Our favorite comment from yesterday's posts came from a reader reacting to our articleabout the potentially catastrophic effects of high frequency traders invading the swap market.
"What we need is more doom and gloom articles from CNBC.
There aren't nearly enough of them. It's amazing how they sit there all day long and write negative articles about things that are nothing more than pure speculation. No wonder everything is in the crapper, they are scaring the heck out of everyone. No worries here, my portfolio is going up nicely and I am making lots of money."
What makes this comment so special is how nicely it contrasts with what we take to be the primary criticism of CNBC, which is that the folks around here are permabulls.
Here's a recent version from Taki Magazine:
CNBC exists to talk stocks. Its guests and advertisers are primarily stock focused. It's basically QVC for day traders. So it's okay for the NASDAQ to be in a bubble. And it's okay for there to be a housing bubble, so long as homes are used as ATMs and company earnings experience a kick from that extra consumer spending. But the minute a bubble forms with the potential to weigh on stock prices, like a bubble in oil—out come the pitchforks. Hell hath no fury like a stock tout scorned.