Monday, December 1, 2008 at 8:03 pm
Save Money, Turn Off Your TV
Thanks to the wonders of YouTube there are now hundreds of videos online about all the financial TV punditry that was horribly, terribly, awfully, totally and completely dead wrong over the last couple years. Not that any of you are taking your investment cues from Fox News, but there is an inevitable vertigo (or is it schadenfreude?) that comes with watching clips like this:
(This one is about 10 minutes long, and gets really good at about 4 minutes. Take special note of the star turns from Ferris Bueller's Ben Stein, Charles Payne, author of "Act Fast, Be Smart, Get Rich," and some guy named Tom Adkins who declared in January of this year, "I buy real estate, man. I'm the smartest guy here." The hero of these particular clips is Peter Schiff, a former economic adviser to libertarian Ron Paul's campaign, who was apparently brought onto Fox for the same reason that Alan Colmes sits next to Sean Hannity.)
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Senior Writer Karen Tumulty has been TIME's National Political Correspondent since 2001, and has also covered the White House and Congress for the magazine. A native of San Antonio, she is a graduate of the University of Texas at Austin and Harvard Business School, where her career choice has significantly lowered the average salary of her graduating class. But she gets lots of free magazines. Read More »
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Michael Scherer is the White House correspondent for TIME. He previously worked for Salon.com, Mother Jones, and the Daily Hampshire Gazette. A native of San Francisco, he graduated from U.C. Santa Cruz and Columbia University's Graduate School of Journalism. Read More » Follow Michael Scherer on Twitter
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Monday, December 1, 2008 at 8:10 pm
We discussed this a few weeks ago when it came out. I think SG posted it.
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Perfect modern day republicans, not just wrong but completely obnoxious too.
Monday, December 1, 2008 at 8:32 pm
To paraphrase my B-school finance professor: Republicans are never in doubt, but often wrong!
Monday, December 1, 2008 at 8:39 pm
Never in doubt, always wrong?
Monday, December 1, 2008 at 8:39 pm
[...] have been a few videos like this floating around, showing people who saw the subprime tsunami being laughed at by tv’s pundit [...]
Monday, December 1, 2008 at 8:47 pm
"Never in doubt"
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I've been thinking about what Nate Silver wrote about republicans just giving giving up on persuasion. And Neal Gabler's piece on the McCarthyite gene that is so dominate in their party.
It is as if this is all they can do. Mock and insult. And not just on cable news shows.
Monday, December 1, 2008 at 8:51 pm
Hard to express concepts and ideas, Paul Dirks, when the cupboard is bare.
Monday, December 1, 2008 at 9:03 pm
Sorry PNNTO, I meant to address the comment to you, my bad.
Monday, December 1, 2008 at 9:04 pm
MS -- Care to post a "name the next junior senator from NY thread"?
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http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/12/01/paterson-statement-on-replacing-clinton/?hp
Monday, December 1, 2008 at 9:11 pm
All I can say is that economics may be more art then science, but as soon as it's more religion then art, you're officially screwed.
Monday, December 1, 2008 at 9:13 pm
Unnecessary, MS. I'm sure we all know the meaning of "schadenfreude."
Monday, December 1, 2008 at 9:14 pm
Ha Andy I was sitting here steaming.
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As to your point about the cupboard being bare I think you are right. Or maybe more accurately they *believe* they are running on empty.
Monday, December 1, 2008 at 9:15 pm
PNNTO
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Yeah as usual Scherer is late on the Republican slash FoxNews bashing. Mike Scherer if you are reading these comments there is a more recent clip that has Ben Stein getting into a shouting match with Neil Cavuto and of course Ben Stein has now "seen Jesus" and thinks we should be bailing people out right and left. Well Neil Cavuto excommunicates him as a "librul" for his act of treason and the same large black guy from the vid you just posted is in the clip and this time instead of laughing at Schiff who was right he is laughing at Stein who is probably also right. Just goes to show that of all the things Obama said this election season, this may have held the most truth
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"Its like they take pride in being ignorant!"
Monday, December 1, 2008 at 9:15 pm
I'd say when economics is magic - then we're totally f*cked. Magic is what comes to mind whenever I see Laffer.
Monday, December 1, 2008 at 9:22 pm
By the way everyone. It occurs to me that we are now going to have our first opportunity to see how Keith Olberman and Rachel Maddow handle shady situations when there is a conflict of interest, ie the General McCaffery saga and his regular presence on Brian Williams' show on NBC. If KO doesn't name him a worst person in the world and Rachel Maddow doesn't at least acknowledge the story I will lose a lot of respect for both of them. I know a lot of people think KO is a clown and many times he is but I respect him because there are no other prime time cable hosts who have any form of progressive view points on their show. He is also pretty willing to admit his own faults and not run from controversies. But I am almost sure that neither one of them will stand up for whats right when it hits close to where they hang their hats. And that being the case neither of them can really act outraged by the hypocrisy of the Bush administration any more. Just my opinion
Monday, December 1, 2008 at 9:30 pm
Nothing that I heard on KO SG. Did Keith give it even a mention when the original story broke?
Monday, December 1, 2008 at 9:45 pm
PNNTO
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I don't believe he did. I am watching Rachel now and it doesn't seem as if she is going to say anything. I am willing to give them all week to mention it but after that to me it will just show that they are no different from the other hypocrites on TV.
