Editor’s Note: In this series of articles, we include important or interesting videoclips with our comments. This is an article that expresses our personal opinions about comments made on Television and in Print. It is NOT intended to provide any investment advice of any type whatsoever. No one should base any investing decisions or conclusions based on anything written in or inferred from this article. Investing is a serious matter and all investment decisions should only be taken after a detailed discussion with your investment advisor and should be subject to your objectives, suitability requirements and risk tolerances.
Default Already!!!
This seemed to be the sentiment in the U.S. stock market on Friday. When the news of Mr. Stark’s resignation from ECB hit the tape, the S&P 500 fell by over 10 handles. Soon thereafter, rumors of a Greek default over the weekend and of Germany’s Plan B for a Greek default roiled markets. The result was a 303 point decline in the Dow. Rather than an emotional sell-off, the market sold off in a tired, steady fashion. It felt as if the stock market was saying Default and Get it over already. We know we are tired of this Euro-charade going on and on.
This is essentially what Jim Rogers said in his usual megaphonic manner. In fact, he asked his viewers to Buy All The Euro You Can if Greece defaults (see clip 1 below). We do recall that the Lehman Bankruptcy created panic selling in Bonds of Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs. In days, AIG was bailed out and Merrill was stolen by Bank of America. TARP was passed into law within four weeks of the Lehman Bankruptcy.
Jim Rogers seems to revel in this possibility. In contrast, Jim Bianco is worried about it (see clip 2 below). Remember America in late 2008? The TARP debates and votes seemed nightmarish at that time. But that was America. We had Paulson & Bernanke who could scare the Congress into passing it.
Europe in our opinion is institutionally incapable of handling a fast moving contagion. So a slow moving train wreck may actually be the healthier choice.
The Right Epithet for Trichet
We have heard Cramer’s choices. This Friday, Andrew Busch of BMO called Trichet’s press conference “unbelievably insane”. Trichet downgraded Europe’s outlook and hinted that he is open to stopping his campaign of rate increases. But he did not lower interest rates. Only an European Bureaucrat can be so arrogant.
At least, the currency markets gave up the ghost of Euro strength and the Euro fell by over 4 big figures. The Australian Dollar seems weak as well and DXY, the US Dollar index, rallied through its 200-day moving average. Jim Rogers said he is long the U.S. Dollar and expects a rally (see clip 1 below).
The Swiss National Bank stunned investors in the Swiss Franc earlier this week by essentially pegging its currency to the Euro. That removes one safe haven for investors. Will it work? Jim Rogers doesn’t think so (see clip 1 below).
Egypt, Israel & Turkey
If Europe were not enough, the Middle East seems ready for a blow up. This week Turkey, an ex-friend of Israel, threatened to send Turkish warships to accompany the next flotilla of ships carrying “humanitarian” assistance to the Gaza Strip. Apparently, the Turkish warships will protect such a flotilla from intervention by Israeli Military. Israel needs Turkey and Israel is trying not to over-react. But there is no way Israel can afford to back down from enforcing its blockade of Gaza.
Then on Friday, an Egyptian mob attacked the Israeli embassy in Cairo and dismantled a concrete wall which was in front of the Israeli Embassy. According to the New York Times, Ayman Ibrahim, 36, an employee at the Foreign Ministry said “Israel killed five Egyptians and Egypt builds a wall to protect them, as if they are telling us to bang our heads against that wall“.
We argued a long time ago that the “revolution” in Cairo would undoubtedly turn Egypt against Israel. It seems to be happening far more swiftly and in a disorderly manner.
Add to this the decision by the majority of the UN to pass a UN resolution in the General Assembly granting statehood for Israel. We may be worried but the oil markets are not, yet.
Kudos to Larry Kudlow for covering the story of the Egyptian Attack on the Israeli embassy in his show on Friday. Neither CNN nor Fox gave any coverage. Larry Kudlow not only talked about it but showed scary footage. We tried to find this clip on CNBC.com. But the webmasters at CNBC, in their infinite wisdom, seemed to have ignored this clip.
The U.S. Stock market
As we write these points, we wonder whether the decline in the U.S. stock market was perhaps benign. The lineup of events confronting the stock market seems long, broad and ominous. Then there is the minor issue of the slope of the U.S. Economy.
But apart from European news or rumors, the stock market seems to be driven by technicals. So this week, we list the opinions of several smart technicians and traders:
- Jon Najarian of Trade Monster said on CNBC Fast Money that the market’s bottom is already in. He affirmed on Friday that 1136 on the S&P will hold and he would be a buyer at that level.
