Show Archives

Cronies and Phonies


Chief and Matty Weber tip-off the show recapping last night’s Cubs collapse. Joel Elconin of Benzinga is still fired up about the Kentucky Derby. Kenny Polcari, Managing Principal at ButcherJoseph Asset Management, LLC and a contributor to CNBC, calls in to discuss insider trading among elected officials. Karl Denninger of Market Ticker rejoins the show talking crony capitalism and monopolies. John Neal of PTI Securities & Futures‘ Peoria, AZ location closes the show talking natural gas and ‘buy the dippers’.

Download MP3

Guests & Co-Hosts

MATT WEBER

Matt Weber is currently the Executive Producer, Update Anchor and starting Center Fielder for Stocks & Jocks. He is a die-hard sports fan (Cubs, Bears and Bulls especially) and has worked for WSCR-AM 670 The Score, 120 Sports Network and Chicago Sports Webio while also appearing on Comcast Sportsnet Chicago. Matt has covered the Chicago Bulls, Chicago Cubs and the Chicago Marathon as a field reporter and has interviewed some of the biggest names in sports and entertainment. Matt lives in the Lincoln Park neighborhood on the Northside of the city.

JOEL ELCONIN

Joel’s introduction to trading was in the Standard and Poor’s 500 Index futures pit at the Chicago Mercantile Exchange. Also, during his time at the CME, he was involved in Index Arbitrage as well as trading foreign currency futures and options. From 1994-1999 he was a proprietary trader for Olde Discount Corporation. Following his tenure at Olde Discount, he founded the Detroit office of Bright Trading, LLC. His responsibilities included trader recruitment, orientation and education as well as the day to day management of the office. He held this position office until 2003. Since 2003, Joel has been an independent trader researching and developing proprietary indicators and trading systems for the equities and futures markets. In 2007, Joel joined JC Trading Group as a Market Consultant and trading supervisor. He provides daily market commentary at www.premarketinfo.com. Joel obtained his Bachelor of Art in Political Science from the University of Michigan in 1985. Also, he is a graduate of the Chicago Mercantile Exchange Continuing Education Program. He also holds his Series 7 and 63 licenses and is a licensed real estate broker.

KENNY POLCARI

Kenny Polcari is a Managing Principal at Tengler Wealth Management responsible for client engagement and market commentary. Leveraging his extensive trading and equity markets background, Kenny is also a member of the ButcherJoseph Asset Management, LLC Investment Committee. Kenny works with Tengler Wealth clients directly as well as appearing in the financial media and publishing a regular market commentary newsletter.

Kenny came to Wall Street as a summer intern on the New York Stock Exchange during the summers of ’80, ’81 & ’82 and upon graduation moved from Boston, Mass. to New York City where he began his career on the trading floor. He became a member of the New York Stock Exchange in August, 1985 and prior to joining the ButcherJoseph Asset Management Team to help launch Tengler Wealth Management was a Managing Director at O’Neil Securities, Inc., representing the interests of institutional asset managers that need to access global equity markets. Earlier in his career, Kenny served as managing director at Icap Corps, LLC, and prior to that was senior vice president, member New York Stock Exchange and division manager with Salomon Brothers directing their NYSE Division during the heady bull market of the 1990’s.

His 30 plus years of experience have taken him from the birth of the greatest bull market, to the crash of ’87, the roaring ’90’s, the .com implosion, decimalization, 9/11, Regulation NMS, the merger between the NYSE / ARCA, then NYSE/Euronext, automation, HFT, and fragmentation. He is an engaging public speaker and you can find him speaking at industry & investor conferences, as well as colleges, forums and major asset manager events. He is at ease speaking about NYSE history, rules & regulation, former & current market structure including internalization, HFT and fragmentation and how those changes have forever changed the face of the U.S. capital markets and what that means to the investor. He writes a daily “Morning Thoughts” missive that is an informative, engaging and entertaining look at global markets and provides insight into the day’s action. It has gained wide popularity and has become a signature of his “boots on the ground” analytical style. He is a member of STA and NOIP and is a guest lecturer for The American College. He holds the series 7, 24, 27, 55, 63 registrations.

KARL DENNINGER

Karl Denninger is an American technology businessman, finance blogger, and political activist, sometimes referred to as a founding member of the Tea Party movement.

Denninger was the founder and CEO of MCSNet in Chicago. Opened as Macro Computer Solutions, Incorporated in 1987, it expanded its service offerings in 1993 to become one of the area’s first commercial internet service providers. Among its customers was the Chicago Public Library, which relied on MCSNet for both internet access and web hosting. In 1997 he led a coalition of ISPs in setting up the Enhanced Domain Name System, a short-lived alternative DNS root which allowed registrants to add their own generic top-level domains. Denninger continued to run MCSNet until August 1998, when he sold it to Winstar Communications for an undisclosed amount. For his efforts, the Chicago Sun-Times dubbed him one of “the movers and shakers who brought Chicago into the Internet Age”. After the sale of MCSNet, he moved to Florida, where he began to devote more time to stock trading and political activism.

JOHN NEAL

John Neal directs PTI Securities’ Glendale, Arizona office serving the firm’s clients in the Phoenix metro area and across the Western U.S. He oversees day-to-day operations, including client services, investor education, staff management and marketing. John has more than 12 years of management experience in the securities and financial services industry. He joined PTI Securities in 2003 in this role. Prior to that time, he was a branch manager with Phoenix area firms, Granite Capital Management and, most recently, Independent Financial Management. A native of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, John earned a bachelor’s degree in international management from Arizona State University in Tempe. Away from work, John enjoys reading, live music and outdoor activities. He also volunteers with the St. Vincent De Paul Society and the Lupus Foundation of America. Married with two children, John and his family live in Peoria, Arizona.