{"id":546056,"date":"2010-04-28T07:48:28","date_gmt":"2010-04-28T11:48:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.thehollywoodliberal.com\/2010\/04\/28\/dickmorrisuses-fox-news-cred-toshill-for-newsmax-financial-schemes\/"},"modified":"2010-04-28T07:48:28","modified_gmt":"2010-04-28T11:48:28","slug":"dickmorrisuses-fox-news-cred-toshill-for-newsmax-financial-schemes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/546056","title":{"rendered":"Dick?Morris?uses Fox News cred to?shill for Newsmax financial schemes"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a  rel=\"nofollow\" href=\"http:\/\/feeds.mediamatters.org\/~r\/mediamatters\/latest\/~3\/ow35bXGukHE\/201004270013\" >Dick?Morris?uses  Fox News cred to?shill  for Newsmax financial schemes <\/a><\/p>\n<p>Over the past  year,&nbsp;Dick&nbsp;Morris&nbsp;has  repeatedly used anti-Obama rhetoric and&nbsp;stoked  fears about the economy on Fox News, in his latest book,&nbsp;and in videos for the  right-wing website Newsmax. Newsmax has used those videos to the promote  financial-services products it sells, which the website has pushed by playing on  similar anti-Obama fears.&nbsp;Morris&nbsp;has&nbsp;been paid by Newsmax to  use his email list to plug such products; he builds his email  list&nbsp;through&nbsp;his website, which he  often promotes on Fox News.  <\/p>\n<p><strong>In  this&nbsp;report:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul class=\"unIndentedList\">\n<li>  Newsmax drives sales of  its financial products by using anti-Obama rhetoric and stoking fear of  hyperinflation.<\/li>\n<li>  Newsmax has  paid Morris to use his email list to promote those products.<\/li>\n<li>Through his email list and in  appearances on Newsmax webcasts, Morris has explicitly endorsed Newsmax&#8217;s  financial-services products.<\/li>\n<li>Morris builds his email  list through his website, which is frequently promoted during his Fox News  appearances.<\/li>\n<li>In his Newsmax  appearances, on Fox, and in his latest book, Morris has echoed the anti-Obama  rhetoric and predictions of hyperinflation Newsmax uses to promote its  products.<\/li>\n<li>Morris has repeatedly  used his Fox platform to shill for groups he is affiliated with.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Newsmax  uses anti-Obama rhetoric to drive sales of its financial  products<\/h2>\n<p>As&nbsp;<em>Media Matters for America<\/em>&nbsp;has <a  rel=\"nofollow\" href=\"http:\/\/mediamatters.org\/research\/201004260010\">email<\/a>&nbsp;by  Newsmax Media CEO Christopher Ruddy sent to Newsmax&#8217;s mailing list announced  Newsmax&#8217;s&nbsp;<em>Aftershock&nbsp;<\/em><a  rel=\"nofollow\" href=\"http:\/\/mediamatters.org\/rd?to=http%3A%2F%2Fcloudfront.mediamatters.org%2Fstatic%2Fpdf%2Fnm-aftershock2.pdf\">offer<\/a>,  which included a &#8220;free&#8221;  (after spending $4.95 for &#8220;shipping and handling&#8221;) copy of the book&nbsp;<em>Aftershock: Protect Yourself and Profit in the Next  Global Financial Meltdown<\/em>by David Wiedemer, Robert A. Wiedemer, and  Cindy Spitzer (John Wiley &amp; Sons, 2010). The offer also included free trial  subscriptions to three Newsmax financial newsletters, each of  whichmust be individually  canceled during their respective trial periods to avoid being charged a full  year&#8217;s subscription to them. According to  Ruddy&#8217;s email, readers who ordered the book were provided access to &#8220;an  exclusive Internet broadcast I&#8217;m filming with Fox News analyst Dick Morris along  with an esteemed panel of experts.&#8221;<\/li>\n<li>  <strong><em>Aftershock&nbsp;<\/em>webcast  promotes Newsmax&#8217;s &#8220;Money Matrix Insider.&#8221;&nbsp;<\/strong>Newsmax created a  special, password-protected website,&nbsp;<a  rel=\"nofollow\" href=\"http:\/\/mediamatters.org\/rd?to=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.aftershockprofits.com%2F\">AftershockProfits.com<\/a>,  which hosted a February 25 webcast.&nbsp;The ultimate goal of the webcast was to promote what it called the &#8220;Money Matrix Insider&#8221; &#8212; a method of investing in foreign currency exchange markets.&nbsp;Newsmax is charging $1,495 for the&nbsp;<a  rel=\"nofollow\" href=\"http:\/\/mediamatters.org\/rd?to=http%3A%2F%2Fw3.newsmax.com%2Fnewsletters%2Fmmi%2Foffer1.cfm%3Fpromo_code%3D9838-1\">package<\/a>&nbsp;(<a  rel=\"nofollow\" href=\"http:\/\/mediamatters.org\/rd?to=http%3A%2F%2Fcloudfront.mediamatters.org%2Fstatic%2Fpdf%2Fnm-RobberBaronsNextDoor.pdf\">PDF<\/a>)  &#8212; described as a $1,000 discount off the regular &#8220;membership price&#8221; &#8212; which  includes instructional DVDs, tips and alerts, and access to a &#8220;vast,  password-protected Web site [where] you will be delivered members-only articles,  weekly videos and audio commentary, the track record, and the ability to ask  questions or suggest topics to be discussed in weekly commentaries.&#8221; The web  page touted the importance of being &#8220;one of the first 1,000 to order today&#8221; at  the discounted price.The page touted a  &#8220;Potential Reward&#8221; of &#8220;$137,000 (or more) Legally in&nbsp;Your Pocket in the  Next Year Alone!&#8221;<\/li>\n<li>  <strong>The  &#8220;Call to Arms&#8221; scheme: $1,295 to get stock tips&nbsp;from  Ruddy&#8217;s &#8220;private financial weapon.