Don't fight the FIRE economy

More evidence that fighting the FIRE economy (i.e., Finance, Insurance, and Real Estate) can eventually drive you crazy comes via last week's Dylan Ratigan near-meltdown on MSNBC and the subsequent apology that now shows up in this item on the Yahoo! front page.

MSNBC host Ratigan apologizes for 'rude' interview

MSNBC host Dylan Ratigan apologized Monday for his "very rude" conduct last week during an interview on health care with a Florida congresswoman.

Democrat Debbie Wasserman Schultz was explaining Friday on Ratigan's show "Morning Meeting" why she supported health care reform. Ratigan, who said he has "incredible frustration" with the way the bill treated insurance companies, asked her to explain why stocks for insurers were going up.

Schultz said she wasn't a stockbroker, and the answer apparently left Ratigan unsatisfied. He said he would "give her a brief education."

"You could be your own guest," she told him as she tried to get a word in edgewise.

Ratigan eventually waved her off, saying he didn't want her to "come on and do talking points."

Apparently, Ratigan's two-hour morning show is being reduced to an hour and moved to an afternoon time slot - he's wished good luck as he is one of those few in the financial media with the courage to speak out on issues like this, much like this report in the Huffington Post.

If you draw cartoons for a living, you can find outlets for your angst by creating wonderful images like the one below that capture the growing mood of the country where the little guy sees the system working against him, that is, in the absence of any meaningful job growth or another asset bubble that will make us all feel rich again, at least for a little while.

From Jim Morin of the Miami Herald via Editorial Cartoonists.

If, however, you are the host of a TV show, you are more likely to allow your emotions to get the best of you as shown below. Warning! If you're a Dylan Ratigan fan, this is hard to watch.


They used to say, "Don't fight the Fed". Now it's becoming increasingly likely that you'll hear the phrase, "Don't fight the FIRE Economy".