CNBC

It's sad when just about the only place to get the truth about what happened to precipitate the current mortgage-lending mess is the Colbert Report. Jim Cramer of CNBC's "Mad Money" appeared on the Comedy Central show on Monday. The takeaway soundbites: Cramer said "I'd love to, but I can't" pin the blame for the debacles at Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac on President Bush. He noted that "the…

Remember the furor and the comedic punch lines as a result of Sarah Palin’s statement, implying that she needed someone to clarify the role of the Vice President? Well, brace yourselves for a similarly overwhelming media reaction to Joe Biden’s solution on where one can locate the definition of the Vice President’s role – Article I of the Constitution. Problem being, it’s actually Article II. To…

You've got to love brutal honesty, especially when it comes from the financial media. The Senate's version of a bailout bill, which passed last night by a margin of 74-25, included "sweeteners" - or obscure tax breaks - including benefits for the manufacturer of wooden arrows used in children's toys and another for litigants in the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill. Melissa Francis, co-host of CNBC'…

As NewsBusters has been reporting for months, CNBC's chief Washington correspondent John Harwood seems to take every opportunity afforded him to bash Republican presidential candidate John McCain.Having once again done so on Tuesday's "The Call" on CNBC, anchor Melissa Francis asked whether or not Harwood was nonpartisan.The delicious exchange occurred after Harwood spoke in great length about…

The shock and awe of the financial market meltdown is just beginning according to CNBC star Jim Cramer. Cramer on CNBC's Sept. 29 "Mad Money" cautioned viewers about the current market. His advice - do nothing because there's more pain to come if no rescue plan makes it out of Congress. As he put it: "sit on your hands." "Only those stocks that are sure enough to pull the trigger on until we…

The theory that bailout legislation recently defeated in the House of Representatives would make money for the federal government has been propagated by the financial media. But according to a recent report released by the International Monetary Fund (IMF), a profit is unlikely. The September 2008 report from the IMF stated the chances of the government recouping anything more than just a…

If you don't give me money, I won't bail you out! Conservative opposition to a federal bailout of financial institutions is over campaign donations, not a desire to uphold sound market principles, according to CNBC. CNBC's chief Washington correspondent John Harwood said Sept. 25 on "Squawk Box" that he had a conversation with "a top Republican member of congress last night" who told him…

As the Bush administration on Friday proposed a sweeping government bailout to address the nation's financial woes, CNBC's chief Washington correspondent John Harwood told viewers that such a move could help John McCain's presidential campaign because the "crisis on Wall Street benefits Barack Obama." This came just days after CNN's David Gergen and Candy Crowley made similar assertions with the…

Comparisons to the current Wall Street financial situation to the Great Depression have not been unusual in the media, but Thursday's NBC Nightly News went a step further into inducing panic. Delivering a healthy dose of hyperbole, Steve Liesman of CNBC prompted a “wow” from anchor Brian Williams when he raised the spectre that the credit troubles could lead, “some” would say, to the “U.S.…

John Stephenson at NewsBusters early this morning asked, “Will (the) Media Report Obama’s Mocking of McCain’s Disability?” The answer is "I doubt it," at least beyond their blogs. Print edition or televised examples will be rare to non-existent. Two other pertinent items will also probably be ignored: Bill Clinton's acknowledged lack of tech skills and virtual non-use of e-mail.More important,…

In light of their reporting on the failure of investment firm Bear Stearns Companies Inc. (NYSE: BSC), it seems CNBC reporters aren't "tip-toeing around on eggshells" when reporting about problems at Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. (NYSE: LEH). On CNBC's "Squawk Box," reporter Charlie Gasparino told co-host Joe Kernen, "I will say this about the Bear Stearns thing when you compare that [Lehman]…

You would never associate sex and drugs with crude oil - but politically, the Democratic Party might try. Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Fla., appeared in an interview on CNBC's September 11 "Power Lunch" the day after it was revealed that federal investigators discovered an Interior Department group overseeing the collection of oil and natural gas royalties improperly had sex with subordinates and…

 On CNN's American Morning today, White House correspondent Suzanne Malveaux reported on Barack Obama's campaigning in Virginia.  Afterwards, anchor Kiran Chetry had a question:CHETRY: All right. And Suzanne, what's on tap for the campaign today? And please tell me it's not lipstick again.MALVEAUX: Let's hope not. He's going to be in Norfolk, Virginia. That is in southeast Virginia, and it's home…