Cal Thomas, Matt Cooper and the Matrix

I always enjoy listening to The Last Word on a Tuesday evening and the report from the USA. Marion McKeown and Cal Thomas are the regular contributors to the slot.

This week it was Cal Thomas and someone else replacing Marion McKeown that I can’t recall right now. Thomas laid into the unfortunate people in the US who have had their property repossessed. Basically his line was that “Hey, it’s your own fault, you took on the loan – deal it with”. Those weren’t the exact words, but he came across as pretty heartless. I often wondered who he was. After his Pee Flynn-esque boo boo this evening I was motivated to Google him.

The results of a poll he has running on his website surely wins an award for wishful thinking. My opinion of him certainly changed this evening that’s for sure.

Pity poor old Matt Cooper though, he has to almost grovel in apology every time he features a report with the “R” word. He gets bombarded with texts any time he talks about the economy. He is told by callers to stop talking down the economy and not to be full of doom and gloom (Cooper always says gloom and doom for some reason).

He pointed out a couple of weeks ago that what he talks about on his radio show has no effect on the turmoil in the markets, exchange rates or anything else and that he’s just reporting the news.

He’s probably right, but then I can’t help thinking about Neo visiting the Oracle in the Matrix. She tells him not to worry about the vase and he says “What vase?”. When he turns to look for the vase, it gets knocked over and breaks. Neo is puzzled as to how the Oracle knew he was going to break the vase and she says

“What’s really going to bake your noodle later on is: would you still have broken it if I hadn’t said anything”