Lou Dobbs is a big fat hypocrite

If I wasn’t busy trying to get tenure and all that, I’d be sorely tempted to write a quickie paperback with that title. Never mind Dobbs’ tendentious reporting about outsourcing — now he’s got bigger ethical quandries. Back in March, James Glassman pointed out in Tech Central Station that Dobbs was praising companies like Boeing and Washington Mutual as worthy stocks in his eponymous investment letter — even though he was bashing these very same companies for offshore outsourcing on his CNN show, Lou Dobbs Tonight. Last week, Zachary Roth at CJR’s Campaign Desk followed up on this tendency of Dobbs to say one thing to his viewers and another thing to readers of his investment letter:

Unlike most investment advisors, Dobbs goes beyond talking up the earning potential of these companies. He typically goes out of his way to praise them as good corporate citizens. The newsletter keeps a running tally of the companies profiled, under the heading, “The following companies have been featured in the Lou Dobbs Money Letter as those ‘doing good business with good people.'” The appeal is alluring: You’re not just buying a smart investment choice, you’re buying a piece of good citizenship. Dobbs devoted a column in the March issue to touting the prospects of the Minnesota-based Toro Company, which makes outdoor landscaping-maintenance equipment. He told subscribers that Toro was a “long-term wealth-builder,” and praised Toro’s “formal code of ethics, something I think is sorely needed at more of America’s companies,” and its “…exemplary corporate governance structure, which aligns the interests of shareholders, employees, and customers.” He concluded his interview with Toro CEO Kendrick Melrose by frankly telling him, “I like the way you treat your shareholders, employees, and customers.” One wonders whether Dobbs’ admiration extends to Toro’s 2002 decision to move 15% of its workforce — about 800 jobs — to Juarez, Mexico. Indeed, CEO Kendrick Melrose might be interested to know that Toro appears on Dobbs’ own list of companies that are “exporting America.” And Toro is not alone. Of the 14 companies Dobbs has highlighted for investors since starting his newsletter last year, eight appear on his CNN website as companies that outsource jobs (emphasis added).

Read both Glassman and Roth. We here at danieldrezner.com are appalled — there are actually people out there who would pay $398 a year for Lou Dobbs’ investment advice?! To be fair, however, Glassman does point out in another column that on his TV show, Dobbs is the perfect anti-predictor when it comes to investment decisions. Amazingly, Dobbs is proving to be somewhat two-faced in his response to the Campaign Desk post. In a follow-up post, Roth writes, “When we contacted him, Dobbs was unrepentant, saying that he didn’t see a problem with using one hand to reprimand companies for outsourcing, while using the other to promote the same firms.” However, when the Wall Street Journal came a callin’, Dobbs changed his tune:

In an interview, Mr. Dobbs said he would change his newsletter in response to critics’ concerns. In the future, Mr. Dobbs said, every examination of a company and every interview in the newsletter will include mention of that business’s offshoring record. “It makes absolute sense,” Mr. Dobbs said. “If this is a concern — and it certainly is a concern of people — I will respect that. It’s something I will begin implementing in the newsletter.”

Lou, Lou, Lou — it’s never the original scandal that brings you down — it’s the cover-up to the scandal. I’ll give Roth the final word of this post:

It’s nice that Dobbs will now inform the thousands of subscribers to his newsletter about the offshoring records of his featured companies. It would be even nicer if he informed the much larger number of people who watch his anti-outsourcing crusade on CNN that he promotes some of the companies on his “exporting America” list.