Media Exposed

CNBC Panel/Carl Quintanilla, Becky Quick & John Harwood

CNBC hosted a GOP debate last night, and it was disgraceful.  The moderators, Carl Quintanilla, Becky Quick and John Harwood, were exposed as political hacks.

CNBC used to be a respected network which brought America the financial news it sought well beyond the three major networks. Certainly, there has always been rivaling political presence among the hosts on the network, held in adequate check in years past.

But in the last half decade or so,  CNBC has turned into a biased arm of NBC News, which is no longer credible as a unbiased presenter of the truth.  There are still good people over at CNBC, most notably Bill Griffith, Sue Herera, Jim Cramer, Joe Kernen and the wonderful Larry Kudlow.   But given what America witnessed last night, and make no mistake the suits over at the network are thrilled placing a much higher value on political positions than profits or God forbid the truth, they may not have the lights on much longer.

Several former employees have made their way over to FOX Business Channel, inclusive of Neil Cavuto, Stuart Varney, Lou Dobbs,  Eric Bolling, Trish Regan, Melissa Francis and the "Money Honey", Maria Bartiromo.

Becky Quick used to be quite good, but the arrogance dripping off her blouse last night flooded the stage. Carl Quintanilla has seemingly gone the way of Tom Costello (now at NBC News), a good reporter who reached certain status and turned political.

John Harwood, a supposed new representative of parent NBC News who gleefully baths in Barack Obama's bathwater, has a long history of partisan journalism.  Harwood extended himself so far out last night, he arrogantly lied on the issue of Marco Rubio's tax plan.  I wonder how many Americans thought he may have a point no doubt missed Megyn Kelly pointing out Harwood's lie.

Jim Cramer, and animated truth teller Rick Santelli, got a few questions in an effort to stem accusations of bias, but it failed miserably to work.

Senator Ted Cruz, R:TX, had enough and called the panel out.



The comments made by Cruz received the highest register among the polling by Frank Luntz of Luntz Global since he began charting responses in 1996.

Incidentally, the second highest rating came when Sen. Marco Rubio, R:FL, labeled the mainstream media a Hillary Clinton Super PAC.



 BAM!  The truth just hit everyone across the forehead with a two by four.

The media was given special privileges to operate to keep the three branches of government in check.  As Rubio, and Cruz, pointed out last night with lethal precision, that has not bee the case in America for some time.

It is among the many reasons America is now suffering, falling significantly short of reaching her potential.  As such, these individuals who are part of the propaganda machine protecting the elected officials operating in contempt of our Constitiution should be considered enemies within.

A Little Bit of Freedom Relinquished is a Lot

Tumblr CEO David Karp joined the gang on CNBC's Squawk Box on Tuesday morning for a discussion on Net Neutrality.  It was an eye opening interview to be sure.  Take a listen:



Karp is nothing short of a moron, and it is mind boggling he has obtained the level of success he has.  What he knows about economics and freedom you could put in a thimble. Even though Andrew Ross Sorkin made valiant effort to bail out Karp, he firmly established himself as ill-equipped for such discussion.

I can assure you, as both Becky Quick and Joe Kernen pointed out, that companies are not going to spend money when they are assured of no return on investment, unless as Karp pontificated, we are in "new world" of socialism and "deals" with no return on investment leading promptly to bankruptcy.

In addition, Karp, no doubt inadvertently, noted how a "blessed a handful of partners" (crony capitalism) will do deals to present the next emerging platform.  Without a return on investment, perhaps Karp envisions the taxpayers funding these operations.

Meanwhile, Glenn Beck spoke with somebody, who even as an Obama supporter, understands the subject and the potential future role the legislation will play in the marketplace in Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban.  Take a listen to the bleak picture Cuban foresees:



Although the particulars of the regulation are being hidden from the American people, who will have to learn about the horrors of it after it is passed, Net Neutrality is being shopped as regulating the allowance of everyone to get full bandwidth at even costs, fixing a problem that is not currently broken.

Net Neutrality, while allowing the government regulatory oversight it currently does not have and a taxation mechanism for a starving beast in the federal government, is actually a hidden vehicle to silence political opponents. With Net Neutrality, economic control by government will expand and freedom will retract, and a widespread assault on freedom of speech, something once upon a time we fought to the death to preserve, will commence.

NOTE: In the spirit of full disclosure, I am a longtime shareholder of both AT&T (T:NYSE) and Level 3 Communications (LVLT:NASDAQ).

Jail The Looters

In the aftermath of the greatest financial crisis in a half century, progressives who seek additional governmental control jumped at the chance to increase financial regulatory instruments. Never let a crisis go to waste, you will recall.

Charged with crafting such policy were two Congressional members, both of whom should be investigated for their role in the collapse, Senator Barney Frank, D:MA and Congressman Chris Dodd, D:CT. Exactly what our corrupt government needed, inmates running the asylum.

