You have to be pretty bad to outdo the CNBC flunkies who pollute cable TV with their endless hype about the US stock market and America in general when the truth is that neither have exhibited any progress in about a decade. However, there is worse. I began to wonder about who exactly Ambrose Evans-Pritchard was after his endless sensationalist features as international business editor of the Daily Telegraph. As a financial reporter, I was even more astounded to read him proudly confess that he was a "technical dolt" while stating that he did not know why a high put to call ratio could be a contrary indicator. (In typical fashion, he wrote this in a blog about China leading the world into depression.) Anyone with a search engine could figure this simple thing out; I was thus puzzled why a person working in finance would say something so foolish.Digging further, we learn about Ambrose Evans-Pritchard's sordid past inventing others' sordid pasts as the pied piper of Clinton conspiracists in that president's heyday. It turns out that, in his previous iteration, he is most famous for writing an "expose" of Bill Clinton published by none other than Regnery of John Kerry-and-loincloth fame entitled The Secret Life of Bill Clinton. The Amazon review sums up this sensationalistic piece of trash:
Evans-Pritchard's exposé of Arkansas's favorite son is indeed scathing: he documents the then-governor's drug use and consort with prostitutes (primarily in the company of ne'er-do-well brother Roger); innumerable lies to friends, staff members, and the people who empowered him; numerous infidelities; blackmail--the list goes on and on. Evans-Pritchard claims that, because he is not an American citizen, he is not "beholden to any political or financial interest in the United States," and he does not "hang on lips of official sources," nor does he "fear the loss of access in Washington, or the blackball of [his] profession"; in other words, he ain't afraid to call 'em like he sees 'em. And although many of his seemingly wild claims and accusations are substantiated by thorough notes and appendixes following the text (including copies of original FBI documents), you're never quite convinced of the author's theories. Whether or not you come to believe, as Evans-Pritchard does, that "Arkansas was a mini-Colombia within the United States, infested by narco-corruption"; that--because of William Jefferson Clinton--"you can sniff the pungent odors of decay in the American body politic"; that the president's "actions and character ... have engendered the most deadly terrorist movement in the industrialized world," you will most certainly be entertained and enlightened by the dirt this British muckraker has uncovered. You may not be an F.O.B. [Friend of Bill], but after reading this book, you may not mind so much.Ambrose Evans-Pritchard is the Kitty Kelley of financial reporting as he goes about his business in the same breathless manner whether writing about Clinton or call options. While creative writing may be to others' style, I have to give grudging credit to the CNBC crew--they may be cheerleaders to the bone, but at least they know what a put-call ratio is. Plus, they aren't likely to write about Tim Geithner conspiring to ruin the world economy with Ben Bernanke while wearing a loincloth and smoking crack in the company of prostitutes and Roger Clinton as state troopers fired by Sarah Palin stood guard.
If you take this guy seriously, I have some fine Regnery publications for you to read. What a joke.
