Rick Santelli’s Top 8 Most Epic Rants

Image via screenshot, CNBC

Rick Santelli is an on-air reporter for the CNBC Business New Network who’s far from camera shy. This veteran trader is opinonated and not afraid to let you know. These eight epic rant videos prove our point.

1.) Santelli shows his anger after throwing jabs at the press for refusing to ask Ben Bernanke tough questions. “I wish I was in that press conference…The one question I want to ask Ben is, ‘Ben, what are you afraid of? What’s wrong with the economy?’ I don’t hear these people saying anything’s wrong with the economy! So what’s wrong, Ben? Why can’t we get out of crisis management mode?” The anchor in the studio responds, “It’s probably best you’re not in the press conference, all things considered this afternoon”—which does little to slow Santelli down. He then proceeds to throw a garbage can.

2.) Santelli went on a rage against the wealthy back in November 2012, with fellow CNBC reporter Steve Liesman on a split-screen. Referring to an op-ed that appeared in the Wall Street Journal about the issuing of a special dividend to avoid an expected tax hike due to the fiscal cliff, he says, “The people that claim the president’s fairness, those wealthy people that he wants to go after; they escape it.” When Liesman asks him if he read the op-ed above it that failed to show President George W. Bush’s inability to produce economic growth, Santelli screams, “Don’t give me the switcheroo! It’s reprehensible that people go to Charlotte [for the Democratic National Convention] and say ‘fairness’ and then they run to try to beat the taxman. Shame on them! I can’t even talk about it anymore.” And then he storms off camera.

3) In another tirade regarding the housing market, Santelli engages in a shouting match with the panel guests, continually disrupting them. At around the 6:00 minute mark he says, “You wouldn’t with your money, sir, let somebody buy a house with nothing down and basically a free ride to risk an unsecured loan! You’re going to take all these peoples money to subsidize an industry that is inflated through years of poor policy and regulation. Why should these people pay for it?” With that statement, a barrage of cheers is heard on the floor for Santelli.

4.) Santelli wants the government to stop spending! And if he can’t get his message across by saying it once, he’ll shout it a couple times. And he’s not afraid to scream at colleague Liesman, who supported Obama’s decision to not cut taxes. “Go back to Russia where you understand the state and citizen!” He told Liesman. “Why does he always make it personal?” Liesman responded. Santelli storms out of the camera’s view, only to return a few moments later and engage Liesman in a barely coherent debate. “Spending, spending, spending,” Santelli said. “You’ve been married too long.”

5.) Seems the floor is in agreement with Santelli on this one, as he discusses the Obama mortgage bailout. “They’re like putty in your hands,” said Joe Kernen from CNBC when Santelli’s take on the bailout was met with cheers from the crowd. “No, they’re not,” Santelli shouted. “This is America! How many of you people want to pay for your neighbor’s mortgage that has an extra bathroom and can’t pay their rent?” The crowd boos. “President Obama, are you listening?” he asks.

6.) If there’s one thing we’ve learned about the Tea Party-propeller thus far, it’s that he needs to be heard. In this video, he literally starts whistling at the five other people on the discussion panel. “The people that run the country on both sides, they love to get elected, and they also love to fib about the statistics in any way they can. Once again, my common phrase these days is, ‘Shame on all of them,’” he says.

7.) So what set Santelli off now? This time, it was a comment from an overseas analyst who said the “economy was recovering” but that “lunatic Republicans” could curb that recovery. “What about the lunatics that spend $16.4 trillion and want another check?” he asks. “Aren’t they the crazies, Kelly? Why are the lunatics the people that say overspending and creating too much debt are lunatics?”

8.) Tom Friedman and Santelli call each other idiots in this heated debate, where Santelli reinforces his belief that Social Security is a Ponzi scheme. “You need more people to perpetuate a myth, because if the people stop, the myth is known to all. That’s my definition of a Ponzi scheme. Let’s call it a chain letter, a pyramid scheme. Take the legalities and the fraud out.”