Young Turks: Rick Santelli Defends AIG Bonuses

[Hissyspit]

Run time: 07:33 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZF35Prsg8kk   Posted on YouTube: March 18, 2009 By YouTube Member: Views on YouTube: 0   Posted on DU: March 18, 2009 By DU Member: Hissyspit Views on DU: 1442

 

[ihavenobias]

1. K & R. The Fox clip actually pissed me off a lot more...

I'm willing to accept the $50 billion a year Medicare waste/fraud if conservatives are willing to concede that Medicare runs at about 3% overhead (you can even say 10% to be incredibly generous).

By contrast private insurance runs at 20-30% overhead. How many billions does that "waste" each year? And that's the legal stuff (the outrageous CEO salaries need to get paid, as do shareholders, etc.).

[20score]

11. Agreed!

[RJ Connors]

2. "Do these guys think we are morons?"

Well, considering it is our bank account that is cleaned out and these guys are long gone and the politico's who helped them are walking the streets instead of awaiting trial, I would say yes, they think we are morons. And apparently they have good foundation for thinking such.

[provis99]

3. $50b in Medicare fraud. They just love to completely make shit up.

Maybe if they really wanted to complain about budget waste/fraud, they should focus on the bloated $600b military budget (I refuse to call it a defense budget).

[espiral]

4. time to bust out that shoe-cannon again n/t

[pleah]

5. The rethuglican spin machine has latched onto a new talking point.

Not surprised. They would love it if they could do away with Medicare.

Don't look behind the curtain routine.

[LynnTheDem]

6. I guess someone pointed out the wee FACT to santelli that his "losers" were mostly republicans.

However, the other wee FACT that the vast majority of Americans (almost 80%) OPPOSE the AIG bonuses seems to have escaped santelli's notice. So he's busy alienating even more Americans against him.

Excellent.

I love when rightwingnuts shoot themselves over & over again.

[MessiahRp]

7. I hate this Republican Corporate Cum Guzzler...

Everything this idiot says is garbage. Why doesn't CNBC just call themselves FOX Business 2?

Rp

[slipslidingaway]

8. Cenk is wrong IMO...

just as he was wrong when he stated that Santelli was for the 700 billion bank bailout bill in his first discussion of this topic. What Santelli said at the time was that there are snake oil salesmen on both sides of the aisle and that when any government comes looking for large sums of money saying that we Need to spend 700 billion Now people better watch their wallets.


This is the clip from September 2008 when the 700 billion bank bailout was being discussed.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I-1g0OZJIdk


Spitzer said something similar yesterday...

The Real AIG Scandal-By Eliot Spitzer: "This Was ALL An INSIDE JOB"

The Real AIG Scandal
It's not the bonuses. It's that AIG's counterparties are getting paid back in full.
By Eliot Spitzer

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=389&topic_id=5273635&mesg_id=5273635

[ihavenobias]

9. He's since corrected the bailout WRT Santelli, although his main point at the time was about CNBC.

And he's not "wrong" on this. Santelli DOES seem to be trying to distract people. Cenk has railed against the actual bailout from the beginning (his diary at DailyKos in September was BASHED by many, saying that we NEEDED the bailout and it was a good idea, etc.).

And last night on the show he discussed the AIG counter-parties. In other words, I appreciate the fact checking but you're not getting the whole picture by watching the 2-6 minute youtube clips of a 3 hour show.

:)

[slipslidingaway]

10. I think Cenk is trying to connect the wrong dots in this video just

as he did with the bank bailout. Also he is doing exactly what Fox did in the clip, which Cenk believes is wrong, connecting what Santelli said to the Fox News segment.

I wonder who is doing the distracting??? And I am not saying this is intentional on the part of Cenk, or Olbermann who stated the same false facts, but why focus on one small segment of the problem involving a small amount of money without mentioning the billions and trillions being given out through bailouts and guarantees?

