It's really frightening to imagine that people who get the bulk of their news from Comedy Central's "The Daily Show with Jon Stewart" will be making what they probably think are educated decisions at the ballot box come Election Day.
Stewart, who is now a self-proclaimed economist, said on his January 23 show, "Our economy is tanking." And now you can add financial media critic to Stewart's list of titles.
"For insight, I turned to the two major financial networks to find out what is going on, or as they're known around here, ‘hot ladies talk economy with bald dudes,'" Stewart said.
However, CNBC's "Fast Money" contributor Pete Najarian got the distinction of being called "one hot bald dude."
Stewart discounted the financial journalism on CNBC and FBN as nothing more than putting "horrible things" into a "more euphemistic form," when he mocked an interview with former Treasury Department Secretary John W. Snow that took place at the World Economic Summit in Davos, Switzerland:
Stewart: "And how about, the bank just foreclosed on your house?"
Clip of Snow, being interviewed by CNBC's Maria Bartiromo: "The housing correction is going to take some time."
Stewart: "See - it turns out that you owning a house was actually a mistake."
Although Stewart was attempting to be funny, he actually was right - owning a house you can't make the mortgage payments on is a mistake.
"The Daily Show" returned with new shows January 7, despite the continuing Writers Guild of America (WGA) strike. Stewart's playing the economic hardship card in his routine is ironic, because he apparently understands the monetary importance of the show versus not crossing the striking writers' picket line.
When asked about the return of the late night talk shows and the two Comedy Central shows, "The Daily Show" and "The Colbert Report," Mona Mangan, executive director of the WGA East, said, "I think we would prefer they didn't come back." Mangan spoke about the strike January 23 at an Americans for Tax Reform roundtable in Washington, D.C.