&#8221;&nbsp;<\/strong>On May 7, 2009,  Newsmax hosted &#8220;A Call to Arms,&#8221; a &#8220;national internet webcast&#8221; which invited  viewers to pay $1,295 for a package including a year&#8217;s worth of stock tips from Ruddy&#8217;s &#8220;chief financial adviser.&#8221; Ruddy&nbsp;<a  rel=\"nofollow\" href=\"http:\/\/mediamatters.org\/rd?to=http%3A%2F%2Fw3.newsmax.com%2Fsecretcode%2Fannounce.cfm\">wrote<\/a>&nbsp;(<a  rel=\"nofollow\" href=\"http:\/\/mediamatters.org\/rd?to=http%3A%2F%2Fcloudfront.mediamatters.org%2Fstatic%2Fpdf%2Fnm-secretcode3.pdf\">PDF<\/a>)  that the &#8220;Million Dollar Secret Code&#8221; he promoted in the &#8220;Call to Arms&#8221; is based  on the stock-picking of analyst David Frazier, whom Ruddy called his &#8220;private  financial weapon.&#8221; Ruddy stated that he was investing $1 million of Newsmax&#8217;s  money in the promotion, adding, &#8220;David believes he can bring a 50% to 70%-plus  return over the next 12 months to this $1 million.&#8221; The promotion would provide  &#8220;About 36 Massive Profit\/Minimum Risk Plays,&#8221; in which &#8220;[y]ou will be given  guidance about exactly what to buy, at what price, and how much. David Frazier  will provide you with all of the research and analysis behind each  recommendation. And you will get a 48-hour head start on me, before I can buy  the exact same stock recommendations.&#8221;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Newsmax&#8217;s&nbsp;<em>Aftershock&nbsp;<\/em>promotion deal  featured&nbsp;Morris&#8217;&nbsp;seal of  approval<\/h2>\n<p><strong>Ruddy:  &#8220;Dick&nbsp;Morris&nbsp;agrees that every American investor should read this book to secure  their financial freedom.&#8221;<\/strong>&nbsp;In  his January 26&nbsp;<a  rel=\"nofollow\" href=\"http:\/\/mediamatters.org\/rd?to=http%3A%2F%2Fcloudfront.mediamatters.org%2Fstatic%2Fpdf%2Fnm-aftershock1-1.pdf\">email<\/a>,&nbsp;Ruddy wrote in large,  bold type: &#8220;Dick&nbsp;Morris&nbsp;agrees that every American investor should read this  book to secure their financial freedom.&#8221; Ruddy wrote that responding to his  email would put the responder on a &#8220;VIP Waiting List&#8221; in order to &#8220;claim your  copy of this book and reserve a spot to view an exclusive Internet broadcast I&#8217;m  filming with Fox News analyst Dick&nbsp;Morris&nbsp;along with an esteemed panel of  experts.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><strong>Morris&nbsp;urged  email list to sign up for Newsmax&#8217;s <em>Aftershock <\/em>book promotion in order to access  webcast.&nbsp;<\/strong>In a February 10&nbsp;<a  rel=\"nofollow\" href=\"http:\/\/mediamatters.org\/rd?to=http%3A%2F%2Fcloudfront.mediamatters.org%2Fstatic%2Fpdf%2Fmorris-20100210.pdf\">email<\/a>&nbsp;to  his list, after suggesting that &#8220;major inflation&#8221; was likely, Morris wrote:<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>Newsmax  has asked me to team up with them in a financial webinar to elaborate my views  and answer questions concerning the serious issues presented in  Aftershock.<\/p>\n<p>To  view this important internet broadcast all you need to do is secure one of the  copies of Aftershock that my friend, Christopher Ruddy, the CEO and Editor in  Chief of Newsmax, has secured.<\/p>\n<p>He  believes this book is so important to your financial well-being that he is  giving it away for free. I suggest you claim one of these quickly fleeting  copies &#8211; you can do so by clicking here. <\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><strong>Newsmax  promoted scheme on&nbsp;Morris&#8217; mailing list.<\/strong>&nbsp;Subscribers to&nbsp;Morris&#8217;  mailing list received emails from Newsmax about the <em>Aftershock <\/em>promotion,  including on&nbsp;<a  rel=\"nofollow\" href=\"http:\/\/mediamatters.org\/rd?to=http%3A%2F%2Fcloudfront.mediamatters.org%2Fstatic%2Fpdf%2Fmorrismaillistaftershock-1aa.pdf\">March  4<\/a>&nbsp;and&nbsp;<a  rel=\"nofollow\" href=\"http:\/\/mediamatters.org\/rd?to=http%3A%2F%2Fcloudfront.mediamatters.org%2Fstatic%2Fpdf%2Fmorrismaillistaftershock2-1a.pdf\">March  11<\/a>. Newsmax was described as a &#8220;paid  sponsor.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><strong>TV  ad for promotion highlights&nbsp;Morris&nbsp;blurb.<\/strong>&nbsp;In April, Newsmax  began offering the initial promotion &#8212; a copy of&nbsp;<em>Aftershock<\/em>, plus the trial newsletter  subscriptions &#8212; in TV ads airing on Fox Business. Among the blurbs for the book  included in the ad is one from Morris: &#8220;Aftershock &#8230; is a must  read!&#8221;<\/p>\n<p> <object classid=\"clsid:d27cdb6e-ae6d-11cf-96b8-444553540000\" width=\"320\" height=\"260\" codebase=\"http:\/\/download.macromedia.com\/pub\/shockwave\/cabs\/flash\/swflash.cab#version=8,0,24,0\"><param name=\"flashvars\" value=\"config=http:\/\/mediamatters.org\/embed\/cfg2?f=\/static\/clips\/2010\/04\/14\/4490\/fbn-202100414-nmaftershock.flv\" \/><param name=\"allowscriptaccess\" value=\"always\" \/><param name=\"allownetworking\" value=\"all\" \/><param name=\"src\" value=\"http:\/\/cloudfront.mediamatters.org\/static\/flash\/player.swf\" \/><embed type=\"application\/x-shockwave-flash\" width=\"320\" height=\"260\" src=\"http:\/\/cloudfront.mediamatters.org\/static\/flash\/player.swf\" allownetworking=\"all\" allowscriptaccess=\"always\" flashvars=\"config=http:\/\/mediamatters.org\/embed\/cfg2?f=\/static\/clips\/2010\/04\/14\/4490\/fbn-202100414-nmaftershock.flv\"><\/embed><\/object> <\/p>\n<p><strong><em>Aftershock <\/em> webcast, website tout&nbsp;Morris&#8217; employment by Fox.