Jim Cramer relayed the opinion of his colleague Ed Ponsi saying that the S&P had made a double bottom and it was making higher highs. Ponsi believes that the 1123 level will hold or at least 1100 will hold. So he would be a buyer between these two support levels. Ponsi then argues that a break of 1219 would lead to a big rally (see clip 5 below). But if S&P breaks 1100, then that would be a very negative per Ed Ponsi.- Larry McMillan argued on his site that the S&P has developed a rising channel called a “penant”. He thinks that the buy signals from the put-call ratios and VIX offer a positive short term picture. But he pointed on Friday afternoon that the SPX is sitting right on the lower band of the channel right now. A move below 1140 would be very negative in his opinion and would cause him to become quite negative.
- Mary Ann Bartels of BAC-Merrill says there is no reason to be very long now. She thinks if the 1100 level is broken, then Hedge Funds have enough ammunition to sell the market hard (see clip 4 below).
- Dennis Gartman says simply “No Reason To Be in Equities Now“.
- John Roque said on CNBC Fast Money that he expects the stock market to get to 950.
The debate about valuations depends on your belief in S&P earnings. David Rosenberg made this point succinctly on Thursday (see clip 3 below). Then McDonald’s disappointed investors with its European numbers on Friday. Will this news shake up the consumer staples that have been strong recently? Both Bianco and Rosenberg think earnings estimates will come down hard and the market’s multiple will contract (see clips 2 & 3 below).
Treasuries & Gold
The Treasury market rallied on Friday and the 10-Year yield closed at 1.91%. The 30-Year Treasury yield dropped to 3.25%, bringing it closer to the target of 3% projected by Gary Shilling. To our untrained eye, this Friday’s rally in Treasuries seemed a little more tepid than say last Friday’s move. We wonder whether we are beginning to see some buyer exhaustion.
On the other hand, there is no shortage of Treasury Bulls these days. On Friday, Brian Sullivan of CNBC StreetSigns quoted an unnamed contact projecting a target yield of 1% for the 10-Year Treasury. This is the lowest target we have heard. Surely some one else would predict a lower target next week.
Gold actually closed down on Friday. This drop seemed weird. So far, Gold has been the safe haven from stocks, weakening a bit when stocks rally and rallying hard when stocks falter. We saw Gold reverse at around 12:45 on Friday. After that, Gold traded with stocks for the rest of the day. Was this margin liquidation? Or was it selling of what is easiest to sell? Or was it just a single day’s head fake.
Next week is Options Expiration. It should be interesting.
Featured Videoclips:
- Jim Rogers on CNBC Strategy Session on Friday, September 9
- Jim Bianco on CNBC Closing Bell on Friday, September 9
- David Rosenberg on Bloomberg StreetSmarts on Thursday, September 8
- Mary Ann Bartels on Bloomberg In the Loop on Tuesday, September 6
- Jim Cramer relaying Ed Ponsi’s comments on CNBC Mad Money on Tuesday, September 6
- Tom Friedman & Rick Santelli on CNBC Squawk Box on Thursday, September 8
1. Buy All the Euro You Can & Rogers’ Holdings – Jim Rogers on CNBC Strategy Session – Friday, September 9
Jim Rogers is a well known investor and an entertaining speaker. He is interviewed here by David Faber, Bob Pisani and Michelle Caruso Cabrera (MCC for short, with her implied permission) of CNBC.
- Faber – What’s going to happen here (re Greece & Europe)?
- Rogers – David, as you well know, crises usually happen in the fall. Here we are in September with October coming out next.….the good news would be if Greece did go bankrupt, if you ask me. This morning in Europe, Greek interest rates were over 90%. Maybe the market is telling us it’s finally time.
- Faber – What would happen in your opinion if that were the case? The Euro is significantly weaker this morning. Would you expect that to continue? Can we get through a Greek default without destabilizing everything else?
- Rogers – Well, if Greece defaults you’ve got to have some other people that are defaulting too, such as Italy and Spain and a few others. If they did that, obviously the Euro would go down a fair amount but then I would buy all the Euro I could at that point because that would mean that Europe is going to have a very strong sound currency. Peop
le cannot lie about their finances anymore. People would have to run a tight ship. A lot of pain between now and then, but, boy, if that happened in the next month or so, buy all the euro you can. - Faber – except they are part of a monetary union, Jim, that doesn’t seem to allow for countries to be able to exit.
