I told you that with the Examiner.com gig, I'd like to weigh in some more on some personal things and that's what I figured I'd do today. Besides, it's a lot easier to get this out over a blog instead of sending out about 500 Tweets over Twitter (say that sh*t five times real fast).

Anyway, I, like the rest of America, watched a portion of The Daily Show last night that featured Jon Stewart's thrashing of Mad Money host and Financial "Analyst" Jim Cramer. Now, it should be said up front that I tend to like Cramer. I don't think he's slimy or shady, but more of a guy who understood how the system "worked" and helped a lot of people make a lot of money within that system. Yes, he did some crazy things like helping rumors spread to drive stocks up and he told people to buy stocks that ultimately failed. Whether or not he knew about the inevitable failure, I'm not sure. However, what I do know is that Cramer is no better or worse than half of the "news anchors and reporters" that you see on television that report the "facts" in order to skew a story. That's the climate we live in today. Very rarely will you see people reporting a story like it is. It just doesn't happen.

I think it's also fair for me to point out that I have NO problem with CNBC's Rick Santinelli's "Rant" that subsequently brought up dozens of "Tea Parties" across the nation. What I do have a problem with is "articles" like this one from Crooks and Liars that claim it was all staged.

Crooks and Liars claims that Santinelli's rant was staged as part of a right-wing conspiracy due to Santinelli being in bed with the Koch's (owners of the largest private company in the nation), and so on. However, much like Cramer's shoddy reporting on the financial outlook, this "article," again the term is used very loosely, offers nothing other than speculation instead of facts. Rumors aren't news. Show me someone at CNBC or someone who was actually on the floor when Santinelli ranted saying that they saw cue cards and then we can talk about things being staged. Until then, shut up and report. Besides, even if it was staged, Santinelli is not a reporter. He's another "analyst" and his job is to offer an opinion. He did. I'm OK with that.

I know that seemed like a huge digression, but truthfully, it leads me to the meat of my point. From a public relations standpoint, Cramer was sent over to Stewart's house by CNBC and he was slaughtered. In football, you don't go to an opposing team's stadium for that kind of beating unless:

1. You're getting paid ample amounts of money to do so.
--OR--
2. You're getting that team to come back to your house so you can return the favor.

CNBC could have done a "home and home" with Stewart so that equal parts get their time in front of their audience. However, Cramer went and took his beating in front of Stewart, who, I have to be honest, was quite fair.

What I have the main problem with though is that Cramer is not a bad guy and he shouldn't be the face of the problem. Cramer's job is a lot more complicated than Stewart's. Stewart gets the luxury of waiting for news to happen and then weighing in on it. It's a very REACTIVE approach where he's never wrong. Cramer is the exact opposite. He's always on the PROACTIVE side of things. He has the unfortunate circumstance of always having to predict what people need to do with their money based on news, rumors and the like.

I'm sorry if people don't like the fact that stocks move up and down on rumors, but that's what happens. That's what's been happening for YEARS. That isn't what got us into this mess. What got us into this mess are the people sitting behind walnut desks and taking millions for a salary while borrowing against their employees' 401ks. What got us into this mess was people lying on their homeowners' applications and now getting money to help them out of their situations.

I understand Stewart has an agenda here and that is to kick CNBC's ass for canceling on him...specifically the aforementioned Rick Santinelli, who was supposed to go on the Daily Show but cancelled for no apparent reason. I totally get the witch hunt and why Stewart wants to do it.

The problem is the premise of Stewart's witch hunt is way off. You can't put a face to the current economic situation. There are two reasons for what's going on and why it's not going to get better for a while. The first one is because you have a lot of people in very high places doing a lot of shady things that led to tremendous and unconstrained growth over a period of time. Inevitably, it was all going to come crashing down. When people started buying out of Wall Street, that's when they finally said "OK, it's here" and cashed in their chips.

The second part of it comes when President Obama offered nothing towards the new "stimulus" package. We're spending money we don't have, printing money we can't back up and giving money to people who honestly don't deserve it. We shouldn't be bailing out Wall Street or the auto companies. We shouldn't be bailing out homeowners who didn't contribute to their mortgages. People who bought things they couldn't afford and credit card companies who let them do it along with allowing illegal aliens to get free healthcare with no way for them to pay it back. All of these things add up to the situation we're in now.

The age of irresponsibility has finally bitten us in the ass and it's got a kung fu grip on us. However, that's what's supposed to happen. That's how the system works and that's how the system is SUPPOSED TO WORK.

For example, I work for a small business. I'm getting laid off because of lack of work. It's not because I'm a bad employee or because I did something wrong. There are people with higher seniority with me and it ended up being my turn. Am I mad? NO. I'm not mad. Am I disappointed? A little, but only because I've worked hard for a very long time, paid my taxes and never asked for a dime in return. I honestly want to get a new job ASAP so I don't have to take unemployment. I might need the government's help to get by, but I don't want it. I want to get a new job ASAP so that I can be the self-sufficient person I want to be.

I'm absolutely SICK of people trying to put a high-profile face to this mess. It's ridiculous. If anyone wants to put a face to this, I implore you to wish in one hand and sh*t in the other and see which one fills up first. There are THOUSANDS of faces that have led to this problem. From people who bought houses they couldn't afford to Wall Streeters with shady agendas to Ponzi schemes with high-ranking officials.

You want a face to this mess, go get an American Flag. We created this problem and no one stepped up to stop it when everyone was making money. Now that everyone's losing it, we're trying to point fingers. It's reminiscent of the Katrina disaster when instead of helping people, our leadership was busy pointing fingers and trying to say whose fault it was.

We're a country full of people taking Teflon baths hoping that the sh*t won't stick to them when it's thrown. It's absurd and downright offensive. I'm tired of bailing out those that don't deserve it and I'm tired of people getting thrown on the fire for this mess.

Let's get over it and move on shall we? There will be plenty of time to figure out how we got on the roof when the building's on fire. Until then, don't you think we should be trying to find a way to get downstairs and go out the front door?

Just my two cents. I could be totally wrong. I mean after all, common sense went out of style YEARS ago.


Until next time kids.

Be safe.

Labels: General "Kit" stuff, Stupid People