How To Fix Financial Television was carried on Forbes.com:
(That’s the author photo — I look like a tough guy crime reporter. Only not so much in real life)
Please use the comments to demonstrate your own ignorance, unfamiliarity with empirical data, ability to repeat discredited memes, and lack of respect for scientific knowledge. Also, be sure to create straw men and argue against things I have neither said nor even implied. Any irrelevancies you can mention will also be appreciated. Lastly, kindly forgo all civility in your discourse . . . you are, after all, anonymous.
Faced with the choice between changing one's mind and proving that there is no need to do so, almost everyone gets busy on the proof. —John Kenneth Galbraith
Retail Sales in Jan rose .4% headline m/o/m, .7% ex auto's, .6% ex auto's and gasoline and .7% at the core. The headline figure was less than expected while the rest were slightly better. But, with respect to non headline sales, because Dec figures were revised lower, taking the two months together were about in line with forecasts overall. Sales rose in electronics, building materials, food/beverages, clothing, sporting goods, dept stores and restaurant/bars and fell interestingly for online retailers, health/personal care, furniture and motor vehicle/parts. Bottom line, headline sales were below expectations due to the greater than expected fall m/o/m...
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June 10th, 2009 at 5:10 pm
I love that photo. I want you to look at Gaspy “Gasbag” Gasparino just like that the next time you see him.
I don’t mean just at the beginning…the whole time.
June 10th, 2009 at 5:11 pm
A tough guy crime reporter…or the First Mate on an old tramp steamer!
June 10th, 2009 at 5:38 pm
You look like you’re trying to make me an offer I can’t refuse…
June 10th, 2009 at 5:47 pm
You look like you may have to do number 2….
June 10th, 2009 at 5:49 pm
You could fix financial television by painting a more realistic picture of the way things will be:
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/ABC-News-devotes-newscasts-to-apf-15492206.html?sec=topStories&pos=9&asset=&ccode=
ABC News devotes newscasts to `The New Normal’
“ABC News President David Westin said the network has held a series of off-the-record meetings with economists, business leaders and regulators over the past year and he was struck by how they all agreed on one point: When the recession is over, things won’t go back to the way they were before.”
June 10th, 2009 at 6:00 pm
Bruce,
know a coordinated Propaganda scheme when you see it..
“The New Normal” = Lower Standard of Living
June 10th, 2009 at 6:05 pm
BR-
dude – you look very serious, next time try a big toothy smile
hoffer-
exactly
June 10th, 2009 at 6:13 pm
Whos the guy on CNBC with the horn rimmed glasses that never lets ANYONE get a word in? I volunteer to hit him.
June 10th, 2009 at 6:39 pm
Ahh shucks… I was so looking forward to the return of Goldilocks.
June 10th, 2009 at 7:03 pm
BR, you look like a guy that should be standing outside a social club somewhere in Brooklyn, with an unregistered iphone in your jacket.
June 10th, 2009 at 7:31 pm
You look like one of Tony Soprano’s capo’s. Not Vito though. Not that there’s anything wrong with that.
June 10th, 2009 at 7:35 pm
How to fix financial television…Let’s start with the meatball Maria B. why does she have 6 strands of different color in her hair …and that ‘GOTH’ look …somebody tell her CBGB is closed……
June 10th, 2009 at 7:36 pm
Where in sam hill do they find those photographs? There has got to be a photo of you with a kitten or a puppy or something out there they can use instead. Ya know, something showing off your sensitive side!
June 10th, 2009 at 7:59 pm
Great to hear Forbes posted your article. Maybe an exec at CNBC, CNN, Bloomberg or Fox News will read it and try to incorporate a few of your suggestions into their programming. Any of them would be an improvement. As to the photo, I’d hate to meet that mug in a dark alley. lol
June 10th, 2009 at 9:57 pm
Agreed about Louis Rukeyser. I watched WSW the Friday before Black Monday when Marty Zweig predicted market Armageddon. I’d never seen anyone on TV look as upset and scared as Marty did that night. Some say his appearance on Wall Street Week caused the meltdown and I always wondered about that. But he sure knew it was coming.
