Business Coverage
Former Congressman Calls for Investigation of CNBC's Jim Cramer
March 12th, 2009 4:23 PM
Jim Cramer just keeps paying the price for his heresy. Ever since his March 3 remarks calling Obama's policies "greatest wealth destruction I've seen by a president," the CNBC "Mad Money" host has been under attack. First it was the back-and-forth with the White House, then he was skewered by comedian Jon Stewart. Now CNN and a former high-ranking public official have targeted him. Cramer, who…
GM's Auditor Issues 'Going Concern' Warning; Press Ignores Post-Bailou
March 5th, 2009 11:57 AM
An early review of press coverage relating to this morning's warning by General Motors that "there is substantial doubt about our ability to continue as a going concern" shows no coverage of the reason why, despite $13.4 billion in taxpayer money (NOT counting bailout money going to GMAC), things have gotten so much worse so quickly.The reason is that sales in the two full months since the Bush-…
February Vehicle Sales: The Blowup of the Bailed-Out Continues
March 4th, 2009 4:14 PM
For the second month in a row, taxpayer-bailout beneficiary General Motors fared worse than every one of its non-bailed-out competitors. The Associated Press's Tom Krisher and Bree Fowler didn't totally hide that fact, but it took them until the 22nd paragraph of their report, which was supposedly about the February performance of the entire auto industry ("Auto sales slump persists as consumers…
Trading Like It's 1995: Press Ignoring Inflation's Impact in Reporting
March 4th, 2009 9:55 AM
This report carried in the Washington Business Journal typified yesterday's coverage of yet another decline in the stock market:Dow declines further stillWall Street’s major stock indexes followed Monday’s strong sell-off with a day of fluctuation, ending with more losses.The Dow Jones Industrials Average gyrated between modest gains and losses throughout the trading day, ending the down 37…
Media Ignore Caterpillar Plant Employees Overwhelmingly Opposed Stimul
March 3rd, 2009 6:52 PM
In February, in the build up to the ultimate passage of President Barack Obama's $787-billion stimulus package, there was a lot of discussion about how much the stimulus was going to help the ailing economy. And to promote the bill, Obama visited a Caterpillar plant in Peoria, Ill. Rep. Aaron Schock, R-Ill., who represents the 18th Congressional District of Illinois, where the Caterpillar plant…
Gibbs Does It Again -- Responds Directly to Media Criticism of Obama
March 3rd, 2009 5:59 PM
Here we go again - another Obama administration/media personality feud in the works. White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs has no problem addressing media critics of President Barack Obama - even on an individual basis. Since Obama was sworn in as president, Gibbs has addressed criticism from conservative radio host Rush Limbaugh, CNBC mercantile exchange floor reporter Rick Santelli and now…
Press Virtually Ignores Joe Biden's '400 Jobs Lost a Day' Louisiana Wh
March 3rd, 2009 1:18 PM
Did you hear the one about Joe Biden claiming that Louisiana under Governor Bobby Jindal is losing 400 jobs a day? Probably not. A search at the Washington Post on "Biden 400 jobs Louisiana" (not in quotes) came back with no results. No relevant results were returned with the same searches done at the New York Times and the LA Times. The math-challenged Biden, who infamously said during the…
Cramer on Obama: 'It's Amateur Hour at Our Darkest Moment
March 3rd, 2009 10:23 AM
It was news media conventional wisdom during the 2008 presidential campaign: the worse the economy, the better it was for Democrat candidate prospects. But now that they have the legislative and executive branches and the burden of actually governing, that advantage is slowly being chipped away. CNBC "Mad Money" host Jim Cramer, who first starting connecting that perhaps a Democrat-controlled…
AP's Citi Deal Report Avoids 'Nationalization,' Plays 'Name That Party
February 27th, 2009 12:08 PM
There's an N-Word you apparently write at your own risk if you're in the establishment media. It's "nationalization." The Associated Press's Stephen Bernard, with the help of old reliables Jeannine Aversa and Martin Crutsinger, blew through almost 800 words (link is dynamic; 12:49 p.m. version is saved here for future reference, is now authored by Crutsinger, and is longer than what I originally…
Kudlow, Santelli Push Back Hard at Mortgage-Mod Program, Harder at Gib
February 23rd, 2009 7:02 AM
Advantage Rick Santelli -- and Larry Kudlow. CNBC reporter Santelli's Thursday morning "Shout Heard Round the World" (CNBC's term) objecting to the Obama administration's mortgage modification program on the floor of the Chicago Mercantile Exchange quickly went viral, and struck two nerves. First, it ignited a groundswell of support from the over 90% of the of the nation that pays its bills and…
CNBC's Santelli Invited to the White House
February 20th, 2009 3:45 PM
Will wonders ever cease? First, a NBC network airs its Chicago Mercantile Exchange floor reporter making a call to action against all the populism that has inundated the political dialogue over the past six months. Now, the same reporter, Rick Santelli, has been invited by White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs to the White House. On CNBC's "Street Signs" Feb. 20, Santelli told viewers he…
What Will CNBC's Smug Journalists Say About ACORN's 'Mob Rule' in Balt
February 20th, 2009 11:26 AM
Rick Sentelli's rant for the ages (transcript here) on CNBC's Squawk Box yesterday criticizing the recently passed stimulus package and the Obama administration's mortgage modification program was marred somewhat by the studio hosts. Though their tone was semi-humorous, it's telling that their instincts were to characterize the traders present at the Chicago Mercantile Exchange as a "mob," and to…
New York Times Co. Suspends Dividend; Share Price Less Than Cost of Su
February 20th, 2009 9:03 AM
Yesterday, The New York Times Company suspended its quarterly dividend. The company's stock slid 5% to close at $3.51, yet another all-time low in the company's nearly 23 years as a public company in its current form (the Times has been a public company since the 1960s).Henry Blodget at Silicon Valley Insider noted, even before yesterday's announcement and share-price dip, that the company's…
Rant for the Ages: CNBC's Rick Santelli Goes Off; Studio Hosts Invoke
February 19th, 2009 3:42 PM
Wow. Rick Santelli of CNBC (picture at right is from his bio page) let the elitists running what is turning into a planned economy in Washington have it today with a rant for the ages.The direct CNBC link is here, while a YouTube is here. Allah at Hot Air has an embed. What's really revolting about this is the studio reaction. While it's maybe half-kidding at times, the fact that strong…