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In 8 1/2 Minutes, Jon Stewart Devastates CNBC and Its Destructive Boosterism of Failed Wall Street Scams

Submitted by mark karlin on Thu, 03/05/2009 - 7:11am.

THE BUZZFLASH EDITOR'S BLOG

By Mark Karlin

As part of my series on the destructive corporate mainstream media, it's important to remember that cable television holds a special place.  After all, that is where the most pernicious and dishonest propaganda station disguised as "news" resides: FOX.

But in one 8 1/2 minute segment on "The Daily Show" broadcast of March 4, Jon Stewart eviscerated another cable station, CNBC, as a shill for Wall Street, hyping a failing system to the detriment of its viewer/investors.  What Stewart uncovered (as he so often does) is that the so-called mainstream news doesn't really generally cover news or investigate: it is a cheerleader for the oligarchy, cheerily misleading the average American into an economic ambush.

CNBC, as Stewart so devastatingly exposes, consistently boosted the Wall Street pirates without exposing what any reporter close to the situation must have known.  Through a combination of fantastical stock market theories (fundamental values don't matter; it's just the perception of a stock that counts), suck-up interviews with CEOs of failing companies, affirmations of robust financial health for riverboat gambling financial empires that were about to collapse and become multi-billion dollar welfare recipients of our money -- and more boosterism -- CNBC (with some rare actual reporter exceptions) has become an advertorial for the looting, unregulated, "default swap," hedge fund, con artist, gambling ways that have destroyed the fundamentals of the heart of our financial system.

In fact, we urge you to watch the entire March 4th Daily Show because in a half an hour, Stewart provided one of the most concise primers of the Wall Street mess we've yet seen.  Because unless you drill down mighty deep into the mainstream corporate press, it is hard to understand how the ushering in of the Reagan era of de-regulation led to major financial institutions playing craps with our economy to the tune of what is now hundreds and hundreds of billions of dollars in so-called "toxic assets." 

What is a toxic asset? Essentially a Wall Street gambling debt.

But when you lose money in Vegas, taxpayers don't bail you out while you get a bonus, unlike Wall Street, where ushering a nation into an economic trash can is rewarded, not punished.

Stewart had as his guest an old style competent New York Times reporter, Joe Nocera, who could actually explain the AIG scandal  (and why no one is being criminally prosecuted begs a lot of questions, but he didn't say that, we are).  Or should we say, Stewart -- in his passionate common sense way -- put the AIG disaster into terms that anyone but a dittohead could understand?

Once again, Stewart showed that stations such as CNBC and most of the financial reporting community were not disclosing the real news -- the impending implosion of Wall Street -- but were essentially acting as PR representatives for the negligent and perhaps criminal financial companies that hurt the average American far more economically than any piddly tax cut can rectify.

Between the War in Iraq and the lack of SEC oversight of Wall Street, the Republican Party's endless cry of tax cuts is like repeatedly yelling "let them eat cake" as taxpayers are put on the hook for literally tens of thousands of dollars per family to cover the costs of these two fiascos.

And where was the corporate mainstream press -- which covers the financial industry with countless "reporters" -- while the walls of Wall Street were crumbling?

They were pumping up the oligarchy and their own corporate stock with misleading information and dereliction of duty (with, again, some rare exceptions) in reporting the impending debacle.

That's why America needs a new media, one responsive to the public, not the self-interest of the corporate ownership of the press.

Thankfully, "The Daily Show" makes so much money that the corporate masters are too greedy to can it. We desperately need Stewart, because he's a lighthouse of truth cloaked in devasting ironic humor.

THE BUZZFLASH EDITOR'S BLOG

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Stewart (and Colbert)

Submitted by Anonymous on Sat, 03/07/2009 - 1:35pm.
I stopped apologizing long ago for getting most of my news from the Comedy Channel. Both Stewart and Colbert bell the cat. Keep on keepin' on, guys! The March 04 shows were the best back-to-back set in a long time!
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My hat's off to Jon!

