There she was, Erin Burnett, in her second outing as a media star on CNN with her hour-long program venturing to the wilds of Wall Street to confront that ragtag assortment of demonstrators voicing their frustration and anger at the plenitude heaped on Wall Street while they and their future were being foreclosed by an old boy network that left most of them and the rest of the nation in the dust bin.
Cute as a button, and dressed the part complete with v-neck blouse and designer sunglasses perched on her head, she was almost indistinguishable from the crowd of demonstrators. She happened upon a young man named Dan ("our hero of the movement" as she put it) who happened to be an out of work computer programmer. One can readily presume Dan, as so many of the others, was at the Wall Street demonstration because of his frustration that so few were able to do so well with the government's largesse, while he and so many of his peers were struggling to even get a job, or anything that would permit them to access a meaningful future.
Ms. Burnett and Dan sat together in the middle of so many other souls (or as Ms. Burnett would describe "a Mixed Bag... with books, bongos and banjos... ) milling about looking like two kindred spirits whiling the time away.
Ms. Burnett wasted little time getting to the heart of the matter, to expose that the demonstrators barely understood what they were protesting. To this end she asked Dan whether he knew that Wall Street paid back all the monies the government advanced to them under the bailout program? And that the government actually made money?"
No, Dan replied, he didn't know that.
So there, Ms. Burnett proved her point, that the demonstrators didn't really know what they were talking about. This motley crew didn't know what it was demonstrating for, nor did they even know the facts. So, by inference one couldn't -- no, one needn't -- take them seriously.
No inference here that these demonstrators were venting their anger at a Wall Street that was bailed out with billions, taking home billions, while many of the demonstrators lost their jobs, their homes and many their futures.
Left unasked and unanswered were questions that went to the heart of the issue, questions that were clearly too freighted for Ms. Burnett's taste and proclivities, such as:
- "And did you know that at the height of the crisis Goldman Sachs was able to muster a $23 billion bonus pool while Main Street was being devastated and millions throughout the land were losing their jobs and their homes? That last year alone Wall Street set aside a record bonus pool of $135 billion this while the rest of the nation was still in deep recession?" Dan, did you know that?
- "And did you know that Bank Holding Companies like Morgan Stanley and JP Morgan Chase were using TARP funds meant to shore up their balance sheets and stimulate the economy to charter VLCC tankers (these are oil tankers over 200,000 Dead Weight Tons -- DWT -- nearly three times the size of the HMS Queen Mary), load them with oil paid for with TARP funds, depositors government insured deposits or virtually costless money secured from the Fed window, only to keep the ships at sea for months to play the oil market? Or how their speculation drove up oil prices resulting in higher gasoline prices for everyone? Or how these hundreds of millions of dollars could have been used to renegotiate many strapped homeowner's mortgages permitting them to keep their homes? Or just extending loans to small business or large to get the economy moving again?" Dan, did you know that?"
- "And did you know that Goldman Sachs was being reimbursed $13 billion -- 100 cents on the dollar -- on its proprietary/speculative positions with AIG in 2008 while homeowners throughout the land were taking massive haircuts on the value of their homes? You didn't know that Dan?"
- "And that Jamie Dimon, JP Morgan Chase's Chairman CEO got a big fat raise of over 50% to the teens of millions of dollars while his bank was foreclosing on and evicting families of servicemen fighting in Afghanistan, thereby contravening laws that were specifically meant to prohibit such heartless bank policies? Dan, got ya again?"
- "Or that the banks were playing the oil market casino helping to push oil prices to the unheard of levels of $147bbl in June 2008, in turn helping to bring about the economic tidal wave that became the housing and financing debacle of September that year? Dan, you didn't know that either? I'm beginning to wonder about you."
- "Or the billions they made and from which enormous bonuses were derived at Wall Street houses by crafting allegedly made-to-fail securities, such as Goldman's infamous' "Abacus" mortgage securities, sold to the unsuspecting, including in some cases municipalities and pension funds and then shorted by the very same firms that created them, costing its customers hundreds of millions of dollars that helped bring about the near collapse of the financial system? No Dan, you didn't know that either. I could go on but I think I am beginning to embarrass you, so I'll stop now."
