CNBC moron
Are you a CNBC moron?
During the recent presidential campaign the cable news channels
became fixated on Hillary Clinton, Mitt Romney, McCain, etc. It
became so boring that I turned to watching CNBC where the focus
was upon the sub-prime mortgage meltdown. As that unfolded it
appeared to me that the general public was behind the curve.
CNBC was all over the story.
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Moe, Larry, and Curley of the investment world? |
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Week after week I learned about
the tsunami of bad financial events smashing into Wall
Street. Yet the regular cable news channels still
obsessed on Hillary and Obama, McCain & Palin,
etc.
Yet CNBC was doing something I (as a neophyte) didn't
understand. On Squawk Box I first saw
Nouriel Roubini who
confidently opined that the housing crisis was just the tip of
an iceberg; the bubble created by easy credit would bring
down the entire economy. Roubini said unemployment would soon
reach 9%, etc. Yet another guest on the show dismissed Roubini
with what became familiar sounding false rhetoric.
Self serving experts
CNBC guests were typically CEOs, hedge fund managers, stock
market experts, etc. - who each said something so similar that I
became increasingly skeptical. "Oh, this is just a market
correction." / "Well, this means there are some good buying
opportunities." / "This is a market correction, you should buy
on the dips." / "Yes, people should stay fully invested in order
to participate in the recovery when the market turns up." / "I
remain bullish on the market because the fundamentals are so
strong." / "If this was a baseball game I'd say we're in the 6th
inning of this recession, if it is one, and that asset
appreciation will soon return."
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Source: Wikipedia
LAWYER(?) CRAMER
"...Cramer...was denied employment with the Office of the
United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York,...because
his law school grades were deemed not good enough. ..
his current status with the NY Bar is
delinquent."
Trading With The Enemy
"... In the book, Maier alleged that Cramer and the
hedge fund engaged in illegal trading practices. Maier
also stated that Cramer was the subject of an SEC investigation."
Market Manipulation
"...December 2006 interview from TheStreet.com's 'Wall Street
Confidential' ...Cramer described
activities used by hedge fund managers to manipulate stock
prices - some of debatable legality
and others flatly illegal. He described how he could push
stocks higher or lower with as little as $5 million in capital
when he was running his hedge fund. ... "A lot of times
when I was short, I would create a level of activity beforehand
that would drive the futures." ..."a very quick way
to make money". Cramer claimed that everything he did was legal,
but that illegal activity is common in the hedge fund industry.
He also stated that some hedge fund managers spread false rumors
to drive a stock down: "What's important
when you are in that hedge-fund mode is to not do anything
remotely truthful because the truth is so against your view,
that it's important to create a new truth, to develop a
fiction."
"...Cramer said that one strategy to keep a stock price
down is to spread false rumors to reporters...
"You have to use these guys," said
Cramer. He also discussed giving information to
"the bozo reporter from The Wall Street
Journal" to get an article published. Cramer said this
practice, although condemned illegal, is easy to do
"because the SEC doesn't understand it." |
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http://www.thedailyshow.com/ |
Jon Stewart turned his brilliance on CNBC in March
of 2009. His compiled clips from past CNBC programs
demonstrates dishonesty in their "journalism".
In
one jaw dropping segment Brian Quintanilla cheerfully
asks Allen Stanford how it feels to be a billionaire.
Both the guest and the CNBC interviewer were all smiles
- not what you might expect knowing that only a few
weeks later Allen Stanford was arrested for fraud. His
investment fund was just a huge ponzi scheme. Yet CNBC
promoted him as a wonderful guy. |
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Eventually I began shouting "Liar!" at the TV. All of the
CNBC guests
were Wall Street, corporation, or investment professionals
protecting their industry; trying to prevent panic selling. I figured CNBC was presenting a pro-Wall Street approach to placate their
audience since their viewers could be assumed to be heavily
invested in the market.
Shouting fire in a crowded theatre
More than one guest made the remark about "not
shouting fire in a crowded theatre." This was like code
for saying "If I told the truth about how bad the outlook really
is I'd lose my job. I'd go back to my office to learn that all
our clients called up after seeing me on CNBC to cash out of
their stocks and liquidate their investments with our firm."
Week after week the stock market deteriorated, unemployment rose
as home foreclosures accelerated, housing prices plummeted,
credit was tightened, etc.
What if the theatre really is on fire?
After almost 2 years of watching CNBC the truth is clear to
me. Only
Nouriel Roubini told the truth because he was not
promoting stocks, a hedge fund, etc. He said the collapse of the
housing bubble would take down the entire US economy and it
did. He was crystal clear. He said unemployment would jump
to over 8% and it already is higher than that as of today
(March, 2009) with no end in sight.
The theatre was on
fire all along — yet CNBC let guest after guest, week in and week
out, use CNBC as a huge advertisement for Wall Street, stocks,
investment funds and all the related services, etc. The theatre
was burning to the ground but the word went out only to family &
friends? We, the stupid public were left inside as the flames
devoured our life savings? While our retirement funds fueled the
greatest fire sale since the Great Depression? Yes.
Oh! Wait! Here comes a stock rally in the bear market! Is it a
"bear rally?" Or is it...a suckers rally?
Bear market
...a steady drop in the stock market over a period of
time...described as being accompanied by widespread
pessimism ...with negative sentiment feeding on itself
in a vicious circle. The most famous bear market
followed the Wall Street Crash of 1929 and lasted from
1930 to 1932, marking the start of the Great Depression. |
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