Journal of Post-Ralphaelite Thought

By now you've at least heard about Thursday's Daily Show, wherein Jon Stewart pulled off his foolscap and grilled former hedge-fund trader turned business entertainer Jim Cramer about CNBC's (and the business news networks in general) failure to rise above mindlessly parroting the lies and half-truths fed them by the folks who brought you our current financial fiasco. Jon Stewart once again showed his "fake" news show does news better than the "real" news shows: his staff prepped him with a series of clips he rolled anytime his subject protested he was misquoted or hadn't said something. Jim Cramer was left no wiggle room. When was the last time you saw that sort of interview on, say, NBC? It was effective and devastating. By the end, Cramer was contrite and apologetic. Say what you will, Cramer went knowing he was going to get bitch-slapped. He gets marks for doing it anyway - unlike Rick Santelli, who's done little more than whine after Stewar...

By now who hasn't at least heard of CNBC on-air financial personality Rick Santelli's " Rant Heard Round the World, " in which he castigates "losers" who shouldn't get help by the government on their mortgages. Santelli, a former commodity and futures trader turned professional entertainer, launched his diatribe from the floor of the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, surrounded by the guys we can thank for $4.00 a gallon gas not too long ago. Short investment lesson: greed whips up panic over the cost of gasoline in 6 months and people investing in futures bid up the price to astronomical levels. Traders make a shitload of money. Fear they paid too much grips investors and the price falls like a stone. Traders make another shitload of money. "On-Air Editor" Rick Santelli's job? Whip up the fear and panic. Down in the pit where Rick prowls there's been a huge market over the last few years in " derivatives :" financial contracts, o...