SUBSCRIBE TO OUR FREE NEWSLETTER
Daily news & progressive opinion—funded by the people, not the corporations—delivered straight to your inbox.
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
CNBC editor Rick Santelli on Thursday called for infecting the world population with coronavirus to protect stock prices. (Image: screenshot/CNBC)
'This Is Your Brain on Capitalism': CNBC Market Analyst Rick Santelli Calls for Infecting Global Population With Coronavirus to Help Wall Street
"The projected death of 11 million Americans would be a fair price to pay for better long term stock growth, says a capitalist extremist."
Mar 05, 2020
After a volatile day of trading on Wall Street Thursday precipitated by ongoing fears of the economic effects of the global coronavirus outbreak, CNBC analyst Rick Santelli suggested it would be better to infect the world population with the disease all at once to help stock prices.
"This is your brain on capitalism," said activist Joshua Potash.
\u201cThis is absolutely horrifying.\n\nRick Santelli on @CNBC says we should consider giving coronavirus to everybody to just get it over with.\n\nThat way it won\u2019t wreak so much havoc on the economy.\n\nThis is your brain on capitalism.\nhttps://t.co/Uv5UYyKtxy\u201d— Read Jackson Rising by @CooperationJXN (@Read Jackson Rising by @CooperationJXN) 1583448079
Santelli, who is credited with helping kick off the racist, extreme right-wing Tea Party movement in February 2009 by ranting about then-President Barack Obama's Homeowners Affordability and Stability Plan, told CNBC anchor Kelly Evans Thursday that the "catalyst" for Thursday's market decline was local news reports on the virus.
"Just watch your local news," said Santelli. "There's your catalyst."
"All I know is, I think about how the world would be if you tried to quarantine everybody because of the generic-type flu," Santelli continued. "Now, I'm not saying this is the generic-type flu--but maybe we'd be just better off if we gave it to everybody."
"And then in a month, it would be over," Santelli continued, "because the mortality rate of this probably isn't going to be any different if we did it that way than the long-term picture, but the difference is we're wreaking havoc on global and domestic economies."
Progressives and market observers were quick to mock Santelli's comments.
"I sometimes worry after doing TV interviews that I may have gotten a fact wrong, or over-simplified an argument, or advocated for a Darwinian genocide to protect the stock market like this gentleman did," tweeted political science professor Seth Masket.
But the real world effects of what Santelli called for were no joke, said The Nation's Jeet Heer.
"Assuming the most conservative estimates of 0.5% mortality, this is a call for the death of 37,500,000 people worldwide or 1,750,000 Americans, all in order to shore up the stock market," Heer said.
Activist Robert Fortuna, a clinical psychologist, called out Santelli on Twitter for his callous comments.
"The projected death of 11 million Americans would be a fair price to pay for better long term stock growth, says a capitalist extremist," Fortuna said.
An Urgent Message From Our Co-Founder
Dear Common Dreams reader, The U.S. is on a fast track to authoritarianism like nothing I've ever seen. Meanwhile, corporate news outlets are utterly capitulating to Trump, twisting their coverage to avoid drawing his ire while lining up to stuff cash in his pockets. That's why I believe that Common Dreams is doing the best and most consequential reporting that we've ever done. Our small but mighty team is a progressive reporting powerhouse, covering the news every day that the corporate media never will. Our mission has always been simple: To inform. To inspire. And to ignite change for the common good. Now here's the key piece that I want all our readers to understand: None of this would be possible without your financial support. That's not just some fundraising cliche. It's the absolute and literal truth. We don't accept corporate advertising and never will. We don't have a paywall because we don't think people should be blocked from critical news based on their ability to pay. Everything we do is funded by the donations of readers like you. Will you donate now to help power the nonprofit, independent reporting of Common Dreams? Thank you for being a vital member of our community. Together, we can keep independent journalism alive when it’s needed most. - Craig Brown, Co-founder |
Our work is licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). Feel free to republish and share widely.
After a volatile day of trading on Wall Street Thursday precipitated by ongoing fears of the economic effects of the global coronavirus outbreak, CNBC analyst Rick Santelli suggested it would be better to infect the world population with the disease all at once to help stock prices.
"This is your brain on capitalism," said activist Joshua Potash.