My take on what Santelli said is to question why the bonus issue has become so important while the discussion of who the billions went to has taken a back seat, we are being distracted by the media, the administration and members of Congress. That is what I think he was saying.

I said the same thing when the focus was on Santelli, that we were being distracted from the real culprits such as AIG. Now the focus has shifted to AIG, but only the smaller amount of money involved.

You are correct about not being able to get the whole picture by watching a few minutes of video, but that is exactly what Cenk did when he discussed Santelli the first time and did not check his facts about what Santelli had said on the bank bailout.

I'm happy to hear that Cenk corrected his statements about Santelli and the bank bailout, corrections never get the same attention that an original piece does. By not checking the facts first many people probably still think that Santelli was for the TARP bill. Was the correction video posted here as I seemed to have missed it?

I usually agree with Cenk, but I think he has been wrong on this whole issue and has aided in the distraction from the bigger picture, the billions and trillions that are being dispersed.

[ihavenobias]

12. Again, watch the SHOW, not just the 2-6 minute youtube clips.

These are complicated issues and he's spent countless hours discussing them. I agree that in the editing for youtube process things get lost, but hey, it happens (especially with a tiny budget and staff compared to anyone in the MSM).

You know you can download the first hour of the show free on Itunes, and it streams 24 hours a day at www.theyoungturks.com. Not only that, but you can email the show and express your views AND sign up for a free account at the website and create a thread to criticize Cenk, just like this one:

http://www.theyoungturks.com/story/2009/3/17/114751/311

[slipslidingaway]

13. And that is what Cenk should have done before before he

discussed the issue on his show, he should have looked back to see what the position of Santelli was on the TARP bill.

It sounded as if Cenk never heard of the guy before, but then went on to make claims based on a few minutes of headline clips.

:shrug:

I have no interest in setting up an account to criticize Cenk, but when a thread is posted on DU that I feel contains errors then I'll respond.

Did you post the video of Cenk admitting he was incorrect about Santelli's position on the bank bailout, I seemed to have missed that thread and all the related threads.

Maybe you can post a link to the thread and videos that you mentioned.

[ihavenobias]

14. Go back and watch the 1st RS video. It was a generalization about CNBC as a whole WRT the bailout

Santelli's comments were simply a springboard, just like Jim Cramer was a springboard for Jon Stewart to discuss CNBC on the whole. Maybe it's not fair for Santelli (although Christ, the guy sure brings it onto himself, that's for sure) to specifically take most of the heat (just like Cramer), but they're symbols for what's wrong with the network.

Unfortunately Cenk doesn't have 1/1,000th the resources that Olbermann and Stewart have (of course you can send a donation and suggest they use it for more investigation into their stories since they have no corporate sponsors). ;) Or suggest they have some actual journalists since Cenk is (and he openly says so) just a commentator.

And enough with the "gotcha!" attempts with regard to apology videos. He didn't issue a formal apology, he just mentioned it the next time he discussed Santelli. If you want to go digging into the youtube clips to see if they're there, be my guest.

PS---I know you have a very busy schedule, but you should take 5 minutes out of it to call into the show now that they're taking callers sometime between 8-9pm EST for XM radio. Call in and say you'd like to disagree with Cenk regarding Santelli/AIG/Bailouts. He appreciates respectful disagreements.

[slipslidingaway]

15. And CNBC is no worse than other media outlets who sold us

the invasion of Iraq and cost the taxpayers trillions of dollars, people need to filter the information that is presented, especially in regards to the corporate media.

Nobody needs a lot of resources to investigate prior statements on the bailout, the video I posted earlier has been on youtube since September and is easily found with a few words in google.

Since you mentioned that he retracted what he said, I thought maybe the video had been posted or you knew where to find it. Not intereted in looking through the old shows for a couple of words.

[slipslidingaway]

16. I looked and could not find the correction you speak of....

also I'm not sure whether the statement by Cenk about the traders aka "sons of a bitches" who pushed these complex derivatives was ever set straight.