<\/strong>&nbsp;The&nbsp;<a  rel=\"nofollow\" href=\"http:\/\/mediamatters.org\/rd?to=http%3A%2F%2Faftershockprofits.com%2F\">front  page<\/a>&nbsp;of AftershockProfits.com features a letter from Ruddy  telling readers that on the website, &#8220;You also can view a recently filmed,  exclusive webinar featuring Fox News analyst Dick Morris.&#8221; During the webcast, a  caption identified&nbsp;Morris&nbsp;as a &#8220;Fox News Analyst &amp;  Commentator&#8221;:<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/mediamatters.org\/static\/images\/item\/newsmax-20100420-morris.jpg\" border=\"0\" alt=\"Morris Aftershock\" width=\"414\" height=\"224\" \/><\/p>\n<p><strong>Morris&nbsp;bashes  Obama&nbsp;in  Money Matrix video:  &#8220;[T]he  cancer&#8217;s dead, now we&#8217;re suffering from the  chemotherapy.&#8221;<\/strong>&nbsp;In the February 25  webcast,&nbsp;Morris was introduced as &#8220;the man&nbsp;<em>Time<\/em>&nbsp;magazine once called the most  influential private citizen in America&#8221; &#8212; a claim that came from a September  1996&nbsp;<em>Time<\/em>&nbsp;<a  rel=\"nofollow\" href=\"http:\/\/mediamatters.org\/rd?to=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.time.com%2Ftime%2Fmagazine%2Farticle%2F0%2C9171%2C985043-2%2C00.html\">article<\/a>&nbsp;published  shortly before&nbsp;Morris&nbsp;was ousted from Bill Clinton&#8217;s re-election campaign after  it was&nbsp;<a  rel=\"nofollow\" href=\"http:\/\/mediamatters.org\/rd?to=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.washingtonpost.com%2Fwp-srv%2Flocal%2Flongterm%2Ftours%2Fscandal%2Fmorris.htm\">revealed<\/a>&nbsp;that  he had a relationship with a prostitute. During the webcast, Morris&nbsp;plugged the <em>Aftershock <\/em>book&nbsp;and attacked President Obama as promoting economic policies that  would result in &#8220;more inflation&#8221; and &#8220;huge increases in interest rates.&#8221; From the video:<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>ROOT:  Well, you know, I just finished interviewing Robert Wiedemer, the co-author  of&nbsp;<em>Aftershock<\/em>. I&#8217;m sure you&#8217;ve  read&nbsp;<em>Aftershock<\/em>. What did you  think about its bold predictions?<\/p>\n<p>MORRIS: Well, I  thought it was a very good book. I thought that he really makes the point that  the events that we&#8217;ve experienced over the last year are not going to be  isolated occurrences. They stemmed from something and they will lead to  something. And you can&#8217;t go through the kind of disruption we&#8217;ve had in the  financial system and, much more importantly, the kind of ill-conceived remedies  for dealing with it of the Obama administration without having tremendous  consequences. And that&#8217;s why the concept of the word &#8220;aftershock&#8221; I think is a  particularly good one because we had the shock of the financial crisis, but then  we&#8217;re going to have the aftershock.<\/p>\n<p>ROOT:  Interestingly enough, you mentioned shock and aftershock, and of course, your  famous book is called&nbsp;<em>Catastrophe<\/em>. What comes after the  aftershock? Catastrophe.<\/p>\n<p>MORRIS: Well, I think  that the aftershock will be a catastrophe. We have to understand that the  disease we had, which was the financial collapse and the recession which it  caused, is basically coming to an end. And what we are entering now is the  results of the cure, not the results of the disease. You know, the cancer&#8217;s  dead, now we&#8217;re suffering from the chemotherapy. And the therapy that we&#8217;ve had  of huge budget deficits, massive increases in government spending, soon to be  big increases in taxes, and then huge increases in interest rates, all of which  are now inevitable, you&#8217;re dealing with a situation where the cure will be many  times worse than the disease ever was. In fact, it reminds me of the old  medieval doctors who used to bleed their patients, you know, to get rid of the  evil spirits in their veins. And that would cure them, and when it didn&#8217;t and  they were worse and worse, they said, ah, we know the solution &#8212; take out more  blood, get rid of more evil spirits. So finally the poor son of a gun died. And  that&#8217;s kind of what Obama&#8217;s like. He&#8217;s saying, well, he&#8217;s sick, let&#8217;s spend more  money and increase the deficit. Ah, he is not recovering. Well, let&#8217;s spend more  money and increase the deficit even more. And that is going inevitably to lead  to inflation.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><strong>Morris&nbsp;warned  that Obama will raise taxes in an effort to &#8220;make things  worse.