Jon Stewart storms the Bastille
Comedian Jon Stewart may be the blogosphere's most-talked-about person right now, due to these two clips -- but it's merited.
Here's his takedown of CNBC, which has led some to declare him a better and more honest reporter of real news than the alleged actual news shows are -- a view buttressed by the fact that CNBC itself, as Smashing Telly says, supposedly ranks among the latter:
CNBC covers the industry that makes money, the industry that has recently lost 30% of the notional moolah created from every-thing humans have made, planet-wide, since Tutankhamun. It is watched by Wall street professionals from large screens which hang over trading floors, and during the collapse of Lehman, the employees were looking at CNBC to see what was happening in their own building. In other words, it is not just a consumer product but one used by the billionaire pros who can afford anything. Yet it looks and feels like a cheap toy.
And here's his second clip -- his ambush of CNBC's Jim Cramer. It speaks for itself, but Andrew Sullivan's observations are dead-on:
This was, in my view, a real cultural moment. It was a storming of the Bastille.....Now, I know Jim Cramer a little. The reason he crumbled last night, I think, is because deep down, he knows Stewart's right. He isn't that television clown all the way down. And deeper down, he knows it's not all a game - not now they've run off with grandpa's retirement money.
America will get over this crisis, but the Bastille needs to go down. We cannot risk a restoration of the financial ancien régime.
To be fair: a dissenting view is here, a dissent to the dissent is here.
Here's his takedown of CNBC, which has led some to declare him a better and more honest reporter of real news than the alleged actual news shows are -- a view buttressed by the fact that CNBC itself, as Smashing Telly says, supposedly ranks among the latter:
CNBC covers the industry that makes money, the industry that has recently lost 30% of the notional moolah created from every-thing humans have made, planet-wide, since Tutankhamun. It is watched by Wall street professionals from large screens which hang over trading floors, and during the collapse of Lehman, the employees were looking at CNBC to see what was happening in their own building. In other words, it is not just a consumer product but one used by the billionaire pros who can afford anything. Yet it looks and feels like a cheap toy.
And here's his second clip -- his ambush of CNBC's Jim Cramer. It speaks for itself, but Andrew Sullivan's observations are dead-on:
This was, in my view, a real cultural moment. It was a storming of the Bastille.....Now, I know Jim Cramer a little. The reason he crumbled last night, I think, is because deep down, he knows Stewart's right. He isn't that television clown all the way down. And deeper down, he knows it's not all a game - not now they've run off with grandpa's retirement money.
America will get over this crisis, but the Bastille needs to go down. We cannot risk a restoration of the financial ancien régime.
To be fair: a dissenting view is here, a dissent to the dissent is here.
posted by Infidel753 at 12:26 AM
4 Comments:
It is ironic that Jon Stewart and a comedy show instead of the regulators or news media had to bring all of this public. Also in Cramers defense he is far less guilty than most of the other financial media for their efforts together with Wall Street, the politicians & incompetent regulators for what has happened.
While I enjoy watching Cramer every night, one must remember the show is primarily entertainment. The financial networks exist to promote their advertisers financial and investment products. Who would expect them to warn about the credit bubble or coming Washington national debt collapse which will destroy much of the remaining private wealth in America today or what this will do to the dollar, the stock market, bonds, gold or the real estate market?
China is now worried about their dangerous over investment in US Treasury obligations. Washington ’s long-term choice is either repudiation or monetization. For monetization to be effective, the depreciation in the dollar would have to be substantial and this in turn would dramatically raise prices of imports for American consumers which would mean a tremendous drop in foreign imports. Debt monetization would cause more disruption to exporting nations than selective repudiation of Treasury debt.
The Campaign to Cancel the Washington National Debt By 12/22/2013 Constitutional Amendment is starting now in the U.S. See: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=67594690498&ref=ts
Thanks,
Ron with 30 plus years in the investment business and banking industry.
Yep...I heard plenty of talk about Jon Stewart, actually I never did watch him, but I thought he done such a great job, I will start watching him. :)
Obviously, as the first anonymous commenter points out, Cramer's Mad Money & shows like his are basically advertisements for Wall street businesses that rely on stock market investments. In retrospect it should not of been hard to figure that out. As Stewart points out, selling snake oil as vitamin tonic.
It simply comes down to avarice on one side & foolishness on the other & everyone involved is guilty of greed. & I don't consider Stewart anything less.
I just spent all day yesterday at the State capitol talking to politicians so I'm a little disillusioned...
To continue:
I'm not complaining, it was a valuable learning experience & a good PR move for me.
Unfortunately when the when the conversation turns to economics, I find I get lost very quickly.
I've got to figure out how to have at least a rudimentary understanding so I can follow the thread.
Intuition seems to be my best guide but intuition in my case does not translate into real numbers.
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