With the Democrats holding super majorities in both Houses, the Dodd-Frank Bill became law. The basic purpose of the law is to prohibit fraud and chicanery in the financial system.

Someone forgot to tell former New Jersey Governor Jon Corzine, who was recently under consideration by the Obama administration as a potential successor to Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner. After losing the governors race, Corzine, a Democrat, became Chairman of MF Global, and under his leadership, the company has filed for bankruptcy and is the subject of an FBI investigation. In short, the money is missing.

Bart Chilton, CFTC Commissioner who is on the circuit promoting his new book Ponzimonium, chats with The Squawk Box Crew; Becky Quick, Andrew Ross Sorkin and Joe Kernen, and guest host Mario Gabelli, on the recent increase of Ponzi Schemes and the goings on at MF Global. Take a listen:

The situation over at MF Global is very troubling and funds cannot be properly accounted for. Many investors appear out a lot of money, including Trends Research founder Gerald Celente, whose gold has seemingly turned to dust. The company cannot make investors whole, and Chilton says it is "suspicious as heck".

It should noted that existing regulatory agencies and the new far reaching Dodd-Frank bill, a job killing beast smothering business, failed miserably to prohibit Corzine and this group from crashing to bankruptcy, allegedly for the misappropriation of funds.

Remember in "Its A Wonderful Life" when the money went missing. George Bailey, upset with Uncle Billy, angrily quipped 'someone is going to jail, and it ain't gonna me me". Well, back in the day, folks did go to Sing Sing when money went missing.

It will be interesting to see, provided the allegations result in malfeasance and charges, if Democrat darling Corzine is prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. You know how George Bailey would feel about it, but good guys are not winning these days.

Three Legs or Four Pillars

There are few politicians these days that totally understand the dire situation Uncle Sam finds himself in these days, but one who does is Representative Paul Ryan, (R:WI), who made an appearance on CNBC's Squawk Box last week, and his commentary has been the talk of the blogosphere, including here on BAHL's Blog. Ryan is a real star on the Republican side, and his specialty is economics, which is critically important during these times.

With Ryan in as guest host, the crew welcomed Illinois Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D), a member of President Obama national commission on fiscal responsibility (stop laughing), to discuss the current economic conditions, which contrary to Obama's "Summer of Recovery Tour", are not pretty.

Not to bore the batcrap out of the audience, but we are really at a crossroads this November, and a stark contrast to Ryan's limited government and Schakowsky's Keynesian model of big government stimulus is made during this interview, which is a must see.



The stimulus spending has been a epic failure, as we predicted it would be. Unemployment is still hovering near 10% and will go higher in upcoming months. Rep. Schakowsky thinks government spending creates jobs, which Ryan accurately points out is created by small business, who remain afraid of excessive government regulatory encroachment, increased taxation and the uncertainty of future governmental action, which includes uncontrollable spending.

For example, under the control of the Democrats, the House has yet to put forth a budget. Can you imagine the biggest increase in governmental spending in our history being implemented without a budget!

Rep. Schakowsky, clearly struggling for friction in the interview, was contradictory in statements about decreasing the debt, labeling decreasing spending as one of the three legs of a stool to economic stability and reducing the debt. Schaloswky has supported all of Obama's expansive spending measures, which have exponentially increased the debt.

Schakowsky labeled the three legs of her stool to economic stability as decreased spending, raising revenue and growth. Well, do not sit on this stool because the policies of the Obama administration, with full support from Schakowsky, has increased spending, is losing tax revenue from business tax receipts and is barely growing, even with the astronomical levels of stimulus. In fact, the growth may be short lived as a double dip recession remains a strong possibility.

Ronald Reagan found four pillars to a strong economy; sound money, low taxes, limited regulation and free trade. Each of these pillars is currently being legislated against, so you make the call.

Ryan cleans Schakowsky's clock during this discussion, with CNBC's Becky Quick even getting in on the fun. Without question, Schakowsky should be among the very first voted out of office at the earliest opportunity.

Schalowsky, a progressive, it should be noted, was one of the strongest supporters of the health care bill. The goal of course was a single payer health care system, and she was quite giddy about how it would put insurance companies out of business, killing hundreds of thousands of private sector jobs.



In closing, did you hear Rep. Schakowsky mention how Rep. Ryan voted against more money to teachers. Funding for teachers, and in fact the entire budget for the public school system, is a train wreck, but not for the reasons you may think. You can place the blame on the National Educators Association. You would think they put kids first, but think again:



It is clear Rep. Schakowsky is borderline clueless, and I am not only one who recognizes this. With politicians like Rep. Jan Schakowsky in charge, the financial standing of our country, as well as your freedoms, is in substantial danger. Please be advised.