&#8221;&nbsp;<\/strong>In a March 5&nbsp;<a  rel=\"nofollow\" href=\"http:\/\/mediamatters.org\/rd?to=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.aftershockprofits.com%2FBlogs%2FDick-Morris%2FMarch-2010%2FDick-Morris---Dont-Tell-Anyone-I-Gave-This-to-You.aspx\">video<\/a>&nbsp;posted  to the Aftershockprofits.com website,&nbsp;Morris&nbsp;claimed that in the 1990s, &#8220;the  only way we balanced the budget, the only way we eliminated the deficit, was to  cut the capital gains tax from 28 to 20 [percent] and eliminate it on homeowners  who sell their homes for [$]250[,000] or less.&#8221; By contrast, he said, &#8220;Obama is  heading in exactly the opposite direction. He&#8217;s going to raise the capital gains  tax, raise the income tax, raise the dividend tax, raise the inheritance tax,  maybe add a value-added tax on top of it, all of which are designed to make  things worse, not better.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><strong>Morris:  Obama &#8220;elbowing aside the small businesses&#8221; to borrow  money.<\/strong>&nbsp;In a March 15&nbsp;<a  rel=\"nofollow\" href=\"http:\/\/mediamatters.org\/rd?to=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.aftershockprofits.com%2FBlogs%2FDick-Morris%2FMarch-2010%2FDick-Morris--Tom-B--Wants-to-Know-How-He-Can-Stay-.aspx\">video<\/a>&nbsp;posted to the  Aftershockprofits.com website,&nbsp;Morris&nbsp;said that,  because the Obama administration is financing the recently passed job-creation  package out of deficit spending rather than out of tax revenue, Obama is &#8220;going  to the loan window, elbowing aside the small businesses, borrowing the money  himself, and then lending a piece of it to the small businesses and saying, &#8216;Now  go create jobs.&#8217; Whereas if he simply got out of the way and let the small  business directly borrow the money, you could create many, many more  jobs.&#8221;<\/p>\n<h2>Morris&nbsp;paid by Newsmax  to send anti-Obama email plugging &#8220;Call to Arms&#8221; promotion, then endorses  Newsmax&#8217;s product<\/h2>\n<p><strong>Morris&nbsp;participated  in webcast,&nbsp;was  paid to tout&nbsp;it  to&nbsp;his  mailing list.<\/strong>&nbsp;In a May 4, 2009, &#8220;<a  rel=\"nofollow\" href=\"http:\/\/mediamatters.org\/rd?to=http%3A%2F%2Fcloudfront.mediamatters.org%2Fstatic%2Fpdf%2Fnm-morrisemail-1-1.pdf\">Urgent  Message<\/a>&#8221; to his email list,&nbsp;Morris warned that Obama is  leading the country toward &#8220;socialism,&#8221; &#8220;rocketing inflation,&#8221; and a possible  second recession.&nbsp;Morris stated that he had  &#8220;agreed to participate in a special seminar online called &#8216;The Call To Arms&#8217;  hosted by my friend Christopher Ruddy, CEO of Newsmax as well as famed former  CNN anchor Bob Losure,&#8221; and&nbsp;advised his readers  to sign up for the webcast in order to &#8220;protect your wealth and investments from  the far-reaching hands of Barack Obama and the Democrats in  Washington.&#8221;&nbsp;Morris&nbsp;explained that  &#8220;[e]ven though they are paying me to send you this e mail; I have, in fact,  invested my own money with them because I think they are onto  something&#8221;:<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>I  have been warning that President Barack Obama is leading America down a  dangerous path to socialism. But, en route, he will take us through an even  longer recession than we need to have; rocketing inflation, and perhaps a second  downturn to cure the inflation.<\/p>\n<p>All  this will have grave implications each of our personal assets and stock  portfolios.<\/p>\n<p>Many  people are worried &#8212; and they have good reason to worry.<\/p>\n<p>I  believe it&#8217;s extremely important for Americans to take steps now to protect  their money and their financial freedom.<\/p>\n<p>So I  agreed to participate in a special seminar online called &#8220;The Call To Arms&#8221;  hosted by my friend Christopher Ruddy, CEO of Newsmax as well as famed former  CNN anchor Bob Losure &#8212; scheduled for Thursday, May 7th.<\/p>\n<p>[&#8230;]<\/p>\n<p>Even  though they are paying me to send you this e mail; I have, in fact, invested my  own money with them because I think they are onto something. We expect upwards  of 250,000 people to participate.<\/p>\n<p>I  want to encourage you to sign up for this &#8220;<strong>Call to Arms<\/strong>&#8221; online meeting. There is no  charge to attend. After you sign up, they will give you FREE access to a  members-only website. This site will help you protect your wealth and  investments from the far-reaching hands of Barack Obama and the Democrats in  Washington.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><strong>In  webcast, Morris attacks Obama for &#8220;leading America into socialism,&#8221; endorses  &#8220;Secret Code.&#8221; <\/strong>During his appearance  on the May 7, 2009, &#8220;Call to Arms&#8221; webcast, Morris stated, &#8220;I think that Obama  definitely is leading America into socialism.&#8221; He also commented that &#8220;of  course&#8221; Obama&#8217;s policies will lead to &#8220;huge inflation,&#8221; adding, &#8220;I don&#8217;t see how  any expert could disagree with that.&#8221; He concluded that &#8220;we&#8217;re looking here  really at the recession prolonged by Obama&#8217;s reckless spending and borrowing,  which raises interest rates, then a period of inflation when we come out of the  recession, and then probably a second recession.