Jezebel
CNBC's Money Honey 2.0 Erin Burnett is profiled in today's Washington Post. Fittingly, we read the story while waiting on hold with one of the lawyers hired by one of our loan shark creditors and pondering whether it would be worth the $20,000 signing bonus to just go to Iraq right now and post between car bombings and such. Anyway, the story elucidates why, despite being nowhere near as hot, Erin is fast displacing Maria as the world's preeminent hot chick who knows about money.
Asked on "Hardball" about the repeated recalls of Chinese-made toys, Burnett said: "If China were to revalue its currency, or China is to start making, say, toys that don't have lead in them or food that isn't poisonous, their costs of production are going to go up, and that means prices at Wal-Mart here in the United States are going to go up too."Somehow she got ridiculed for this incendiary linking of (duh) cause with (duh) money-saving effect, but we were inspired: Erin was on TV, right before our eyes talking about the Fed and the European Central Bank and all those huge financial institutions' deep-set paranoia that all those debt-saddled consumers out there were just going to default en masse.... and we realized that, much like shoddy Chinese manufacturing standards, there just might be a silver lining in this market especially for us...
Paralegal: I have to ask, is there any reason you just stopped paying your bills?
Me: Um, well I used to be a journalist. It's a dying industry, you know.
Paralegal: Uh-huh.
Me: But I got out of that racket. Now I have a "real job." So anyway, I've been thinking about this credit crunch, and I'd really like to do my part to help you financial institutions out, but I can't pay it off in full. But, like, if I pay half of this off now, and half next month, what can you do for me?
Paralegal: I was just about to offer you; if you pay it off now, I can knock off $2,000 and you'll be paid in full.
Me: But I can't pay it off all now. I can only pay half.
Paralegal: Uh, okay, well, let me ask.
Me: Thanks!
Paralegal: Okay, done!
Looking Good At CNBC (And Pretty, Too)
[Washington Post]
Comments
All these talking heads on TV that are of the female persuasion are such and embarrassment. This chick is a fucking moron. I saw that clip, what an absolutely ridiculous and dumb thing to say. And don't even get me started on Chris Matthews...he's like that big, dumb idiot in school who doesn't shut up until someone hits him upside the head.
God, how I love those phone calls. As if I didn't already know I fucked up my life by going into print journalism, I have to explain this to the collector over the phone.
I owe what? Shit. Really? $8,000? Wha -- Can I pay it off in full today?!
Fuuuckk. Uh, I mean, no. In three installments? Uh, nooooo.
Ma'am I make $22K a year. How long have I what? Jesus. Like 8 miserable years. Yeah, I've been thinking about getting another job, it's just, y'know ... Tough down here to find something within driving distance. Going back to college?
Ma'am, isn't that what got me here in the first place?
So, will $100 tide you folks over until next month? Going once, going twice ...Talk to you next month, Alisha from the DOE collections department in Texas ...
this is like deal or no deal im goin to try that when i call this week
Dudes, I'm in journalism school. Please stop. You are scaring me. At the very least you are making me wonder if I shouldn't have joined the soulless robots over in the business school.
Sorry, Jezebel writer person, but Erin is way hotter than Maria. Like, way hotter.
Bonnie Lass, point yourself toward the closest law school. Sure, you make a deal with the devil, but you can't beat the money. I've never been happier.
I'm a big fan of the collection calls that end up with "so you're going to renig on this agreement you made with a the trusting credit card company that let you use their money to buy things? Do you understand that you are damaging your credit and will not be able to buy a car or a house? Do you? You are violating a written agreement between you and the credit card company!"
I won't be able to buy a car or a house?! OMG. You mean, if I DIDN'T have any credit card debt then I WOULD be able to buy a house and a car on my $28,000 a year salary??? OMG. Sweet! Can I get a "no money down" mortage too?
Damn, and I thought you were gonna point out that there's a real-life version of Becky, the main character from the Shopaholic series...
Ohhh, I just LOVE it when they call and say "Don't you want to pay off the full amount today? You're not interested? You're not interested in SAVING MONEY?"
Um, no, douchebag, I'm not interested in paying off all of my debt at once when I make $15,000 dollars a year. You don't like that? DON'T GIVE CREDIT CARDS TO AN ACTOR.
@whynotshesaid: you're still wondering?
@katastic: I wonder if they would accept you acting like you paid your bill....
LFW1031 hahaha ... you CAN get a no money down mortgage. that's how the markets actually ended up in this mess. it's really pretty awesome.
@whynotshesaid: Oh, no, no. Don't listen to me. I majored in graphic design. If I had actually went to J-School, I could be making ... Wow. Like $29K!
Do broadcast/blogging if you have your heart set in journalism. Stay. The. FUCK. Away. From. Papers. Dailies are dead -- they just don't realize it yet. Except for, y'know, the small community papers that will still be around for the local high school football coverage and wrecks and shit.
Like where I work ...
um, being an adult - scary and totally not fun.
Start a discussion:
Login with your username and password below. Or comment on this post via email.
Forgot your username or password? New User?