Thursday, February 19, 2009

Rick Santelli: Tea Party

You say you want a revolution?

On CNBC's Squawk Box this morning, Rick Santelli may have started one.

Are you listening, Barack Obama?

Video.




Full Transcript

RICK SANTELLI: The government is promoting bad behavior. Because we certainly don't want to put stimulus forth and give people a whopping $8 or $10 in their check, and think that they ought to save it, and in terms of modifications... I'll tell you what, I have an idea.

You know, the new administration's big on computers and technology-- How about this, President and new administration? Why don't you put up a website to have people vote on the Internet as a referendum to see if we really want to subsidize the losers' mortgages; or would we like to at least buy cars and buy houses in foreclosure and give them to people that might have a chance to actually prosper down the road, and reward people that could carry the water instead of drink the water?

TRADER ON FLOOR: That's a novel idea.

(Applause, cheering)

JOE KERNEN: Hey, Rick... Oh, boy. They're like putty in your hands. Did you hear...?

SANTELLI: No they're not, Joe. They're not like putty in our hands. This is America! How many of you people want to pay for your neighbor's mortgage that has an extra bathroom and can't pay their bills? Raise their hand.

(Booing)

President Obama, are you listening?

TRADER: How 'bout we all stop paying our mortgage? It's a moral hazard.

KERNEN: It's like mob rule here. I'm getting scared. I'm glad I'm...

CARL QUINTANILLA: Get some bricks and bats...

SANTELLI: Don't get scared, Joe. They're already scaring you. You know, Cuba used to have mansions and a relatively decent economy. They moved from the individual to the collective. Now, they're driving '54 Chevys, maybe the last great car to come out of Detroit.

KERNEN: They're driving them on water, too, which is a little strange to watch.

SANTELLI: There you go.

KERNEN: Hey Rick, how about the notion that, Wilbur pointed out, you can go down to 2% on the mortgage...

SANTELLI: You could go down to -2%. They can't afford the house.

KERNEN: ...and still have 40%, and still have 40% not be able to do it. So why are they in the house? Why are we trying to keep them in the house?

SANTELLI: I know Mr. Summers is a great economist, but boy, I'd love the answer to that one.

REBECCA QUICK: Wow. Wilbur, you get people fired up.

SANTELLI: We're thinking of having a Chicago Tea Party in July. All you capitalists that want to show up to Lake Michigan, I'm gonna start organizing.

(Whistling, cheering)

QUICK: What are you dumping in, what are you dumping in this time? Housing...?

SANTELLI: We're going to be dumping in some derivative securities. What do you think about that?

QUINTANILLA: Mayor Daley is marshalling the police right now.

KERNEN: Rabble-rouser.

QUINTANILLA: The National Guard.

After Jason Roney of Sharmac Capital makes some comments, it's back to Santelli.
QUINTANILLA: You know, Rick, one of our producers says if Roland Burris steps down, man, "Senator Santelli," the junior senator from Illinois. It's a possibility. I'm just saying...

SANTELLI: Do you think I want to take a shower every hour? The last place I'm ever gonna live or work is D.C.

KERNEN: Have you raised any money for Blago?

SANTELLI: No, but I think that somebody's gonna have to start raising money for us.

QUICK: Hey, Rick? Can you do that one more time, just get the mob behind you again?

QUINATILLA: Have the camera pull way out.

QUICK: Yeah, pull way out. Everybody listen to Rick Santelli.

KERNEN: He can't... I don't think... You can't just do it at will, can you Rick? I mean, you have to say something.

QUICK: No, do it at will. Let's see.

SANTELLI: Listen, all's I know is, is that there's only about 5% of the floor population here right now, and I talk loud enough they can all hear me. So if you want to ask 'em anything, let me know. These guys are pretty straight forward, and my guess is, a pretty good statistical cross-section of America, the silent majority.

QUICK: Not so silent majority today. So Rick, are they opposed to the housing thing, to the stimulus package, to everything out there?

SANTELLI: You know, they're pretty much of the notion that you can't buy your way into prosperity, and if the multiplier that all of these Washington economists are selling us is over one... that we never have to worry about the economy again. The government should spend a trillion dollars an hour because we'll get 1.5 trillion back.

WILBUR ROSS: Rick, I congratulate you on your new incarnation as a revolutionary leader.

