With a viewership largely made up of people with fiscal holdings much larger than the GDP of many mid-sized nation states, and a fierce determination to protect their wealth at all costs, CNBC obviously knows which side its scones are buttered upon and its daily programming of late has been fixated on the deadly Fiscal Cliff to the virtual exclusion of everything else.
Your humble scribe has been following the boys and girls at Wall Street Central ever since they decided that it was their life's mission to try and get the Fiscal Cliff dealt with by putting together a 24/7 wall of information designed to frighten the hell out of the masses. Little mentioned has been the fact that the folks trying to do the frightening just might have a vested interest in the outcome.
Prolonged exposure to this stuff can cause your eyeballs to warp and your hair to hurt. So as a public service for this holiday season as we enter into the final six days of potential chaos leading up to the ghastly abyss which lies ahead, here is a brief summary of a typical day of broadcasting at CNBC.
Dow is Up/Down
Fiscal Cliff
Fiscal Cliff
3 things that could horribly disfigure you if the Fiscal Cliff isn't solved.
Dow is Up/Down
Commercial for enhanced testosterone creme
Fiscal Cliff
Interview with CEO whose company will reap huge breaks if Fiscal Cliff passes
and he can repatriate earnings from overseas without paying taxes.
Fiscal Cliff
Interview with Simpson and Bowles
Interview with psychiatrist with 10 tips for dealing with "uncertainty."
Commercial for urethral catheters
Interview with Bowles
Commercial for Foreign Currency Trading software with lots of pretty graphs.
Fiscal Cliff
Interview with Defense Contractor who will reap huge benefits if SS and Medicare
are cut so his un-needed super expensive jet fighter can get funded.
Dow is Up/Down
Commercial for Electric Scooter for paralyzed investors
Interview with Simpson
Clock showing countdown to fiscal cliff in days, hours, minutes, seconds, tenths of seconds
Commercial Showing Simpson test driving a stairway elevator
Commercial showing Simpson offering Nancy Peolosi a ride on his stairway elevator....from the second floor.
Commercial Showing Bowles demonstrating safe use of catheters.
Fiscal Cliff
Fiscal Cliff
OMG Squirrel
Dow is Up/Down
etc. etc. etc.