Friday, March 20, 2009

Cramer vs. Stewart

rappers

the comedian takes on the money man

when jon stewart ripped into jim cramer for not alerting America to the impending fiscal crash…it set off an interesting debate about the role of the television programs that pass themselves off as news.  as usual, the crowd of rappers have a lot to say.

Jon Stewart should stick to his own forte.  He is not a stock analyst. You know there are people out there like Jim Cramer who know what’s going on from experience.  Too bad they couldn’t be elected.  The money people run the country .  We have not, nor likely will elect anyone who will keep them in check.  Shame on us.  Where is Teddy Roosevelt when you need him.
K Wrath

CNBC used the good name of NBC News to gain instant credibility.  That credibility brought with it the responsibility to report the news, not make the news and definitely not to let the news be manipulated by thieves and crooks while reporting the news.
Cramer on NBC Nightly News being interviewed by Brian Williams also drives home the point of CNBC being a “news organization” not an “entertainment organization”
CNBC lost it’s focus and the network should be replaced by a real news channel reporting on business and investing.
If you took the time to watch the unedited version of the Stewart/Cramer interview from start to finish you can only reach one conclusion.  CNBC should go.
Everyone in America should watch the clip, if they did, they would be mad as hell, just like me and everyone in my office who watched it.
The best was that Cramer was done in by Cramer.  His own words were used against him, because after all, he is just an entertainer, not an investment expert.  Low picking fruit for John Stewart if you ask me.
I just hope our local NBC affiliate uses this as a reminder to stick to the news and nothing but the news and leave the entertaining for other programs.
Ed Y,  Slatersville

For sound financial advice you hire someone. The talking heads don’t know a thing about what is really going on.
But Cramer deserves the blame in this one.
Tony p

How ridiculous!  TV is not the cause of this meltdown, people are! If we would all just go back to doing what we would normally do, spending would increase and the economy would again begin to flourish. Those of us who are out of work might then be able to find another job. It is a big cycle of events and not the TV that controls the Market swings.
Larry S. Cumberland

My Dear Bill, We have had the biggest meltdown in your life time and mine and all of the network pundits didn’t do a thing for the little guy with his 401k retirement plan. I remember when the talk was no more retirement plans everyone has to have a 401 and invest it themselves. The Big Media jumped on it but didn’t look at the Bernie Madoffs and Sir Stanford in the Caribbean and their Ponzi schemes.
Bill you get paid from advertising money and if Madoff or Stanford had paid it WJAR would have taken it. The Market has always been a stacked deck and it will be in the future. If Networks put on programs that push the market then the networks should take the heat.
You should be more like your brother and stick to the facts and interpret them objectively.
Your Truly, Bill M,  West Kingston

Television programs themselves may not exactly be to blame for crashes in the current stock market. The commercials that bring the programs on are, all they focus on is how much medication someone needs, when most do not need any at all. There are way too many ads about things that are wrong and how you can’t get through these so called “tough” economic times. If these ads would return to commonly used products and services, fast food restaurants, snack food, even what is new in music or movies. This is how we got into this horrid situation to begin with. Focusing on what is wrong too much. We have been in tough economic times before, no one has even attempted to look at what was right when the ecomony was kicking in the nineteen nineties. Return to commercials that don’t tell me to use things just for my health, but more for enjoyment.
Timothy D

If Jim Kramer was such a sharp investor he would be relaxing on a tropical beach sipping margaritas,not ranting and raving on a nightly cable show. Monday morning quarterbacks are a dime a dozen.
Bob B

Stewart was totally unfair in his attach of (Cramer?).  The broker guy is simply an entertainer (if you have a brain). Where was Stewart when Barney Frank in August said that Fannie and Freddie were sound??? Stewart is a political satirist - so where was he on Barney.  Nowhere - they are both dems and “thou shall not slander a dem”  (Just like RI)
Joyce S

The media’s non reporting on credible intelligence while promulgating faulty intelligence to lead a nation into war is a war crime. Further it is a matter of National security to investigate and reveal how this was done, not a matter of National security to cover it up. The same goes with the economy. It is of a matter of National security to open the books and see who profited from what and how the reckless, self-serving criminal behavior of financial institutional gangs and their policy makers protected by the courts and stock holding judges, destroyed the credibility of the banking system and the market; not a matter of National security to cover it up.
When the American Darthvader goes unchallenged on how a country experiencing a civil war without sufficient water or electricity, riddled with Depleted Uranium is better off now than the dictatorship we installed; begs explanation. Why did they not militarize the borders? The Media should be informing people, asking How the anti Labour policies of Contract with America is conducive to a productive American Work force. If Labour is stifled are we planning on moving to the shuffling paper sitting in houses watch it grow money debt manipulation economy? Are the strong fundamentals of give to the rich to strengthen the poor working? If the government has no money how can they insure the banks? If the Insurance companies had money tied up in the markets how can they meet their obligations? The corporate Media has power as Wall street well knows but its credibility is dwindling, its non reporting is to blame.
Zuke