No, Ms. Burnett did not ask any of these questions leaving the young man being interviewed and those watching to perceive the whole "Occupy Wall Street" demonstration as a naive folk fest not understanding the depth of the issue. Wouldn't it have put a smile on the program's viewers face if Dan had answered:
"But Ms Burnett: You say the TARP funds were paid back, and with interest permitting the government to make back the credit it extended and the cost of funds. That's well and good, but isn't this more like a deck steward tossing a life preserver to an overboard drowning passenger, who after being saved clambers back on board, returning the life preserver to the steward while commanding him to fetch him a Bloody Mary? And you expect the steward to say "thank you" even if the passenger hasn't'?"
No, Ms Burnett, these are not misunderstood issues by the demonstrators, whether young or old, hippie or teacher, ragtag or sophisticated. These are real life issues of national and societal importance, and their impact on our lives is yet to be determined. But you did look cute.
Follow Raymond J. Learsy on Twitter: www.twitter.com/raymondLearsy
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But why should these kind of people keep getting second chances to pretend they aren't the people who have wrecked this country? I've been watching her on CNBC for years, and if you don't think she's part of the corporate, wall street, vampire-squid, life-sucking culture of greed that got us into this mess, then you don't know squat. She towed the party line at CNBC for years, swatting down anyone who even remotely suggested that Goldman Sachs was bad.
Her move to CNN is just another step forward in the kind of career where doors are pushed open in ways they wouldn't be for the other 99.9%. Did you go to Harvard? Work at Goldman Sachs? Are you marrying a Citibank executive? She is.
Trust me, people. She's the enemy in sheep's clothing - no matter how they spin it.
Go ahead, Erin, alienate that unimportant educated 25-34 year old demographic. Their use of social media is proving you even less relevant than you thought you were.
Your target unimportant 65-80-year old tea party demo will appreciate ya for straightening out that unemployed computer programmer whippersnapper.
Don't disparage the silver foxes we are not all CNN, Fox zombies!
I do watch CNBC and often I get the feeling that they try and present things as separate issues and avoid anything that may cause you to see the effect of those individual issues in a bigger picture. So you can have a discussion that tax rates for corporations in the U.S. are high compared to other countries, which is supposed to make you feel sorry for them. But left out of the equation is the fact that the lower tax rates in other countries are as a direct consequence of arm twisting (sorry lobbying) by those very same corporations.
You are rightly upset….but at the wrong person. You should not be angry with for outing that the protestors have no clue about the economic realities that they are protesting. They don’t and most Americans realize this. You should, instead, be angry at the fact that these protestors are economically ignorant and have misdirected their angry at the wrong set of culprits; they should be angry at the Fed for creating the economic conditions of the last decade, not bankers who are simply doing what they should do -- make money!
Regardless, there is one thing that is very clear, these astro-turf protestors are just rehashing old Tea Party issues: bailouts, lobbying, the Fed, economic policies, etc. They are a bit late with this and the Tea Party has more credibility on the issues they seek to address.
The best thing they could do is stop whining because the government can no longer give them free stuff by spending other people’s money and instead start looking for a job. The American people are tired of having to fund these guys through unemployment insurance and welfare so they can waste the spend it protesting.
Kai
The Tea Party has one thing these protesters don't have, a sick prejudice against President Obama.
I am just pointing out my view on this.
Kai
Erin Burnett
1. Began her career at Goldman Sachs
2. Became engaged last week to David Rubulotta, a Citi executive
3. Once commented that lead toys from China were good because they are cheap.
How about that for a story. Do you wonder why she is making these biased reports about this movement now? Do you think maybe if she had any journalistic ethics at all she would not have reported on this story? She is the 1%, my friends.
Sources:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erin_Burnett
http://www.zimbio.com/Erin+Burnett/articles/rErb32hi8dL/Erin+Burnett+Huge+Week+OutFront+Debuts+Engagement
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x1612728
Kind of like today, can we all agree no one in Washington is listening, BofA, GE pretty much any conglomarate with an office in Ireland can manage to get by my calculation -12 tax rate. The CEO take a $1 dollar salary the rest in stock options to lower his personal share to %16 (unless they incorprate themselves and lease an office in Ireland )
I dont know what percentage of Americans would leave a fellow American behind under duress. Whatever the % I call em cowards.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/occupy-wall-street
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2044267/Occupy-Wall-Street-protests-spread-LA-Boston-Chicago-Denver-Seattle.html