SANTELLI: Somebody needs one. I'll tell you what, if you read our founding fathers, people like Benjamin Franklin and Jefferson,... What we're doing in this country now is making them roll over in their graves.

I want to know when the Tea Party is.

I'm there.

I've been responsible. I did the right thing.

And now I should pay for others' irresponsibility?

That's not America, where we have the opportunity to determine our own destiny.

Obama, don't tread on me.

__________________

CNBC Poll: Would you want to join Rick Santelli's "Chicago Tea Party?"
__________________

UPDATE, February 20, 2009: Video - White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs Responds to Rick Santelli's Rant

21 comments:

Anonymous said...

I am not a lefty Mary dear I am a conservative who thinks you have destroyed my party, my country and are hijacking the issues and are an ignorant tool. Stop calling me a lefty. Also you have not done your part you are irresponsible in destroying this country I love. YOU elected BUSH. You are to blame.

Anonymous said...

Rick. I'm in with you on a tea party...maybe we should have a nationwide tea party.

Anonymous said...

I think Santenelli is calling for the destruction of America here. I hope the SEcret Service catches him and he goes to jail and gets rapped by a chimp.

Mary said...

Santelli's rant is a rallying cry for so many of us.

I loved it.

"President Obama, are you listening?"

Priceless.

Mary said...

Yes, there's nothing worse than getting "rapped" by a chimp.

Mary said...

How are things at Widener University, "anonymous"?

Jill said...

This was EXCELLENT!! Thanks for sharing.

Anonymous said...

Cold, its in the thirties today with a slight chance of precipitation and an icy parking lot. But hey we have a ton of copies of the Constitution and the President Visited the School and the VP is a former professor here, so we will always be good.

Anonymous said...

rick santelli is an answer to our nations leadership..he has stepped out at the right time..he is a leader, period..call his new founded political party the "american tea party" and rick santelli be the head..what a patriotic movement this would be to oppose the liberals..he turned those liberal challengers this morning into milktoast..get an email and website and lets go!!!

Anonymous said...

I just made a Facebook group for this. Ive been adamant about this topic for awhile.

You have to be logged into Facebook to get to the group.

http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=63519654812

TotalRecall said...

Rick Santelli is just mad because he isn't getting a tax cut. He had his way for 8 years under Bush. Now, he has to sleep in the bed he helped create.

I believe Obama said EVERYBODY will be able to refinance their home for a better mortgage rate and a payable monthly payment.

I have a plan for you Rick Santelli! WHY DO WE NEED TRADERS?!?!? Why not just move everything electronically like the NASDAQ?!?!? That way, these "traders" won't be ripping off their companies and investors for millions of dollars!!!

Anonymous said...

Dear Anonymous...
You are a disgrace o the spirit of our country. Have you ever heard of FREEDOM OF SPEECH?
Santelli is well within his rights, he speaks for me and everyone else who pays THEIR BILLS and THEIR MORTGAGE! By the way are you one of the people who STATED above their means on their loan application, and now OBAMA & YOU expect ME to pay for YOUR mortgage?
I watched CNBC's, House of Cards...It showed people who have huge homes filled with a lot of furniture, swimming pools, hot tubs, cars and trucks in the driveway; and I'm suppose to feel sorry for them? Give me a break! I don't have that nice of a home and I am suppose to pay THEIR MORTGAGE? YOU are supposed to live within your means. What don't you understand about that?
This is the biggest redistribution of wealth I have ever seen!
Finally someone is telling it like it is...
Santelli is the only one not afraid to speak up in the media...Where is the press, telling our story of the people who live within their means and played by the rules!
You go Rick? Let's have that Tea Parry!
There are a lot of us out here who AGREE with YOU
Why should I pay for some looser's mortgage, I bought a house THAT I COULD AFFORD!

D J
Palatine, IL
County of Cook ... (aka CROOK COUNTY)
30 miles outside of Chi town

Shaun said...

Chicago Tea Party groups are already showing up on facebook.
Here's an example:

http://www.facebook.com/home.php?ref=home#/group.php?gid=51046649819

Anonymous said...

Lived in Chicago a long time ago.. I'm a long ways from it now but I sure would go back for a tea party!!

I've played by the rules.. paid my bills and my mortgage.

"I believe Obama said EVERYBODY will be able to refinance their home for a better mortgage rate and a payable monthly payment." Hey David.. You're missing the point here! I don't need to refinance my mortgage because I DIDN'T GET A MORTGAGE I COULDN'T AFFORD IN THE FIRST PLACE!!!!!! It's such a novel idea to liberals to LIVE WITHIN YOUR MEANS!

