And here we thought the Southern Strategy was dead...  Will it be successful again?  I sure hope not!

Santelli's a tool, sure.  His farcical Chicago Tea Party may have the wingosphere in a twitter but really who cares.

The only racist shit I see here is against "white ethnics."  This diary baldly asserts that "the white ethnics" as a monolithic group are racist against black Americans and basically pretty bad people.  The only tenuous connection from Santelli's rant to race is that CNBC ran a promo for its new series beforehand?  Seriously?  That's it?  Nothing he, you know, said or implied? Well I guess he implied that he's racist in the same way he implied that he's anti-Semitic and homophobic and whatever else we want to paint the people we don't like as.

I mean, I just re-read this paragraph slowly

The white ethnic groups, who did not feel that they were to blame for American racism and thus not responsible for any corrective measures, grew resentful in the face of 1960s Great Society programs they saw as unfair handouts to African Americans, and thus began the "white ethnic backlash" of the 1970s. Theirs is the politics of the individual uber alles. Society can go to the toilet for all they care. I'm not quite sure where that would end if allowed to go to its full conclusion. Today, the white ethnics still oppose any redistributive programs or even rescue plans as some "unfair" handout. Never mind that the conditions that create this toxic economy have been an unrelenting class war on the poor, to Mr Santelli redistributive policies only go from the bottom up, never the inverse. You cannot reason with these people you can only hope to make them irrelevant.

and all I saw was a whole lot of generalized nastiness ascribed, without distinction or particularity, to a vast body of people on the basis of their race.

I've been away from the D for a while but if this is what's passing for front-page "commentary" these days then God fucking help us.

What Koan said.

I don't know if Santelli is racist or not, but the author of this diary definitely is. He presumes that all "white ethnics" (an outdated, condescending term for Americans of southern or eastern European descent) are racist, and don't care if our society goes into the toilet.
Most "white ethnics" aren't wealthy traders, and some are part of that other America (does Charles really think all poor people are black or Latino)?

I'm well-aware of the "white ethnic racism" that Charles speaks of. But that's not present here. The important factor is not Santelli's Italian heritage or the white ethnic heritage of people on the trading floor. The important factor is this:

Look at Rick Santelli's bio before coming to CNBC.

"A veteran trader and financial executive, Santelli has provided live reports on the markets in print and on local and national radio and television. He joined CNBC from the Institutional Financial Futures and Options at Sanwa Futures, L.L.C. There, he was a vice president handling institutional trading and hedge accounts for a variety of futures related products.

Prior to that, Santelli worked as vice president of Institutional Futures and Options at Rand Financial Services, Inc., served as managing director at the Derivative Products Group of Geldermann, Inc., and was Vice President in charge of Interest Rate Futures and Options at the Chicago Board of Trade for Drexel, Burnham, Lambert. Santelli began his career in 1979 as a trader and order filler at the Chicago Mercantile Exchange in a variety of markets including gold, lumber, CD's, T-bills, foreign currencies and livestock."

He worked for Drexel, Burnham Lambert - the junk bond empire - then he ran derivatives, before running futures and hedge funds.

You see a pattern here? He IS the "Master of the Universe." And like many hypocrites in his shoes, he likes to pretend that he's been creating wealth for ordinary people when he's really just been getting filthy rich by manipulating financial instruments.

Don't make this more complicated than it really is. He is extremely rich and he worries that "big government" might take some of his "hard earned" money away.

Looks like you've insulted the much-abused and put-upon white race.  Watch out, we are a touchy bunch.

You are right the argument against the stimulus is racist.  

Just another post from a afraid of real debate.

White resentment continues to be a problem in this country and I figure it will only get worse with Obama as president.  I can't tell you how often I heard from people that Obama only got elected because he was black, they honestly believe that it is easier for minorities to get elected than for Caucasians (even though the list of minorities elected in majority white districts is a pretty slim one).  These are the kinds of people that get upset over Black History month and demand a White History month, and ask rhetorically why we can't have an association for the advancement of white people, thinking they're being so clever.

There is a surprisingly widespread belief that the entire recession was caused by black people getting mortgages they couldn't afford.  People like Rush Limbaugh will continue to fan these kinds of sentiments, especially while Obama is president.

I love how he looks so pleased with himself after yelling out "moral hazard".  Congratulations buddy, you made it through half a semester of Econ 101.

Why could that cartoon only have been published in a paper like the New York Post that is read by white ethnics? I personally don't think that the white ethnic phenomenon has been completely vanquished. I can't say with certainty how they voted in 2008. My guess is that Obama won a fair number back especially under those who earned under $75,000 especially in states like Ohio, Michigan and Pennsylvania. I'd have to look into this and perhaps it is worth some research.

And please note by white ethnics I am referring to a term widely used by historians and social scientists.

whaddadick!

