Rick Santelli#"Chicago Tea Party" remarks

The grandson of four Italian immigrants, Rick John Santelli{{citation|url=http://libsysdigi.library.illinois.edu/OCA/Books2012-12/illio/illio197683univ/illio197683univ.pdf|pages=375, 397|title=The Illio|year=1976|issue=83|publisher=University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign}} was born near Taylor Street in Chicago's old Italian neighborhood and moved with his family to Lombard, Illinois at age six.{{cite web|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100921110507/http://www.suntimes.com/news/politics/2723474,CST-NWS-TeaParty19.article|archive-date=September 21, 2010|title='Best 5 minutes of my life'|url=http://www.suntimes.com/news/politics/2723474,CST-NWS-TeaParty19.article|last=Pallasch|first=Abdon M.|work=Chicago Sun-Times|date=September 19, 2010|access-date=September 14, 2018}}

After graduating from Willowbrook High School in Villa Park, Illinois, Santelli attended the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign, where he was a member of the Alpha Sigma Phi fraternity and graduated with a Bachelor of Science in economics in 1979.{{cite web|url=https://www.thinkadvisor.com/2009/06/01/no-teleprompter-needed-cnbcs-rick-santelli/?slreturn=20180815002137|title=No Teleprompter Needed: CNBC's Rick Santelli|work=Research Magazine|date=June 2009|last=Rusoff|first=Jane Wollman|access-date=September 14, 2018}}

In 1979, he joined the Chicago Mercantile Exchange and the Chicago Board of Trade as a commodity trader and order filler for Drexel Burnham Lambert; he eventually became the Vice President of Interest Rate Futures and Options.{{cite web|url=https://www.cnbc.com/rick-santelli/ |title=Rick Santelli|date=4 January 2012|publisher=CNBC|access-date=September 14, 2018}}

In the 1990s, Santelli felt that the financial industry was changing in a way "not beneficial to me and my family",{{cite news|last=Ahrens |first=Frank |url=http://voices.washingtonpost.com/economy-watch/2008/11/five_questions_for_cnbcs_rick.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130727055018/http://voices.washingtonpost.com/economy-watch/2008/11/five_questions_for_cnbcs_rick.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=July 27, 2013 |title=Five questions for CNBC's Rick Santelli |work=The Washington Post |date=2008-11-23 |access-date=2009-03-03}} and accepted a full-time job with CNBC in 1999.

{{Further|Tea Party movement}}

On February 19, 2009, Santelli drew attention for his comments on the Homeowners Affordability and Stability Plan, which was announced the day before, on February 18. Broadcasting from the floor of the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, Santelli accused the government of "promoting bad behavior", and raised the possibility of a "Chicago Tea Party". He suggested that individuals who knowingly obtained high-risk mortgages and faced impending foreclosure as a consequence were "losers".{{cite news|last=Etheridge|first=Eric|title=Rick Santelli: Tea Party Time|url=http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/02/20/rick-santelli-tea-party-time/|newspaper=The New York Times: Opinionator|date=February 20, 2009}} The Tea Party remark was credited by some as "igniting" the Tea Party movement as a national phenomenon.{{cite news|last=Pallasch|first=Abdon M.|title='Best 5 minutes of my life'; His '09 CNBC rant against mortgage bailouts for 'losers' ignited the Tea Party movement|newspaper=Chicago Sun-Times|date=September 19, 2010|page=A4}}

