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Rick Santelli

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Rick Santelli
Born (1953-01-12) January 12, 1953 (age 71)
Chicago, Illinois
Occupation(s)CNBC commentator, Derivatives trader

Rick Santelli is an American on-air editor for the CNBC Business News network.[1] He joined CNBC as an on-air editor on June 14, 1999, reporting primarily from the floor of the Chicago Board of Trade. He was formerly the vice president for an institutional trading and hedge fund account for futures-related products. He is also credited with being a catalyst in the early formation of the Tea Party movement via a statement he made on February 19, 2009.[2]

In the course of his normal production schedule at CNBC Business, Santelli appears on-air approximately 12 to 16 times a day.[3]

Early life

The grandson of four Italian immigrants, Santelli was born near Taylor Street in Chicago's old Italian neighborhood and at age 6 moved with his family to Lombard, Illinois.[4] After graduating from Willowbrook High School in Villa Park, Illinois,[4] Santelli graduated from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and has been a member of the Chicago Mercantile Exchange and the Chicago Board of Trade. He began his career in 1979 as a trader and order filler at the Chicago Mercantile Exchange in markets that included gold, lumber, CD's, T-bills, foreign currencies, and livestock. While at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Santelli joined Alpha Sigma Phi fraternity.

Career

Financial

After college, Santelli began trading in 1979 at the Chicago Mercantile Exchange in various markets, including commodities, CD's, Treasuries, and currencies.[1]

During the time he spent as a financial trader and executive, Santelli worked for Drexel Burnham Lambert as the Vice President of Interest Rate Futures and Options.[1]

Media

In the 1990s, Santelli felt that the financial industry was changing in a way "not beneficial to me and my family",[5] and in 1999, accepted a full-time job with CNBC.[1]

Criticism of government Homeowners Affordability and Stability Plan

Santelli drew attention for his remarks made on February 19, 2009, about the Homeowners Affordability and Stability Plan. While broadcasting from the floor of the CME Group during pre-market hours, Santelli accused the government of "promoting bad behavior", and raised the possibility of a "Chicago Tea Party". He also suggested that individuals who knowingly purchased high-risk mortgages (and faced impending foreclosure as a consequence) were "losers".

Scattered cheers, whistles, and applause could be heard from some of the personnel around the floor.[6] Some subsequent protests in American cities, dubbed Tea Parties, may have drawn inspiration from Santelli's outburst, but were not directly associated with him.[citation needed] During a White House press briefing, White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs was asked about Santelli's comments and expressed skepticism over whether Santelli had actually read the government's plan.[6][7]

Santelli later clarified his comments and addressed concerns that the event was staged.[8][9]

CNN.com reported that some compared Santelli to fictional reporter Howard Beale, the protagonist of the 1976 satirical film Network.[10] Santelli has said, "I think that this tea party phenomenon is steeped in American culture and steeped in the American notion to get involved with what’s going on with our government. I haven’t organized. I’m going to have to work to pay my taxes, so I’m not going to be able to get away today. But, I have to tell you — I’m pretty proud of this."[11]

On April 20, 2009, Santelli participated as a panel member in an Economic Leadership Forum hosted by the George Bush Presidential Library Foundation at Texas A&M University.[12]

Praise and criticism

On November 4, 2010, the Tea Party Patriots organization confirmed in an email to their members that Santelli's comments did in fact start the Tea Party movement:[citation needed]

"Tea Party Patriots wishes to extend a special thank you to Rick Santelli for his rant on February 19, 2009, which started this entire movement. Without Rick's rant, this movement would never have started. Many others will try to take credit but don't be fooled. He was the spark that began this fire."

In addition to this acclaim from the Tea Party movement, Santelli has also garnered some praise from libertarians:[13]

In the world of financial "journalism," CNBC’s Rick Santelli stands out as a refreshing and intelligent antidote to the hoards of perma-bulls, fed apologists, and chart sorcerers that otherwise pollute the financial airwaves. Apart from his wonderfully energetic and quirky manner of speaking, and apart from his fantastic last name, Santelli is never afraid to challenge economists, Fed officials, and other mainstream talking heads. Talking points that are taken for granted or left unchallenged by Santelli’s mind-numbing colleagues are passionately attacked by the bond-tracking Italian dervish.

Santelli has also been heavily criticized from the left, for example from George Monbiot: [14]

it is the most alarming example of cheap demagoguery you are likely to have seen.

Another example comes from the Debate and Discussion forums of the Something Awful message board:: [15]

I honestly think we passed the point of no return on restoring the middle class with this recession and the insane economic priorities shown afterwards. It's inevitable now, to my mind: the American Empire is dying, and one day Rick Santelli III will be hanging from a meat hook in the bombed-out remnants of Manhattan.

References

  1. ^ a b c d "Rick Santelli Profile, Biography, About". CNBC.com. 2006-11-28. Retrieved 2009-02-21.
  2. ^ Fed-Bashing Three Ways Slate.com, Bethany McLean. Nov. 9, 2010
  3. ^ Chicago Tribune, "Rant raises profile of CNBC on-air personality Rick Santelli", February 23, 2009
  4. ^ a b http://www.suntimes.com/news/politics/2723474,CST-NWS-TeaParty19.article. {{cite news}}: Missing or empty |title= (help) [dead link]
  5. ^ Ahrens, Frank (2008-11-23). "Five questions for CNBC's Rick Santelli". washingtonpost.com. Retrieved 2009-03-03.
  6. ^ a b "CNBC: Rick Santelli goes off". chicagotribune.com. 2009-02-23. Retrieved 2009-03-02.
  7. ^ Gerstein, Josh (2009-02-20). "Gibbs rebukes CNBC's Santelli". Politico.com. Retrieved 2009-02-21.
  8. ^ Santelli, Rick (2009-03-02). "Rick Santelli: I Want to Set the Record Straight". cnbc.com. Retrieved 2009-03-03.
  9. ^ Bauder, David (2009-03-02). "CNBC: Santelli not tied to political Web site". Retrieved 2009-03-03.
  10. ^ Nationwide 'tea party' protests blast spending. By Ashley Fantz. CNN.com Published April 15, 2009.
  11. ^ Fox teas up a tempest. By Michael Calderone. The Politico. Published April 15, 2009.
  12. ^ "Bush To Host Economic Leadership Forum". tamunews.tamu.edu. 2009-04-09. Retrieved 2009-09-26.
  13. ^ Crovelli, Mark (2011-03-07) The Trouble With Rick Santelli, LewRockwell.com
  14. ^ Monbiot, George (2010-6-24) [1]
  15. ^ derpoppinfresh (2011-7-14) [2]

External links

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