He's one of the few who does stuff stuff just because he feels like doing it. Just because the market really doesn't need another cable news business channel, that doesn't mean that Murdoch won't start one. Fox Business Network isn't going to make a nickel for years and won't do much for shareholders. The same goes for Dow Jones & Co. (NYSE: DJ). Spending $5 billion for the publisher of the Wall Street Journal may be a slight help to the bottom line, though its potential may not be realized for years either.

What makes Murdoch tick is lust for power and influence. He started Fox Business Network because he thought that CNBC wasn't pro business enough, a sentiment that probably shocked the likes of Larry Kudlow and Jim Cramer. Advertisers are no doubt getting commercial time on Fox Business for a fraction of what they would pay on CNBC or Bloomberg TV. The question is whether they'll be interested in the network once its novelty begins to wear off.

As for the Journal, worries about Murdoch interfering with the newspaper are overblown. He doesn't have to ring up an editor to tell him about a story he hates. A high-level Murdoch employee knows very well what the mogul likes and doesn't like and will comport himself accordingly.

Be sure to check out more Money Winners of 2007.

Jim Cramer came on CNBC's Stop Trading! segment today and said that Larry Kudlow's call to cut rates may be listened to because his call to merely cut the discount rate would be an effective measure the Fed could get away with. Cramer even went as far as to call Kudlow the best in the world as far as knowing the Fed. If you are not that familiar with Larry Kudlow, he's the one who, up until the last couple weeks or so, has been the perpetual bull who spouted on about the so-called "Goldilocks" economy.

Countrywide Financial (NYSE: CFC) has funding to 2008 and he'd no longer be short. He'd rather own call options than he would take the risk owning the stock. If I told you yesterday regardless of what Cramer says that Countrywide was tapping an entire $11 billion line of credit, would you have guessed UP or DOWN on the stock? This is horrible news that the company had to tap it, but the good news is that the company WAS ABLE to tap it.

On Annaly Mortgage (NYSE: NLY), Cramer said it is the only mortgage player that doesn't take credit risk. Cramer said shorting this one is an idiot call, even if this can fall when they throw out the baby with the bath water. This is still in the middle of its 52-week trading range and way down from highs of 2003 to early 2006.

How many times can one say "yeah" or "boo" on a call? It seems to me that this is getting to the point where the rumor mill and raw fear can move the market well beyond what the actual numbers could. These financials are up huge, down huge, up huge and down huge again. It's almost like watching "the wave" at a football game where everyone is drunk. The wave starts, then sometimes it stays going and sometimes it falls apart. That is how this feels right now. If we are going to hit a market crash, watch that VIX INDEX over 30 for the first time since 2003 we discussed yesterday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE: JPM) and Bank of America Corp. (NYSE: BAC) are up big today, so what gives?

Jon Ogg is a partner at 24/7 Wall St., publisher of Special Situation Investing Newsletter. He does not own securities in the companies he covers.