Among the Reasons I Like Fox business

I have been a faithful viewer of Fox News for years and I was giddy as a young teenager at a Hanna Montana concert as I waited for the launch of Fox Business last October. I have not been disappointed. Fox Business has made extraordinary strides in bridging the divide between Wall Street and Main Street, it has developed a personality driven network (versus purely an issue focus) that is necessary in producing quality programming, and it has more resources available on finance and business than any other network (aided recently with its purchase of the Wall Street Journal.

Fox Business is also very entrepreneurial. In spite of the vast resources of its parent company, News Corp, the network has used some good old fashioned guerilla marketing to get the word out on the network. Recently, I wrote a post about Neil Cavuto's absence at Fox Business due to his battle with MS (fortunately he is back). Within a day of that post I received a call from Fox Business thanking me for the article and to see if I would be interested in having Cavuto and other personalities on my show. My decision required very little deliberation.

Before I received that call I had already enjoyed visits with Jonathan Hoenig of Capitalist Pig (a regular on Fox's popular Cashin' In) and Charles Payne of Wall Street Strategies (and a regular on Money for Breakfast). Everyone associated with the network is eager to get the word out to others. Since the network has contacted me I have had great interviews with Alexis Glick (Vice President of Business News and an anchor of Money for Breakfast) and David Asman (Forbes on Fox and America's Nightly Scoreboard). In the next few weeks I am scheduled to interview Neil Cavuto (Managing Editor of Fox Business and anchor), someone whom I have long been interested in having on the show.

Besides being an innovative approach to marketing, the contacting of Fox Business to our media only reinforces its commitment to Main Street business, because that is what my show is largely about. Just one more reason Fox Business is one of my favorite networks.

Kevin Price's articles are found daily in national publications such as USA Today, Chicago Sun Times, and Reuters. Subscribe to his newsletter here.

Kevin Price is Host of the Houston Business Show (M-F at 11 AM on CNN 650) and Publisher of the Houston Business Review.

Conservative Rhetoric Wrong on Credit Crisis

I believe in the power of free markets, the importance of private property, and the necessity of limited government as much as anyone. Very few question my "conservative credentials." However, I have recently begun to question some of the rhetoric that is being used by many rather prominent proponents of free enterprise when it comes to the credit crisis.

In recent months I have had Steve Moore (Wall Street Journal), Jonathan Hoenig (Fox Business), Craig Smith (frequently on CNBC and Fox), Charles Payne (Fox Business), and others on my radio show and the topic of the mortgage situation will often come up. I typically agree with the experts on the vast majority of issues we discuss and they are among the most brilliant analysts in the media today. In fact, I even agree with them on their assessment of the sub-prime crisis, I just strongly disagree with their rhetoric.

In every case and without exemption, these authorities said that the crisis was simply due to a "large group of people who had no business buying a house in a first place" (almost a direct quote of several of those listed above). Conservatives are often accused of being elitist and it is due to statements such as this.

Who is it to say which person should qualify for a home or who should be a home owner? If you believe in free markets, that is the responsibility of the mortgage companies and other financial institutes that are willing to take the risk, not the government or pundits. However, it is also imperative that those companies take responsibility if things go wrong with the loan. The economy shouldn't have to suffer from the moral hazard being created when mortgage companies take risks and then get bailed out by the government. That will lead to businesses taking more risks, with the belief they will be bailed out in the end if it doesn't work out.

Because of the anti-consumer rhetoric being spoken by these free market thinkers, people who could get a loan no other way than through a sub-prime approach may never qualify for a loan again. Yet, the number of loans by such persons that are going into foreclosure are in the single digits. The majority of these people are pleased to own a home this way because they wouldn't have been able to get one any other way because they are self-employed. They had all the "business" in the world getting such loans, the financial institutions that underwrote them had no right to a government bailout. That should be the focus of conservative critics.

The results of this crisis are bailouts for the mega rich corporations and the future punishment of every person who needs variable interest rates loans in order to get a home. Some how, the latter is being projected as the "bad guy". Advocates of freedom should defend the individuals who were creative in their pursuit of their homes -- the vast majority who have kept up their payments. Those who couldn't pay should suffer the consequences. Meanwhile, the businesses who made poor decisions in whom they loaned money to should be allowed to suffer the consequences for their decisions. Heads should roll, companies should be purchased by others, and changes should be made internally. But prohibiting sub-prime laws publishes the wrong individuals.

The free market advocates at the beginning of this piece are largely right in their thinking. The government should not bailout bad business decision making. However, they were wrong in the rhetoric. No one, but the ones who make a loan, should say who is worthy of being financed. Not only does such rhetoric do nothing in winning hearts and minds to free market principles, it is contrary to the ideas of freedom itself.

Kevin Price's articles are found daily in national publications such as USA Today, Chicago Sun Times, and Reuters. Subscribe to his newsletter here.

Kevin Price is Host of the Houston Business Show (M-F at 11 AM on CNN 650) and Publisher of the Houston Business Review.

On the Show: Charles Payne Tackles Poverty

Charles Payne of Wall Street Strategies (and of Fox News and Fox Business) was recently on the Houston Business Show discussing the problem of poverty facing many minorities today. Charles brings a unique perspective on the subject since he has faced both poverty as a young boy raised by a single parent and wealth because of his entrepreneurial success as an adult. As a result of his up bringing, Charles takes a some what contrarian view of poverty.

Conventional wisdom is that poor people should be given hand outs and that the poor should be treated as victims rather than as people merely seeking opportunity. Conventional wisdom fails to understand that the more you subsidize something, the more you get of it. Subsidizing poverty generates more of it.