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Later in the  interview, the event&#8217;s host,  former CNN Headline News anchor Bob Losure, asked Morris, &#8220;David  Frazier is heading &#8216;Your Secret Million Dollar Code, and I think you know Chris  Ruddy. He&#8217;s investing a million dollars in his portfolio to track this code. Now  is this something you&#8217;d recommend to people?&#8221; Morris replied, &#8220;Well, I&#8217;m not  putting in a million, but I sure am putting my own money into it.&#8221; He also  suggested that the &#8220;Million Dollar Code&#8221; was &#8220;a strategy&#8221; people could use to  &#8220;keep yourself safe&#8221; from &#8220;the kind of offensive Obama is launching against the  American economy.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>In identifying  Morris, Losure noted that  &#8220;you&#8217;ve seen appear regularly on Fox.&#8221; During Morris&#8217; appearance, on-screen text  identified him as a Fox News analyst:<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/mediamatters.org\/static\/images\/item\/newsmax-20090507-secretcodemorris.jpg\" border=\"0\" alt=\"Morris call to arms\" width=\"475\" height=\"260\" \/><\/p>\n<h2>Warning of Obama&#8217;s  &#8220;depressflation,&#8221; Morris urges readers to buy newsletter that gives him a cut of  each subscription<\/h2>\n<p><strong>Morris:  &#8220;I receive&nbsp;a&nbsp;percentage of each  subscription sold, but even if I didn&#8217;t&#8221; I&#8217;d recommend  it.<\/strong> On March 16,&nbsp;2009,  Morris&nbsp;sent out an <a  rel=\"nofollow\" href=\"http:\/\/mediamatters.org\/rd?to=http%3A%2F%2Fcloudfront.mediamatters.org%2Fstatic%2Fpdf%2Fdepressflation.pdf\">email<\/a>  with the subject line, &#8220;THE COMING &#8216;DEPRESSFLATION&#8217;&#8230;AND YOUR MONEY.&#8221;  Recommending that his readers subscribe&nbsp;to&nbsp;the&nbsp;<em>Global  Stock Investor<\/em>&nbsp;newsletter  published by investment adviser <a  rel=\"nofollow\" href=\"http:\/\/mediamatters.org\/rd?to=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.globalstockinvestor.com%2Fabout-vardy.php\">Nicholas  Vardy<\/a>,&nbsp;Morris&nbsp;wrote:<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>You  may recall that, in one of my recent columns, I coined the term  &#8220;depressflation&#8221;&nbsp;to&nbsp;describe the inevitable  result of the Democrats&#8217; plans&nbsp;to&#8221;rescue&#8221; the  economy.<\/p>\n<p>A&nbsp;&#8221;depressflation,&#8221; I  explained, would be like the &#8220;stagflation&#8221; of the 1970s, only worse: massive  inflation, even hyper-inflation, together with Depression-like economic  stagnation.<\/p>\n<p>Why  is this inevitable? Because with&nbsp;a&nbsp;bi-partisan consensus that  deficits are vital in fighting the crisis (or easing the pain) there is no  constraint on Obama and his party. The sky is the limit on spending,&nbsp;to&nbsp;the tune of&nbsp;a&nbsp;trillion-plus dollars over  the next two years alone.<\/p>\n<p>And  there are only two ways&nbsp;to&nbsp;pay for it: (1) printing  more money, which causes inflation, and (2) hiking taxes, which kills  investment, businesses and jobs.<\/p>\n<p>Then  the question will be: When will we realize that government intervention is  magnifying, not solving the problems that caused the crisis? When will the  patience of the public with Obama&#8217;s remedies run out?<\/p>\n<p>My  guess is that it won&#8217;t be until 2012 &#8212; or after.<\/p>\n<p>In  the meantime, however, there are ways&nbsp;to&nbsp;protect yourself and  your family from the coming &#8220;depressflation.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>It&#8217;s  crucial&nbsp;to&nbsp;understand: Hard times for  America does not necessarily mean hard times for you. As&nbsp;a&nbsp;very wise investment expert  of my acquaintance, Nicholas Vardy, likes&nbsp;to&nbsp;say, &#8220;No matter what the  state of financial markets, there is always&nbsp;a&nbsp;strategy out there that can  make you money.&#8221;<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>Morris&nbsp;added: &#8220;Full  disclosure: I receive&nbsp;a&nbsp;percentage of each  subscription sold, but even if I didn&#8217;t, I&#8217;d want you&nbsp;to&nbsp;know about this amazing  service. Nicholas&#8217; advice is rock solid. If you check into it, you&#8217;ll thank me  later.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Links in the email go  to a special page on the <em>Global Stock  Investor<\/em> website which identifies the newsletter as &#8220;As Recommended  by Dick Morris&#8221;:<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/mediamatters.org\/static\/images\/item\/morris-20090316-vardy.jpg\" border=\"0\" alt=\"Vardy website\" width=\"396\" height=\"118\" \/><\/p>\n<h2>Morris, Fox News hosts  tout&nbsp;Morris&#8217; website, which he uses to boost  email list<\/h2>\n<p><strong>Morris&nbsp;repeatedly  promotes his own website during Fox appearances.<\/strong>&nbsp;According to a Nexis  transcript search,&nbsp;Morris&#8217; website,&nbsp;<a  rel=\"nofollow\" href=\"http:\/\/mediamatters.org\/rd?to=http%3A%2F%2Fdickmorris.com%2F\">dickmorris.com<\/a>, was  referenced by either Morris&nbsp;or his interviewer in at least 24 separate appearances on  Fox News programs between January 1 and April 1.