- Rogers – I didn’t say exit. I said go bankrupt and reorganize. In America, we’ve had cities, counties, states go bankrupt over the past couple of hundred years. It didn’t end the United States. It didn’t end the United States Dollar…. Creditors lost money and they started over. That’s all that would have to happen.
In the second clip, Mr. Rogers describes his current positions. That’s why we titled it Rogers’ Holdings.
- Faber – Jim, if we do ultimately see this default we have so often talked about in Greece, and turmoil of some type ensues, whereas a global investor do you want to be?
- Rogers – well, first, I just wants to say quickly I own some euros, so I‘m not talking that I hope — I’ll lose money if it happens. It would be good for the world, though, if it did happen, if they let people go bankrupt. My portfolio – I own commodities, especially precious metals and agriculture. I own some currencies. I’m short stocks in Europe and short stocks in America and shorts in emerging markets. Who knows if I’m right?
- Pisani – You’re long commodities but short stocks.Explain how this fits in with the global growth story. Is there a global growth story and why are you long commodities — wouldn’t you still be long some commodities stocks, for example?
- Rogers – No. well, I have some left over from 15 years ago. No, if the world economy gets better I’m going to make money in commodities because of shortages that are developing. especially in agriculture and precious metals. If the world economy doesn’t get better, Bob, you’re not going to make any money in Toyota or IBM but you might make money in commodities because they’re going to print more money. It’s the wrong thing to do but they will print money. Bernanke is already printing money again. You have to protect yourself. I’m short stocks because I don’t expect the world economy to get better, not much better anyway. If it does, I am long commodities as a protection.
- Pisani – you said Bernanke is already printing money. Has a new program been announced?
- Faber – that brings us to the U.S. Dollar, Jim, which today is stronger against the Euro. I would assume, though, that your long-term forecast for the dollar is not a particularly positive one.
- Rogers – Long-term forecast on the U.S. Dollar is Disaster, Catastrophe. Having said that, as I said on CNBC several times in the past few months, I’m long the U.S. Dollar. The only reason I’m long is because everybody in the world including me has been terribly pessimistic. Whenever that happens you should take the other side of the trade. I‘m long U.S. Dollar. I have no confidence in it. It’s going to be a disaster. But as you speak, I probably own more U.S. Dollars than I have owned in many years and certainly more than most other currencies. Bob, to your point, Bernanke has been lying to us again. He announced in early August that he was going to keep interest rates at a very low rate for two years. Now Bob, how is he going to do that? You can’t just say the words. You have to go into the market and force interest rates down. Come on. what is this, you believe in the tooth fairy? He’s in there. That’s the only way he can do it. If you don’t believe the theory of monetary policy works, get out the unadjusted M2 numbers since the beginning of August and you will see they shot up starting at the beginning of August as soon as he said we’re going keep interest rates down. So he’s in the market. He may be lying to us, they usually do, but he’s in there. Be prepared.
- Faber – we see the ten-year, of course, at 1.91%. That’s somewhat shocking to look at. Talk about intervention in markets, Jim, the week began with the Swiss coming in to try to say, hey, you know, stop over valuing our currency against the Euro. Do you think that’s going to work out?
- Rogers – No, of course it’s not. No Central Bank in the World has ever been able to control its currency in the long run. Many countries have tried, David, but the market always has more. The British tried it 15 or 20 years ago. Everybody has tried it. In the end, the market has more money. The Swiss will have two things happen:
- one, they will drive their currency down so much that they will no longer be a financial center,
- or it will go up again and they will lose money on all the currencies they’re buying. This is a terrible mistake. the way you sort things out is you let the market take its course, the cure for high prices is high prices. that’s how you sort things out.
- one, they will drive their currency down so much that they will no longer be a financial center,
- Pisani – Jim, give us a couple of thoughts. China came out with their inflation numbers this morning. Appeared to be a little bit under control. Chinese will probably not be hiking interest rates any time soon. GDP not as strong as it was maybe a year ago, but still looking pretty good. What’s your thoughts here?
- Rogers – China is trying to slow its economy down. They’ve raised interest rates six times. I wish America raised its rates six times. They raised reserve requirements 12 times. They’re trying to slow things down. India the same way….Australia. Many countries acknowledge inflation and trying to slow things down. That’s one reason why I’m not so wildly optimistic about the economy going forward.
Notice Rogers is no longer Short Treasuries as he was earlier in the summer. Rogers may talk with abandon but he trades with discipline. He probably covered his shorts in Treasuries without losing too much, we hope.
