Harvard Elitists Say, Hey, Look at me! I’m blogging! I’m somebody!

Steve Dibert, MFI-Miami

There is one thing in this world that annoys me more than idiot lawyers and idiot politicians, it’s Harvard alumni and former Harvard faculty types.  I think it may be their over inflated sense of self-worth and pompous arrogance from walking on Harvard Square that makes them feel, as we say on this side of tracks, as if their pooh doesn’t stink.

These Harvard types also think we’re all stupid or think that we suffer from that same type of memory loss as Drew Barrymore in the movie, 50 First Dates with Adam Sandler.

Here’s a perfect example.  Today, the blogosphere’s favorite Harvard Elitist, Susan Webber aka Yves Smith of Naked Capitalism fame penned a blog proclaiming she doesn’t comment on politics and has avoided writing about the Brown/Warren race in Massachusetts because, “this is a finance and economics blog, and aside from the fact that the Warren candidacy has led lots of out of state financial firms to pour money into the Brown campaign, the discussion of issues in that particular race hasn’t entered into terrain that would merit a stand-alone post.” 

My first impression is, huh?  Actually, it’s more like, WTF?  Smith’s rationale makes absolutely no sense like usual.

First, Smith is saying that she is not going to write about the Brown/Warren race because any comments by her would trigger out of state firms to pour money into Scott Brown’s campaign.  I’m sorry but this is a perfect example of Smith’s over-inflated sense of self-worth.  Let’s face it, other than foreclosure activists who want people to think they’re smarter than they actually are and the armchair economists who hang on every word they read on the web, no one takes what she writes serious nor do they allow it to influence one of the most watched U.S Senate races in the past 40 years.

I stopped reading Naked Capitalism about a year and half ago because most of the time Smith’s logic doesn’t make any sense and because she doesn’t pen anything original.  On any given post attributed to her, 80% of the content is recycled from other people.   Now, the only time I see her articles is when Richard Zombeck from the Huffington Post and the Home Preservation Network gets bored and sends me her articles  to see how riled up he can get me.  I think he actually likes when I write articles like these since I’m one of the few bloggers out there with brains and the balls to call it like I see it.

Second, Smith says that the issues in the Brown/Warren race haven’t entered into terrain that would merit a post her site.  I’m starting to think Smith isn’t just sniffing glue or talking to the hookah smoking caterpillar, she’s living on the opposite side of Gilligan’s Island from Mitt Romney.

You have two candidates who are neck deep in the inner bowels of American finance.  Let’s start with her colleague from the Harvard Alumni Sisterhood, Elizabeth Warren, who rose to fame five years ago by destroying wholesale lending industry by falsely accusing it of being the cause of the financial crisis.  Some good and honest people didn’t just lose their job because of Elizabeth Warren wiped their entire industry based on a lie, they were blacklisted from finding employment in other professions for nearly three years.  She was also was instrumental in the formation of Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.

Then there’s Scott Brown who’s only claim to fame prior to beating Martha Coakley in the special election for the U.S. Senate in 2010 was his nude two page spread in Cosmo in June 1982.  Since then, Scott Brown has developed a reputation in the beltway of being so deep in the pockets of banking lobbyists, other members of Congress have dubbed him Bukkake Boy behind his back since he has never met a bank lobbyist he didn’t like and he is pretty much willing to humiliate himself for their pleasure.

The question that keeps popping into my head is why Smith is even posting an article about politics when she says claims she won’t write about politics?  Besides, all she did was lift three quarters of Adam Levitin’s piece from Credit Slips.  The real reason Smith doesn’t write about politics someone is going to call her out on it.  As I did six weeks ago when I called her out for not doing adequate research on the candidate she did endorse.  That candidate, Lisa Epstein lost her Democratic primary by a 4:1 margin.

Friday’s post is a perfect example of why I stopped reading Naked Capitalism.  It’s obvious Smith read “Trust Me I’m Lying“ by Ryan Holiday.  Holiday writes a “how to” manual for exploiting the black arts of search engine optimization and media manipulation in order to build traffic to your website.  According to Holiday, content doesn’t have to be accurate, good or original, it just has to be there.  He points out that blogging is a high tech version of the yellow journalism marketing techniques that launched the newspaper industry in the 1800s.

Like other people who don’t like what I write about them, Smith whines to other people about what I write about her. She’s even gone as far as to threaten to blacklist people or have already blacklisted people from Naked Capitalism who distribute my articles.   I find it humorous that none of these people ever contact me or have the cojones to write a rebuttal on this site.  Especially her or even Matt Weidner who like to cry about their First Amendment rights.

Now Smith might think I have the boorish manners of a Yallie and she may be right but what distinguishes me from her and other people who take the attitude of “Look at me! I’m blogging! I’m somebody!”  is my clients and the homeowners who read my posts are kicking the crap out of the banks.