CNN’s Gerri Willis says, “Stay put, you little people.”

Well, not in those exact words.

Gerri Willis, personal finance editor on CNN, has been making her comments – I guess they’re hers; maybe they’re just written for her – about the recent stock market decline. She’s been advising the little people – she didn’t exactly use that phrase either, but it can be assumed from the context – not to sell their stock market holdings. She even used the entertainment phrase “shock jockey”.

Is she qualified to issue stock market advice? Her CNN biography doesn’t state what college degree she has, but it does state that she “attended Columbia Business School as a Knight-Bagehot Fellow in 1991-92”. This site says that this program “offers qualified journalists the opportunity to enhance their understanding and knowledge of business, economics, and finance... during Columbia’s academic year from August through May... Up to ten Fellows are named each year and receive free tuition plus a stipend to offset living expenses in New York City.” How nice. Those people who have enough intelligence to learn what’s being repeated – I mean, taught – are paid to get it. (I tried to verify Ms. Willis’s attendance. This site wanted me to pay for “premium members” status to find out. I declined.)

So, is she qualified? She certainly seems to know the jargon of economics and finance. But I think that her comments now are just to try to get the “little” people not to panic and take their money out of the stock market. Now if the "bigger" people can get some money out of it, why can't the "little" people? Besides, there can't be a seller if there's no buyer.

Tony Harris, Stop Hmmm-ing, Start Humming.

CNN’s Tony Harris needs to stop “hmmm”-ing while another person is talking. It’s VERY annoying. Does he realize that he does it? Does anybody else notice it? Does anybody else even care? Does he or someone think it’s cute or clever? I don’t care! It’s ANNOYING! Stop it! Mute his mike. I don’t want to hear it anymore.

Well, I’ve cleared my psyche on that one. What’s next? Everyone trying to talk over each other in those "Hollywood Square"-style boxes? Yeap! Mute 'em. Problem solved.

CNN’s Allan Chernoff needs math lesson.

This morning CNN’s Allan Chernoff reported about how Harvard is restructuring its tuition and fees for schooling. For those making $60,000 to $180,000 per year, the new fee will be 10% of the family's income. That's real nice. But the blooper came when Mr. Chernoff said that Harvard's new fees will “cost the school 22 million dollars a year. That is not even 2/3 of one percent of Harvard’s endowment” of $35 billion.

Hello! That's not even 2/3 of 1/10 of one percent of it. Figure it out:

1 percent of $35,000,000,000 is $350,000,000. That's 350 million dollars.

1/10 of that is 35 million dollars.

$22 million is less than 2/3 of that.

Maybe we should overlook it. After all, CNN is "America's most trusted" blah, blah, blah. And then there's all those billions and billions of dollars wasted - I mean, spent in Iraq, etc.

But according to CNN,"Chernoff ... is a career advisor for Brown University students. He was a former board member and secretary of the New York Financial Writers Association... Chernoff earned a bachelor of arts degree from Brown University." (Maybe he skipped the math classes.)

We need much better... Hey, CNN, you want to hire me to proofread?
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Update (Jan. 1, 2008): Steven Roy Goodman wrote in "The real story on Harvard's generosity" that Harvard could have spent a LOT more money. Check it out.

Dumpster Sumptuous

This morning CNN had a story about a young woman who retrieved food thrown away into dumpsters. It was said that she could afford to do otherwise, but she chose to do this to expose the amount of food discarded (and/or to be on television - CNN didn't say that). Of course, once again, CNN left out the most important part of the story: why is all of this food thrown into dirty dumpsters when there are hungry people? Well, the reasons are quite simple: the expiration dates have been exceeded and, ... the biggest one of all, … to avoid lawsuits... Think about it. If one person became ill – or even thought so – there would be a lawsuit for damages. So the “solution” is to throw it all away.

But is there a better solution? Well, it could be donated with signed statements of personal acknowledgement for the acceptance of risk. But who in his/her right mind would do this today? So the food becomes another victim of our litigious system… while hunger continues.

CNN’s Ali Velshi, Economist Not

Today Ali Velshi said, “You never want zero inflation.” And that would be because he has studied economics and has a degree in it?

Well, Ali Velshi may have studied economic subjects in his employment as a reporter and anchor. But his statement is not from his educational degree. According to his CNN biography and Wikipedia {quoted here and emphasis added}, “Ali Velshi earned a degree in religion from Queen's University in Kingston, Ontario.” So he’s probably just repeating what some others have said.

Now why would someone be FOR inflation? Well, for one thing, it benefits those who get the money first... Guess who that would be?

We would all be better off if our money would buy more, not less. So, I suggest that Ali Velshi keep quiet about things of which he knows little if nothing.

Enterprise, Alabama High School Tragedies

On Thursday, a tornado severely damaged a high school building in Enterprise, Alabama. Eight students were killed. On Saturday, CNN's Miles O'Brien was on location. He seemed most interested in doing a puff piece on FEMA's technology. It seems to me that he should have been investigating the structure of the high school building. Was it built well? But that would take effort - and possible accusations. So once again, the real story that we need to know about, may not be told.