Masters of opinion clash

Yes, the battle of titans came togather once again. The first such meeting since President Obama has been in charge. What it might reveal about both and their respective viewpoints is sure to create comments for months, perhaps years.

If somehow you have failed to see the Jon Stewart Daily Show, I can't imagine it. While the program is geared towards the college crowd, it loses none of its humor for those of us a bit older. It is parody and political satire often at it's best. It is also a highly liberal and Democrat friendly program.

If you are unaware of the O'Reilly Factor, you are likely in love with President Obama and Democrats. Ok, that's a joke. Seriously, the program is a well organized commentart on issues of the day, based on the center-right, that includes the voices of the left, far-left, as well as those on the right.

In listening to both men one thing is immediately clear. They are both intelligent, passionate men that believe they are serving the public via the mechanisims they employ. To that end both must be praised. Beyond that, well it comes down to personal views.

I think that Jon Stewart did quite well on the show. He made interesting observations, while defending his well-known left of center personal views. I believe he was treated fairly, and was as aggressive as he received aggression.

Though I will note that the comments by Stewart on how President Obama should weild more power and control over Congress was a bit disturbing. It clearly marked a direction towards an imbalance of power that President Bush was raked over coals for even hinting at, particularly by Stewart.

But here is the interview, let me know what you think of part 1. Part 2 will be on tonight.

Jon Stewart vs. Jim Cramer: really missing the point

So Jon Stewart took on Jim Cramer tonight. It was a beat down. It was vicious. It was obvious that Stewart had an ax to grind. And it was wrong on many points, yet true to the feelings of many.

As a former stockbroker I have had many discussions with people about the markets. I’ve written many things about the economy. And from time to time I have noted points in agreement and disagreement with Jim Cramer. But to attack him, and/or CNBC, as if they were the cause of the current economic crisis is both a fallacy and an attempt to find a scapegoat.

To be fair CNBC and Cramer failed in their mission to inform the public. Then again, neither ever truly were supposed to do that. Anyone thinking that either was more than an educated high-brow entertainment probably was sniffing glue (or some other like substance) and likely thought they would be made a millionaire by buying internet stocks they never heard of, or knew what they did, during the late 1990’s.

Is the market a fixed game? No. Is there an unfair advantage for large corporations and wealthy individuals? Absolutely. And are the major brokerage firms the biggest crooks in the industry? I’ve always believed so. Yet not one part of this, or what Stewart was railing about, is any different than it was 50 years ago for the most part.

What has changed is the greed and work done by small investors. If there is anyone to be upset with, it has to be that.

Jon Stewart will without doubt gain huge ratings. Jim Cramer may be looked at with harsh eyes in the near future. And CNBC will get the branding of slipshod reporting that they deserve. But it really doesn’t matter.

I don’t care how many regulations are created to prevent another Bernie Maddoff, or Enron, or Tyco, or AIG, and on an on. Given time there will be another scandal. And another ridiculous bubble in some sector of investing, with a crash that has to happen as well. Because the greed of everyone, at each level of the game, necessitates it.

I listened tonight as Stewart and Cramer went back and forth saying ‘You seemed to know’, ‘Did you know’, ‘Why weren’t we told’, ‘I was lied to’, and so on. Its wonderful posturing, but you don’t need to be an economist to have seen what was happening. Without following more than the politics of the day, occasional glances at the Dow Jones Index, and reading bits of news over the internet I foresaw the problems of the mortgage crisis. It was blatant, and there was plenty of time to act before the hammers started falling. And while I’m smart, I’m not so smart as to have been the only one to recognize what was going to happen.

Don’t believe me? Check out what I wrote back in October 2006

“The economy is better, things have improved. Barring events like 9/11, or Enron, the markets will continue to grow. But hype will never help mom & pop investors. It does help some institutions though, like LEH which was 15.68 around Feb 14, 2000 and continued HIGHER to 78.70 on Oct 16, 2006.

Just keep this stuff in mind as you watch the talking heads spout how great things are in the market. Or you see that ad saying that you should invest on your own.”

or on December 2007

“The fact that the mortgage crisis is far closer to its beginning than end. I expect that there are far more homes in danger than has been seen to date. Even with the highly selective mortgage bailout stated by President Bush, many are going to be at risk. Credit card debt can only float for so long. With the added pressure of oil at or above $100 per barrel, which I expect mid-January as I stated above, more will fail even if rates are lowered (less than 2 points).”

or even January 2008

“Those that are in trouble, or will be, with their mortgages will not be helped by lower rates as that will not cap increased heating and gasoline prices. Small businesses are not going to be able to get new loans as easily even with lower rates as financials scramble to find cash to absorb the losses they are experiencing. Effectively some degree of pain must happen and is not preventable.