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Intro  to&nbsp;Morris&nbsp;website is a prompt to join his mailing list.<\/strong>&nbsp;The first thing  visitors see when visiting&nbsp;dickmorris.com&nbsp;is a page  asking to join his email list:<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/mediamatters.org\/static\/images\/item\/morris-20100420-emaillist.jpg\" border=\"0\" alt=\"Morris website\" width=\"483\" height=\"389\" \/><\/p>\n<p><strong>Morris&#8217;s  email list has been specifically promoted on Fox.&nbsp;<\/strong>On the February 22  edition of Fox News&#8217; <em>Hannity<\/em>, Sean Hannity introduced&nbsp;Morris&nbsp;and told viewers,  &#8220;be sure to check out his Web site, DickMorris.com. You can get his columns for  free. Absolutely free.&#8221;&nbsp;Morris&nbsp;replied, &#8220;I&#8217;ll e-mail them to you,&#8221; to which  Hannity responded, &#8220;And by the way, I get your e-mails.&#8221; [Accessed from the  Nexis database]&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2>Cross-promotion:&nbsp;Morris&nbsp;uses  Fox platform to&nbsp;stoke fear  of&nbsp;hyperinflation, skyrocketing  interest rates<\/h2>\n<p>In promoting Newsmax&#8217;s financial-services products, Morris&nbsp;has warned that Obama&#8217;s policies will prolong the  recession and eventually lead to massive inflation&nbsp;and skyrocketing  interest rates&nbsp;&#8211; likely followed by  another recession. But the Newsmax promotions aren&#8217;t the only place Morris has made those claims &#8212; he has repeatedly offered a similar analysis in his role as a Fox News  analyst.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Morris:  &#8220;Right now we are in the same position as a country as the subprime borrowers  were.&#8221;&nbsp;<\/strong>On the February 1  edition of&nbsp;<em>Hannity<\/em>,&nbsp;Morris&nbsp;stated:  &#8220;Right now, we are in the same position as a country as the subprime borrowers  were. We&#8217;re getting a teaser rate of 3 percent because we&#8217;re printing the money  we&#8217;re borrowing &#8212; we&#8217;re not really borrowing money, we&#8217;re printing it &#8212; giving it to banks and borrowing it back at 3 percent. The  federal government has to stop doing that in the next few months. And then  we&#8217;re going to have to borrow real money at real interest rates. And this debt  service that now is about $300 billion is going to explode to $700 billion.&#8221; He  later said of Obama:<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>MORRIS:  What he doesn&#8217;t understand or he doesn&#8217;t want to understand is that when you  spend money that you have to borrow, even if you spend it creating jobs, you&#8217;re  going to lose jobs. Because a private business can&#8217;t borrow money to create  jobs.<\/p>\n<p>The  federal government&#8217;s elbowing them aside, and they&#8217;re the loan window. Treasury  debt has gone up 41 percent, commercial lending has gone down 25 percent.  That tells you everything you need to know.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><strong>Morris&nbsp;warns  of &#8220;second dip&#8221; to recession,&nbsp;&#8221;humongous  inflation.&#8221;&nbsp;<\/strong>On the August 24,  2009, edition of<em> Hannity<\/em>, Morris stated that &#8220;in 2010 and&nbsp;&#8217;11, I think it is  very, very likely that with this high deficit, you&#8217;re going to recover a little  bit, and then enter another depression.&#8221; He added that &#8220;on the second dip that&#8217;s  going to &#8212; that will happen maybe in&nbsp;&#8217;10, you may also have  humongous inflation, which means that the Fed cannot stimulate the economy  without risk of having the&nbsp;inflation go completely  crazy. And you know how a patient dies when you have two things that are &#8212; you&#8217;re  sick with and you can&#8217;t treat them both? Something like being unable to be stimulative because of the inflation and have to stimulate because of the recession.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><strong>Morris&nbsp;predicts&nbsp;&#8221;runaway,&#8221;  &#8220;incredible&#8221; inflation.&nbsp;<\/strong>On  the March 28, 2009, edition of&nbsp;<em>On the Record  with Greta van Susteren<\/em>, Morris&nbsp;stated:<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>MORRIS:  And the problem is that Obama, while the stimulus package is well intended, he  then comes in with a tax-increase proposal that says, &#8220;Hey, I am going to take  this away from you. Go ahead and spend, but in two years, I am going to be  serving you for dinner.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>And  that causes people to be more and more afraid. And Obama says it is just the  rich, but those are the people that are the employers, who sign paychecks and  create jobs.<\/p>\n<p>And I  think what is going to happen, Greta, is that in two years or three years, when  we begin to come out of this, all that money that is in the parking lot is going  to come onto the freeway all at once to buy goods to expand plants and  equipment.<\/p>\n<p>And  then I think we will have runaway inflation. And the only way to cure that is  another recession. Sorry.