I don't think the original post was racist at all.  As others have noted, the GOP's luring of white ethnics from the Democratic Party via fanning the fires of race resentment generated by the civil rights movement of the '60s is a well documented historical fact.

As for traders...they are, for the most part, incredible pricks.  They may be beautiful people away from their jobs (I doubt this is true of most of them) but in their profession, they are generally a bunch of arrogant, obnoxious, asses.  And I don't care if their name is O'Shaughnessy or Lombardi or Thurston Howell III - they're generally not nice people. (although you generally don't see too many Ivy-educated WASPs on the floor or working the desk - they're up in the exec suites)  In "The Smartest Guys in the Room", I read about the trading desk at Enron and I couldn't help but be disgusted by what those people did and said.  And the Enron traders were not the exception to the rule.

So the fact that the mostly white guys (who certainly do NOT represent "America" by any standard) who live, breathe, and die "the markets", standing around Santelli were cheering him on is not surprising.  These people would rip-off their own grandmother if it meant making a buck - I hardly expect them to have any sympathy for folks who are facing a financial crisis because of their housing/mortgage sitution.

And this from Skaje is certainly true:

"There is a surprisingly widespread belief that the entire recession was caused by black people getting mortgages they couldn't afford.  People like Rush Limbaugh will continue to fan these kinds of sentiments, especially while Obama is president."

Limbaugh's entire MO is to convince the white guys who tune in to him that the government is going to take their money and give it to poor, undeserving, lazy brown people - the same lazy brown people who caused ALL of our problems in the first place.  In fact, that's basically the entire strategy of today's GOP.  The fact that a large number of Limbaugh fans will actually receive a tax break and other financial assistance from Obama's plans doesn't matter to them, just like it didn't matter to Joe the Plumber/Blogger/War Correspondent...mostly because Limbaugh and the gang have convinced these folks that the only folks who are going to benefit are ACORN and welfare queens.

Now I'm just waiting for Jerome to cite the recent Rasmussen poll showing only 38% support for Obama's mortgage plan v. 45% disapproval.

and PUMA is now educating us about those darn white ethnic racists.  

Leave it to a petulant clown to miss the play on words and to miss the historical record. Nixon's northern strategy was to go after the white ethnics. Hence the landslide of 1972. Go back to your cesspool that is the Confluence and stay there. As I have said previously, the PUMAs are noxious brew and I want nothing to do with them.

As yes the Boston busing took place during the For Administration because the start of the white ethnic phenomenon is a 1970s one.

Charles, your post reminds me of an old Wall Street gagline that was popular when I was working on the Street.  I was an analyst for some 30 years and have been retired for about a decade now.

Lots of things have changed, but it appears that one thing is still true!  When I was working, in the institutional market, there was an old gag-line about the ethnic derivation of people working on the Street.  It went something like this:  Salesmen tend to be WASPs, analysts tend to be Jewish, and traders "all have a name that ends in a vowel!"

I do not join cults. And if you can't see that the PUMAs are nothing more than a cult of Clinton than you're just blind to your own madness.

Furthermore when people start using pseudonyms of Confederate heros to write countless nonsensical posts on Obama's birth certificate then yes I think that's racist.

And just to be clear, if there is one blog that is wholly irrelevant it's the Confluence. Go ahead spend the next 8 years being bitter. I prefer to actually get something done. Even more it's clear that the President has grown since 2007. He's a quick learner and as I have said from day one, Obama is a politician with flaws and attributes. In 2007 and through Sept 2008, I thought his flaws outweighed his attributes. Now I believe his attributes outweigh his flaws.

You, on the other hand, practice the politics of hate. You hate Obama no matter what. In your warped mind, he can't do anything right. I never took that view. When he talked about "spreading the wealth" I applauded. When Obama talked about Darfur, I applauded. So do us all a favour, go back to your cesspool of PUMAism and stay there.

Oh another delusional PUMA. Get a life.

It appears he has since repudiated his association with the racist site No Quarter.  For that he deserves credit.  However, the lack of savvy regarding racial issues that lead him to contribute there is still evident in this grossly simplistic piece, which simmers with class-based contempt for the swarthy Italians and Greeks.

As for your comment, anyone who thinks NQ isn't racist is supremely unqualified to discuss the issue of race.

Here's an example of the racism of Agent Flowbee's sidekick, the detestable Susan Hu__.

http://commentsfromleftfield.com/2008/03 /dear-susanunpc-got-your-white-hood-on

As I said, anyone who could spend five minutes at NQ during the primary season and not feel nauseous from the racism really has no clue on the subject.

Maybe Santelli wasn't talking about minorities specifically but there is NO DOUBT that the GOP and the talk radio folks are trying to indirectly blame this whole financial crisis on poor, lazy brown people and the liberals who enable them.  ACORN is clearly code for "deadbeat colored folks". And who is the targent audience for this message?  Mostly ethnic whites.

