Follow up to last nite’s Kudlow & Company

Well, that was amusing . . .

Considering I was in the
Lion’s Den, outnumbered 3 to 1, I thought I held up pretty well.

The funny thing was that
while I was expecting Brian "Pouting Pundits of Pessimism" Wesbury to be the lead assassin, it was  Noah "Cult of the Bear" Blackstein
who was the guy on the attack (the lesson in that is always guard your flank).

And as much as I’d like to trash Noah,
the guy’s up 25% for the past year, and in a flat market, that’s
impressive. Of course, if we have any kind of slow down, his
performance will suffer much more than most — but that’s just the "Cult of the Bear" talking.

The
real issue in discussing economics on TV is that you have somewhere
between 50-100 words to answer a question that requires really 1,000 to discuss properly. I’d love to debate Brian Wesbury (who is a really
nice guy) in the WSJ’s Econoblog on the subject. Brian, are you game?

Some commenters yesterday asked why I even do the show; there are 3 reasons:

1) It’s actually alot of fun
Live TV is a high wire act, and since I don’t ride motorcycles, it is
the most dangerous and thrilling activity you can do without a helmet
on. I get out of the office early, get whisked to the studios, bump into interesting people — I got to tag Steve Liesman about an issue we discussed last week (NFR’s +22% data point). Besides, you never know when you will humiliate yourself in front of a Nobel Prize winner.

2) I can’t let the "other side"
the perma bulls and supply siders — have the air all too themselves!
Besides, Kudlow’s bombastic On Air persona is just that —  Larry is really a pussycat, and is
one of the most gracious people you will ever meet in person.

3) Lastly, its good business; my
partners love the exposure. Of course, they think its 5 minutes of easy
work — they don’t see the hours and hours of prep work that goes into
it . .  .

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What's been said:

Discussions found on the web:
  1. Bob Forest commented on Dec 8

    You did an awesome job in the face of overwhelming odds, Barry. You effectively counter-balance Larry’s endless obsession with putting a positive spin on nearly all data or events without alienating him or those viewers who adhere to his dogma. I do not normally watch Kudlow because I know what most of his guests are going to say. When you are on the show I make a point of watching the segment. Also, thank you very much for sharing your thoughts and insights on this blog.

    Best wishes,

    Bob

  2. nate commented on Dec 8

    i could not watch.

    Maybe Larry’s bosses and coaches are encouraging him to be bombastic on the air. I’ve noticed he may be getting a little bit more saucy lately. He still is very mellow compared to Cramer. Kudlow, to my knowledge, has yet to throw a chair on television.

  3. nate commented on Dec 8

    one can be a “bull” on stocks and a little bit of a “bear” on the future or current overall economy.

  4. royce commented on Dec 8

    Barry:

    The format of the show stinks. Even if Larry and everyone else is a good guy behind the scenes, watching it is like seeing the financial version of Hannity & Colmes. What’s the point of watching when someone can’t get ten words out before being cut off?

  5. Fred commented on Dec 8

    Fight the good fight. Even if you don’t win, the other guy should know he has been in a fight.

  6. Emmanuel commented on Dec 8

    Fer crying out loud, Mr. Ritholtz! Why don’t you appear instead on Bloomberg, which I at least think tries to moderate its rah-rah factor in comparison with CNBC? Like me, you’ve taken CNBC to task many times for its endless cheerleading.

    You know, if I wanted to see some real cheerleading, I’d instead tune in to whatever football game is on. Instead of seeing old white guys in suits, I’d much rather see scantily dressed comely young things strut their stuff. And oh yeah, CNBC sucks eggs.

  7. JWC commented on Dec 8

    I can’t stomach Kudlow. I don’t care if he is really nice off the screen, he is another schill for the Bush administration. Does his show have transcripts?

    Still, I’m glad you go. there is a real need to get the other side and some balance on CNBC. This morning I saw the gal from labor on CNBC, spinning spinning…. Tried to pass off that the job situation is much better than when Clinton was prez, after all unemployment is only 5% now compared to 5.4%. To be fair, they attempted to throw some semi- hard questions at her, but the only thing that came out of her mouth was spin, spin… If you say something often enough people will believe it strategy.

  8. Jon H commented on Dec 8

    By the way, if you need to do a rush shave, I’ve found that a good way is to just slather some hand lotion on your face ( don’t rub it in, make sure it’s still on the surface) and shave with that instead of shaving cream & water.

    The lotion provides lubrication, so it isn’t like you’re shaving dry.

    When you’re done, just wipe off any excess lotion or rub it into your face or your hands.

    Main risk might be of being a little greasy/shiny for a while, but makeup might take care of that.

  9. bill commented on Dec 11

    Barry — what do you make of the bullish action in the Transports, Hotel/Lodging, Steels, the emergance of Industrials ( DE, TEN , PCAR… ) and the Banks stocks? — too many people looking at the 4 year cycle and saying a big down but in 98 we had a “down” month which satisfied the 4 year cycle crowd — based on what stocks are saying, we can rally, have a normal correction in 06 and start a “new” bull cycle

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