<\/p>\n<p>[&#8230;]<\/p>\n<p>But  the problem is that Obama is trying to force the pace with this massive  spending, and the money is not being spent. It is being parked. And when it  comes in, it will just come in all but once, and we will have incredible  inflation. [accessed from Nexis]<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><strong>Morris:  &#8220;In &#8216;10, gradually the depression will end and then hyperinflation will take  over.&#8221;&nbsp;<\/strong>On the January 28,  2009, edition of <em>The<\/em>&nbsp;<em>O&#8217;Reilly Factor<\/em>&nbsp;[accessed from  Nexis],&nbsp;Morris&nbsp;said that &#8220;[i]n &#8216;10, gradually the depression will end and then  hyperinflation will take over. Hyperinflation. You&#8217;re looking at 20 percent  inflation a year in &#8216;11 and in &#8216;12.&#8221; He later added that Obama was &#8220;passing a  stimulus package to ease the pain&#8221; but that the &#8220;price of easing the pain is  going to be hyperinflation.&#8221;<\/p>\n<h2>Morris&#8217;&nbsp;Obama-bashing  book also stokes hyperinflation fears<\/h2>\n<p><strong>Morris&nbsp;warns  of&nbsp;&#8221;depressflation,&#8221;  adds, &#8220;Obama&#8217;s policies have seen to that!&#8221;<\/strong>&nbsp;In his book&nbsp;<em>2010 Take Back America: A Battle  Plan<\/em>,&nbsp;Morris&nbsp;promoted fears of what he called  &#8220;depressflation&#8221;:<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>Right  now, the Fed is borrowing a lot of money to pay for the deficit. From whom? From  those who got the free money in the first place by selling their bonds to the  Treasury. This process of printing money and then borrowing it back can go on  for only so long. At some point &#8212; soon &#8212; the Fed and the Treasury will have to  stop playing the game. All indications are that it&#8217;ll have to come to a stop in  2010. If it doesn&#8217;t, the money supply may become so enlarged that we&#8217;ll be  risking the kind of wallpaper-your-apartment-with-money inflation that killed  Weimar Germany and opened the door to Hitler.<\/p>\n<p>And  the larger the deficit is, the more we&#8217;re risking a massive run of inflation,  and the more interest lenders are going to demand in order to part with their  money. After all, if they&#8217;re stuck with bonds that pay only 3 or 4 percent &#8212;  and inflation is at 10 or 20 percent &#8212; they&#8217;ll soon lose all their money. To  compensate for the loss, interest rates will have to go up. Very fast and very  high.<\/p>\n<p>[&#8230;]<\/p>\n<p>If  all of this happens &#8212; interest rates rising and economic activity falling &#8212;  businesses will sell fewer products or services but they&#8217;ll still have to pay  for their interest costs (their fixed costs) out of the products or services  they do manage to sell.<\/p>\n<p>That  will mean higher prices &#8211;&nbsp;<em>much<\/em>&nbsp;higher prices.<\/p>\n<p>And  higher prices will mean higher interest rates, which&nbsp;will mean even higher  prices in turn. That&#8217;s how we get to depressflation.<\/p>\n<p>With  the federal government now having to borrow one-third of each dollar it spends,  the need for more and more borrowing will drive interest rates ever higher.  Obama&#8217;s policies have seen to that!<\/p>\n<p>Already, smart  investors see the tsunami of inflation on the horizon. They&#8217;re flocking to buy  gold and copper as a hedge against rising prices. [pp.  50-51]<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><strong>Morris: Obama &#8220;designed&#8221; U.S. economy to turn  out like Weimar Germany.<\/strong>&nbsp;Morris&nbsp;wrote:<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>So  if Washington can&#8217;t afford to pay the interests on its debts, can&#8217;t borrow from  foreigners to pay for it, and doesn&#8217;t want to edge out private borrowing in the  capital markets, how do we pay back the huge debt Obama has foisted on  us?<\/p>\n<p>There&#8217;s only one  answer: huge, rampant, runaway inflation &#8212; not inflation because of an  artificial psychosis that grips the economy, but inflation that&#8217;s deliberately  caused by the government as an instrument of policy to get out of its  debts.<\/p>\n<p>That&#8217;s&nbsp;<em>precisely<\/em>&nbsp;the kind of inflation  that gripped Weimar Germany in the 1920s. Unable to pay the reparations for  World War I imposed by the Allies, the government inflated its currency to pay  the debt with valueless marks.<\/p>\n<p>Welcome to the future  Obama has designed for our economy! [p.  91]<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><strong>Fox  News has repeatedly promoted book.&nbsp;<\/strong>Morris&nbsp;has been  introduced as the author of&nbsp;<em>2010: Take Back  America&nbsp;<\/em>during at least 11 Fox News appearances since March 10. For  example, on the April 14 edition of&nbsp;<em>The  O&#8217;Reilly Factor<\/em>, &nbsp;O&#8217;Reilly introduced&nbsp;Morris&nbsp;as &#8220;the author of the  big bestseller&nbsp;<em>2010:&nbsp;Take Back  America<\/em>, very hot read.&#8221;<\/p>\n<h2>Morris&nbsp;has  repeatedly used Fox platform to shill for groups&nbsp;he  is affiliated with<\/h2>\n<p><strong>Morris&nbsp;repeatedly  implored viewers to donate for ads<\/strong>.