Venture capitalist and businessman Kevin O’Leary expressed frustration over the minimum wage debate on Feb. 26 during a “Squawk Box” interview.
O’Leary, the co-host of ABC’s “Shark Tank,” argued on CNBC that the very debate over wage hikes is already hurting job creation by discouraging small businesses from hiring.
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Chipotle says it’s all about “food with integrity.” “Facts with integrity,” not so much. Marketing efforts by the burrito chain once owned by McDonald’s smear many of America’s farmers and use scare tactics to drive consumers away from Chipotle’s competitors.
On Feb. 17, Chipotle released an online original video series on Hulu.com, called “Farmed and Dangerous.” The comedy pits a the fictitious Animoil farm and their powerful public relations agency Industrial Food Image Bureau (I.F.I.B.) run by Buck Marshall against little guy “sustainable” farmer Chip Randolph, who has audaciously spread online video of their cow exploding because it was fed “petropellets.” The storyline is laughable, but the impression that big agriculture is guilty of practices that are harmful to animals and people isn’t.
“Opening Bell with Maria Bartiromo,” hosted by the former CNBC host, premiered Feb. 24, on Fox Business Network. According to Business Insider, part of the appeal for Fox News to hire Bartiromo was her ability to “book big-name guests,” which would increase the amount of exclusive content on the cable network.
Bartiromo’s guests on first FBN show included bank analyst Dick Bove, Dallas Fed President Richard Fisher, Gamco CEO Mario Gabelli, CEO of Nissan Renault Carlos Ghosn and House Majority Leader Rep. Eric Cantor.
CNBC’s Rick Santelli recalled the five-year anniversary of the stimulus, housing bailout and blowing “a gasket” during “Squawk on the Street” today.
“On Feb. 19 I blew a gasket. But basically, what was born at that point was the voice of dissension. How do we know that? Many of course still remember the IRS issues. President said maybe there wasn’t a smidgen of, of, of negativity there or news there or anything inappropriate there,” Santelli explained. “But it seems like, if you look back, it was February of 2009 where all of that started if you look at some of the IRS records. But dissension was born!” (Video Below)
Five years ago, CNBC’s Rick Santelli reacted to the possibility of a mortgage bailout with frustration on live television. Quickly, his speech on the trading floor became known as the “rant heard round the world.”
Santelli, an on-air editor who reports live from the Chicago Board of Trade, is frequently interviewed during “Squawk Box” and “Squawk on the Street.” It was during one of those morning discussions on Feb. 19, 2009, that Santelli let loose on a potential bailout of homeowners arguing that “the government is promoting bad behavior” and proposing that capitalists gather in Chicago for a “Tea Party.”
Most of the media may be convinced by Al Gore-style climate alarmism, but CNBC’s Joe Kernen isn’t afraid to speak his mind.
Joe Kernen, co-host of “Squawk Box” called the inclusion of Former Vice President Al Gore on CNBC’s list of “Top Leaders, Icons and Rebels” both “stupid” and “ludicrous.” His Feb. 11, comments came after fellow co-host Andrew Ross Sorkin suggested that CNBC ought to include Gore on their “First 25” list for his contribution to global warming awareness.
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For the second month in a row, the jobs report was a major disappointment. The January jobs report, released Feb. 7 by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), showed only 113,000 jobs added, falling far short of the more than 180,000 expected. The unemployment rate dropped to 6.6 percent.
The miniscule revision of 1,000 jobs to the December report compounded the shock. Many had dismissed the December report of 74,000 jobs added claiming it would be revised upwards with this report. (video after break)
The fascination with and excuse-making for long-gone communist dictators responsible for the murders of millions during their reigns is a long-standing phenomenon.
Both CNBC and the New York Times continued that hoary tradition last week. Each headlined reports on the 120th anniversary of the birth of Mao Zedong (whose name was written as Mao Tse-Tung until about two decades ago) with "Happy Birthday, Chairman Mao!" headlines. CNBC's appears after the jump (HT Twitchy; bolds are mine throughout this post):
Concerning the Christmas shopping season, the Associated Press's Anne D'Innocenzio and CNBC's Krystina Gustafson agree: It has stunk.
D'Innocenzio noted that "sales at stores have fallen for the third consecutive week as Americans continue to hold back on spending during what is traditionally the busiest buying period of the year." Gustafson, apparently looking over the same ShopperTrak data as D'Innocenzio, added that "store traffic in the final week before Christmas posted the third straight week of double-digit declines." Neither noted that combination of much lower traffic and relatively slight sales declines appears to indicate that the well-off are splurging, while many families of average means are AWOL. Though it's hard to see how, the keepers of Christmas data at ShopperTrak the National Retail Federation and the International Council of Shopping Centers still believe they will end up in meaningfully positive territory when all is said and done.
Print, broadcast or web, the media sure aren’t Nostradamus. In spite of their best attempts, the news media have gotten it wrong prediction after prediction on a wide range of business and economic issues in 2013.
Just in the past year, reporters warned of “economic doomsday,” thought Healthcare.gov was going to be “easy” just like Amazon.com, and warned of melting polar ice, even as a new record was set for ice mass.
The broadcast networks have aired more than a few critical stories about the ObamaCare rollout -- from "glitches" with the HealthCare.gov website to the millions of individuals who are losing their health insurance in spite of the President's oft-repeated promise to the contrary (a lie that NBC's Chuck Todd naively argued was not "intentional.")
But an exchange on Monday night's The Kudlow Report on CNBC included evidence the troubles are much deeper than the pro-Obama media have generally acknowledged.
CNBC’s morning anchors were troubled by the news that their own insurance plans will become more costly under the Affordable Care Act (ACA).
On Oct. 30’s “Squawk Box,” CNBC Senior Correspondent Scott Cohn revealed details of NBC’s open enrollment, brandishing an official fact book outlining the process. He quoted the document, revealing that the ACA would increase employee premiums.