Rick John Santelli (born July 6, 1956) is an American editor for the

CNBC CNBC is an American List of business news channels, business news channel owned by the NBCUniversal News Group, a unit of Comcast's NBCUniversal. The network broadcasts live business news and analysis programming during the morning, Day ...

Business News network. He joined CNBC as an on-air editor on June 14, 1999, reporting primarily from the floor of the

Chicago Board of Trade The Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT), is an American futures exchange, futures and options exchange that was founded in 1848. On July 12, 2007, the CBOT merged with the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) to form CME Group. CBOT and three other excha ...

. He was formerly the vice president for an institutional trading and

hedge fund A hedge fund is a Pooling (resource management), pooled investment fund that holds Market liquidity, liquid assets and that makes use of complex trader (finance), trading and risk management techniques to aim to improve investment performance and ...

account for futures-related products. He is also credited as being a catalyst in the early formation of the

Tea Party movement The Tea Party movement was an American fiscally conservative political movement within the Republican Party that began in 2007, catapulted into the mainstream by Congressman Ron Paul's presidential campaign. The movement expanded in resp ...

via a statement he made on February 19, 2009.

Early life and education

The grandson of four

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, a Romance ethnic group related to or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance languag ...

immigrants, Rick John Santelli was born near Taylor Street in

Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

's old Italian neighborhood and moved with his family to

Lombard, Illinois Lombard is a village in DuPage County, Illinois, United States, and a suburb of Chicago. The population was 44,476 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. History Lombard was originally named "Babcock's Grove", after the Babcock brothers ...

at age six. After graduating from Willowbrook High School in

Villa Park, Illinois Villa Park is a village in DuPage County, Illinois, DuPage County, Illinois, United States, within the Chicago metropolitan area. The population as of the 2020 Census was 21,113. History When Ovaltine established its factory, it needed a wa ...

, Santelli attended the

University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (UIUC, U of I, Illinois, or University of Illinois) is a public land-grant research university in the Champaign–Urbana metropolitan area, Illinois, United States. Established in 1867, it is the f ...

, where he was a member of the

Alpha Sigma Phi Alpha Sigma Phi (), commonly known as Alpha Sig, is an intercollegiate men's social Fraternities and sororities, fraternity. Founded in 1845 at Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut, it is the tenth oldest social fraternity in the United Sta ...

fraternity and graduated with a

Bachelor of Science A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, B.S., B.Sc., SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree that is awarded for programs that generally last three to five years. The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Scienc ...

economics Economics () is a behavioral science that studies the Production (economics), production, distribution (economics), distribution, and Consumption (economics), consumption of goods and services. Economics focuses on the behaviour and interac ...

in 1979.

Career

Financial

In 1979, he joined the

Chicago Mercantile Exchange The Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) (often called "the Chicago Merc", or "the Merc") is an American derivatives marketplace based in Chicago and located at 20 S. Wacker Drive. The CME was founded in 1898 as the Chicago Butter and Egg Board ...

and the Chicago Board of Trade as a commodity trader and order filler for

Drexel Burnham Lambert Drexel Burnham Lambert Inc. was an American multinational investment bank that was forced into bankruptcy in 1990 due to its involvement in illegal activities in the junk bond market, driven by senior executive Michael Milken. At its height, i ...

; he eventually became the Vice President of Interest Rate Futures and Options.

CNBC

In the 1990s, Santelli felt that the financial industry was changing in a way "not beneficial to me and my family", and accepted a full-time job with

in 1999.

"Tea Party" rant

On February 19, 2009, Santelli drew attention for his comments on the Homeowners Affordability and Stability Plan, which was announced the day before, on February 18. Broadcasting from the floor of the

, Santelli accused the government of "promoting bad behavior", and raised the possibility of a "Chicago Tea Party". He suggested that individuals who knowingly obtained high-risk mortgages and faced impending foreclosure as a consequence were "losers". The Tea Party remark was credited by some as "igniting" the

as a national phenomenon.