\u201cThis is absolutely horrifying.\n\nRick Santelli on @CNBC says we should consider giving coronavirus to everybody to just get it over with.\n\nThat way it won\u2019t wreak so much havoc on the economy.\n\nThis is your brain on capitalism.\nhttps://t.co/Uv5UYyKtxy\u201d— Read Jackson Rising by @CooperationJXN (@Read Jackson Rising by @CooperationJXN) 1583448079
Santelli, who is credited with helping kick off the racist, extreme right-wing Tea Party movement in February 2009 by ranting about then-President Barack Obama's Homeowners Affordability and Stability Plan, told CNBC anchor Kelly Evans Thursday that the "catalyst" for Thursday's market decline was local news reports on the virus.
"Just watch your local news," said Santelli. "There's your catalyst."
"All I know is, I think about how the world would be if you tried to quarantine everybody because of the generic-type flu," Santelli continued. "Now, I'm not saying this is the generic-type flu--but maybe we'd be just better off if we gave it to everybody."
"And then in a month, it would be over," Santelli continued, "because the mortality rate of this probably isn't going to be any different if we did it that way than the long-term picture, but the difference is we're wreaking havoc on global and domestic economies."
Progressives and market observers were quick to mock Santelli's comments.
"I sometimes worry after doing TV interviews that I may have gotten a fact wrong, or over-simplified an argument, or advocated for a Darwinian genocide to protect the stock market like this gentleman did," tweeted political science professor Seth Masket.
But the real world effects of what Santelli called for were no joke, said The Nation's Jeet Heer.
"Assuming the most conservative estimates of 0.5% mortality, this is a call for the death of 37,500,000 people worldwide or 1,750,000 Americans, all in order to shore up the stock market," Heer said.
Activist Robert Fortuna, a clinical psychologist, called out Santelli on Twitter for his callous comments.
"The projected death of 11 million Americans would be a fair price to pay for better long term stock growth, says a capitalist extremist," Fortuna said.
After a volatile day of trading on Wall Street Thursday precipitated by ongoing fears of the economic effects of the global coronavirus outbreak, CNBC analyst Rick Santelli suggested it would be better to infect the world population with the disease all at once to help stock prices.
"This is your brain on capitalism," said activist Joshua Potash.
\u201cThis is absolutely horrifying.\n\nRick Santelli on @CNBC says we should consider giving coronavirus to everybody to just get it over with.\n\nThat way it won\u2019t wreak so much havoc on the economy.\n\nThis is your brain on capitalism.\nhttps://t.co/Uv5UYyKtxy\u201d— Read Jackson Rising by @CooperationJXN (@Read Jackson Rising by @CooperationJXN) 1583448079
Santelli, who is credited with helping kick off the racist, extreme right-wing Tea Party movement in February 2009 by ranting about then-President Barack Obama's Homeowners Affordability and Stability Plan, told CNBC anchor Kelly Evans Thursday that the "catalyst" for Thursday's market decline was local news reports on the virus.
"Just watch your local news," said Santelli. "There's your catalyst."
"All I know is, I think about how the world would be if you tried to quarantine everybody because of the generic-type flu," Santelli continued. "Now, I'm not saying this is the generic-type flu--but maybe we'd be just better off if we gave it to everybody."
"And then in a month, it would be over," Santelli continued, "because the mortality rate of this probably isn't going to be any different if we did it that way than the long-term picture, but the difference is we're wreaking havoc on global and domestic economies."
Progressives and market observers were quick to mock Santelli's comments.
"I sometimes worry after doing TV interviews that I may have gotten a fact wrong, or over-simplified an argument, or advocated for a Darwinian genocide to protect the stock market like this gentleman did," tweeted political science professor Seth Masket.
But the real world effects of what Santelli called for were no joke, said The Nation's Jeet Heer.
"Assuming the most conservative estimates of 0.5% mortality, this is a call for the death of 37,500,000 people worldwide or 1,750,000 Americans, all in order to shore up the stock market," Heer said.
Activist Robert Fortuna, a clinical psychologist, called out Santelli on Twitter for his callous comments.
"The projected death of 11 million Americans would be a fair price to pay for better long term stock growth, says a capitalist extremist," Fortuna said.
We've had enough. The 1% own and operate the corporate media. They are doing everything they can to defend the status quo, squash dissent and protect the wealthy and the powerful. The Common Dreams media model is different. We cover the news that matters to the 99%. Our mission? To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. How? Nonprofit. Independent. Reader-supported. Free to read. Free to republish. Free to share. With no advertising. No paywalls. No selling of your data. Thousands of small donations fund our newsroom and allow us to continue publishing. Can you chip in? We can't do it without you. Thank you.