&nbsp;Morris&nbsp;<a  rel=\"nofollow\" href=\"http:\/\/mediamatters.org\/mmtv\/201003170074\">frequently<\/a>&nbsp;<a  rel=\"nofollow\" href=\"http:\/\/mediamatters.org\/mmtv\/201003150054\">implored<\/a>&nbsp;people  to &#8220;donate for ads&#8221; against Democrats and health care reform. In doing  so,&nbsp;Morris&nbsp;directed viewers to his website, which contains contribution links  for the League of American Voters (LAV); While&nbsp;Morris&nbsp;stated on the September  28, 2009,&nbsp;<a  rel=\"nofollow\" href=\"http:\/\/mediamatters.org\/rd?to=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.foxnews.com%2Fstory%2F0%2C2933%2C557142%2C00.html\">edition<\/a>&nbsp;of&nbsp;<em>Hannity<\/em>&nbsp;that he has no &#8220;financial stake in  these ads,&#8221;&nbsp;Morris is the&nbsp;<a  rel=\"nofollow\" href=\"http:\/\/mediamatters.org\/blog\/200908290001\">chief  strategist<\/a>&nbsp;for the LAV and crafts the group&#8217;s ad campaigns. In  just February and March,&nbsp;Morris&nbsp;solicited donations for ads on Fox&nbsp;<a  rel=\"nofollow\" href=\"http:\/\/mediamatters.org\/research\/201003220077\">at least 10  times<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Morris&nbsp;asked  Fox viewers to &#8220;give funds to GOPTrust.com&#8221; without noting his apparent  financial ties to the organization.&nbsp;<\/strong>Between October 27,  2008, and November 17, 2008,&nbsp;Morris&nbsp;mentioned&nbsp;<a  rel=\"nofollow\" href=\"http:\/\/mediamatters.org\/rd?to=http%3A%2F%2Fnationalrepublicantrust.com%2F\">GOPTrust.com<\/a>&nbsp;during  at least 13 Fox News appearances and asked viewers to &#8220;give funds to  GOPTrust.com,&#8221; the website of the&nbsp;<a  rel=\"nofollow\" href=\"http:\/\/mediamatters.org\/rd?to=http%3A%2F%2Fnationalrepublicantrust.com%2Fabout.html\">National Republican  Trust PAC<\/a>, without disclosing that the organization has paid  $24,000 to a company apparently connected to&nbsp;Morris. Through publicly available  records with the Federal Election Commission (FEC),&nbsp;<em>Media Matters <\/em><a  rel=\"nofollow\" href=\"http:\/\/mediamatters.org\/research\/200811240012\">found<\/a>&nbsp;that  GOPTrust.com paid Triangulation Strategies at least $24,000 from the beginning  of October 2008 to November 24, 2008, mostly for &#8220;Email Communication.&#8221; The  &#8220;Mailing Address&#8221; for Triangulation Strategies is&nbsp;<a  rel=\"nofollow\" href=\"http:\/\/mediamatters.org\/rd?to=http%3A%2F%2Fherndon1.sdrdc.com%2Fpdf%2F915%2F28933452915%2F28933452915.pdf\">listed<\/a>&nbsp;in  one of the National Republican Trust PAC&#8217;s FEC filings as &#8220;dickmorris.com.&#8221;<\/p>\n<div class=\"feedflare\"> <a  rel=\"nofollow\" href=\"http:\/\/feeds.mediamatters.org\/~ff\/mediamatters\/latest?a=ow35bXGukHE:1Kgh0dS2EMM:yIl2AUoC8zA\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/feeds.feedburner.com\/~ff\/mediamatters\/latest?d=yIl2AUoC8zA\" border=\"0\"><\/img><\/a> <a  rel=\"nofollow\" href=\"http:\/\/feeds.mediamatters.org\/~ff\/mediamatters\/latest?a=ow35bXGukHE:1Kgh0dS2EMM:V_sGLiPBpWU\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/feeds.feedburner.com\/~ff\/mediamatters\/latest?i=ow35bXGukHE:1Kgh0dS2EMM:V_sGLiPBpWU\" border=\"0\"><\/img><\/a> <a  rel=\"nofollow\" href=\"http:\/\/feeds.mediamatters.org\/~ff\/mediamatters\/latest?a=ow35bXGukHE:1Kgh0dS2EMM:qj6IDK7rITs\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/feeds.feedburner.com\/~ff\/mediamatters\/latest?d=qj6IDK7rITs\" border=\"0\"><\/img><\/a> <a  rel=\"nofollow\" href=\"http:\/\/feeds.mediamatters.org\/~ff\/mediamatters\/latest?a=ow35bXGukHE:1Kgh0dS2EMM:l6gmwiTKsz0\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/feeds.feedburner.com\/~ff\/mediamatters\/latest?d=l6gmwiTKsz0\" border=\"0\"><\/img><\/a> <a  rel=\"nofollow\" href=\"http:\/\/feeds.mediamatters.org\/~ff\/mediamatters\/latest?a=ow35bXGukHE:1Kgh0dS2EMM:gIN9vFwOqvQ\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/feeds.feedburner.com\/~ff\/mediamatters\/latest?i=ow35bXGukHE:1Kgh0dS2EMM:gIN9vFwOqvQ\" border=\"0\"><\/img><\/a> <\/div>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/feeds.feedburner.com\/~r\/mediamatters\/latest\/~4\/ow35bXGukHE\" height=\"1\" width=\"1\"\/> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Dick?Morris?uses Fox News cred to?shill for Newsmax financial schemes Over the past year,&nbsp;Dick&nbsp;Morris&nbsp;has repeatedly used anti-Obama rhetoric and&nbsp;stoked fears about the economy on Fox News, in his latest book,&nbsp;and in videos for the right-wing website Newsmax. Newsmax has used those videos to the promote financial-services products it sells, which the website has pushed by playing [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":807,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-546056","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/546056","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/807"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=546056"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/546056\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=546056"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=546056"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=546056"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}