Stephen Colbert, satirist and … market analyst?
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We’ve heard Stephen say it repeatedly on The Colbert Report: “Supply and demand” or “The market has spoken”. We know he’s a believer in market forces. But did you know that he’s also a market analyst? According to the Financial Times, that’s what both he and Jon Stewart are (or may as well be):
Long View: Oil, dollar traders feed each other crude lines
By John Authers, Investment Editor
Published: June 13 2008 21:17 | Last updated: June 13 2008 21:17Every generation has its own satirists with a unique finger on the pulse. For the US, at present, the ruling comedians, appearing late every night on cable, are Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert.
Ruthless political satirists, they are also skilled market analysts. To understand the psychology behind the global spike in oil prices, listen to their dialogue from Monday this week.
Temperatures hit 96 degrees Fahrenheit in New York. “And it’s only early June,” said Colbert. “Temperatures have nowhere to go but up. Forecasters say it could be in the low hundreds by next week.”
When Stewart protested that the weather does not work that way, Colbert replied: “I strongly doubt it. If the weather keeps going at this rate, by peak vacation season we could be looking at upwards of 200 degrees. It’s a vicious cycle – more people need to stay cool, less can drive, temperatures up for the rest of us. Supply and demand.”
When Stewart protested that weather is not set by a market mechanism, Colbert roared that it was.
Just such arguments, with just as much basis in fact, are being used about oil prices. There is a debate to be had over the long-term causes of the oil spike. But there is no valid explanation for the volatility of the last two weeks, except the flow of human greed and fear.
. . .
Nice to see that my (ahem) faith in this country’s financial wizards is so well-justified. If you haven’t seen the toss to which the article refers, here it is:
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1 Comments
June 14th, 2008 at 9:49 pm
cool…Jon…keep cool.
haha I remember being very amused at that last week.
I really do like when Stephen does economics though, because he does it accurately. most of the time when people try to be funny with it they don’t actually have their theory straight. the word The Audacity of Hopelessness had me jumped out of my seat for its observations on discouraged workers.
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