At some points, I swear, Jim Cramer sounded like he was about to cry.
re: the mention of how much time CNBC has to fill with content: it’d be more of a surprise if a round-the-clock “business” channel DIDN’T consist of mindless shilling, since what it did do in that case would be impossible to fill that much time with. You could actually apply that criticism to the cable news channels too. I only watch them for cannon fodder & the occasional on-air establishmentarian train-wreck for my entertainment, since I know damn well that no media source with influence is going to directly touch the concerns of the average person, let alone my contrarian ass, and for the garden variety Who Did What Where stuff I can just go to the website, or any of a number of websites with a wider range.
Come to think of it, I’d apply the time-filler criticism to most cable networks, including Comedy Central (how ’bout them apples, John?), since off the top of my head I can only picture, say, 10% of what’s on at any given moment as filling its stated purpose, whether information or entertainment. This is why, save Daily Show, South Park & the afforementioned train-wreck TV that is cable news, my viewing habits consist almost entirely of sports, at least until Mythbusters finally comes out of reruns.
One more thing: since most people don’t have enough spare money to go hi-tech gambling (which is pretty much what the stock trade consists of), the idea of business networks catering to the elite end of capitalism really deserves a “no shit, sherlock”. Expecting CNBC to cover the finance sector skeptically is like expecting to hear Dick Vitale during a college basketball game say “so’n'so from Blahblahblah Tech is GARBAGE, baby! He better be studying hard, because I have a better shot at the pros than he does!”.
