Ron,
On a bright sunny day feel free to ask the world: Does life really have any meaning? Is the world for real? What is Value?
However, when someone (or the world) is feeling suicidal and is on the brink, those very same questions become potentially irresponsible.
You know as well as anybody that "Journalists are paid to ask questions" is a catch-all; and that responsible journalism demands you parse that properly, in context. And you know as well as anybody that should you become too identified with a particular dogma/orthodoxy, your viewers will simply discount your relevance as appropriate. As Auden said of Freud - "he is no more a person now, but a whole climate of opinion." (Lest we be tempted to think that a compliment, and a good thing, along comes chop-chop Nabokov to disabuse us. But that is neither here nor there.)
More importantly, speaking of paid shills and conflicts of interest, it would be a good idea for CNBC to have its guests who give buy/sell/hold recommendations to declare, invariably, and on air, that they are net long/short that stock and/or sector. Admittedly CNBC cannot police the world, but CNBC can do its bit to ensure that it is not the willing or unwitting tool of manipulators and charlatans. I hope nobody but nobody is making the claim that there are no charlatans and manipulators on Wall Street?
mano |
