Squawk Pod

I’ve been a Squawk Box and Squawk Pod listener for years. The appeal was always the same: smart, skeptical business journalism that took markets seriously, pressed powerful people on their numbers, and didn’t let politicians or CEOs skate by on vibes. Becky Quick asking the uncomfortable follow-up. Andrew Ross Sorkin cross-referencing what a guest just said with what they wrote in their last shareholder letter. Even Joe Kernen, at his best, played a useful role — the contrarian who made guests defend their assumptions. That show is gone. What’s replaced it is something much closer to a morning affirmation podcast for the current administration. Tariff policy that economists across the ideological spectrum — including conservative ones — have called economically illiterate gets framed as bold negotiating. Executive actions that legal scholars are openly describing as unconstitutional get a shrug and a pivot to “but what does this mean for equities?” Market volatility caused directly by erratic policy decisions gets blamed on everything except the policy. Guests who try to raise actual concerns get talked over or hustled off to commercial. Guests who cheerlead get extended runway and warm laughs. Joe Kernen has been the most disappointing part of the slide. He used to push back on everyone — Democrats, Republicans, CEOs, fund managers. Now the pushback flows in exactly one direction, and the cheerleading flows in exactly the other. It’s not contrarianism anymore. Its alignment dressed up as contrarianism. I’m not asking CNBC to become an opposition outlet. I’m asking it to be what it used to be: a business network that follows the money and the law wherever they go, and treats every administration — every CEO, every fund, every politician — with the same skeptical eye. That’s the entire value proposition. Without it, this is just LinkedIn with better audio. I’ll be getting my market news from outlets that still remember journalism is a job, not a courtesy. Unsubscribed.

I used to love this show. Joe makes it un-listenable/un-watchable lately. Kudos to Becky and Aaron for working so hard to dance around the partisanship and his moods. On to another show unfortunately…..

Good to have Andrew Yang on. Interesting that he thinks deal breaker is Tisch departure.

Please *REPORT* the news and not share your *PERSONAL* views constantly, the viewers are not interested in your biased opinions!!! Joe “MAGA”Kernan might as well start working for Karoline Leavitt as her assistant… Becky Quick never has the backbone to stand up to Joe to counter his viewpoints. Such a horrible show!!

This has been my favorite podcast for quite a while. It has very useful information, provided concisely, yet with just light enough to not be boring. Here’s the BUT, I find the 5 things to know a pain. It just clutters the feed and often gets in the way when I automatically move to the next podcast in my queue.