{{see also|Jon Stewart–Jim Cramer conflict}}

Described as "loquacious and self-aggrandizing" by media, Santelli's remarks were characterized as a rant.{{cite news|last=Zucker |first=Michael |url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-2009-03-01-0902280392-story.html |title=Santelli, why don't you listen? |publisher=chicagotribune.com |date=2009-03-01 |access-date=2020-12-05}}{{cite news|last=Lattman |first=Peter |url=https://blogs.wsj.com/deals/2009/03/12/jon-stewarts-wall-street-corner-man-for-tonights-cramer-battle/ |title=Jon Stewart's Wall Street Corner Man for Tonight's Cramer Battle — Deal Journal — WSJ |publisher=Blogs.wsj.com |date=2009-03-12 |access-date=2020-12-05}}{{cite news |last=Linkins |first=Jason |title=Jon Stewart Eviscerates CNBC, Santelli On Daily Show |work=HuffPost |date=March 5, 2009 |url=https://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/03/05/jon-stewart-eviscerates-c_n_172057.html |access-date=2020-12-05}} CNBC canceled Santelli's scheduled interview on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart on March 4, 2009.

Santelli later clarified his comments and addressed concerns that the event was staged.{{cite web|last=Santelli |first=Rick |url=https://www.cnbc.com/2009/03/02/rick-santelli-i-want-to-set-the-record-straight.html |title=Rick Santelli: I Want to Set the Record Straight |publisher=CNBC |date=2009-03-02 |access-date=2009-03-03}}{{cite web|last=Bauder |first=David |url=http://bostonherald.com/news/us_politics/view/2009_03_02_CNBC:_Rick_Santelli_not_tied_to_political_Web_site |title=CNBC: Santelli not tied to political Web site |date=2009-03-02 |access-date=2012-04-27}}

On April 20, 2009, Santelli participated as a panel member in an Economic Leadership Forum hosted by the George Bush Presidential Library Foundation at Texas A&M University.{{cite web |url=http://tamunews.tamu.edu/archives/article.php?articleid=7557&month=4&year=2009 |title=Bush To Host Economic Leadership Forum |publisher=tamunews.tamu.edu |date=2009-04-09 |access-date=2009-09-26}}

CNN.com reported that some compared Santelli to fictional reporter Howard Beale, the protagonist of the 1976 satirical film Network.[http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/04/15/tea.parties/ Nationwide 'tea party' protests blast spending]. By Ashley Fantz. CNN.com Published April 15, 2009. Santelli said:

{{quote|I think that this tea party phenomenon is steeped in American culture and steeped in the American notion to get involved with what's going on with our government. I haven't organized. I'm going to have to work to pay my taxes, so I'm not going to be able to get away today. But, I have to tell you – I'm pretty proud of this.[http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0409/21275.html Fox teas up a tempest]. By Michael Calderone. Politico. Published April 15, 2009.}}

Santelli's comments garnered praise from libertarians. Mark R. Crovelli wrote:{{quote|In the world of financial "journalism," CNBC's Rick Santelli stands out as a refreshing and intelligent antidote to the hordes of perma-bulls, fed apologists, and chart sorcerers that otherwise pollute the financial airwaves...The trouble with Santelli, however, is that his political and economic philosophy is inconsistent and incomplete, and does not offer a viable alternative to that being peddled by his Keynesian opponents.{{cite web|last=Crovelli|first=Mark R.|title=The Trouble With Rick Santelli|url=http://www.lewrockwell.com/2011/03/mark-r-crovelli/the-trouble-with-rick-santelli/|publisher=LewRockwell.com}}}}

Santelli was condemned by the left; George Monbiot said, "it is the most alarming example of cheap demagoguery you are likely to have seen."{{cite web|url=http://www.monbiot.com/2010/06/14/bogus-misdirected-and-effective/ |title=Bogus, Misdirected and Effective|last1=Monbiot|first1=George |access-date=2013-12-12|date=2012-06-14}} Paul Krugman wrote in his column in The New York Times that: {{quote|... Somehow, [the Republican Party] has become infected by an almost pathological meanspiritedness, a contempt for what CNBC's Rick Santelli, in the famous rant that launched the Tea Party, called "losers." If you're an American, and you're down on your luck, these people don't want to help; they want to give you an extra kick...{{cite news|last=Krugman|first=Paul|title=Hunger Games, USA|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2013/07/15/opinion/krugman-hunger-games-usa.html|newspaper=The New York Times|date=July 14, 2013}}}}

