How to Cover Wall Street

Enough, already.

At first, I thought the bailouts were necessary. But, I really never want to hear the “word of the year” again. Especially not for the auto industry.

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Plain and simple, it’s not a good time for anyone in the U.S. economy. And, according to Campbell Brown of CNN, the times are “terrifying.”

Unlike Wall Street executives or the giants of the auto industry, Brown’s show yesterday focused on a group of people we can actually relate to: students.

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Wow. You know this economic crisis is really, really bad when the people actually reporting on it can’t even keep their jobs.

The bad business practices that have swept Wall Street isn’t even beneficial to the companies that it’s helping. In covering the financial meltdown, CNBC has garnered stellar ratings. The channels numbers in September were the best ever (in its 19-year history) and represented a huge increase from last year.

“CNBC in September, which Nielsen Media Research dates from Sept. 1-28, averaged 373,000 viewers during its business-day period. That was up 46% from last September’s 255,000 average and represented the financial news network’s best overall month with the daypart since March 2001.”

CNBC executives tout their prowess in the television business world to a sense of anxiety in the viewer saying, “When there’s an aggressive move to one extreme or the other CNBC engagement surges,” said Mark Hoffman, CNBC’s President. “Through much of this crisis fear has beat greed silly.”

But, now, The New York Observer is reporting that GE’s budget cuts are moving to CNBC.  The rumor is that the cut could be as large as 10 percent.

This is one of the first times that CNBC is feeling the cuts of its parent company. Previously, GE kept the cuts to NBC and cable network MSNBC.

“Back in October, NBC Universal chief Jeff Zucker sent an e-mail to employees, informing them that roughly $500 million, or roughly 3 percent of the budget, would be cut across the company, focusing on “reductions in promotion expenses; in discretionary spending, such as travel and entertainment and outside consultants; and in staffing costs.”

Details of the layoffs have not yet been released—so whether or not on-air anchors or reporters are affected is unknown.

One thing I’m guessing? CNBC won’t be reporting these job cuts during tomorrow’s broadcasts.

If it were my decision, I wouldn’t give a dime to Wall Street to pay for CEO bonuses. But, as we all know, it’s not up to me.

I saw a segment on “The Early Show” this morning that posed this very controversial question to the experts, which made me decide that I really don’t care if these CEOs get their bonuses or how much the bonuses are–the thing I mostly care about is: Where is the money coming from?

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Though the layperson may still not completely get just how the credit crunch could affect them, it could become pretty clear when it starts to affect his or her spending. A common denominator that is a staple in many people’s financial lives is credit cards. The economic crisis has already had adverse effects on the credit-card industry. You may have noticed fewer credit card offers in your mailbox, and fewer still with offers of zero-percent interest rates. This year, banks like HSBC and Citibank have cut their mailings by as much as half.

Also, your credit limits may start to decrease without your knowledge. Or, if you have a credit card that you  keep around for emergencies but has been rendered inactive, it may be canceled so the issuer can cut the cost of maintaining the account. These may seem like small changes, but they can hurt your credit score, so it’s a good idea to keep a close eye on your accounts these days. The Wall Street Journal reports how you can track what’s being done to your credit score.

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