A blog about politics.

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.)

  • Print
  • Comment
Comments (35)
Post a Comment »
  • 1

    We discussed this a few weeks ago when it came out. I think SG posted it.
    .
    Perfect modern day republicans, not just wrong but completely obnoxious too.

  • 2

    To paraphrase my B-school finance professor: Republicans are never in doubt, but often wrong!

  • 3

    Never in doubt, always wrong?

  • 4

    [...] have been a few videos like this floating around, showing people who saw the subprime tsunami being laughed at by tv’s pundit [...]

  • 5

    "Never in doubt"
    .
    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.

  • 6

    Hard to express concepts and ideas, Paul Dirks, when the cupboard is bare.

  • 7

    Sorry PNNTO, I meant to address the comment to you, my bad.

  • 8

    MS -- Care to post a "name the next junior senator from NY thread"?
    .
    http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/12/01/paterson-statement-on-replacing-clinton/?hp

  • 9

    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.

  • 10

    Unnecessary, MS. I'm sure we all know the meaning of "schadenfreude."

  • 11

    Ha Andy I was sitting here steaming.
    .
    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.

  • 12

    PNNTO
    .
    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
    .
    "Its like they take pride in being ignorant!"

  • 13

    I'd say when economics is magic - then we're totally f*cked. Magic is what comes to mind whenever I see Laffer.

  • 14

    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

  • 15

    Nothing that I heard on KO SG. Did Keith give it even a mention when the original story broke?

  • 16

    PNNTO
    .
    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.

  • 17

    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.

  • 18

    Arthur Laffer? I know this is Fox, but are you effin' kidding me?

  • 19

    That is pretty funny. Unless you bought goldman at 175 or Merrill at 80.

  • 20

    We discussed this a few weeks ago when it came out.

    .

    Hey, at least he's not pimping that Romney as Auto Czar idea anymore.

  • 21

    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.

  • 22

    [...] Michael Scherer’s post in Time’s Swampland [...]

  • 23

    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.

  • 24

    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.

  • 25

    Hey Paul - *that one* - welcome back to the Swamp!
    .
    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.

Add Your Comment:

You must be logged in to post a comment.
Swampland Daily E-mail

Get e-mail updates from TIME's Swampland in your inbox and never miss a day.

Quotes of the Day »

Get & Share
Swiss Justice Ministry spokesman FOLCO GALLI, on the decision to place director Roman Polanski under house arrest at his Alpine chalet. Swiss authorities say they won't appeal against a ruling granting bail

Stay Connected with TIME.com