CNBC is on fire! Just like the economy. After being lambasted for being
catastrophically wrong about everything its anchors and reporters are paid to
understand, the business network is actually enjoying its notoriety.

Jon Stewart and the White House have both put the business network squarely in
their sights for emerging as the spokesnetwork of choice for reactionary moneyed
interest, but the New York Time's Brian Stelter and Tim Arango report this
morning that "The headlines about CNBC are a testament to its relevance."

Which is true in the same sense that the headlines about Enron in 2001 were a
testament to that company's relevance. It's the reality-TV theory of publicity;
as long as people are talking about you, it doesn't matter what they are saying.
In CNBC's case, they're saying that the network was too busy ignoring Maria
Bartiromo's overnight flights with Citigroup CEO Sandy Weil to catch on to the
fact that Citigroup spent that last eight or so years buying up worthless assets
and hurtling toward insolvency. But it's OK as long as your formerly
cocaine-addicted anchor Larry Kudlow is considering a Senate run based on the
premise that rich people need an advocate in these tough times.

The angry outbursts from Cramer, Kudlow, et. al. are by design, Stelter and
Arango report, and for the time being they have been working: Ratings are up 7
percent for the first two months of the year, and CNBC's audience of well-heeled
CFOs continues to command high advertising rates. One knowledgable TV source
tells Gawker that CNBC rakes in as much money as the Today Show, which pulls in
a reported $250 million in annual profit. Still, CNBC suffers terribly during
downturns as amateur investors switch over to Judge Judy rather than watch their
retirement accounts spiral downward. The early '09 viewership has been goosed by
the market roller-coaster ride; as the recession settles in it will clearly drop
off.

But Cramer has a solution! "To attract viewers," the Times writes, "[Cramer]
said he would continue to make Mad Money entertaining, and that means more
predictions, even when they can be used against him by comedians like Mr.
Stewart later."

"If I get gushy, then I'm not going to be relevant," Cramer said. Lesson
learned.