Fox Business moderator Maria Bartiromo has a great deal of credibility as a business journalist — but Bartiromo's influence in the punk rock movement of the late '90s has remained in the shadows. Let's just say, Joey Ramone only wanted to talk stock market jargon with one person. Bartiromo explains to The Guardian how she initially received and ignored Joey Ramone's emails, because she believed there was no way it could actually be the real Ramone. Instead, she brushed the messages aside and figured they were from an overly enthused fan (she wasn't wrong).
She told The Guardian that as they accumulated, she grew curious and opened the emails. From there, she and Ramone built a friendship rooted in discussions about topics such as AOL, Wall Street, Intel, and Ramone's personal investments, about which he was sufficiently knowledgeable. Little did she know, she was his muse, and the New York punk rock star was in the process of writing a song about her.
Following the online exchanges, the Ramones' frontman recorded a song accordingly titled "Maria Bartiromo," on his posthumously-released 2002 album Don't Worry About Me, and you need to take note — Bartiromo is truly a force with which to be reckoned.
Her Stock Market Intelligence Is Impressive
In the first verse, Ramone looks to the business journalist for some answers.
What's happening on Wall St.
What's happening at the Stock Exchange
I want to know
What's happening on Squawk Box
What's happening with my stocks
During her tenure at CNBC, which ended in 2013 after she moved on to the Fox Business Network, Bartiromo was one of the first broadcast journalists to report live among the frenzied masses at the New York Stock Exchange. Not only did she report on the stock exchange, but she also experienced it first hand, and according to an interview with The Guardian, she overcame the cutthroat intimidation tactics and stood her ground.
There were a lot of people down there who just didn't want me there. I was a woman. I was a reporter — I had no place in the stock exchange. I remember one guy, he would intimidate me every day and I just hated this guy. He would yell at me, "Don't come over here," and I was mortified. But I kept going back and I knew I had allies.
Additionally, Bartiromo has received over half a dozen awards over the course of her diverse career for documentaries, breaking news coverage, and business reports. The Financial Times even listed her as one of "Fifty Faces That Shaped the Decade" in 2009. This title resulted from her intense coverage of the "dotcom bust" when internet companies, which had gained large investments in the previous decade, went bankrupt and caused stock prices to plummet.
She Has Charm on the Screen
At the end of each verse, Ramone just can't help himself.
I watch you on the TV every single day
Those eyes make everything okay
I watch her every day
I watch her every night
She's really outta sight
Bartiromo should be admired first and foremost for her intelligence, which she has clearly demonstrated, but many have also commented on her looks. In an interview with The Guardian, Bartiromo commented on her nickname "Money Honey," saying that, for the most part, she takes it with a grain of salt.
And Bartiromo is "outta sight" on film as well as on television. Her impressive career has landed her roles where she need not play anyone but herself in movies such as Too Big To Fail (2011) and Arbitrage (2012). In other words, her real life persona can't be topped by any character but her own.
She's Got A Hold on the Markets
Ramone warns us:
I watch her at the big board every single day
While she's reporting you best stay out of her way
While eating dinner with Bartiromo in 2006, former chairman of the Federal Reserve Ben Bernanke, let his guard down, but Bartiromo didn't skip a beat. Bernanke allegedly slipped when he claimed that financial markets were wrong to assume that the Fed was finished raising interest rates. Bartiromo caught the comment and reported it on television. The stock market price dropped immediately. Nicknames aside, never underestimate her.
Business News Can Be Engaging
Ramone is clearly enamored by business news. Every day. Every night. Updates on the economy can be boring for people who aren't well-versed in stock market exchanges, but Bartiromo has set out to change that. She tells The Guardian that she thinks business news is "incredibly sexy."
Political and economic news alike have their compelling angles, but not many people can engagingly shed light on them. If he were still alive, Joey Ramone would be quick to tell us what we already know — Bartiromo has succeeded.