I'll bet that 75% of the traders sitting behind Santelli are Limbaugh/Hannity/Dobbs fans.  Even if Santelli doesn't think that brown people are the cause of our financial crisis, he knows that when he rants about "losers" getting government handouts, the first thing that many of those traders and people like them will conjure up their head is the image of some deadbeat black stereotype.  That's the danger in rants like Santelli's.

@myiq2xu - For Nixon's use of both the Southern Strategy AND racial resentment among Northern ethnic whites, read Nixonland.

@Geekesque - I agree that not all or even a majority of ethnic whites are racist.  But having grown up in a VERY ethnic, VERY white VERY working class town in the Northeast (I think we had two black families among 10,000 residents and not a single rich person), I can confirm that outside of the South (which is very WASP....and I mean this in terms of ethnic background - ie, Scotch-Irish - not in a New England WASP sense), the demographic among which I found the most racism is with the folks whose last names end in vowels. (disclosure - I'm a white ethnic from a working class background whose last name ends in a vowel)  This was true during the busing riots in the 70s and even as far back as the draft riots in NYC during the Civil War.  My experience, however, also showed that a lot of this racism could have been mitigated if these white ethnic folks actually had some exposure to black people and black culture, beyond what they saw and heard on TV.  As it was, at least where I grew up, these folks hated black people even though they rarely encountered one (and given that I grew up in NJ, it's not like there were no blacks around to socialize with)...so it was easy for them to see them only as stereotypes.  Maybe that's what (o/t) Holder was talking about?

He may in fact be happy to have any race anger come into it, but he really is playing the class warfare card?

One of the best slight of hands of the conservatives is, divide and conquer.

You will notice there is never any class envy amongst the wealthy, if just a few of their brethern get bailed out, they all smile and applaud.

DickHead Santelli is just like Kudlow, when it is CitiGroup that is about to fail, it's not WELFARE or Anti-the free hand to bail them out, it's just "a business decision".....

But, anything that can potentially bail out the lower and middle class, their best strategy has always been "Class envy"...

So, tis true, when Reagan played "The cadillac driving welfare mother" he was pushing BOTH racist and misognistic buttons...

Funny, you never heard "Rich White Conglomerate Farmer getting government hand-out" rage from these clowns...

The main purpose is, they know in the aggregate they are outnumbered.  

They have to split up the lower and middle classes to get some of them on their sides...

So, they play the

"You GOOD PEOPLE who always pay your bills are going to subsidise the people who cheat...."

What they leave out is, as sad as it may seem, the same dumbass "Too big to Fail" argument they use at the top, is true at the bottom.

The downside of this is for the GOOD folks (according to their defination) you have a choice of medicine.

IF you just say "F-you" to the every single house about to defualt, it's not like that is a consequence free decision.

Housing prices will plummet even further, and the contaminant will reach you, Mr. Goodfellow.

And, where are those now homeless people going to go?

They are going FURTHER on the public dole....

It's which bitter medicine do you want to take?

But, what Butt-bandits like Santelli NEVER do is, point the light of truth on THEIR OWN culpability in this?

You want to know who turned this conventional bomb into a Thermonuclear device?

Start with the HERO of these free-market clown, Phil Gramm...

Who removed the firewall between banks, Mortgage lenders and Trading houses.

Who passed laws allowed the "Redefining" of these non creditized Financial instruments to exist with any reg or neccessary colleralization?

Credit Default Swaps?  

Notice that term says nothing about insurance or risk?

Yes, when Santelli puts even a micrometer of reposnsability at the door of Gramm and the rest of the corporate Ponzi schemers, THEN he can point the finger.

Otherwise SOMEONE needs to point out, this is the same old same old slight of hand that allowed Reagan to split off a % of the middle class vote, and have them start to vote against their best economic interests for decades.

I think you're making quite a leap to assume racism. Hell, I don't want to give my money to people to prop up home prices artificially. That's what got us into this mess in the first place.

Home prices need to get reset to a normal value and when they do, MORE people will be able to afford them.

Yes, some people will have to move, so we need a process that let's them turn in their keys to the bank, forgives any amount they still owe if they are underwater on their mortgage and allows them to keep a clean credit score.
 

Wow, check out this little nugget from the guy who got all "livid" over some stereotype being promulgated:

"In my experience I found traders, who are largely white ethnics -Irish, Italian, Greek, Polish or Slovak among others- and graduates of the Seton Halls, the Boston Colleges, the Notre Dames, the Penn States were the most rabid conservative and foul mouthed people on the planet."

Let me guess -- you went to some private college.
Because as we all know, nobody from Yale or Stanford would ever be conservative, or utter profanities.

You pompous ass. White ethnics, indeed.

I would think that you white shoes tolerate the lowlifes from Staten Island and Jersey, because, well, they're white. Don't want anybody of color collecting a bonus. Well just a few, for show.