May 15, 2009

Jon Stewart May Have Another CNBCer In His Crosshairs Soon

I mean, how can Maria Bartiromo be allowed to get away with this?

 

BARTIROMO: Well, workers are being affected, however, I'm trying to get at the point of why we have these troubled...

TASINI: We have the biggest gap between rich and poor that we've ever had in probably a hundred years. Productivity in the last 30 years has skyrocketed, and workers have gotten not benefited, that is the definition of class warfare.

BARTIROMO: Steve, what do you say to that?

MALANGA: Well, the first thing I say to that is all you have to do is look around us. We live in a country now where the average number of families has two cars, three televisions, air conditioning is standard in most houses. The idea that you just look at income and say, "Oh my God, income hasn't increased, therefore people are falling behind," the standard of living of the average American today is far, far ahead of the standard of living of the average American living in the 1960s, and the 1930s.

BARTIROMO: Meanwhile, the unions have their benefits. That's the point that I just made about people, you know, we're paying for benefits, we're paying salaries for people who are no longer on the assembly line. I mean, look, it's just not, you know, having a job for life is not a concept that I understand, because, you know, at some point, you're not getting paid for life. It's just, maybe you do in Europe, that's a socialist concept.

TASINI: Well, you just, I mean you're just throwing around the word socialist concept, I mean Europe bashing...

BARTIROMO: Who's throwing it around?

TASINI: Well, I actually think we could learn a lot from the way Europe treats its...

BARTIROMO: So, you want us to go the European way?

TASINI: For example, there was just a great piece in the New York Times about Norway, and explaining how it has actually expanded its coverage and protection of people. I would argue that people in Norway probably live a better standard of living than most people in this, than many people in this country.

BARTIROMO: Well, the economies of Europe have been in the dumps for, for years, even before this economic slowdown even started. You think that, you think the socialist measures have anything to do with that?

TASINI: Well, what I found interesting is both Steven and both you have ignored the two points that I've made which is that we have the greatest inequality that we've had in the last hundred years, and the most important point I tried to make was productivity. Productivity in the last 30 year is soaring. That means...

BARTIROMO: But what is redistribution of wealth going to do for productivity? What is, what is the idea of the American dream, of working hard and achieving something, and knowing that all, you know, half your wealth is going to someone who didn't do that? What is that going to do to productivity is my question.

 

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