I say all this for one reason. So that you my readers can be prepared. If I am correct even in part, then this nation will encounter times we have not seen for quite a while. I doubt that we will see the inflation and unemployment that existed in the 1970’s (when I was a child) but I am sure that we will see levels that those under 30 have never experienced.”

My point is that the current crisis was very visible, if anyone was not bothering to be distracted by hype from the likes of Representative Barney Frank and other Government “watchdogs”, or being entertained by CNBC. All you had to do was read and do the math. Investments are no different than your home, if you don’t keep up with it then don’t be surprised if it falls apart one day.

But there has to be a bad guy. In America we are conditioned to look out for someone in a black hat if something goes wrong. And today that guy gets to be Jim Cramer with Jon Stewart as our hero. Bull.

The bad guy is in equal parts the Government, for creating an environment over a decade ago that was little better than a Ponzi scheme. Then there are the corporations, that jumped in on the game looking to ride the wave for as much short-term profit as possible. Add to this mix speculators who looked for ever faster gains with commensurate risk. Throw in cable networks whose goal is ratings above reporting, and then put in a public that didn’t care as long as the paper investments looked better than the Jones’ 15 minutes ago.

And this complete recipe is virtually exactly what happened with the internet bubble, except this one was bigger and not quite as exhuberant. No one learned then, because no one cared. All that mattered was the immediate gratification being reported on our instantaneous communication devices. But the risk of instant gain is the environment we find ourselves in today.

It will happen again. No matter the regulations – because most of the factors that caused this meltdown were all legal if not bad business decisions which can’t be regulated. No matter the protests of Government – because their lack of understanding (or overall disdain) feeds these kinds of bubbles and crashes. Without regard to who reports what facts in whatever manner – because most don’t care or bother to pay attention to the details anyway. No matter the pain for the public – because everyone wants to be a millionaire tomorrow without doing the work required, and many believe they deserve such rewards just because they breathe air in America.

So the indignation of Jon Stewart amuses me. Yes, Cramer and CNBC could have done a better job of reporting. Yes, Congress could have done a far better job of enacting realistic regulations and understanding how those regulations are affecting the market. And a big YES, the public could have paid attention to the facts at hand and did some math. But none of them did these things. Nor do I believe they ever will, to any large or useful degree.

So I won’t score the big points with the blogosphere with this post. My past comments about the economy and markets went without much fanfare as well. Such is the fate of being right consistently. But let me ask you this…

Do you really want to feel smug and righteous because some comedian beat up on a quasi-entertainer/commentator, while politicians throw your future earnings down a drain and your retirement funds evaporate?

Do you know what the Government is doing with trillions of dollars, and how that will affect investments today and in 5 years – with even a slight bit of educated estimates?

Do you get to save your house, or retire, or pay for whatever any easier because a liberal leaning comdey show host got serious for a minute while you still don’t know how to read a corporate 10Q, understand why a second stimulus plan is already being worked out and how badly that will affect your savings and jobs, and re-elect Congressional leaders that can’t figure out their responsibilities even after 20+ years on the job?

I’m sure that many of my long-time readers do get all these things. Perhaps even more than a few of my first-time readers will. But for those that don’t, ignore the hype this one program will raise and start paying attention. Your money will depend on it.

I will now go back to the entertainment news Black Entertainment USA is normally dedicated to.

Viacom (and maybe Jon Stewart) doesn't like Black Entertainment USA. Maybe.

So it would seem that Jon Stewart doesn't like what I had to say. Either that, or the lovely people at Viacom (the same joyous people responsible for BET, Flavor of Love, and numerous other insults to African Americans) finally got pissed off. I believe that it is a combination of both.

Now to be fair they have a valid reason for they have done. I had a video on youtube of a portion of the Jon Stewart Daily Show, where he interviewed Mike Huckabee. Those that visit my political website, VASS, likely read my post about their conversation already. I had the video to present the actual conversation, and then expanded on it with my views. There was no question that the video was of Comedy Central's show.

That said, I am unfamiliar with how often Viacom asks Youtube to pull a video. It wasn't something they found randomly. I can say that as there is no dearth of video clips of Stewart on his show on Youtube. Thus they specifically sought out my video for deletion. So I caught someone's attention.

