- Rick Santelli Is A Racist!

No, I don’t really think Rick Santelli is a racist, but since I’m quite sure that someone as nuanced and enlightened as say a Joy Behar or Whoopie Goldberg will certainly be saying it very soon, I thought I’d try to stay ahead of the curve.

The truth is while I don’t think too much of most of the people on CNBC, I’ve always kind of liked Rick. Even though I haven’t worked on an energy desk in nearly 2 decades, it’s where I started my career. In my heart of hearts I’ll always think of myself as a commodity guy so I guess I feel that connection. And Rick appeals to me in the same way that Sarah Palin does. In my circle of acquaintance I don’t think he’d be one of the smarter people, but his head is screwed on straight, he’s guided by his conscience, and he has learned the lessons of history, so he’s my kind of guy. His basic view is one that we would all be better off if we were left alone to decide for ourselves how to live our lives, and I strongly agree with him there. I’m quite sure we’d get along well.

Steve Liesman on the other hand, is Rick’s liberal alter ego on CNBC and although I have much bigger problems with his view, that isn’t to say that I have problems with him. Like Rick, he seems to be a nice, likable, honest, and certainly well intentioned guy. His problem is that he’s simply wrong about his basic political philosophy. At his core, his view is based on a belief that Americans are too stupid to run their own lives and that things would be better for everyone if we just empowered ‘the smart people’ to make all our decisions for us. Since liberals assume that means they get to run things, it’s their view pretty much all the time. But in Steve's defense it’s during times of crisis when there appears to be the most evidence to support the 'elite' view.

But if you take an honest look at history the evidence is overwhelming that it’s the Santelli view of 'every man choosing how to live his own life' that leads to the best result for the most people. Every time collectivism has been tried it’s led to disaster and suffering. The more centralized the control, the more serious the disaster. This is because it's impossible for any one person, no matter how smart or enlightened or well intentioned, to know enough to get it right for everyone. But after decades of being told otherwise in our academic institutions and in Paul Krugman’s OpEd columns, we seem to have forgotten that basic historical fact.

I’m sure it’s simply an oversight, and has nothing to do with the press being ‘in the bag’ for Obama, but amazingly, the mainstream press keeps forgetting to mention that nearly half the people in the country don’t agree with Obama’s plan to make out children into serfs to reward irresponsible homeowners. That’s why Rick Santelli’s little rant on Squawk Box has garnered such attention. He's a part of that half and I guess he isn’t ‘enlightened’ enough to read the writing on the wall and modify his opinions to be in line with the editorial view of CNBC. He’s more commodity guy than journalist I guess. But unlike the New York Times attack dogs, when I say it... I mean it as compliment.

And I'm sure those aren’t the only attack dogs who will be taking an interest in Mr. Santelli. He is from Chicago after all… I’m sure right now every prosecutor in Illinois is digging through his past to find enough dirt to shut him up. We’ll no doubt be hearing all about his speeding tickets from the 80’s, and the time in college when he was caught drinking in public or some other travesty. Katy Couric will be doing a prime time interview of his grammar school teacher who claims that he was always a ‘bad influence’ because he refused to share his twinkie with the other kids. And 60 minutes will have an in depth expose about how he got his driveway repaved without filing a construction permit.

And there is no doubt that the dimwit liberals of the media world like the chicks from the view, will almost certainly be calling him a racist. Why? Well he’s opposing an Obama plan so why not? It doesn’t matter to them that Rick just doesn’t want people who acted responsibly to have to bear the burden of those that didn’t. And it won’t matter to the politicians either. We’re getting Obamunism whether we like it or not. We’ve already made that poor choice, and unfortunately there isn’t much Rick Santelli can do about it now.

Too bad though…. He’s got the right idea… and I hope that in a few years when the bill starts to come due we all remember that. I hope he’s around to help rally the troops. He’s an honest guy who spoke from his heart, but when liberals are running the show that’s a very dangerous thing to do. And I genuinely hope it doesn’t cost him.


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After today I think it’s pretty clear where the battle lines for the Obama administration are going to be. During the Bush Administration it was Hollywood, journalists and the academic elites aligned firmly against the US government. But along with the labor unions and civil service unions, those are Obama’s allies. For Obama the people who will actively oppose him are going to be the capitalists in the market and small businesses. In that war the Obama administration will tell us why we have to do what he says because ‘it’s for our own good’ and capitalists will respond by selling the dollar, selling the equity markets, and fleeing from risk.

In the end, the Obama administration is trying to circumvent the natural order of capitalism with the audacity of central planning. Obamunism. but the harder he tries, the harder the markets will push back. Any best on who wins?

Rick Santelli is being viewed as a hero because he has shown the kind of courage that none of our politicians have. Well maybe it wasn’t courage… maybe it was just a moment of passion. But all the same he’s saying what many want to hear. It’s a message the Republicans should be touting, but they’ve all decided to look after the interest of the political classes (especially themselves) first. That’s why they sound so much like Democrats these days.

It’s abundantly clear that the Republicans don’t really want to oppose Obama because what he wants to do (increasing the control of the government over people’s lives) will help them too. But if they won’t be the opposition, then the markets certainly will be.