That House Democrats with barely any business experience deigned to pontificate to Wall Street executives drew criticism from an unlikely quarter -- top-rated liberal radio host Ed Schultz.
Schultz could barely contain his disgust with members of the House Financial Services Committee for their condescending treatment of Wall Street execs whose banks received TARP funds.
Here's what Schultz said on Friday's show, referring to financial sector CEOs testifying before the committee two days earlier and the dearth of business experience among its members (click here for audio) --
Here's the bottom line, the committee that grilled these eight executives, 71 members, 42 Democrats, 29 Republicans. Now we're doing ESPN Inside the Numbers. Of the 71 members, folks, there's only 33 of them that have ever run their own business or were involved in upper-level management of a business, less than half. That means a bunch of 'em come from government, a bunch of 'em come from the activist life, people that have never met payroll. Of these 71 members, get that?, 33 have ever been in private business. And, get this, five have some business experience but did not run their own business and were not involved in upper management. So now the number's up to 38. OK, of the 71 members, 33 have no apparent business experience. OK? What are you doing on the House Financial Services Committee? Who are these 33 that have never been there and done that, supposed to hold anybody accountable who is at the absolute top of their profession being a CEO of a major financial institution?
Schultz proceeded to take a closer look at Democrats on the committee, led by Rep. Barney Frank of Massachusetts (click here for audio) --
All right, now let's go on over to the Democrats. They've got 42 on the committee. Forty-two Democrats on the committee. Half of them, 20 of them, 20 of the 42, almost half, have zero business experience as far as running their own business or being involved in any operation of a business. Here's one -- this includes the six most senior Democratic members. The most senior Democrats, who are getting to talk first, have absolutely zero business experience!
Not surprisingly, Schultz also turned his scorn on committee Republicans lacking real-world business experience (click here for audio) --
Let's get on over to the Republican side where you'd think it would be a little bit better since they're all syringed on tax cuts. You've got 13 that have never, 13 out of the 29, have zero business experience as far as running their own business or being involved in the operation of a business. This includes three of the top five most senior Republican members. So once again on the other side, the most important dudes who get to speak first! They don't know squat about business, they've never been there and done that!
In fairness to the committee, Chairman Frank came close to acquiring a measure of business expertise when it was revealed in 1989 that his male lover was running a prostitution ring from Frank's Capitol Hill apartment, allegedly without the otherwise astute Frank being aware of it.
