Santelli Sets The Record Straight
By: Lee Brodie | Producer
Rick Santelli obviously touched a nerve with his rant heard round the Internet. But what's all the fuss really about?
On Fast Money he set the record straight!
As you might know Rick isn’t one to sit quietly in the corner, but he’s really been making some noise over the last few weeks.
He’s kind of like Peter Finch in Network who shouted “I’m mad as hell and I’m not going to take it anymore.” Essentially Santelli is mad as hell about the financial crisis and the lack of effort being made to prosecute the “bad actors”.
In other words, there’s no heat on the Street right now. The whole issue gets Santelli worked up.
But don’t take our word for it. See what he has to say now. Watch the video to your left!
Background
As you might know what’s been called “Santelli’s Tea Party” started on CNBC’s Squawk Box a few days back when Rick was talking about the homeowner bailout plan.
Essentially he lambasted the administration arguing that the government was rewarding people who bought houses that they really couldn’t afford -- and they shouldn’t receive taxpayer help.
Of course there are people who were duped by unscrupulous mortgage brokers but those aren’t the people Santelli is talking about. Instead he's talking about the people currently in or near foreclosure who had an idea that they were getting in over their heads. As a result “you could (take the mortgage rate) down to minus two percent and they still couldn’t afford the house,” he exploded.
(You can see his entire rant in this video, here.)
Santelli’s comments clearly resonated with the traders on the floor. They’re hardly a shy bunch but once he got going they didn’t hesitate to make their opinions known.
In fact his comments resonated with so many of us that Santelli’s rant quickly became an Internet sensation.
In just over a week it’s been viewed by well over one million people. The clip has become such a phenomenon that’s it even caught the attention of the White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs who called out Santelli by name.
There’s no doubt Rick has been aggressive in his call to catch the cheaters. But maybe what's touched a nerve this time around is a collective nagging suspicion that some sneaky homeowners could be playing taxpayers. That is, they could use the bailout as a way to afford a house they otherwise could not afford - and at our expense.
Of course it's worth noting the Obama administration has promised the money will only go to deserving homeowners. But, considering unscrupulous behavior got us here in the first place, it's not surprising that Santelli is irked.
Let's just hope we don't find a lot of tea floating in Lake Michigan. Afterall Santelli is from Chicago.
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Trader disclosure: On Feb. 26th, 2008, the following stocks and commodities mentioned or intended to be mentioned on CNBC’s Fast Money were owned by the Fast Money traders; Seymour Owns (AAPL), (EEM), (MON), (BAC), (FXI), (VIP); Seymour's Firm Owns (COP), (FCX), (RIO); Terranova Owns (OTS), (FXC), (XBI), (BRCM), (WYNN), (INTC), (DELL), (JOYG); Terranova Owns (IBM) Call Spread; Terranova Owns (AMGN) & (AMGN) Puts; Macke Owns (MS), (TM), (SDS), (AAPL); Finerman's Firm Owns (DNA), (MSFT), (RIG); Finerman's Firm Is Short (IYR), (IJR), (IWM), (MDY), (SPY), (USO), (VNO), (BBT); Finerman's Firm Owns (WFC) Preferred, (BAC) Preferred
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