Monday, December 1, 2008 at 10:11 pm
SG --Olbermann has repeatedly said that he has never been told not to do a story. I'm not sure that Rachel has the same autonomy. He is the one to watch, I would guess.
Monday, December 1, 2008 at 10:47 pm
Arthur Laffer? I know this is Fox, but are you effin' kidding me?
Monday, December 1, 2008 at 10:59 pm
That is pretty funny. Unless you bought goldman at 175 or Merrill at 80.
Monday, December 1, 2008 at 11:55 pm
We discussed this a few weeks ago when it came out.
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Hey, at least he's not pimping that Romney as Auto Czar idea anymore.
Tuesday, December 2, 2008 at 2:10 am
I'll bet either 100 shares of Sprint or a half-eaten Snickers bar (your choice) these guys were pumping their own asset values with their "analysis," and that they got out while the gittin' was still good.
Tuesday, December 2, 2008 at 3:14 am
[...] Michael Scherer’s post in Time’s Swampland [...]
Tuesday, December 2, 2008 at 4:30 am
i just love how the words 'ben stein owns merrill lynch stock' appeared during ben stein's 'buy merrill lynch stock' spiel. at least the sincere idiots put their money where their bare cupboard is.
Tuesday, December 2, 2008 at 6:03 am
hey, why is this video restricted to Fox News? Literally every cable network was presenting the same kind of analyses, and the pessimists were always in the minority.
Tuesday, December 2, 2008 at 8:00 am
Hey Paul - *that one* - welcome back to the Swamp!
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Yeah, the pessimists are usually in the minority, but only on Fox do you get the high school extra of 5 bullies shoving and taunting the kid with the books and the glasses.
Tuesday, December 2, 2008 at 8:05 am
plukasiak
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If you watch again it starts with Schiff being on CNBC. Its not about how FoxNews was wrong, which they were probably more than any other cable financial show, its really about how Schiff was right and nobody wanted to listen to him. The difference was on CNBC they just disagree with him, but on FoxNews they are either openly laughing at him or the one woman kept treating him like he was mentally ill and she was pitying him. But he is laughing all the way to the bank now because not only did he predict the crisis almost to the correct month, he also predicted the rise gold would have and instead of being in Merrill and taking a bath like Ben Stein did, he is in gold sitting pretty. The only bad part is he is one of those "let them fail" guys who thinks every business should be allowed to fail global depression be dammed.
Tuesday, December 2, 2008 at 8:05 am
"hey, why is this video restricted to Fox News?"
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You certainly can get the same kind of mindless crap from CNBC that's for sure.
Tuesday, December 2, 2008 at 8:08 am
I still remember Ron Paul during the debates making the crazy statement that our dollars should be based on something other than a printing press. He suggested we should go back to the gold standard. The other candidates laughed him off the stage of course and the moderators just let it go as the rantings of an obvious kook.
Tuesday, December 2, 2008 at 8:32 am
gysgt
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Schiff was Ron Paul's economic advisor
Tuesday, December 2, 2008 at 9:41 am
Peter Schiff is a scam artist. He sold fear to get people to buy foreign stocks through his brokerage. Truth is, Schiff was wrong about decoupling in stock prices. When the US tanked, global prices fell too. Schiff's clients are down over 40% now. So how is he a hero?
Tuesday, December 2, 2008 at 10:42 am
CNBC is full of chronic gamblers masquerading as analysts. I watch them for entertainment these days. I have never witnessed such buffoonery, and the fact that they take themselves seriously just doubles the hilarity.
Defending obscene bonuses for CEOs of failing companies, their general response is "But those CEOs will just go and offer their EXPERTISE elsewhere!". To that I say-"Here's your hat, there's the door, what's your hurry?'.
And, of course, it's all the UAW and those greedy workers fault. Or all those stupid homeowners, depending on which crisis is the day's topic. Solipsistic nincompoops reign at CNBC, with few exceptions.
As for Fox News, watching it is like wallowing in a pig sty. I feel dirty just commenting on it.
Tuesday, December 2, 2008 at 4:49 pm
The three stooges of American economic/political commentary are:
Laffer, Stein and Luskin.
These clowns can be counted on to spout politically convenient economic talking points on cue. They are hacks of the highest order.
My favorite new term for bad economic punditry is "Ben Steinery", coined by the mench, Barry Ritholtz, of The Big Picture Blog.
Tuesday, December 2, 2008 at 5:46 pm
There is little if anything which I find surprising here. These idiots have been on tv spouting insane logic for years. The fundamentals of a supply and demand economy should never be in doubt. I don't know how people couldn't possibly see it. If anything, Schiff was absolutely right to be warning the supposed adults that Santa Claus ain't REAL!!
Tuesday, December 2, 2008 at 5:49 pm
Reminds me of the climate change "debate," where the reality based community regularly gets shouted down.
Tuesday, December 2, 2008 at 6:39 pm
Buffett bought a 1934 Rolls Royce for 350 Dollars and rented it out for 35 dollars a day. By the time he graduated from high school at sixteen, Buffett had saved 6,000 dollars.
Tom Ahldin