:shrug:


http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=385&topic_id=275513&mesg_id=276090

ihavenobias...Credit default swaps were not traded on the CME...

posted this in another thread.


I was offended to hear Santelli lump everyone together and call them losers, some people did buy more than they could afford and lied when applying for a mortgage and others used the growing equity in their homes to live beyond their means.

Others are having problems because of an illness, a job loss or because they were lied to by a "professional."


But Begala needs to check his facts on Santelli's position on the bank bailout and the derivatives which are traded on the CME.

WH Press Secretary Gibbs made the same connection to derivatives that Begala did and implied that Santelli was for the bank bailout.

IMO they need to be more honest when arguing their position, although it seems they rely on people not knowing some of the facts.


http://www.globeadvisor.com/servlet/ArticleNews/story/g...

"Yesterday, U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission boss Christopher Cox turned up the pressure on over-the-counter derivatives, a massive, unregulated segment of financial markets that is increasingly being cast as a leading villain in the global credit crisis. Mr. Cox called on Congress to give the SEC power to regulate credit default swaps (CDSs) - a rapidly expanding class of derivatives that serves as a form of insurance against borrowers' defaults, but which have become prime suspects for market manipulation and risk mismanagement in the recent market meltdown.


"The $58-trillion (U.S.) notional market in credit default swaps - double the amount outstanding in 2006 - is regulated by no one. Neither the SEC nor any regulator has authority over the CDS market, even to require minimal disclosure to the market," Mr. Cox said in his testimony to the Senate banking committee. "I urge you to provide in statute the authority to regulate these products to enhance investor protection and ensure the operation of fair and orderly markets."


...But while OTC derivatives fall out of favour, there is evidence that investors are increasingly turning to their regulated cousins, exchange-traded derivatives - the public futures and options markets. That's good news for CME Group Inc., the publicly traded company that, through the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, the Chicago Board of Trade and the New York Mercantile Exchange, is the world's biggest operator of regulated derivatives markets...



U.S. Regulator Approves CME Group Credit Swap Plan

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=ac7...

"...A clearinghouse is part of U.S. efforts to oversee credit- default swap market after the contracts contributed to the demise of Bear Stearns Cos. and the government takeover of American International Group Inc. Banks, hedge funds and other investors currently negotiate credit-default swaps privately in the over-the-counter market..."

[ihavenobias]

17. Sign up to become a member for a month.

Then you can listen to all 3 hours of every show from the first "infraction" up to today.

:)

[slipslidingaway]

18. You know...

if I make a statement and someone asks me to back it up I'll take the time to provide a link.

:)


For now I'll have to believe the statement was never corrected as well as the statement about the SOB's on the CME who brought the system down by pushing credit default swaps was never set straight.

Why take the time to listen when I already know that some of the information is inaccurate.

:crazy:

[ihavenobias]

19. My point was that I don't have the time to go back and listen to hours and hours.

I said he didn't release any formal correction videos, things just come up during the course of the (3 hour, 5 day a week) show, etc.

And if your standard for listening to any show is that the information is 100% correct 100% of the time, you can't listen to ANYTHING. Even Thom Hartmann (who I consider to be the most well informed talk show host on the radio) makes mistakes. Like when he said imports were 4% of GDP when the depression hit (it was something like 6).

He didn't issue a formal apology, he just stated the correct numbers the next time the issue came up. And Cenk is known to openly say "I was wrong".

[slipslidingaway]

20. And neither do I, but I did spend a small amount of time

trying to find the correction.

From the beginning I have thought that the whole Santelli thing was mostly a diversion from the big boys and big money that is going out the door, same with the bonus money. Not to say that it is not important, but in the scheme of things it falls short of the "real money."

Not expecting information to be 100% accurate, but I also do not have time to be distracted from the big picture...the billions and trillions.

:)

[johnnyrocket]

21. Why doesn't this guy have a full on network show?