The new battle in the class (4.00 / 3)

war is to convince people that big investors and CEOs still deserve defference, because otherwise people might want real change.    

GE Media plays a big role, notwithstanding Keith and Rachel's shows.

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by: Tom Wells @ Fri Mar 27, 2009 at 16:08:40 PM UTC

Of course, being owned by General Electric, NBC (4.00 / 3)

In these economic times, NBC needs to stop blaming the public and instead focus like a laser on holding Wall Street accountable.

whose interlocking boards of directors have A LOT at stake in maintaining the currently very profitable status quo, will do no such thing.

As anyone would know who had been paying the slightest bit of attention these last 30 or so years...

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by: konopelli @ Fri Mar 27, 2009 at 16:27:58 PM UTC

The Govermarket (0.00 / 0)

I notice whenever the "Market" is doing well it's because the "Government" has just added more bailout money, or loosened regulations on accounting, or made some such announcement in support of the "free market"...

So...that means ...whenever the "market" does better your money is being stolen by the government for use in the market.

Maybe it should be called the Govermarket....because there is no separation between Wall Street and the Government. Almost All of the people Obumbah has appointed are Wall Street people.

Wall streets collapse seems inevitable to me. I mean...this Tarp money is really bonus money being given out before the Govermarket declares bankruptcy.

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by: Stu Piddy @ Fri Mar 27, 2009 at 16:54:07 PM UTC

David Gregory (0.00 / 0)

Isn't David Gregory the guy who was dancing on stage with Karl Rove celebrating something?

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by: apykoris @ Fri Mar 27, 2009 at 18:10:41 PM UTC

MTP David Gregory... (0.00 / 0)

...often and repeatedly makes it a point to say how horrible and wrong it would be to tax the rich since he is now a part of it with his new job there on MTP.

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by: mariann @ Fri Mar 27, 2009 at 18:29:42 PM UTC

A trillion here (0.00 / 0)

David Gregory seems to have no idea what the Wall Street boys and girls really did.  They didn't rob a convenience store or take away a few million.  They didn't just stop at the billions either.  They went into a whole new category of theft: the trillions.

What is so special about these clowns?  They have degrees from famous institutions?  So do I and so do many, many others thank you.  There are at least a million people who would be glad to step into those shoes and who could do the job who are never, ever considered.  They would do it for a whole lot less thank you.

What does Wall Street do for the economy?  Does most of the money go to the companies or is it just a fancy casino for speculation where the wizes make hundreds of millions and the rubes and pension funds get had.

First figure out what the trillions mean and then get back to me you over made establishment mouthpiece.  

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by: David Kowalski @ Fri Mar 27, 2009 at 20:02:02 PM UTC

OK. That's it. (0.00 / 0)

I have watched Gregory for the last time. He is supposed to be both smarter than that and above name-calling. Now who is stupid?

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by: hivanh @ Fri Mar 27, 2009 at 22:55:24 PM UTC

fungible (0.00 / 0)

Apparently money isn't fungible anymore, silly me, it is a separate pool.

Screw David and Erin, they piss me off and certainly aren't smart enough to have the right to tell me "you don't understand"  

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by: Duncan Watson @ Fri Mar 27, 2009 at 23:04:52 PM UTC

CNBCs Business Model (0.00 / 0)

While I sympathize with this protest, this action basically demands that CNBC trash its entire business model. And while I happen to think that's a great idea, if you've noticed the way the entire GE family of outlets has gone way out of its way to help Cramer and CNBC try to recoup some kind of insipid respectability, then its clear their response to this long-running scandal is simply put, "Clap louder bitches!"

CNBC is little more than a special case of the larger problem with the corporate media: they are all largely propaganda organs. CNBC is just the market cheerleader, duping mindless retail investors into buying a shipload of horseshit and calling it "investment." When those folks talk stocks, its almost entirely product placement--which they are paid to do. When they interview business leaders and "experts," its all just manipulation--and I'm sure they are paid to do that as well. It's all advertising in one sense or another and people pay for that. It doesn't come free.

When they talk econ, it's all about deluding people that things are really okay and that light at the end of the tunnel is just Ben Bernanke's chrome dome in the sun... and certainly not a runaway train. Of course, virtually all of the establishment media, corporate and otherwise (that's you, NPR), do the same thing. They openly mislead their audiences with pure bullshit in a feeble attempt to create a bull market out of nothing but hot air. Threaten some rich guy's bonus and they get all mad. But throw millions of people out of their homes because of the massive, systemic fraud of the banking industry... call them "losers."

So this protest will not accomplish anything, because it would mean they would have to commit journalism and that's not something they are even remotely disposed to do. They don't even know how! It would kill their profit centers as they see them.

Gregory and all these folks have been on a massive power trip for too many years now. They don't know anything else. They're not even all that bright either, but they are just dumb enough they can't see it. So these massive institutions have it in for us and our democracy. That much is plainly apparent.

So asking them to trash all that in favor of being decent citizens strikes me as a time waster. They've committed themselves to just the opposite way of doing things and done so consciously... and as a business model. A profit center.

I think the best thing to do is simply continue to expose them as the lying hucksters they are. Undermine them directly. When a purveyor of "news" becomes a pariah, there's little point in watching them anymore. Once people realize they're being lied to, who wants to waste their time plumping up CNBCs ratings and ad revenue?

Let the market have it's way and put them out of business.

"More than any other time in history, mankind faces a crossroads. One path leads to despair and utter hopelessness. The other, to total extinction. Let us pray we have the wisdom to choose correctly." -Woody Allen, My Speech to the Graduates

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by: Emocrat @ Sat Mar 28, 2009 at 02:01:35 AM UTC

Yes. There IS a fundamental misunderstanding (0.00 / 0)

And it is that GE does not understand that millions of not-so-ignorant people know this about CNBC:

In 2004 GE bought Vivendi's television and movie assets, becoming the third largest media conglomerate in the world. The new company was named NBC Universal.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/N...

NBC Universal consists of the following companies:

NBC, Universal Studios, NBC Universal Television Group, NBC News, USA, CNBC, MSNBC cable TV, NBC.com, MSNBC.com, iVillage, Bravo, qubo, SendMeRSS, Telemundo Television Studios, The Weather Channel

So the answer to the question of why NBC is so adamantly opposed to anything that would threaten GE's dominance in the following industries:

Electricity
Entertainment (a good description of their News Media)
Finance
Gas Turbines
Medical Imaging Equipment
Medical Software
Motors
Railway Locomotives

is

"At this point, nearly anything that helps working class American threatens GE."

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by: Michael Harold @ Sat Mar 28, 2009 at 13:17:21 PM UTC