Submitted by oneeggcream on Fri, 03/06/2009 - 7:15pm.
The Daily Show is THE ONLY PLACE to get the REAL NEWS!! I don't care what any of you nay sayers say! Jon is brilliant and he tells it like it is. To bad Jon's not the MSM! They can ALL learn something from him. Thank you Jon. Long may you be....the voice of reason!
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Jon Stewart - Go get em.

Submitted by Anonymous on Fri, 03/06/2009 - 11:40am.
When I Can watch Jon, Colbert, Olberman or Rachel and have to listen to the Fox stuff. I just translate every point into a lie.. Because they are. Thanx Jon and thanx Mark Karlin for sharing this. Nancie
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Thank you Jon

Submitted by Anonymous on Thu, 03/05/2009 - 9:40pm.
I knew right away as I was watching this that it was the most honest statement yet of what is going on. I always decide what policy to support by looking at how much Fox bashes it. Now I will be adding cnbc to my "do the opposite" list.
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CNBC

Submitted by Anonymous on Thu, 03/05/2009 - 3:12pm.
I have been watching CNBC for its comic content, for a long time. As the stock market was crashing and the touts continued, it ceased to be funny. I applaud John Stewart for exposing CNBC for what it is,
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Stewart hackjob has no context.

Submitted by Anonymous on Thu, 03/05/2009 - 2:33pm.
That hackjob last night was probably the worst thing I've ever seen on the Daily Show. There are plenty of things to make fun of CNBC about but those sound bites were a gross misrepresentation of the channel's reality. It was as if Stewart didn't bother to find out any truth, but just threw out random clips taken out of context to try to discredit Santelli's valid points. 3 of those clips stick out in my mind. 1) David Faber saying that Merrill doesn't need more capital. What's not mentioned here is that David is a REPORTER and just repeating, on air, what was in a statement issued by the CEO of Merrill. You can actually hear him reference this TWICE in the clip. It would be like Obama saying something now, Anderson Cooper reporting on it during his show and then blaming Cooper a year later because Obama lied. Does that make sense? 2) Jim Cramer saying he likes BoA. I can't believe I'm defending the clown Cramer, but he made that remark in OCTOBER 2007. What Stewart again doesn't mention is that a lot of the problems the bank has now is due to it's purchase of Merrill, that didn't happen until OCTOBER 2008. So basically, Stewart is blaming Jim for making a recommendation, then a year later the situation drastically changes and the recommendation is no longer useful. Does he expect Jim to be a fortune teller, able to see M&A deals a year in advance? 3) Carl Q. interviewing Stanford. Again, this happens months before it came out that he was running a ponzi scheme but Stewart lambastes Carl, because, well he didn't know he was running a ponzi scheme, JUST LIKE EVERYONE ELSE. Did Stewart want Carl to just accuse Stanford on air of running a scam without any proof of it? Does he think that he would have done it had Stanford been on the Daily Show 6 months ago? Because I fucking doubt Stewart would have done anything differently. Of course what is missing is a clip of Santelli going back on his word. Why? Because it doesn't exist. Rick been consistent on his position of bailouts for over a year. Also missing is any clip of Steve Liesman, the government-loving, fed disciple they call an economist. Everyday, he's on to shill for the latest government program and he gets much more exposure on NBC and MSNBC than anyone else on the channel. Why not a clip of him being wrong about how the any of the government intervention programs or bailouts were good and would save the market? Oh wait, never mind, that would reveal Stewart's whole segment to be BS. And no mention of Doug Kass, Peter Schiff, Dr. Doom, Jim Rogers etc. who were all on CNBC and BEARISH on the markets.
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CNBC

Submitted by Anonymous on Sun, 03/08/2009 - 1:48pm.
Oh sorry,,,but anyone who has watched CNBC for the past 2 years KNOWS that while there has been the occasional Cramer call when he gets spanked that he doesn't like the market, overall the calls by Cramer and Kudlow have been atrocious, stupid and harmful to anyone who listened. Larry Kudlow expressed nothing more than total denial of everything that was wrong and kept telling people that everything was getting better and better as their investments evaporated. Cramer is worse - he gives advice and then a week later scold viewers for actually listening to him if they are down from taking it....Cramer has publicly admitted manipulation of the markets when he ran a hedgefund (A famous Youtube video) and told everyone that Bear Stearns was FINE as it went from $60 to $2 5 days later. CNBC wants to keep you "in the game" because that's the only way their sponsors make money from you. Period. The talking heads on Power Lunch are there to make you feel all warm and cozy as your 401K sinks - "We'll make sense of it for you with the All Stars.." exclaims their expert anchors Griffeth and Herrera, while thier co-hosts blast congress for daring to repeal the exorbitant bonuses paid out to crooks. Jon Stewart is late to the party, but he is welcome to it.
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I agree