The blame in this mess is not from talking about the economy, its about NAFTA , AIG , Citibank , Countrywide , Merrill Lynch , BoA and most important Alan Greenspan ! Mr.Greenspan could have raised the prime to slow the housing bubble , Pres. Clinton should have listened to R.Perot ( the big sucking sound , NAFTA not Monica ) and lastly the “ PIGS” on wall street horded huge profits for years are now crying poverty ! I for one believe Jim Cramer was looking out for the little guy.
Lets all stop paying taxes and get nominated to Pres.Obama’s cabinet
B.Mac Cumberland

Wednesday, March 18, 2009

10News Breakfast

Bill Rappleye

welcome to our taping

good moooorrrning!  that’s what we say to the heavyhitters who come by our studios for 10 News Coference,  I try to put them a little off kilter…I mean at ease…by charging at them with a camera and quizzing them about their breakfast habits.  This week’s victim, our first, was a good natured Governor Carcieri.  On the way into the studio he told me he had a muffin and peanut butter for breakfast…an Englishmuffin, I hope not a blueberry.  He noticed we’re down a few workers at the dime…enjoy this impromptu tour.

Friday, March 13, 2009

3rd party dreaming

rappers

closing the gates

Rhode Island’s dominant political parties…if it’s fair to call Republicans dominant in this state…have a lcok on ballot placement.  For a new party to achieve recognition and a place on the voting ballot, it has to get signatures equal to 5% of the turnout in the last presidential election…and it has to do it in the calendar year of the election the new party wants to run in.  so the Moderate Party is suing…syaing it’s onerous to require 23-thousand signatures…in five months…a time period they say reflects the likely schedule…start in January…get enough to qualify, and then mount an election and fundraising campaign for November.  It’s not easy.  It’s a lot easier in other states.  Here’s what you think about loosening the restrictions some…

no changing the laws just for them if it says you have to start in jan. to collect 23,000 signatures then follow the rules like every other party had too.
William H

Just what we need, more politicians finding more ways to spend taxpayers money. I think we need to get rid of some politicians not create more of them.
Roger G, Providence
. By definition, political parties are private corporations and associations. The government has no business inhibiting or regulating their formation and existence. Political parties exist by their mere incorporation and self-declaration. There should be a clear separation of political party and state. And like the separation of church and state, government shall make no laws that inhibit or promote political parties.
John C
(Plaintiff in Gill vs. the State of RI, a case that challenged the constitutionality of 155 RI Election Laws in Federal Court)

No
And I am in favor of a new party
Howie, North Providence

Should the rules be changed? Maybe. Will the rules be changed? I doubt it. Both existing parties are not in favor of sharing votes with a third party. It is a fact that a third party takes votes away from the existing parties. The less choices we the voters have,  the better the politicians chances of getting elected.
Lee L,  Woonsocket

At the very center of our economic near-depression is a credit bubble, a housing collapse a systemic failure of the entire banking system. improvident loans, corrupted bond-ratings agencies, insufficient regulation of exotic debt instruments, easy money policy, irresponsible bankers pushing (and then unloading in packaged loan instruments) highly dubious mortgages, greedy house-flippers pricing houses out of the market. A pattern of reward for fiscal delinquency.
The list of causes of the collapse of the financial system does not include the absence of universal health care, let alone of computerized medical records. Nor the lack of college graduates.
Obtaining financing is not the reason people are not buying cars. People are not buying cars because they are worried about having a job to enable them to pay back the loan or they are already maxed out as prices rise. It’s the same reason people aren’t buying houses.
Any one running on a Tar and Feather ticket should easily get 23,000 signatures
Its time for all individuals to become corporate citizen entities allocating privatized gain into asset protection and socialize their cost of living.
Zuke

I don’t understand why there is a narrow time requirement to collect the signatures. I say let them on the ballot. If the people don’t want them, they won’t vote for them.
Bill, Portsmouth

Oh yeah, this state really needs another political party.
Then it will really be a shell game.
They should call it the Pothole Party and fix the roads.
And I’m tired of hearing about how the Democrats run the state,
when the people elect Republican governors.
As far as 23,000 signatures, that’s easy.
The hard part is finding enough “legal” citizens in this state.
Stuckinri

Of course Rhode Island should lower the requirements for new parties! It’s called democracy! The two parties we have now are useless and they know it, they’re afraid of decent competition. If we had some fresh new ideas in this state, maybe something would get done.
Bill G, Cranston

 

Friday, March 06, 2009

Troops out When?

rappers

Obama’s Promise

When President Obama revealed there’d be 50-thousand american troops in Iraq until at least the end of 2011, many noted it was a different result than what he’d promised during the campaign about getting out of Iraq…but a lot of Rappers believe he’s still holding to his pledge.  Here we go…
That sounds like a lot of boots still on the ground but the President knows what he’s doing and probably needs to keep some there for a while longer. I’d like to see half that amount. At least the trillion dollars being spent on rebuilding Iraq will now be spent in the U.S.A.!
Mike, Warwick

