February 19th, 2009:

Rick Santelli of CNBC went on a rant while on the floor of the Chicago Exchange.

The government is promoting bad behavior… I’ll tell you what, I have an idea. The new Administration’s big on computers and technology. How about this, President and new Administration, why don’t you put up a Web site to have people vote on the Internet as a referendum to see if we really want to subsidize the loser’s mortgages, or would we like to at least buy cars and buy houses in foreclosure and give them to people who might have a chance to actually prosper down the road and reward people who actually carry the water instead of drink the water…

This is America! How many of you people want to pay for your neighbor’s mortgage, that has an extra bathroom, and can’t pay their bills? President Obama are you listening?

One of the floor traders says: How about we all stop paying our mortgage! It’s a moral hazard’…

Slated to appear on John Stewart’s The Daily Show, he ends up cancelling. It was a mistake, as Stewart goes off on him and CNBC:

This of course would escalate into the Jon Stewart/Jim Cramer debacle, which you can read about here.

The other interesting effect of Santelli’s rant involves the rise of the tea parties.

At the DC Tea Party on Feb. 27, 2009, hundreds of taxpayers rallied in support of free markets and limited governments – and against endless bailouts. Even Michelle Malkin makes an appearance.

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