Is the "Star" of the New FOX Business Network Ready for Prime Time?
Reported by Marie Therese - August 8, 2007 -
During a segment on last Saturday's edition of Cashin' In, the much-touted new "star" of the FOX Business Network, Alexis Glick, floundered at one point, unable to name a specific stock after she made a very definite bullish counter-argument to some bearish comments by other panelists. During the rest of the show she seemed to be speaking from some memorized script rather than engaging the rest of the FOX News experts in a real discussion about the markets. While we News Hounds have complained vociferously about the lack of in-depth business analysis on FOX News' business shows and their obsession with promoting the GOP agenda, there has never been any doubt that the stock experts were and are actively involved on a daily basis with those markets. After Glick's weak performance last Saturday, I began to wonder if she was hired as eye candy and not for her in-depth knowledge of market trends. Has Neil Cavuto made a classic error by hiring an outsider instead of promoting from within? With video.
In my opinion, either of the women currently on the FOX News payroll - Dagen McDowell or Terry Keenan - would have been a far superior choice. While they generally adhere to the conservative POV so favored by FOX's management, both women have a deep knowledge of stocks and are not afraid to verbalize a contrarian point of view. McDowell, for one, is wont to defend the environment, much to the chagrin of some of her colleagues. To her credit, Keenan generally tries to make sure that both sides of an argument are heard, sometimes providing that balance with her own commentary.
Glick, on the other hand, seemed unsure of herself, which is odd for a woman with her business background. She also holds views that I would venture to say are out of the mainstream. For example, during the July 28th show Glick admitted that she would like to see social security scrapped entirely.
Here's a brief exchange that took place last Saturday:
TERRY KEENAN: "If you look at people's 401Ks, they have correctly been in a lot of international stocks and been doing really well. Do you think they should stay there, given your assessment, or hop back into the U. S. markets?"
ALEXIS GLICK: "Well, I agree with Dagen in that I agree that we are due for a little bit of a further pullback here, but I think we do see that fall-winter rally, and where I do think you see strength is you'll continue to see strength in those multinational names, but the other thing I would say to Jonathan, too, is what about the dividend-yielding names? You know. The flight to safety names ...."
JONATHAN HOENIG: "They're death, Alexis, they are death. That's just it. The utilities. The REITs that everyone bought for those safe dividends, those stocks are dreck now. I think - uh - you know ..."
GLICK: "What about the consumer discretionary names?"
HOENIG: "Such as? Give me a name."
GLICK: "Well, uh, you know - um- yeah - you're right. You're right. Alright. Alright. I mean - my point being, though, that if you look at the flight to safety ...".
JONAS MAX FERRIS (talking over her): "Chipotle Mexican Grill. It's up like 50% since I picked it last ..."
KEENAN: "OK. OK. That's not a huge consumer name, but it has done well."
Ouch! Ms. Glick was just not able to hold her own when faced with a fairly typical analysts' free-for-all, common on all of the business shows I've ever watched, whether on FOX, CNBC or CNN.
As evidenced by the exchange above, it was particularly surprising that Ms. Glick was unable to summon up the name of a stock to back up one of her points. She was upstaged by Jonas Max Ferris, when he threw out the name of the Chipotle restaurant chain. Even more disturbing was her complete willingness to concede the argument to Hoenig. This hardly seemed the demeanor of someone who will be, in effect, the second most powerful person at the FOX Business Network ater Neil Cavuto. She was certainly not prepared to go head-to-head with a group of "free market" sharks.
As for the topic of the discussion, it would seem that there was consensus among the analysts that, if you want to make a profit, invest overseas, because America's markets are - as Hoenig said - "dreck."
Which means that the fat cats are making their biggest profits by putting their money in foreign companies. Am I the only person that thinks there's something radically WRONG with this picture? Is no one else upset that America isn't even worth investing in any more, except in certain very limited sectors (like Mexican food)?
Just in case our conservative readers don't believe that the flag-waving, pro-American FOX News Channel would bet against the (grunt loudly) U-S-A, check out the second video below. It's a damning segment from the financial show that preceded Cashin' In called Forbes on FOX. Listen carefully - not to Steve Forbes, because he's Giuliani's campaign manager and has to lie - but to the rest of the Forbes editors and writers. It's clear they believe the smart money is moving overseas.
So much for "Buy American!"
CASHIN' IN, AUGUST 4, 2007
FORBES ON FOX, August 4, 2007