Submitted by Anonymous on Thu, 03/05/2009 - 6:17pm.
The problem is not with the CNBC reporters. They are merely pimps for capitalism. The actual problem is two fold: First, greed makes people stupid, immoral and delusional. Such people are useful servants but irresponsible and unfit masters. Second, it is by allowing such people to capture governments and to exploit unregulated financial institutions that we have come to our present political and economic insanity. The power brokers of the country more resemble mean drunks at a bachelor party in a bordello than the care takers or a sober, constitutional republic.
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Stewart

Submitted by Anonymous on Thu, 03/05/2009 - 3:49pm.
Do you work for CNBC?
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Either a CNBC Shill or...

Submitted by Anonymous on Sat, 03/07/2009 - 3:22am.
The worm and known Sock-Puppet Gary Weiss.
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I think so...

Submitted by Anonymous on Fri, 03/06/2009 - 4:01am.
Who else could pull those names and dates out like that?
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Business, economics and finance are all pseudo-science

Submitted by Anonymous on Thu, 03/05/2009 - 1:18pm.
I have always had great skepticism about the various business and economic models. Well, yes, there are mechanisms there for making money. But, to me at any rate, making money was not, and never will be, one of the higher or nobler human pursuits. At worst, all these business and economics "pundits" (by the way, the proper word is Pandit, as defined in ancient Sanskrit) are simply bloviating gasbags. My apologies to some of the well-known ones, Amartya Sen, Joseph Stiglitz, Paul Krugman and others. But how often do we see the likes of a Milton Friedman and others that have their empirical, jazzed-up theories crash like the unproven speculations that they are! How often do these charlatons get worshipped as demi-gods (think of Alan Greenspan, a premier author of today's pathetic economic collapse that is destroying millions of human beings around the world)? How often do their phoney models get shoved down the throats of unsuspecting, poorer, and looted nations? Who will properly account for the genocides and destruction wreaked by the cronies of Friedman and (in this case, a considerably weaker gasbag) Reagan? What did these jazzed up ideologues (typically in sleek 3-piece suits- to me representing clever covers for the complete inner void; the expression empty-suit comes to mind) do to places like Chile, Nicaragua, Cuba (through vicious embargoes and ideological inhumanity), and now in Iraq and Afghanistan? Truly speaking, these fields could never be exact, hard science, since they are premised upon the institution of money making. Money making will always have human greed, lust for power, and instinct for corruption as its backdrop. Hence, hypothetical psuedo-sciences will simply never work. In small patches and small bursts, yes- they may appear to work. But that is within the framework of a few that make out like bandits. Look at the very structure of CEO pays, and concepts of executive bonuses (inherently corrupt and greedy practices)- and it is no surprise that these are roadmaps to Ponzi schemes, off-shore accounts, and "junk" bonds. In my view all proponents of different forms of capital investments, redistribution and the like are ultimately frauds. But because these frauds deal with money, they wield power in human society. Hence the emergence of institutions such as the Fortune 500 Club, the Murdoch Empire, the Wall Street Moguls (again the proper word is Mughal, emerging from the eponymous dynasty in India), and the many robber barons that looted human beings to accumulate obscene amounts of money (Cecil B. Rhodes, J. D. Rockefeller, and so many others). Therefore, when I witness the bloviating gasbags on TV (such as the CNBC clips that Jon Stewart to aptly presents in 8 1/2 priceless minutes on the Daily Show; http://buzzflash.com/articles/comment/reply/7878#comment_form) make utterly ridiculous pronouncements, only to be proven pathetically wrong days or months later- I am not the least bit surprised. These gasbags are simply playing the age-old guessing game (if not practicing outright fraud). There is not an iota of science, vision or truth behind these pronouncements, or these parades of "punditry". The above is simply con-game circus- much the same as John McCain claiming on TV one fine morning "The fundamentals of the economy are sound", on the same day that 4 or 5 major Wall Street Glitter-Houses turned into Poor Houses, and began running for Socialist bailouts. Much like the destructive, clueless, violently deranged fool that stood on an aircraft carrier wearing a ridiculous codpiece, and announced to eternal ridicule, "Mission Accomplished." Much like his far more demonic counterpart from that Regime of the Dark Crypt (referred to by some as Darth Cheney) continues to use phony scare tactics to enable his money-making criminal buddies rake in more wealth by squeezing, terrorizing and killing the poor by the thousands, and continues the incoherent, lunatic babble about 9-11, Iraq, WMDs and the like. Honestly, decent, creative, artistic, literate, scientifically driven human beings ought to shun all money-talk, no matter the garb, and not touch them with a 10-foot pole. In my vision, men and women in sleek, 3-piece suits spouting business theories are inherently suspect. This is true of a Lou Dobbs, a Maria Bartiromo, a Bernard Madoff, and a Sir Allen Stanford (with his multi-billion dollar stash). But, realistically, in this I realize I am in a woeful minority. Money, after all, makes the world go round. And, for the most part, frauds and charlatans run the show. The feud between capitalism and socialism, with all the attendant bloodbath- well, it is truly a form of tribal warfare. Unscientific, pseudo-scientific, empirical concepts wielded as weapons of mass destruction upon people. To me, all the talk of grand old capitalism is actually a means for the uber-wealthy to maintain and control vicious power over the majority (or have-nots, as they are defined). And in doing so, this fraudulent operation has put in place time-tested devices in the form of effective slogans. Slogans packaged as “patriotism,” “opportunity,” “individual rights,” and “land of the free, home of the brave.” All utterly bogus devices. But, boy- does this con-game work wonders for the wealthy! Boy- does it need to be protected at all human cost! Thus, as we witness right now- there is plenty of tears for the “impoverished” Wall Street money-makers, and nothing but rebuke for unwise home-owners and the labor unions. After all, the Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous have to be maintained! I do not intend to assert that an alternative model of absolute government control, especially via a draconian one-party system, is by any means a better alternative. There is really no good model in this pseudo-science. However, in the end, I would simply nod in favor of a socially conscious, monetarily empowering, egalitarian economic approach in a world besotted with greed and lust.
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CNBC