* CNBC titles for the two clips are What’s next for the U.S.? and Market at New Low As Euro Sells off
2. Contagion? – Jim Bianco with Maria Bartiromo on CNBC Closing Bell – Friday, September 9
Maria began by calling Mr. Bianco one of the smartest guys on the Street. We concur. This clip has comments by Scott Wren of Wells Fargo as well. Basically, Mr. Wren falls with the consensus. He thinks people should be neutrally positioned but he thinks S&P will end the year higher. His year-end target is 1250.
- Bartiromo – …So talk to us about what Jim Rogers just said. Do you believe we will see a default in Greece and will a Greece default trigger other defaults? Should they default?
- Rogers – Well, at this point the market is definitely pricing in a Greece default. We’re at a 55% two-year note yield. Whether it comes this weekend or down the road, it seems highly likely, 80-90% chance, that you’ll see a Greece default. The biggest concern you have is contagion. If the Greeks are allowed to default and not pay the debt and allowed expand the social programs and not pay their debt, then why shouldn’t the Portuguese, why shouldn’t the Irish do the same? And then you have a big problem on your hands. So how do you have a Greece default and then allow it to stop there? That’s going to be the trick for the EU. And so far markets don’t believe that they can. A Greece default is the beginning of a big contagion problem.
- Bartiromo – Jim, How do you protect yourself in this environment, knowing what we know right now, the risk of default rising. How I do protect myself?
- Bianco – I‘m a little bit more pessimistic than Scott. I have been putting the odds of recession at 51%, meaning I think if you ask me are we going to have one or not, I would say yes. Because of that, I think that earnings are a suspect. Earnings estimate that’s we have are at $95 or $100. They could come down quite a bit and the market is vulnerable to further declines. That is assuming, of course, that we do have a recession. In that case, I would try to avoid anything that’s what we call a risk on market. I would stay in Treasuries. I don’t think the gold run is over just yet, and basically try to be as defensive as you can.
- Bartiromo – you know, Jim, Scott is basically obviously more optimistic than you. you’re saying that, yeah, we could see a recession, 51% chance. if we were to see a recession, what’s the biggest casualty? Are you expecting what I am asking is you are expecting earnings to actually take a hit? that’s been obviously the best part of this economic recovery. Do you think estimates are appropriate or will estimates come down further for earnings?
- Bianco – I think estimates will come down a lot. The last three recessions when we had them, estimates came down anywhere or actual numbers came down anywhere between 25% and 40% below the estimates. Usually whether we have a recession, again, if we have one, it blows a giant hole in the side of the earnings estimates. …You could be looking at $70, $75 as opposed to $95 where everybody is and a contracting multiple. That makes the market overvalued at current levels. if we miss a recession, then none of that will happen. but if we have one, watch out.
At the end, Bianco said QE3 would not help and added he was not a fan of QE2. Scott Wren said we are going to see QE3.
3. What Is Going To Pull Us Out? David Rosenberg with Bloomberg’s Carol Massar & Matt Miller – Thursday, September 8
Jonathan Golub, Chief Market strategist at UBS, is a co-guest with David Rosenberg on this show. Matt Miller began by announcing that Mr. Golub just lowered his S&P target to 1350. Then he asked David whether that seemed high to him.
Mr. Rosenberg’s comments in the clip resemble Mr. Bianco’s in clip 2 above. He thinks the earnings estimates are too high and that the multiple on the S&P will contract. He said your S&P target depend on your macro outlook. In other words, if you think this is a plain vanilla correction in an otherwise expanding economy, then you got to buy the stock market right now. But if this is a recessionary bear market, then stocks have further downside ahead of them.
Mr. Rosenberg didn’t think that President Obama’s program will do much for the economy. He also says that we are building up towards another recession, a point he has made several times in the past. In this clip, he gives the example of the 1982 recession that followed the 1980 recession. That happened because we had NOT expunged all the inflationary excesses in the 1980 recession. In this cycle, unfortunately, we did not expunge this particular imbalance, excessive debt (a global problem) in 2008. He thinks we already have a multiple compression in the financial economy. Next we will get earnings actually contracting and that he thinks is going to be the big surprise for the market.
Matt Miller asked the key question at the end:
- Miller – How bad do you expect the recession to be? Depression-like?