He is doing what he said in his campaign, but he did not know what was left for him at that time. They only told him just what they told us! Not Much! I do believe that we will come out of this better and stronger as a country! President Obama is trying very hard to make sure that he keeps his promises but they (Republicans) all need to cut him some slack and just keep their mouth shut!! Republicans just need to let the man do the job we hired him to do!
Donna S

Anybody who looks at the history of failed states in the last forty years, and what it has cost us, and then complains about Obama’s withdrawal plan is an idiot. Pulling out too fast, without covering our backsides, is as moronic as going in in the first place. Obama inherited this mess, he’s far more intelligent than most of us and he has a lot of things on his plate. Let’s give him a chance and try to remember that half a loaf is better than none.
Bill G, Cranston

When Obama campaigned he led us to believe that troops would be withdrawn soon after his election. I never believed that it could be done as soon as he claimed it could, because like the president that sort of action would have been irresponsible. We helped wreck the country and now we have to help with some of rebuild.
Steve, Westerly

I don’t think he’s going back on his word. During the campaign he said he was going to get troops out in 2010 & that is what he just gave the order to do. Part of the plan was to have a small force in a neighboring country such as Kuwait anyway which is where the 50,000 contingency force will more than likely end up in 2011 when all troops must be out of Iraq. No matter what anyone does Iraq will always be the 800 lb gorilla in the room until we as a nation first admit then find out why the Bush/Cheney Regime intentionally used faulty intelligance to make their case to invade Iraq in the first place.
Hound Dog,  Bristol

“The individual is handicapped by coming face-to-face with a conspiracy so monstrous he cannot believe it exists.“ J. Edgar Hoover

Those that took secret bloody oaths behind closed doors worshiping Jahbulon and Abaddon keeping the ruled in the dark and weaving a web of deceit; know that the false-flag party that continues The illegal Pakistan drone war and the escalation in Afghanistan mixed with the blood of Iraqi, Syrian, and Palestinian civilians, is provoking a backlash in which religion combines with nationalism to oppose foreign intervention. It is this that has been the real strength of movements like Hezbollah in Lebanon, Hamas in Gaza, the Mehdi Army in Iraq and the Taliban in Afghanistan which Americans want to eradicate but what Bush wants to be vindicated.The Obama Public Service Academy and civilian national security force are gearing up to turn the Public works recovery program to a war servicing industry. Much like President Franklin D. Roosevelt and the National Industrial Recovery Act. Repeating history - World depopulation and getting rid of the disgruntled unemployed by the Plutocracy.
The United States of America and its citizenry has been assessed, plotted against, and sold out by Policy makers, business, and the banking industry. Its workforce has been decimated its savings Weimar-ized. How Can the U.S. Economy Recover Without Manufacturing Capacity? None of the Traitors will be charged in, the biggest incident of financial fraud in American history.
The hypocrisy – of claiming that this plan “leaves Iraq to its people and responsibly ends this war,” is a farce with an escape clauses allowing the puppet Iraqi government to “request” a continued American military presence by being helplessly dependent on American guns and money to maintain its power in this this key oil nation.
A con man succeeds by gaining the confidence of the victim.The only change is that this President is capable of speech but talk is cheap.
Zuke

Well, gee…..how many Presidents in office who campaigned on promises fulfilled that promise in the first month of their presidency?  The expletive in your question is “campaign promises” – which is a dirty word with any politician these days; no politician should ever “promise” to do anything because it just doesn’t work!  So maybe those of you who were so caught up with the flowery rhetoric of Mr. Obama and were so elated of his election are just now finding out that he can’t fulfill his campaign promises?  How absurd and I don’t sympathize with you.  I only expected him to NOT fulfill any campaign promises as he spewed to his adorned followers, so it doesn’t come as any surprise to me what his agenda is all about.  In fact, he’s so full of (you know what) he’s not even telling his public what he is actually doing compared to what he “promised” – his agenda of closing of Guantanamo Bay’s military jail facility (where they housed those terrorists caught by our boys in uniform from Iraq and Afghanistan) is just one big disaster of a mistake and will threaten this United States and our men/women in uniform all over again!  How DARE he even think of letting those extreme terrorists go free after all the months it took for them to be captured and interrogated astounds me to the intelligence of this man you think is doing such a great job as President!  But you go ahead and praise him for whatever he’s doing and not be informed of what he’s really doing and what he made a mockery of our military, our United States (as he plunged us into socialism that he so dearly loves) and lied to the people of the United States of America!
C-Ann-C, Coventry

Yes, Obama is going back on his promise, but that isn’t unusual for a politician. At least it is a start in the right direction.
Bill, Portsmouth

  PLAIN AND SIMPLE, IT CANNOT BE DONE OVERNIGHT AND HE IS TRYING TO IMPROVE ON THE ALREADY CRUCIAL SITUATION THAT IS BEFORE HIM.  SO YOU HAVE TO SUPPORT HIM IN HIS EFFORTS UNTIL HE STARTS RENEGGING, ON PROMISES.IF ANYBODY THOGHT THAT HE COULD DO IT OVERNIGHT, THEY NEED THEIR HEAD EXAMINED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
AS USUAL THANX FOR LISTENING
A LOYAL RAPPER
LARRY, SMITHFIELD