Now I understand how they can claim this was copyright infringement. But I really would have enjoyed anyone from the Daily Show replying to my comments. I'm a big boy, I can take sarcasm and criticism. Even better I would have enjoyed an honest debate. Because this seems to validate my view that you can say anything to far-left liberals and their programs - as long as you agree with what they have to say.

And if it was the Viacom suits that came after me, I really would love to have them make comment. There is a wealth of issues I have with their programming.

Either organization is more than welcome to contact me, or leave comment, and have a discussion that I will provide verbatim to you my readers, if they have the balls. That isn't an insult, it's a challenge. And yes I will come to you if you prefer.

On the positive side though, it is nice to know that I am having an impact. I can't wait to see a response from 50 cent, Snoop Dogg, OJ Simpson, Caroline Kennedy, Senator Hillary Clinton, Representative Barney Frank, or any of the other celebrities, entertainers, politicians and people of note that I have discussed among my blogs and 1700 posts.

And I want to thank you my readers. You and your comments are what make my posts register on the radar of the powers that be. Now that we have their attention, let's see if we can get them to get some things improved.

Latin music, celebrity donations

Well I really haven't thought of much to seriously speak about lately, so I'll stick with a few light thoughts.


I noticed that Mr. Marc Anthony and wife will be doing a somewhat biographical film due out next year. This should be quite interesting, as I like Mr. Anthony's music and acting. And he is a Nuyorican... like me. So that is a big bonus to me. His choice in a wife, as expressed by his current, is another matter but he is happy so what does my opinion matter?

One thing that does matter is the amazement that constantly surounds the music industry in the U.S. when any form of music that isn't in english does well. Given that there are several ethnic populations within the U.S. it shouldn't be surprising. Considering 'Hispanics' (I don't like that term) are the 2nd largest group in the nation and that spanish is the 2nd most popular in the world, it really shouldn't be a surprise. And the 'Latin Explosion' or whatever the exact term was back a few years ago was silly. You would think there was never a popular 'Hispanic' musical artist selling well in the U.S. before (Santana, Julio Isglesia, Gloria Estefan, Ruben Blades, Jose Feliciano and many more).


On another front is the news of Mr. Denzel Washington making the largest donation ever to Winter Assistance for Rocky Mount program. I enjoy seeing when movie actors and other celebrities give to worthy causes that they believe in. Too few do so. Or make charitable acts. Like when Mr. Samuel Jackson was on The Daily Show, and spoke about how he helped the Hurricane Katrina victims he encountered personally. He also mentioned how (as I recall) he helped Mr. Tommy Lee Jones feed hundreds at a cookout. [Mr. Jackson mentioned in the same interview that he feels direct help is better as donations get spent everywhere first leaving little to actually help people with - ie the 'guy who buys stamps']

Many artists of various types and fields of focus, often do events in honor of ____, with proceeds going to that cause. I hate them. While We Are the World, Live Aid (the first) and maybe the first Farm Aid were are helpful, and unique the rest are much less so. Much like the money wasted on providing some New Orleans victims residence in luxury cruise ships (at 3x the cost of a seven day cruise), funds from these events is wasted on every hand involved. Paying for television time, cameramen, organizers, security, lights, grip work, commercial sponsors, ect. All that must be paid for... Oh, and the entertainers too, as most do not forgo their fee to support the event.

Why can't Artists just donate their time or money or both to a cause they believe in? The excuse of 'everyone will line up for a donation' just doesn't work. These are famous and well-paid movie actors, sports stars and other celebrities we are speaking about. They already get people lining up for handouts. You think Ohpra doesn't get solicitations every day from some group or another? Or Puffy Combs? Donating to a truly needy cause or helping them directly (and at no cost) just helps people, it doesn't hurt the celebrity. As a bonus that most don't talk about, donations are tax deductible. And before anyone says, but they do it annonymously... most can't. Why, because its easier to go to Mr. Shaquille O'Neal and say Mr. Michael Jordan just gave X, can't you at least afford to match it. Once you tell one person a secret it stops being one. So most of the time if you don't see a donation from an artist, but you do see a big event with part of the proceeds donated, then you can conclude they haven't given anything but they did recieve.

But as for Mr. Washinton, again I say it's nice to see a celebrity make a donation to a worthy cause they believe in.

All of this are my thoughts, what are yours?