Here’s what I don’t understand about the media, the profession in which I’ve worked these past 19 years:

So today, the price of oil is once more way up - almost at $143 per barrel, $142.91 as of this writing. Another new record. And stocks are down more than 113 points right now - always subject to change, of course, but after yesterday’s 300-plus point slide, a big deal.

All of this is about as big a deal as there is.

Yet, the big story on the Yahoo! News front page: Obama and Hillary campaigning together, along with North Korea and Zimbabwe. Same at the Washington Post. NY Times at least gives the story third billing; ABC News, Fox News, it’s the same almost everywhere, except Drudge - who plays the market and the cost of oil as his top two stories. Which is where they should be.

Make no mistake, the continuing rise in the price of oil - and the ultimate ramifications of that - are far and away the top story now, this week, next week and beyond. But with some exceptions, it never gets played that way. Why? Because economic news isn’t seen as having a broad appeal, maybe. And that’s true (though less true now).

But there are times when I think the media is out of sync with what the people are really thinking and talking and worrying about, and this is one of those times; this is one of those issues. The presidential election itself may hinge on this issue; strange, then, that Hillary and Obama get the main headlines - and the most important issue of our time gets shunted down the list. All the better not to create panic, I suppose.