June 10th, 2009 at 11:25 pm
Vachon, that historic broadcast is available on YouTube at
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2MyToTwag34&feature=PlayList&p=ECF43F1EDB2AE157&index=0&playnext=1
June 10th, 2009 at 11:31 pm
That’s the kind of mugshot that you’d find in the magazine in the front pocket of a Delta flight. :)
June 11th, 2009 at 12:29 am
“The New Normal” = Lower Standard of Living
For everyone but the ones who got us into this mess. What are the odds on that?
When you go from $40 million net worth to $20 million net worth, you’re really not losing much because you are still miles ahead of the crowd
June 11th, 2009 at 1:07 am
@Transor Z: Thanks for the clip.
Favorite quip “aren’t these guys overpaid?” Duh.
Most alarming. Only twenty years ago, the DJ was 2500. And inflation has been?
A runup of insanely historical proportion? And exactly why? Yield? Don’t think so.
June 11th, 2009 at 9:16 am
BR,
As usual, you encapsulate the problem and offer only useful solutions. I think we have all said or wished for these same things at various times, but you have a gift for putting it all together succinctly. I’m not surprised Forbes reprinted. You’ll know you’re starting to have an impact when you see some television talking head repeating the same ideas! Let’s hope they have the decency to give you credit, or we will talk bad about them here! Talking could even lead to implementing some of those ideas… thanks for trying anyway!
June 11th, 2009 at 10:29 am
Great advice for the clueless “FinTV” controllers Barry, especially at CNBC.
June 11th, 2009 at 11:21 am
If CNBC wants to shout over their guests they have every right to do so. It’s called freedom of the press. Why anyone would agree to be put in that position as a guest is beyond me. I also wonder why those of you who dislike this practice continue to watch the network.
All you have to do is switch to Bloomberg. Just change the channel.
June 11th, 2009 at 12:46 pm
THAT MY BABY DADDY
June 11th, 2009 at 4:14 pm
those are good suggestions regrding media… I don’t watch business-TV, but why do people watch? Is it to relax or to get information, or for news or gossip? What audience are the broadcasters aiming for; or which demographic..
June 11th, 2009 at 5:41 pm
As a new follower of the Big Picture I must say it is refreshing to read all the posts and comments. There is a much better educated and informed group here than what I find on Wall Street or DC.
The picture would be perfect on the back of a mystery thriller (aka Mickey Spillane).
I was a bit disappointed in not seeing the remaining list from the Forbes article. I concur with #1 and would like to see the rest. Can you post it?
I too gave up CNBC and their constant need to interrupt and talk-over their guests. Bloomberg is more information and sedate for this viewer.
June 11th, 2009 at 6:02 pm
Okay, found the link with the full 10 points. Very good. Hate the Octobox format.
June 12th, 2009 at 1:06 am
Crime reporter? Barry dont do this to us, you sell yourself too short. Rumor has it Tom Cruise is no longer a lock on the next episode of Mission Impossible. Just a thought Barry. Talk to your agent …
June 12th, 2009 at 1:19 am
Hey now, dont brush me off too quickly. Your look is more reminiscent of a character of high intrigue, a multi-tasking enforcer from one of Jack Higgins novels. Try this on:
“Night of the Fox” .. http://images.forbes.com/media/columnists/barryritholtz_170x170.jpg
“The Valhalla Exchange” …Economist Barry Ritholtz seeks out the answers that have elluded so many, in this spell binding, masterpiece thriller … The final twist is a shocker…
“Memoirs of a Dance-Hall Romeo” …Economist Barry Ritholz is at it again, this time weaving deftly in and out of financial reports and news operatives who are given in various unspeakable buzz phrases and floating octo screen tapestries. … A twirling smorgashboard of intrigue, mixed with officials of high government – incestously linked with financial firms too unmentionable in their vice to air on most networks. …The Long Island to Washington setting lends the novel a genuine sense of freshness absent from standard entries in this genre …Ritholtz takes us over the jumps, hurdles and blind leaps of faith, that many television reporters are helplessly devoted; reading whatever goes by on the teleprompter … The final turn, revealing … a delicate, perma-bull shocker.
heheheh. Hope this finds you in good humor my friend.
Do you see it?
“A Season in Hell” … Special agent Barry Ritholtz on assignment, this time in …
June 12th, 2009 at 8:49 am
If we followed your advice, they would have to set Larry Kudlow loose in society. Much better for them to have him on TV during a period when most people have the sound off anyway, where he can do less damage.
As for Dennis Kneale (they guy with the glasses), I would happily take my place in line to hit him as well.