In 2020, media reported that, after a series of stock declines driven by fears of a COVID-19 virus pandemic, Santelli stated, during a live broadcast of The Santelli Exchange, on March 5,[https://www.cnbc.com/santelli-exchange/ The Santelli Exchange, March 5, 2020. Retrieved December 5, 2020.] that "maybe we’d be just better off if we gave [the virus] to everybody, and then in a month it would be over because the mortality rate of [COVID-19] probably isn’t going to be any different if we did it that way than [in] the long-term picture, but the difference is we’re wreaking havoc on global and domestic economies."{{cite news |first=Mike |last=Murphy |title=CNBC's Rick Santelli suggests giving everyone coronavirus to spare the economy |url=https://www.marketwatch.com/story/cnbcs-rick-santelli-suggests-giving-everyone-coronavirus-to-spare-the-economy-2020-03-05 |work=MarketWatch |date=March 5, 2020 |access-date=March 6, 2020}}{{cite news |first=Justin |last=Fox |title=How Bad Is the Coronavirus? Let's Run the Numbers |url=https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-03-05/how-bad-is-the-coronavirus-let-s-compare-with-sars-ebola-flu |work=Bloomberg News |date=March 5, 2020 |access-date=March 6, 2020}} Santelli subsequently apologized for making the “dumbest, most ignorant” remarks about managing the COVID-19 pandemic.[https://www.cnbc.com/video/2020/03/06/cnbcs-rick-santelli-i-apologize-for-insensitive-coronavirus-comments.html "CNBC’s Rick Santelli: I apologize for insensitive coronavirus comments", CNBC, March 6, 2020. Retrieved December 5, 2020.]

Santelli was, again, criticized by media outlets, following his launch of a shouting match with CNBC news anchor Andrew Ross Sorkin, on December 4, 2020, over current government recommendations and legal measures directing individuals in order to curtail the COVID-19 pandemic. Santelli's rant against restrictions was repeatedly met by Sorkin, who asserted that science opposed Santelli's views, and deemed his diatribe "a disservice to the viewer."[https://www.cnn.com/videos/business/2020/12/04/cnbc-santelli-sorkin-covid-orig.cnn "CNBC's Rick Santelli starts shouting match on air over Covid-19 restrictions"], CNN, December 5, 2020. Accessed December 5, 2020.

Since 2015, Santelli has lived with his wife in Wayne, Illinois.{{cite news|last=Rosenthal |first=Phil |url=http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/chi-rosenthal-23-feb23,0,6124753.story |title=Rant raises profile of CNBC on-air personality Rick Santelli |work=Chicago Tribune|date=2009-02-23|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090225173408/http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/chi-rosenthal-23-feb23,0,6124753.story|archive-date=2009-02-25 |access-date=2009-03-02}}{{cite news|url=http://www.chicagotribune.com/classified/realestate/elitestreet/ct-rick-santelli-elite-street-1029-biz-20151028-story.html|title=Rick Santelli of CNBC buys house in west suburban Wayne |last=Goldsborough|first=Bob|work=Chicago Tribune|date=October 28, 2015|access-date=September 14, 2018}}

{{Reflist}}

• [https://www.cnbc.com/rick-santelli/ Rick Santelli bio on CNBC.com]
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20090223170915/http://www.cnbc.com/id/15840232?video=1039849853 Original speech by Rick Santelli on CNBC.com]
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20090316153711/http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/chi-santelli-cnbc-video,0,4962596.htmlstory Santelli's speech and White House response]

{{Tea Party movement}}

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Category:1956 births

Category:Living people

Category:American television reporters and correspondents

Category:American business and financial journalists

Category:American male journalists

Category:University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign alumni

Category:Drexel Burnham Lambert

Category:People from Wheaton, Illinois

Category:Tea Party movement activists

Category:CNBC people

Category:American people of Italian descent

Category:Journalists from Illinois

Category:Businesspeople from Chicago

Category:People from Lombard, Illinois