John McCain learned last September that it is not a good idea to bail out on David Letterman. Ranter Rick Santelli cancelled his appearance on the Daily Show last Wednesday and Jon Stewart ripped on the entire CNBC network.
Since I make my living trading stock options, I have CNBC on in my office all day long in order to catch breaking news, but listening to these blowhards can be painful. Larry Kudlow, Dennis Kneale, Rick Santelli, Melissa Francis and Michelle Caruso-Cabrera are libertarian ideologues who simply chant the free market mantra all day long while ignoring the role that lack of regulation played in the economic meltdown.
Stewart stayed with the stock market theme in the following segment by ripping on conservatives who attempt to judge Barack Obama's performance based on the latest level of the Dow Jones Industrial Average.
(Stewart's discussion of the AIG bailout with business reporter Joe Nocera of the New York Times was also very interesting.)
Interestingly, I have yet to hear anyone on CNBC mention Wednesday's Daily Show although I don't watch all the shows that come on after the stock market closes. However, I have noticed that some of the more thoughtful analysts losing patience today with the blowhards. This morning, Steve Liesman took Melissa Francis to task (at the 2:30 mark in the video) for trying to suggest that the day's market decline had less to do with 8% unemployment rate announced this morning than a speech Obama gave to some new police officers in Columbus, Ohio.
This was followed by Phil Lebow calling Larry Kudlow "crazy" (at the 3:15 mark) for suggesting that a union-busting bankruptcy would provide a quick fix to General Motors' difficulties.
There are in fact a number of fair-minded analysts and reporters at CNBC. Unfortunately there are too many idiots who stick there fingers in their ears and try to drown out inconvenient facts by shouting laissez-faire shibboleths.
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It is doubtful.
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