Responses

Described as "loquacious and self-aggrandizing" by media, Santelli's remarks were characterized as a rant. CNBC canceled Santelli's scheduled interview on ''

The Daily Show ''The Daily Show'' is an American late-night talk show, late-night talk and news satire television program. It airs each Monday through Thursday on Comedy Central in the United States, with extended episodes released shortly after on Paramount+ ...

'' with

Jon Stewart Jon Stewart (born Jonathan Stuart Leibowitz, November 28, 1962) is an American comedian, writer, producer, director, political commentator, actor, and television host. The long-running host of ''The Daily Show'' on Comedy Central from 1999 to 20 ...

on March 4, 2009. Santelli later clarified his comments and addressed concerns that the event was staged. On April 20, 2009, Santelli participated as a panel member in an Economic Leadership Forum hosted by the George Bush Presidential Library Foundation at

Texas A&M University Texas A&M University (Texas A&M, A&M, TA&M, or TAMU) is a public university, public, Land-grant university, land-grant, research university in College Station, Texas, United States. It was founded in 1876 and became the flagship institution of ...

. CNN.com reported that some compared Santelli to fictional reporter Howard Beale, the protagonist of the 1976

satirical Satire is a genre of the visual arts, visual, literature, literary, and performing arts, usually in the form of fiction and less frequently Nonfiction, non-fiction, in which vices, follies, abuses, and shortcomings are held up to ridicule, ...

film ''

Network Network, networking and networked may refer to: Science and technology * Network theory, the study of graphs as a representation of relations between discrete objects * Network science, an academic field that studies complex networks Mathematics ...

''. Santelli said: Santelli's comments garnered praise from

libertarians Libertarianism (from ; or from ) is a political philosophy that holds freedom, personal sovereignty, and liberty as primary values. Many libertarians believe that the concept of freedom is in accord with the Non-Aggression Principle, according ...

. Mark R. Crovelli wrote: Santelli was condemned by the left;

George Monbiot George Joshua Richard Monbiot ( ; born 27 January 1963) is an English journalist, author, and Environmental movement, environmental and political activist. He writes a regular column for ''The Guardian'' and has written several books. Monbiot ...

said, "it is the most alarming example of cheap demagoguery you are likely to have seen."

Paul Krugman Paul Robin Krugman ( ; born February 28, 1953) is an American New Keynesian economics, New Keynesian economist who is the Distinguished Professor of Economics at the CUNY Graduate Center, Graduate Center of the City University of New York. He ...

wrote in his column in ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'' that the Republican Party:

COVID-19 virus remarks

In 2020, media reported that, after a series of stock declines driven by fears of a COVID-19 virus pandemic, Santelli stated, during a live broadcast of ''The Santelli Exchange'', on March 5, that "maybe we’d be just better off if we gave he virusto everybody, and then in a month it would be over because the mortality rate of OVID-19probably isn’t going to be any different if we did it that way than nthe long-term picture, but the difference is we’re wreaking havoc on global and domestic economies." Santelli subsequently apologized for making the “dumbest, most ignorant” remarks about managing the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

. Santelli was, again, criticized by media outlets, following his launch of a shouting match with CNBC news anchor Andrew Ross Sorkin, on December 4, 2020, over current government recommendations and legal measures directing individuals in order to curtail the

. Santelli's rant against restrictions was repeatedly met by Sorkin, who asserted that science opposed Santelli's views, and deemed his diatribe "a disservice to the viewer."

Personal life

Since 2015, Santelli has lived with his wife in Wayne, Illinois.

References

External links

Rick Santelli bio on CNBC.com

Original speech by Rick Santelli on CNBC.com

{{DEFAULTSORT:Santelli, Rick 1956 births Living people American television reporters and correspondents American business and financial journalists American male journalists University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign alumni Drexel Burnham Lambert People from Wheaton, Illinois Tea Party movement activists CNBC people American people of Italian descent Journalists from Illinois Businesspeople from Chicago People from Lombard, Illinois