Payne says that a big part of the poverty problem as that the focus is on the wrong thing. We don't need a "Poverty Czar" as advocated by many liberal leaders, but a "Wealth Czar" who points people away from poverty. We need to tackle the real causes of poverty in this country -- excessive taxation on wealth creation that prevents many businesses and opportunities to be created, excessive regulation that deters business growth, and licensure laws that inhibit people from entering the market place.

I love Charles' insights and he is one of my favorite contributors to the Houston Business Show. Listen to this informative two part interview here and here to understand America's poverty problems from someone who has experienced them.

For a copy of the free report, "Why Your Marketing Isn't Working," email Info@HoustonBusinessShow.com and put "marketing" in the subject line.

Kevin Price is Host of the Houston Business Show (M-F at 11 AM on CNN 650) and Publisher of the Houston Business Review. Hear the show live and online at HoustonBusinessShow.com. Visit the archive of past shows here.

Declaring a Recession to End a Recession

It appears that virtually every major player in politics and government are now declaring a recession. Republicans and Democrats, Members of Congress and senior Executive Branch officials, and now, senior leaders of the Federal Reserve. They are all declaring a recession.

The academic definition of a recession is economic decline over two quarters -- that's six months for those of us who don't like calendars -- of economic decline. We barely have had two months, but virtually everyone is surrendering to the "R" word.

So the question is why? Why are we so anxious to enter a recession? Charles Payne of Wall Street Strategies and a regular feature on Fox Business and Fox News as well as the Houston Business Show, has said that although it may be too soon to declare a weaker economy, there are specific strategies we can take in event of such. It seems to me that we are pursuing such policies (e.g., pumping money into the economy to encourage growth) and it actually seems to be making matters worse. Payne agrees as do most sensible economic analysts. If we keep these inflationary policies up, we will be looking at the bad old 1970s again.

There seems to be a consensus that, if we declare a recession, that we can move on to greater economic heights. So far it isn't working and, if anything, it is actually making matters worse. We will have to wait and see whether the negative rhetoric produces economic growth.

For a copy of the free report, "Why Your Marketing Isn't Working," email Info@HoustonBusinessShow.com and put "marketing" in the subject line.

Kevin Price is Host of the Houston Business Show (M-F at 11 AM on CNN 650) and Publisher of the Houston Business Review. Hear the show live and online at HoustonBusinessShow.com. Visit the archive of past shows here.

Sneak Peek of This Week's Show

I'm not much for brash commercialism in this blog, but there are several guests coming up this week on the Houston Business Show (M-F at 11 AM on CNN 650) that you might want to be aware of.




On Tuesday, Floyd Brown, who is a nationally known economist and Washington, DC political consultant will discuss why McCain will likely be our next President. Sound improbable? The current Democrat opponents are actually perfect competition for the Arizona Senator, according to Brown.


Also on Tuesday, Troy Dunn, author of Young Bucks (a phenomenal book on raising successful kids), will be on to discuss his unique philosophy on building future business leaders. I receive many more books than I could ever read from potential guests, but Troy's book is must reading and you can order it here. You can either raise financially successful adults or perennially dependent adult children. This book can help you in pointing your child in the right direction.


Jonathan Hoenig of Capitalist Pig and Charles Payne of Wall Street Strategies, two regulars from Fox Business and Fox News, will both be on Wednesday to discuss what is going on in the volatile stock market. They always provide great answers to the complex business environment of today. Hear recent interviews by Jonathan and Charles from the Houston Business Show archive.


Kevin Price is Host of the Houston Business Show (M-F at 11 AM on CNN 650) and Publisher of the Houston Business Review. Hear the show live and online at HoustonBusinessShow.com. Visit the archive of past shows here.

On the Show: Charles Payne

Earlier this week Charles Payne of Wall Street Strategies, Fox News and Fox Business, demonstrated again why he is one of the best and the brightest on Wall Street today. He discussed on my program how investors can demystify the process of buying and selling sense, some of the common sense approaches that smart investors are taking, and the future prospects of both Wall Street and the economy in general. Here his interview on February 6th here, here, and here. Coming soon will be the revisiting of his interview this week. I hope you enjoy it as much as I do.

Kevin Price is Host of the Houston Business Show (M-F at 11 AM on CNN 650) and Publisher of the Houston Business Review. Hear the show live and online at HoustonBusinessShow.com. Visit the archive of past shows here.

The Matrix Economy, The Media, and Agent Smith

On today's show I interviewed Charles Payne of Wall Street Strategies and I am coming to the conclusion that we have a Matrix Economy. This economy is largely a lie and is one designed to make us have a negative perspective. The greater our pessimism, the more likely we will consume the poison being fed to us by the media.

I wrote a while back about Agent Smith of the Matrix and his conversation with Neo. In it I wrote "I love the scene where Agent Smith tells Neo the truth about the world he has always known. He tells the hero that in earlier attempts the machines attempted to make a perfect virtual world so that humans would be happy while they waited to be batteries for the machines. Smith goes on to say that it made the humans miserable and they had to give us the current world plagued with challenges and problems in order to make us content. We lived for bad things, he argued, and the Matrix accomodates such." The antics of the last few weeks only further validates that argument. We continue to give the negative media higher ratings and they reciprocate with more of the information we actually need to not hear.

We need to get real about the economy. Our future depends upon it. The media is Agent Smith. Listen with caution.

When you click the above photo you will hear a recent interview with Charles Payne -- the most optimistic man on Wall Street -- about the economy.

Kevin Price is Host of the Houston Business Show (M-F at 11 AM on CNN 650) and Publisher of the Houston Business Review. Hear the show live and online at HoustonBusinessShow.com. Visit the archive of past shows here.