- Rosenberg – It is problematic, We are in uncharted territory. Here we are talking about 0% Fed Funds Rate going on for 3 years, a Fed balance sheet that has tripled in the stratosphere and end-less fiscal stimulus. I mean FDR never ran a deficit over 6% of GDP in the New Deal, we already are running them 8-9% of GDP. Once the recession starts, my big dilemma is what is it that is going to pull us out? When you consider that China is fighting an inflation problem, Europe is fighting a sovereign debt problem, it is going to be very problematic what gets us out once we get into it.
When you listen to this, don’t you wonder how Mr. Rosenberg got the nickname “Rosie”? The reality is he has been right and he has both saved money and made money for those who listened to him. That is why we always listen when he speaks.
4. No Reason To Be Long? Hedge Funds’ Short Positions – Mary Ann Bartels on Bloomberg’s In the Loop – Wednesday, September 7
Mary Ann Bartels is the Head of Technical & Market Analysis at BAC-Merrill. Here she speaks with Betty Liu and Jon Erlichman of Bloomberg TV. In this clip, Ms. Bartels uses a modified approach to the traditional short position indicator. This point is made in the opening exchange.
- Liu – Our next guest says, Bearish positions on the S&P 500 index futures have increased to the highest level since before the financial crisis three years ago, back in 2008. So what does this signal when you have that many bets against the S&P futures?
- Bartels – ..It is a very extreme short position and it is important. But I typically use the Nasdaq 100 because it has a higher beta as being more important. And they don’t have as statistically significant or extreme short position in the Nasdaq 100. What I actually think is more important, we recently released our short interest data and although short position rose sharply, 8% as of August 15, when we do it as a percentage of volume, what is called “days to trade“, it is actually below the 10-year average. It is at 1.5 times vs. 2.4 times, the historical average,….so although we are seeing shorts in the S&P 500, we still believe that hedge funds have the ability to significantly short the market should we break below 1100 on the S&P.
For more details on the views of Ms. Bartels, read the summary Bearish Hedge Fund Bets May Send U.S. Stocks Lower on Bloomberg.com. The key excerpt is below:
- What we’re most concerned about is the banking system in Europe,” Bartels said. “There is no reason to have a very long position with the positioning of the charts,” she said. Still, “the level of shorts is nowhere near where we saw in 2008 and 2009” in terms of potential buying pressure.
But what if the 1100 level holds? Isn’t that a simple or important question to ask? But the Bloomberg Anchors did not and Ms. Bartels did not offer an answer.
The next clip provides an answer from another technician.
* The Bloomberg title for this clip is Hedge Funds’ Short Positions
5. Off the Charts – Views of Ed Ponsi relayed by Jim Cramer – Tuesday, September 6
Jim Cramer relays the opinion of his colleague, Ed Ponsi of Barchetta Capital Management. Jim Cramer relayed this information on the day the Dow was down 300 points in the early morning and the S&P 500 held a key level. Read his words:
- He (Ponsi) is making an awful lot of sense on a day when we bounce and bounce hard off critical levels. While I agree the long-term charts are decidedly negative, if we shorten the time frame, something technicians can do, we do get some pretty positive pictures says Ponsi.
- For example, check out this weekly chart of the S&P 500. Now Ponsi thinks we could have limited downside risk from here, because the S&P is hanging above a very strong support level of 1123….Listen to this. it has been challenged a bunch of times and held. The S&P is still nicely above before.
- There is another support level down here at 1100. Plus Ponsi sees many more bullish signals so he has shortened the time frame even more. look at this. Here is the daily chart of the S&P,…. , he is analyzing this piece of the puzzle, ….What does he see? He sees higher highs.
- ….he believes that we could be forming a double bottom and that’s extremely bullish. If the Index can come back from the recent hammering and close above 1205, then the bullish thesis is totally intact.
- …he thinks if the S&P trades between the support area of 1100 and 1123,…that might make a good entry point for a quick by the dip trade for the strongest stocks.
- …on the other hand, if the S&P falls below 1100 right here, Ponsi says all bets are off. and of course it’s that latter point that makes me so leery of a lot of technical work.
6. Santelli & Friedman’s Heated Debate – Rick Santelli & Tom Friedman on CNBC Squawk Box – Thursday, September 8
This is an absolutely must watch clip. Words cannot convey the emotion involved or the lack of decorum. Usually TV hosts treat Mr. Friedman with respect bordering on worship. In this case, Rick Santelli gets under Tom Friedman’s skin. The result is great TV. Watch this clip.
