Greenberg's great, but not when speculating

TheStreet.com media critic Marek Fuchs lauds Marketwatch business columnist Herb Greenberg, but says he temporarily went bad with his latest.

Fuchs wrote, “The Business Press Maven, with his experience on both Wall Street and in journalism, is obviously very critical of the business media, which have turned my soul into unadulterated rot. But if more of what I’ve read over the years had been written by MarketWatch columnist Herb Greenberg, I’d have cuddling ponies dancing in my soul. Clear-eyed, courageous and willing to dig where others aren’t while keeping his flights of fantasy to a bare minimum, Herb is simply one of the all-time greats. If more were like him, I’d be a professional critic of bridge, not of business coverage.

“So how do I know we’ve entered a crazy time period that merits overwhelming caution? Herb appears to have gone temporarily insane in the membrane.

“On his blog yesterday after the market closed, Herb carried on about the now-announced Countrywide–Bank of America merger. That itself is fine. Scour the reports from The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times, which led the coverage, and you will see sources that, although anonymous, were defined and appeared close to the action, which turned out to be definitive.

“But what does Herb weigh in with yesterday?

“A theory, which might very well be true but could also be cockamamie, that the Fed is behind the deal, because the Countywide impending bankruptcy rumors were true. But — and this part made me dab at my eyes with a hankie — he wrote, ‘as part of the deal, the government likely agrees to guarantee BofA against Countywide-related losses.'”

Read more here.Â