Submitted by cal1942 on Thu, 03/05/2009 - 12:48pm.
In mid-1997 I was about 7 or so years away from retirement. We had saved a bit of money and wanted to get a good return ... greed. I had CNBC on TV just as I arrived home from work. There was an interview in progress. The interviewee was saying '... you can't go wrong with dot com (.com) ... ' I knew then that the worst place possible to put our money was anywhere near a tech fund. I made my living doing mainframe systems software, just an old computer geek. I wasn't really current with small platform computing, etc, but for the life of me I couldn't figure out how those people made money. Why did stock in hole in the wall companies rise dramatically with alarming consistency. I'm an old student of history and had read John Kenneth Galbraith's The Great Crash of 1929. Great book. What we're in today is all too familiar. Enterprises like CNBC are in the ratings business. Selling excitement and tapping into greed is the key to those ratings, something like the mainstream media that abandoned actual serious news reporting in exchange for entertainment to boost those ratings and the bottom line.
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Jon's got a set

Submitted by Anonymous on Thu, 03/05/2009 - 12:37pm.
I love the way he refuses to let his guests avoid answering the questions. He goes right to the meat of the issue and keeps asking in a different way if he's getting snowed. It reminds me of Colbert at the Correspondents' Dinner telling the truth in a room full of liars and cowards. These two are national treasures!
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Not too many years ago

