The New York Times notices the unsurprising fact that CNBC has been happy to replay Rick Santelli's outburst. But a quick trip to the CNBC website indicates that the fever was substantially more contagious. Links to the clip cover the site like chickenpox, where it is variously referred to as Rick's Revolution, Rick's Rant, Rick's Tea Party and Rick Santelli's Shout Heard 'Round the World, as if George III had been reincarnated as an adjustable-rate mortgage. Then there is a second video clip of Rick explaining his position to the shiny Larry Kudlow ("we need to be American about this"), referring to himself in the third person ("Rick is going to be On. His. Way.") and starting sentences with things like, "If you listen to my rant, Larry..." And: "Why is this rant...such a big deal? And: "You know, I've ranted for years..."
And so forth.
But wait, then there is a follow-up posting of something called "Santelli's Manifesto." There's an article that asks "Would You Join Santelli's 'Chicago Tea Party?" and an article that instructs, "Join Rick Santelli's Chicago Tea Party!" Then there's another article on "Rick Santelli and Million Dollar Homes," and yet another another article informing readers that "Europe Loves Santelli." (Potential problem: Europe is not America.) This might be great for CNBC, but it makes me think that Marc had the right theory on Friday..
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Feb 23 2009, 6:37 am
CNBC renames itself The Rick Santelli Rant Temple
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Rick Santelli's Rant Is Ironic!
Was it lost on everybody that the initial support Rick Santelli received for his rant about the "subsidizing of the "losers' mortgages" and bailing out "failing institutions" started on the floor Chicago Board of Trade?
Well what about all these whining "populist" traders on the CBOT? They too are "losers." Who wants to hear from a bunch of "loser" traders who made bad market picks? If they were profiting in this market you would not hear a thing from them. Seriously. Catch a falling knife lately? Holding any worthless CDS contracts? Yields move against your position? Get burned on some indices bets? You should have shorted the market. I certainly don't want to subsidize you.
Is it completely lost on Mr. Santelli that a major contribution to this financial mess is from "loser" traders and institutions who bet against the market and have/are suffering losses? Many are employed by or get most of their business from the "failing financial institutions." Without the "failing financial institutions," there would be no market and no floor on which to place one's soapbox – yet alone a floor to trade on.
Too many of these institutions allowed too many junior traders and clueless senior traders to become "losers" by over-leveraging and entering into these trades and swaps that they had no business entering while threatening the very thing that is most valuable to the American economy - our markets and the flow of capital and credit. They are now under-water. Ironically, just like the "losers" who bought houses that they did not have a snowball's chance in hell of paying.
The ownership society is out to lunch.