- Kernen – Go ahead, Rick
- Santelli – I just like to know, I was watching that debate last night although it wasn’t a debate, more like a weird press conference but I would like to know does Mr. Friedman think social security is a Ponzi scheme?
- Friedman – No, I don’t think it is a Ponzi scheme.
- Santelli – Earlier in the show you said we’re putting a burden on our kids that’s unsustainable. What’s the definition of a Ponzi scheme?
- Friedman – it’s a program that made promises it cannot keep and it needs to be fixed.
- Santelli – Isn’t that exactly what a Ponzi pyramid letter is?
- Friedman – Ponzi scheme is a criminal endeavor. This isn’t that.
- Santelli – Forget the criminal stuff. You need more people to perpetuate a myth because if the people stop the myth is known all. That’s my definition of a Ponzi scheme. Let’s call at it chain letter, a pyramid scheme. Isn’t that exactly by definition what social security is? Take the legalities and fraud out.
At this stage, Steve Liesman interrupts asking why is this a Ponzi scheme? Andrew Ross Sorkin says no no. Tom Friedman shakes his head with a smile.
- Friedman – It’s pay as you go. Ronald Reagan fixed it. Why can’t we fix it?
- Santelli – What does Ronald Reagan have to do with my question? < /font>
- Friedman (angry now) – What does your question have to do with reality?
- Caruso-Cabrera – We brought it up because it came up last night.
- Santelli – Because if you can’t decide that more people is the only thing made social security work we have a real issue because many people in government seem to like to read your work.
- Friedman – what makes social security work is fixing social security in terms of the population.
- Santelli – I don’t know if we can fix it or not. I asked if it’s pyramid.
- Friedman – Your question is idiotic.
- Caruso-Cabrera – oohhh
- Santelli – your answer is idiotic.
- Sorkin – OK
- Santelli – Okay. I’m done, I feel good.
On facts, Santelli is absolutely right. Social Security was structured as a pyramid scheme. Imagine an Insurance Company in the private sector that sells it as a product. It works well as a product as long as more people enter the system and more money gets put in while less people leave and withdraw their payments. The Corporation shows positive cash flow and it becomes a huge hit. Then at some point, less people enter the system and more people leave; less contributions come in and more contributions leave. Now you have a cash flow drain that would wipe out the assets of the Insurance company. The result is denial of promised benefits. In other words, default. What words would society use to describe this Insurance Company’s actions?
We think quoting Ronald Reagan in this context is intellectually dishonest. President Reagan was a smart man and a smart politician. Every smart politician understands demographics. President Reagan understood that he was facing the boom years of social security with baby boomers entering the work force or the contributing members of Social Security. Today’s situation is totally opposite. To deny that or to glibly say that we should fix it is intellectual dishonesty.
We don’t want to get between Friedman and Santelli. Both of them are way above us in intellectual and status grades.
Our interest in this clip is very different. A couple of years ago, a guest on CNBC StreetSigns called Cramer stupid or an idiot (we forget the exact epithet). We recall that Erin Burnett, the anchor, reacted very strongly and instinctively. She reprimanded the guest on air.
In this case, Tom Friedman was the first to use the “idiotic” epithet. There was no cause for this rudeness, this insult. Until then, the conversation was hard but in the intellectual domain. When Mr. Friedman called Santelli’s question “idiotic”, none of Santelli’s CNBC colleagues stepped up. Joe Kernen, Steve Liesman and Andrew Ross Sorkin stayed silent. Michelle Caruso Cabrera said “oohhh”.
But when Rick Santelli responded by using the same “idiotic” epithet, his CNBC colleagues expressed their shock. And Andrew Ross Sorkin ended the debate by saying “OK”. At the end of the program, Michelle Caruso Cabrera sucked up to Tom Friedman by saying she was glad they got Tom Friedman as a guest rather than Milton Friedan.
CNBC anchors keep saying that they miss Mark Haines. They don’t get how much. Mark Haines would have reprimanded Tom Friedman for his “idiotic” epithet before Rick Santelli got a chance to respond. Had Rick Santelli responded before he got a chance to speak, Mark Haines would have reprimanded both but told Tom Friedman that he threw the first punch.
We think Michelle Caruso Cabrera, Joe Kernen, and Steve Liesman owe Rick Santelli an apology. We understand they were awestruck by the aura of Mr. Friedman. But to fail to support their colleague from an unprovoked epithet on National TV? That’s pathetic.
Frankly, their behavior violates the Spirit of 9/11.
Send your feedback to [email protected] or @MacroViewpoints on Twitter