Submitted by Anonymous on Thu, 03/05/2009 - 12:16pm.
While I was flipping through the channels, looking for something besides mind-numbing sitcoms or "reality" shows, my wife told me she'd heard about a "fake news" show on the Comedy Channel that was supposed to be pretty funny. After watching the show for a while, I surmised that in addition to being a pretty good comedian Jon Stewart is an erudite, perceptive political commentator and a valuable source or good information. If there's any hope for a resurgent free press, It'll be because of people like Jon Stewart, and Steve Colbert; don't forget him.
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Jon Stewart: A Beacon in the Darkness

Submitted by Clemsy Diggs on Thu, 03/05/2009 - 11:12am.
I remember when Jon related being asked by a journalist how he manages to catch so many people contradicting themselves. He responded: "It's called a VCR machine and the time to work it" or some such. He makes it sound simple... but then his staff demonstrates that it is. Where's the hard work? These people say one thing one day and something else another and it's all in front of a camera.

If he were actually a serious journalist his life would be in danger.

We'll never know how many people had their eyes opened by Jon Stewart, but there is no doubt that he was instrumental in the reversal of George Bush's popularity.

For a comedian, no one personifies more the purpose of a free press in a democratic society.

The man deserves the medal of freedom.
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That Was Fantastic!!!!!!!

Submitted by lapdogs on Thu, 03/05/2009 - 10:26am.
I've been looking for old video of CNBC and especially Santelli putting their foot in their mouth about their "Financial Knowledge" and these 8.5 minutes put it in a nutshell for me. Move over Rush - - You do not cross Jon Stewert!!!
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The media is the most criminal

Submitted by Anonymous on Thu, 03/05/2009 - 8:32am.
It is the media that is most culpable for the downfall of America. Oh, and by the way, Bush, Cheney, and Rumsfeld should be in prison awaiting execution for war crimes, treason, torture, violations of international law, and violations of the U. S. Constitution.
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The Corporate News Media IS Pravada

Submitted by Anonymous on Sat, 03/07/2009 - 3:24am.
Doing their job spreading that propaganda. What else is new?
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There Is a Reason It Is Called "Comedy Central"

Submitted by hterrya on Thu, 03/05/2009 - 8:25am.

Jon Stewart makes jokes and still manages to report the REAL NEWS. The Corporate-Controlled LameStream Media, which SHOULD be reporting the news, is the JOKE!

The sad part is, the JOKE is on US. And the JOKE has the money to rig the system so that it will be next to impossible to get enough control of the system to correct what the corporations who currently own the JOKE have done to us.

I'll be interested in Mark Karlin's take on what we might do in future blogs.

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Jon Stewart

Submitted by Anonymous on Thu, 03/05/2009 - 8:20am.
If you get your news from Jon Stewart, you put yourself right in the middle of everything that is wrong with this country.
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I could be wrong.

Submitted by Anonymous on Thu, 03/05/2009 - 9:34am.
I think this comment is supportive of Stewart. It says, to me, that if you watch Stewart, you're finding out all the crap that's going on.
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Say what???????????

Submitted by GOPHater on Thu, 03/05/2009 - 8:36am.
Jon Stewart simply reports the news so idiots like you can understand it. Now, turn off Hannity and pay attention.
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Watch Hannity with a B.S. meter

Submitted by Anonymous on Thu, 03/05/2009 - 5:59pm.
It's hard work, but I do monitor Hannity & some of the other FOX crew so I won't get blindsided by whatever B.S. river they are currently traveling. Since there are so many "lazy" viewers who just like to ride the B.S. river, monitoring has saved my behind in conversation more times than I can say.
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Huh?

Submitted by hterrya on Thu, 03/05/2009 - 8:29am.
That is the most incredibly obscure comment I have ever seen, even from somebody named "Anonymous."
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What?

Submitted by andrushka on Thu, 03/05/2009 - 9:23am.
I agree. When people stop watching Fauxnews et al, and really start paying attention to really good journalists, not to forget Jon Stewart, maybe, just maybe, America will be better off!
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MUST WATCH

Submitted by Anonymous on Thu, 03/05/2009 - 8:04am.
I caught this last night and I was AMAZED, I thought wow, finally we are seeing the truth of this matter on TV (on Jon Stewart, incredible but true that our best source of news on television is Comedy Central!) I have to concur with the author this is must-watch TV and Jon is performing an incredible public service.
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