The anti-Santelli
Advocating for fringe political causes in the most despicable of segments, the “Call of the Wild” is not journalism…it’s political bullshit! They should be fired and thrown in prison for good measure!
Here’s an Economist story that links to Krugman’s spot-on accusation that these are yet more astroturf bullshit!
Bob Reich has a good post on why we might not even be at the end of the beginning, let alone at the beginning of the end. He also focuses on why people like Kudlow and Art Laffer’s cockeyed optimism could be misguided if not dangerous:
“I spent the better part of an hour yesterday evening debating Larry Kudlow on his CNBC program, along with Arthur Laffer and two other financial analysts, all of whom were sure that the stock market had hit bottom and was now poised for a major recovery. I admire cockeyed optimism, and I understand why Wall Street and its spokespeople want to see a return of the bull market. Hell, everyone with a stock portfolio wants to see it grow again. But wishing for something is different from getting it. And cockeyed optimism can wreak enormous damage on an economy. Haven’t we already learned this?
Kudlow is back to politicizing the markets. After nary a peep during a rally crediting Obama’s policies for the moves up, he’s back on the “it’s Obama’s fault the market is down”. He also is making socialism allegations about how the government can’t run corporations well. I want to point to Conrail as a perfect example of how it CAN run corporations better than private owners AND transfer it eventually back to private ownership.
“And did we mention the idiotic Santelli episode? In terms of newsroom standards, it’s like Fox News run amok over at CNBC.”
That’s the conclusion to a very accurate, well sourced and blistering critique of CNBC over at Media Matters’ new financial site. They are going to be busy if they want to catalogue all of the lies and politicking on that network. Cramer’s not really the problem. He’s outrageous by nature and no one really takes him seriously. The main problem is the group of “journalists” who ‘play one on TV’ while in actuality serving as politically-rightward-tilting commentators. It’s a disgrace to financial journalists everywhere.
Media Matters applauded CNBC for Kudlow’s announcement that he was not running for congress, but still called him a “journalist” even though his entire role on CNBC is to spread right-wing talking points and perma-bull thinking. Yes, it’s a step forward, but no, Larry Kudlow is not a journalist.
Just a link to his latest post. He makes an ass of himself. Nothing new, nothing startling except that he still has a job despite being successfully incompetent/mediocre.
I’m glad to have the assistance of Media Matters in tackling the lies on CNBC because, frankly, I have neither the time nor inclination to document every falsehood CNBC perpetuates. I heartily agree, too, with Media Matters’ open letter to the President of CNBC about Larry Kudlow and his political ambitions.
March 20, 2009
Mark Hoffman
President, CNBC900 Sylvan Ave
Englewood Cliffs, NJ 07632
Dear Mr. Hoffman,
In light of CNBC host Larry Kudlow’s recently expressed interest in running for the U.S. Senate, we feel compelled to express our concern for the credibility of your network. Mr. Kudlow is either a journalist or a candidate; he cannot be both.
The integrity of Mr. Kudlow’s coverage of any issue of national import is compromised by his reported Senate aspirations. Viewers have no way of knowing whether his interviews or commentaries are affected in any way by his interest in running. For example, in a segment from his March 17 show, Mr. Kudlow interviewed Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell and asked the senator leading questions about the Senate Republican agenda. Viewers should not have to wonder whether Mr. Kudlow’s questions were motivated even in part by his potential political ambitions.
Further, on March 17, Mr. Kudlow singled out Sen. Chris Dodd out when discussing the legislative effort divest AIG employees of their bonuses by means of, as he described it, “a sales tax? Senator Dodd wants to put a tax on it, or somebody wants to put a tax on it?” Such commentary inevitably raises the question of whether Mr. Kudlow singled out Sen. Dodd appropriately, or if he was motivated, consciously or not, by political aspirations. Regardless of whether Mr. Kudlow intends to keep his potential Senate run completely separate from his job as a CNBC journalist, the very fact that he is considering such a run raises questions that compromise his work for CNBC.
Moreover, Mr. Kudlow has on at least one occasion actually attacked Sen. Dodd on his show. Less than three weeks before reportedly voicing his interest in a Senate run, Mr. Kudlow stated on February 13 that Sen. Chris Dodd, his potential opponent, “has yet to divulge fully his sweetheart mortgage deals with the former Countrywide. He’s re-fi’ed his mortgages, but we don’t know those documents, either. Instead of being impeached, he’s still around.”
Further complicating matters, Mr. Kudlow also is slated to headline a March 24 fundraiser for the National Republican Congressional Committee.
As a private citizen, Mr. Kudlow has a right to explore a run for public office, but using his platform as a CNBC host to further his political ambitions jeopardizes the integrity of your network. We ask that CNBC require he make a decision about his candidacy and, should he decide to run for office, take a leave of absence until the conclusion of the campaign.
Eric Burns
President, Media Matters For America
Well, as we speak, the markets are up 4.5% on news of the new(est) Geithner plan for Public-Private Investment Partnership (pronounced Pah-Pip?). This flies in the face of the GOP and CNBC talking points that Obama is hated in the markets and any new announcements he make will do nothing but destroy the markets. The CNBC talking heads are still trying to get their head around it.
Smart people, like Bill Gross, get it.
The idea that deflation is not a problem and is actually what we need was peddled by a CNBC commentator, Peter Schiff, and I addressed it in an earlier post, but I had no idea the problem was so closely at hand. The argument went that because there was an asset price bubble being pricked, asset prices needed to come down and therefore deflation was a good thing. However, and I’m sure the commentator in question knows this, deflation refers to a falling price level across the basket of consumer goods included in the consumer price index. Deflation in this sense is devastating for the economy and particularly for debtors who see the real value of their debt increasing (of course CNBC commentators are not typically on the side of the debtors, but on the side of the monied interests who loaned the money). The graph below (which is from a post at Angry Bear) shows the compounded six month CPI growth rate and shows a significant deflationary environment when energy prices are included (they are typically excluded from short term numbers because of their high month-to-month volatility, but the data in this chart are multi-month and the volatility should be smoothed, so it is appropriate to include them).
This also I think shows the foolhardiness of calling the multi-month deflation influenced by falling oil prices an “energy tax cut” as Larry Kudlow does so often. He sees falling energy prices as a good thing and therefore, in his ideological mindset, it must therefore be a “tax cut”.
Peter Schiff, a right wing money manager who’s on Kudlow’s show made an incredibly disingenuous conflation of two very different things today on “Call of the Wild”. He said “falling prices, we want falling prices. Asset values are too high” in response to Steve Liesman’s concern about deflation. His lie in the statement was to say that falling house (asset) prices is the same as a general fall in prices (e.g. the CPI). The former is a normal part of a popping of the bubble and is painful but necessary. The latter is deflation which makes downturns epically more painful by causing outstanding debts to grow in their real size which can push already overleveraged households and businesses over the edge and end up leading to a more severe recession or even depression. Another lie that Steve Liesman was only able to argue against briefly before the right-wing nuts Kudlow and Melissa Francis shouted him down & ended the segment.
