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The Daily Show with Jon Stewart last week aired a nine-minute montage on the blindly optimistic advice offered by "experts" from the business news network CNBC in the months leading up to last fall's financial crisis.
Highlights include a clip from Mad Money host Jim Cramer, who gave this counsel on Bear Stearns last fall: "Bear Stearns is fine... If there is one take away, it's that Bear Stearns is not in trouble. Don't move your money from Bear, that's just silly." The investment bank went under six days later.
The lack of sober financial analysis in the mainstream media has been well-documented, as has the rise of the comedian as the only voice speaking truth to power, but Stewart's exposé raises a new concern.
With economic attention focused on Washington, CNBC and other cable networks are spending less time offering up stock picks and more time criticizing the federal government's bailout plans, without paying much attention to the facts themselves. (According to a recent New York Times article, CNBC journalists "have been encouraged to speak their minds, making the line between reporter and commentator almost indistinguishable at times.")
Cramer, for instance, said on his show last week that the Obama administration's agenda was "destroying the life savings of millions of Americans."
Ratings so far this year are above average for the 20-year old network. Its success is likely due to this shift from reporting to punditry, drawing in viewers looking to be entertained rather than informed.
The worst example comes from a rant by CNBC reporter Rick Santelli, who was actually the inspiration for the Daily Show montage in the first place. (He cancelled his appearance on the show at the last minute -- not a wise move, as John McCain learned after cancelling on David Letterman.)
In the video, Santelli, a former derivatives trader, calls homeowners struggling to pay their loans "losers" during a segment broadcast from the Chicago Board of Trade.
"How many of you people want to pay for their neighbour's mortgage, that has an extra bathroom and can't pay their bills, raise their hand!" he asks traders. They respond with a chorus of boos. "President Obama, are you listening?" he asks.
And then Stewart: "Yeah man, Wall Street is mad as hell. They're not going to take it anymore. Unless by 'it,' you mean $2 trillion in their own bailout money. That, they will take."
Apparently, some Americans are listening. Let's hope more are laughing.
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