CNBC Contributor Rick Santelli recalled his famous rant that helped spark the Tea Party movement on its six-year anniversary on Thursday’s “Squawk Alley.”
Six years ago, he railed against bailouts and said “we’re thinking of having a Chicago Tea Party in July. All you capitalists that want to show up to Lake Michigan, I’m going to start organizing,” a monologue that drew cheers from the crowd at the Chicago Mercantile Exchange.
On Thursday, he stated “of course, we all remember the credit crisis, it really started in the ’90s, that strange blend of institutions banks, government, promoting home ownership, a moral goal. But in the end, when government gets involved in finance and you have derivatives that over the counter and unregulated, well, we all know what happens. Crisis always breeds a big government move. It always does. so think back, the rant as it was, as it’s been referred to, was Thursday the 19th, exactly six years, but on Tuesday the 17th we had the big stimulus, 7/8s of a trillion dollars, that was followed the next day, Wednesday by the Home Affordability and Stability Plan, and even though it morphed into something potentially useful at that point in history it was about forgiveness and modifications. Then 19th, you know what happened then. Keep in mind, that in this country, it’s the pursuit of happiness, there’s no guarantees.”
Santelli concluded by reading a quotation from Thomas Jefferson, “I have no fear that the result of our experiment will be that men may be trusted to govern themselves without a master. I hope we shall crush in its birth the aristocracy of our monied corporations, which dare already to challenge our government to a trial by strength, and bid defiance to the laws of our country. I predict future happiness for Americans if they can prevent the government from wasting the labors of the people under the pretense of taking care of them.”
Follow Ian Hanchett on Twitter @IanHanchett
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