Scarborough shills GE stock on GE-owned MSNBC
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SUMMARY: Joe Scarborough promoted General Electric stock on MSNBC's Morning Joe without noting that GE is the parent company of NBC Universal, the owner of MSNBC.
On March 24, Joe Scarborough touted General Electric stock on MSNBC's Morning Joe, without noting, as co-host Mika Brzezinski did on a recent show, that GE is the parent company of NBC Universal, the owner of MSNBC. Talking about what he said was the opportunity offered by low house prices, Scarborough stated, "[I]t's like GE stock. ... I never invest in the stock market because I think -- I've always thought -- that it's just -- it's a crap shoot. GE goes down to five, six, or seven, and I'm thinking, 'My god. I'm gonna invest for the first time, and I'm gonna send my kids to college through this.' When you start getting -- you said the animal spirits -- when people say, 'This is just too good of an opportunity to pass up.' " However, Scarborough did not disclose that his network is owned by GE.
Similarly, after noting on the March 18 edition of Morning Joe that the price of GE stock had risen to $10, Scarborough stated that he "could've doubled your money if I would've been smart," adding, "I'll guarantee it's gonna be at 15. ... I have left money on the table. And I'm never in the market. This is a no-brainer." As Scarborough was making his remarks, Brzezinski twice looked at the camera and said, "Parent company."
From the March 18 edition of MSNBC's Morning Joe:
WILLIE GEIST (co-host): Welcome back to Morning Joe. The market was up a healthy 178 points yesterday --
SCARBOROUGH: That's awesome.
GEIST: -- the Dow was. Today, investigators are awaiting an announcement from the Fed, expected to keep interest rates steady.
SCARBOROUGH: By the way, you see GE's at 10 now?
GEIST: Ten bucks.
PAT BUCHANAN (MSNBC political analyst): We talked about buying it at six --
SCARBOROUGH: Seriously, at five, six, I said I'm gonna buy this --
BUCHANAN: Buy it, and I should've bought it.
SCARBOROUGH: I should've bought it. We could've --
BUCHANAN: Exactly.
SCARBOROUGH: -- could've doubled your money if I would've been smart.
BUCHANAN: Exactly.
SCARBOROUGH: I never do stuff like that.
BUCHANAN: That is a 66-percent gain --
SCARBOROUGH: That is --
BUCHANAN: -- in a matter of two weeks.
SCARBOROUGH: And at 10. I'll guarantee it's gonna be at 15 --
BUCHANAN: Sure.
SCARBOROUGH: This is -- I have left money on the table. And I'm never in the market. This is a no-brainer.
BRZEZINSKI: Parent company.
GEIST: If you had a 401(k), you'd have GE stock.
BRZEZINSKI: Parent company.
SCARBOROUGH: God.
GEIST: I've gotta to teach you about that sometime.
From the March 24 edition of Morning Joe:
SCARBOROUGH: Let me talk about my house in Florida. We want to downsize down there because we travel around. It's been on the market for a year. It's on the water. It's the type of house that all my friends in real estate said you will always be able to sell this. One person has looked at it over the past year; in the last week, five people.
THOMAS FRIEDMAN (New York Times columnist): That's a very important leading indicator.
BRZEZINSKI: Interesting.
FRIEDMAN: You know, that is very, very important.
SCARBOROUGH: Out of nowhere.
FRIEDMAN: You get the animal spirits going and -- see, what flips, Joe, is that people say, "This is my last chance to buy Joe Scarborough's house." You know, the market's going to run away --
BRZEZINSKI: Interesting.
FRIEDMAN: -- as opposed to people saying, "Oh, wait another week, Scarborough's house, he'll mark it down again."
SCARBOROUGH: Right.
FRIEDMAN: It's that flip --
BRZEZINSKI: Yeah.
FRIEDMAN: -- you know, from people thinking "wait another week" to, "If I wait another week I'm gonna lose the chance of a lifetime" --
SCARBOROUGH: Exactly.
FRIEDMAN: -- "to steal Joe's house." That's what you want to happen with the banks as well.
BRZEZINSKI: We need that.
SCARBOROUGH: Well, it's like GE stock. I know we have to go, but it's like GE stock. I never invest in the stock market because I think -- I've always thought -- that it's just -- it's a crap shoot. GE goes down to five, six, or seven --
OFF CAMERA: Buy it.
SCARBOROUGH: -- and I'm thinking, "My God" --
BRZEZINSKI: Maybe.
OFF CAMERA: That's right. Buy it.
SCARBOROUGH: -- "I'm gonna invest for the first time, and I'm gonna send my kids to college through this." When you start getting -- you said the animal spirits -- when people say, "This is just too good of an opportunity to pass up" --
FRIEDMAN: That's right -- exactly. That's how capitalism works.
BRZEZINSKI: Yeah.
SCARBOROUGH: That's -- yeah, exactly.
BARNICLE: You know, there -- excuse me -- oh, yeah.
BRZEZINSKI: Let me get -- let me bring [Washington Post columnist] Eugene [Robinson] in and then you can jump in.
If you're not aware that GE owns NBC by now you're too stupid to be in the market anyway.
I'm just waiting for Rupert Murdoch to start buying up shares of GE.
I actually think that would do more good for journalism than anything else - then Obama and the FCC would most likely be forced to start breaking things up in terms of media ownership.
from Scarboroughs comment, sounds like he already has
Does the average American that the MSM loves know that defense company GE owns MSNBC. Doubtful. Call your broker.
Putting aside the conflict of interest, he was dead-on. It was up to $12 just a few days later. I wish I had bought some at $6.
I wish I had bought some of Citi's shares when they were $0.98...
Now, if only Citi onwed a network....
I listened to mornin joke with jughead for months and months, since they started. For weeks, it has become the same show. Jughead starts out by talking about how he is non political but he must make clear his concern that the entire country is in dire trouble because of the President's spending plans. That the citizens of this country do not deserve health care. That if a national health policy is put in place three hundred million people will be clamoring for MRI's.
Then he has to go into a short rant about how he and newt saved the country in the nineties. It is short because he will repeat that point severl times in one show.
He will have liberals and conservatives on his show. But after the liberal leaves, he will throw out comments about how this guest has no idea what he or she is talking about.
MiKa is not very bright and holds no real opnions anyway, at least opinions with some back up.
Geist just does whatever he can do to make jughead feel better so that he can keep his job.
I just could not take it any more. The same show every single day. So this week I just turned him off. Reruns of Lucy can give one more information than this sad excuse for a news forum.
I know the feeling. What a great synopsis. This is exactly what Joe-the-Joke is like and Mika and Geist. Geist has a young family and probably and demanding wife and he'd better NOT lose that damn good job! Mika, well, is Mika. And each and everyday Joe-the-Joke invites us into his world of ignorance and expects us to keep him company. NOT! He IS stunningly superficially.
Oops. I mean "superficial"
I can't complain about this. So what if Joe tickled up G.E.? The main message is that the market is showing some gains. Isn't that what we want to hear? Isn't that good for the recovery? Isn't any good news about the economy good for Obama's agenda? I, for one, was glad to see Joe and even Pat saying something positive for a change. Even the New York Times guy was enthusiastic. That kind of publicity is a positive force. But, what the hell do I know?
Seriously, what can you expect of Scarborough. Duh! He used to be a politician. That ain't nothing but CROOK misspelled.
Would that count as, "fomenting" which is illegal?