Anonymous said...

Guess will get with the new program. First, convert all my holdings to gold and bury in the back yard. Second, join ACORN. Next, finance a monster house for nothing down, new car with nothing down, get pile of credit cards and charge them to limit, quit paying payments on all of it. Last, kick back and enjoy the (tea) party.

Anonymous said...

Liberals are all for people living within means - just someone else's means.

TotalRecall said...

Hey Susan, refinancing has nothing to do with getting a mortgage you couldn't pay. It's about getting a better fixed interest rate!!! Banks should not be charging 9%, 12%, 15% for a mortgage loan! I'm sure the lenders didn't tell the buyers the truth.

"It's such a novel idea to liberals to LIVE WITHIN YOUR MEANS!" -- Tell that to the greedy, selfish republicans that got the country in this mess!!!

You better hope you don't fall on hard times, because I'm positive God has no sympathy for you.

Warren said...

Hey David...If refinancing had nothing to do with getting a mortgage that couldnt be paid, then why is the cram down of mortgages needed to be funded with YOUR tax dollars? Getting a lower rate with a refi is nothing new and you would know this if you had paid attention during the last 15 years duing many refinance booms. Banks charged 9%, 12%, 15% many times over the years when prime rate was anywhere from 10-20%...perhaps you dont remember this either.....It is true that Bankers and other lenders created programs that got many into trouble but not everyone took them. I dont max out my charge cards but I could. Should I bail you out because you maxed out in debt that you cant pay? I didnt share in all those things you bought and consumed with other peoples money so I dont want to fix your problem on a mortgage or anything else. The people not telling and/or facing the truth are just like you that dont want to take responsibilty for your own bad behavior....not the bankers who just did their jobs during a historic credit bubble.....As for the "greedy, selfish republicans"...well there you go again blaming others....Why dont you at least get your facts straight...It was during the Clinton era that Fannie and Freddie were deregulated and Derivative trading regulation was eliminated. Who are you going to blame when that market crumbles??????????

TotalRecall said...

"Why dont you at least get your facts straight..."

Exactly, moron! I don't have ANY debt!!

And BTW, the last time 30-year fixed mortgage rates were around 15% was 1984. So, it is quite unfair to charge people 15% mortgage rates now, especially given that the fed funds rate is 0.5%.

You can blame business executives (whom the overwhelming majority are greedy, selfish republicans) for this mess!!! Get your head out of your ass!

You better hope you don't fall on hard times, because I'm positive God has no sympathy for you.

Anonymous said...

paying taxes this year is different. It’s going to be impossible to figure out which distressed homeowners were duped, dumb, or avaricious, and treat each category accordingly. It’s going to be impossible to weed out the shady mortgage brokers, and the white-shoe firm hotshots who bundled together a bunch of toxic waste and sold them as bouquets of roses. And what exactly do you do with the greedy idiots who bought the stuff? Recapitalize them with your money, and with mine?

Yet our tax dollars are going to be used in ways even the best and the brightest can’t figure out, let along articulate. Geithner was one high IQ joke in his address to the nation. Not Mensa’s finest hour.

I think the shoe’s on the other foot this year. There’s probably a statute or two on the federal, state, and local books that makes it illegal for me to call for a moratorium on tax payments until the government gets its act together, so I won’t do that.

That said, it would certainly be righteous for the citizens of this nation to demand that our government fully explain, in terms that are clear to PhD’s in economics and Wal-Mart cashiers alike (and given the rash of layoffs, there may be some individuals who are both), exactly how the government plans to use our money this year.

Read more at http://www.loosekannon.com

polo said...

Funny you never heard santelli talking about the increasing size of the federal gov't under Bush, or the ZERO Taxes GE doesn't pay. What about the 4% growth per year under Bush and Reagan. Why doesn't anyone ask this ass wipe who was the last Republican Pres. that had a balanced budget? Nixon!! Someone please look at your History from 1895-1928 and 1980-2010, history does repeat it. Santelli believes in this Free Market Crap, ok, let's stop all subsidizes to the corn,wheat,beef,polutry,egg,milk,oil,aerospace,tabacco,spirits industry, no tax credits for industry of any sort, then he would make a statement that salaries were to high, as long as he get's his, screw everyone else