Business Coverage

For the second time in a week, CNBC's Rick Santelli faced down one of the standard-bearers of liberalism.First, he explained to Huffington Post editor and founder Arianna Huffington on the March 31 "Squawk Box" that markets are more efficient in correcting economic hardship, in the banking and housing sectors. On CNBC's April 3 "The Call," Santelli took on University of California at Berkeley…

Will There Be a Corresponding Media Call to Pitchforks?Please don't halt respiratory activity in the waiting. Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae are two public-private partnerships known as Government Sponsored Entities (GSEs).  Wherein the executive staff, populated with woefully unqualified, egregiously overpaid political crony appointees, get to play housing market roulette with the House's (read: OUR…

For The New York Times economic scene section for March 31, David Leonhardt came across with one of the most amazing admissions about Obama that I've ever seen in the Times. Namely that Barack Obama is just like Hitler. Now, many of you may be solemnly shaking your head in agreement, but in so doing you would be missing why the Times was comparing Obama to Hitler. You see, Leonhardt didn't mean…

With the G20 meeting in London, there have been raucous protests - clashes with police in riot gear, destruction of property at nearby banks and even the death of one man from a heart attack. And the media have gone out of their way to cover every sordid detail. To former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich, the media's flag-to-flag coverage of the G20 protests are a glaring contrast to the…

On Tuesday, both USA Today and the Associated Press highlighted guarded optimism that seemed a bit beyond the justifiable after the release of March's sales results for the auto industry. Though there is perhaps some cause for hope, both reports made more out of the industry's roughly 25% sales pickup from February to March (compared to a typical 20% in previous years) than was justified. More…

It's no secret the Bush administration used fear tactics to push the $700-billion Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) through Congress last fall. Both members of the House and the Senate have come out after the fact and disclosed the details. However, the method the Treasury Department employed to get banks to go along with the TARP bailout breached legal boundaries to the point of "extortion…

File this one under Liberal Guilt Syndrome.In the second hour of MSNBC’s “Morning Joe”, correspondent Savannah Guthrie gave a live report on the upcoming G-20 summit from London. This was a fairly straightforward report, hitting on issues that the major parties were interested in hammering out – the French want more financial regulation, for example. And then, at the very end of the report,…

Both have loyal following, but their fans are on opposite sides of the political spectrum. CNBC's Rick Santelli rose to prominence earlier this year when he railed against President Barack Obama's policies on live TV from the floor of the Chicago Mercantile Exchange. He's a hit with conservatives staging tea parties to protest the bailout culture in Washington throughout the country.  Arianna…

Is it okay to call them socialists yet? (/sarc)And to think we were "only" worried about having a known Tax Cheat overseeing everyone's taxes.With Barney Frank's help, Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner is trying to expand his power (and by inference that of his Dear Leader boss) well beyond that. The "Pay for Performance Act," which has already gotten out of committee, would give him veto power…

One of the subplots in the soap opera known as CNBC took another turn on Monday as some of the pieces fell in place of who's doing what and why. Last Friday, CNBC and former "Fast Money" host Dylan Ratigan parted ways officially. However, on CNBC's March 30 "Fast Money," show panelist Guy Adami, the managing director of Drakon Capital, announced Melissa Lee, a fill-in host over the past year for…

Fox News Channel host Glenn Beck has already shown he's a rating success and is leaving a mark in cable news. However, he may have pulled one of his most successful performances yet. Beck interviewed Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal on his March 30 broadcast. But, the radio and TV host took the opportunity to tell Blumenthal what he thought of his investigation into the bonuses…

After General Motors (NYSE:GM) Chairman and CEO Rick Wagoner was forced out by President Barack Obama, Wall Street is betting bank CEO firings will be the next shoe to drop.  CNBC's New York Stock Exchange floor reporter Bob Pisani told viewers of CNBC's March 30 "Street Signs" the market's actions, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) dropping as much as 300 points, are reflect, in part…

Should the voters in St. Louis feel guilty? If you're a CNN viewer, you would assume so.  A segment that aired on CNN's March 29 "State of the Union" looked at some of the cutbacks that will go in effect on March 30 to the St. Louis bus and light rail systems. "Metro faces a more than $50 million budget gap, two dozen bus routes are being eliminated, others shortened or put on less frequent…

While reporting on President Obama forcing General Motors CEO Richard Wagoner to resign, on Monday’s CBS Early Show, co-host Harry Smith happily declared: "It's the end of the road for GM's CEO, Rick Wagoner, ousted by President Obama as the White House demands more from the U.S. auto industry...we saw Bob Schieffer's interview with Barack Obama Sunday Morning and he said we need more from the…