Can CNBC help your investment decisions

The following is a response to a post on Gurufocus.com

Warren E. Buffett on contrarian investing:

• "You are neither right nor wrong because the crowd disagrees with you. You are right because your data and reasoning are right."
• "As far as I am concerned, the stock market doesn't exist. It is only there as a reference to see if anybody is offering to do anything foolish."
• "For some reason people take their cues from price action rather than from values. Price is what you pay. Value is what you get."

I never dismiss Buffett's comments. However, when you look at the context that CNBC presents Buffett's comments, you see they are meant for entertainment (increase ratings to increase advertiser revenue) and to drive investor actions (in support of their investment company advertisers).

The reason for the interview [www.cnbc.com] you refer to: "Buffett did the interview with us to draw attention to a $128 million donation given to a Pennsylvania school by the daughter of economist David Dodd, an early investor in Berkshire Hathaway and an important mentor to Buffett."

When he got "ambushed" [my interpretation] he "(Laughs strongly.) I represent a different view, maybe, than your other viewers. I don't think it makes any difference whatsoever to an investor in stocks what they do today. I don't care, I wouldn't care whether they raise the rate in terms of what I would do in stocks. If I knew exactly what they were going to do, I would not change a buy or a sell order that I have in."

Being the genius he is, he was able to then go back to the context of the interview and the message he came to deliver...

My point is, CNBC uses Buffett to their economic advantage, but you'd be hard pressed to find any support for his value based, long term, anti-wall street beliefs. And, I stand by my belief that if an investor makes decision based even on this quick Buffett comment, they are not investors at all.