Which side are you on? That's an old labor union song, but the words kept seeping into my brain, as I watched the news about capitalism today, thinking about the "which side" question as it applied to the split between Wall Street and Main Street.
But for CNBC, the answer seems clear enough: It's on the side of Wall Street. A strange choice, perhaps. I mean, all this time, I thought that there were more viewers on Main Street. Maybe CNBC thinks that computer terminals are viewers. Or maybe CNBC is just in love with the people it covers on Wall Street--and when I say love, I mean love. And even the CNBC talent that doesn't pull down megabucks salaries seems to have drunk the pro-Street koolaid.
Like anyone else with even a little money in the market, The Cable Gamer was pretty darn focused on today's financial news, as it played out from New York City and from Washington DC. So I resolved to watch CNBC, now that they were back from taking the weekend of. But TCG was shocked by what she saw, especially in the late afternoon, after the Republicans voted down the bailout bill. Now TCG will admit that she is not sure what to do about the Wall Street crisis--just like a woman, she can see the arguments on both sides.
But TCG does know this much: CNBC, like any news network, is supposed to play news stories down the middle, and not choose sides. But that's what we saw today, as CNBC blatantly sided with the fatcats--with Wall Street, which wants the bailout, bad, and with those order-following Democrats and Henry Paulson, the lead spear-carrier for the deal.
In particular, Maria Bartiromo kept saying, to anyone who would listen, that Main Street, which opposed the bailout, should now be made to feel some pain, so that Main Streeters and their representatives in Congress (the Republicans, joined by many Democrats, who today voted down the deal), would come around and vote for the bailout bill when it comes up again, probably later this week.
"The Money Honey" was echoed by most of the others on the channel, including Sue Herrera and Steve Leisman. Their relentless spin-line was that Main Street should side with Wall Street--if Main Street knew what was good for it.
Bizarrely, after trashing Main Street for being so cloddish, Bartiromo would then say, every so often, that in fact, Wall Street and Main Street are the best of friends. Gee, I hadn't realized that, and I bet most Americans hadn't either. I mean, when Wall Streeters were collecting multi-multi-millions in bonuses for outsourcing and offshoring jobs, I am not sure that Main Street then felt the love.
And when John Culberson, a Republican Congressman from Texas, came on CNBC air to defend his vote against the deal, Bartiromo & Co. were little short of abusive toward him. When are the Republicans going to stop being such narrow ninnies and "get with the program?"--that's what one of them demanded to know. (FWIW, Culberson was very focused and polite, despite the visible rage and mockery of the CNBCers--the Republicans ought to use him more on air.)
All in all, it was a galling display of arrogance. CNBC has made its choice: It's with Wall Street all the way.
Oh, and by the way, a special shout-out of praise to a lone CNBC-er Rick Santelli, standing on a trading floor somewhere, who kept saying that if Main Street is so opposed to the bailout--everyone on TV seems to agree that e-mails and phone calls are running 100 to 1 against the bill--then maybe the politicians were right to listen to the people. And maybe Wall Street should heed the folks, too, he added. Santelli's argument was ignored by Queen Maria, but he kept making it. So there's at least one person on CNBC who cares about ordinary people.
