Fake Business Network's Eric Bolling, who hosts Follow The Money (formerly Money Rocks) and has filled in on FNC's other shows, such as The O'Reilly Factor, Glenn Beck, and Fox and Friends, has a history of peddling blatant lies on his shows and guests appearances. He previously was employed by right-wing (but somewhat more credible business news outlet) outlet CNBC, as the host of Fast Money. Back in October 2007, Bolling was hired by FBN to be a contributor, but later became the 3rd host of Happy Hour in the summer of 2008. That show has since been cancelled to make room for The Willis Report, hosted by Gerri Willis. He is also a well-known oil and energy trader, in addition to being a GOP hack.
He has had a history of repeating falsehoods on issues, such as unions, drilling, and ACORN, to name a few.
He has repeatedly advocated for drilling in the name of "lower gas prices now!"
Bolling: "Why Shouldn't We Be Drilling Our Own Crude Oil?" Discussing the Egypt protests and what it means for airlines' bottom line, Bolling stated that airlines are "very sensitive to price -- fuel price spikes. And the problem is ... we are sensitive. America is sensitive to fuel price spikes -- all fuels, except for one, natural gas, because we drill it here. We have enough here." He then asked: "So why shouldn't we be drilling our own crude oil?" He later added that the United States has "plenty of oil right here." [Fox Business, Follow the Money, 2/3/11]
Bolling Guest Bo Dietl: "Let's Drill. Let's Drill Up This ANWAR. Let's Get Our Own Self-Containment Deal." Bolling hosted Fox News contributor Bo Dietl, a former New York City Police Department detective, to discuss the unrest in Egypt and what it meant for fuel prices. Dietl advocated for drilling to counter the high fuel prices, saying: "You have ANWAR. You have -- you could do the horizontal drilling. You could do all kinds of things. There are technologies. We have a lot of oil here. We have to stop begging for ourselves in the Middle East. And that's exactly what we're doing every time there's something happening: 'Please, Mr. Arab. Please don't take our oil away.' I'm sick and tired of doing it. Let'repeatedly pushed the "drill here, drill now" mantra. our own self-containment deal." [Fox Business, Follow the Money, 2/3/11]
Bolling Suggests The "Solution" To High Oil Prices Is "Drill Baby Drill." In a post on his Twitter feed, Bolling wrote: "Gov. [Sean] Parnell of Alaska knows what the solution to high oil prices... drill baby drill":
[Twitter, 1/28/11]
Bolling: "With World Oil Prices Surging ... Shouldn't We Be Drilling Here, Now???" In a post on Facebook announcing Parnell as his guest, Bolling wrote: "We have Alaska Gov. Sean Parnell tonight... with world oil prices surging on Middle East rioting... shouldn't we be drilling here, now???" [Facebook, 1/28/11]
Bolling: "Drill Here, Drill Now ... Drill, Baby, Drill." In the wake of the BP oil spill, Bolling responded by calling for a continuation of offshore drilling, suggesting that the "six-dollar, seven-dollar diesel fuel" is "more harmful" for fishermen than the oil spill. He said: "We need to drill here, drill now, and hey, drill, baby, drill." [Fox News, The O'Reilly Factor, 4/30/10]
Bolling Uses Egyptian Unrest To Shill For More Oil Drilling. After noting that the wholesale price of gasoline had jumped in the wake of protests in Egypt, Bolling stated that the United States could replicate what he claimed happened in July 2008, when then-President Bush removed the moratorium on offshore drilling, saying, "Within six months, oil went to $33 a barrel." He then asked: "The thought of being able to drill more, what would that do to the price of oil?" Former Shell Oil president John Hofmeister replied that the United States should be producing its own oil to alleviate world demand. Bolling concluded: "My point was, it didn't matter if there's protesting in the streets. If -- it affects the price of gas and oil if there is. It didn't matter to natural gas, with the protesting, because we produce the natural gas that we use right here in America. Isn't that a case for drilling our own oil, not natural gas, but oil?" [Fox News, Glenn Beck, 2/2/11]
Bolling Guest: "We're Shutting Down Drilling In Our Own Gulf Of Mexico? This Is Absurd." Discussing how "scared" he was if the flow of oil from the Middle East were to be disrupted, Bolling asked Hofmeister to tell viewers "how important that Middle Eastern -- those two chokepoints, the Suez Canal and the Strait of Hormuz" are and "keeping flow oil through there is." Hofmeister replied: "We've known for decades how vulnerable we are, Eric, to these chokepoints. And there have been all kinds of scenarios and games played out in terms of what might happen. We use as a world 85 million barrels a day. The United States uses 20 million barrels a day, every day -- 10,000 gallons a second. And we're shutting down drilling in our own Gulf of Mexico? This is absurd." [Fox News, Glenn Beck, 2/2/11]
Bolling Hosted Guest With Energy Ties To Argue Against Oil Drilling Moratorium. On his Fox Business show, Bolling let former Sen. George Allen argue against the oil drilling moratorium and the "cap-and-trade scheme" for eight long minutes, failing to disclose that Allen's organization has received backing from the oil industry and that his political strategies company says it provides "lobbying counsel, consulting and strategic advice on a range of issues including energy." [Fox Business, Money Rocks, 6/24/10]
Bolling: China Is "Probably Drilling Offshore" And Taking Oil That "Could And Should Be Helping Our Situation." On Fox News' Your World, Bolling asserted that, according to offshore oil "drillers" with whom he had spoken, "China was probably drilling offshore, very close to our shore through Cuba, and taking some of that oil that -- that honestly could -- could and should be helping our situation." He also advanced the claim from oil and drilling companies that it would take less than 10 years to retrieve oil from offshore sites, adding, "some said up as close as one year." [Fox News, Your World with Neil Cavuto, 7/1/08]
Bolling: Did Obama "Let" BP Oil Leak So He "Could Renege On His Promise" To "Allow Some Offshore Drilling?" On Fox Business' Happy Hour, Bolling invented a conspiracy theory about the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, asking guest Alan Colmes: "Are you sure they didn't let [the oil spill] leak so he could renege on his promise to allow some offshore drilling?" Colmes replied: "Oh, that's what -- it's a big conspiracy. Hey, there's a black helicopter. Yeah, it's all about reneging on a permit, that's right." [Fox Business, Happy Hour, 5/27/10]
Bolling Wondered If Oil Leak Was An Act Of Sabotage "To Try And Pull Drilling." Discussing the oil spill, Bolling stated: "The question is, did they let this thing leak? I mean, BP said maybe a thousand barrels a day, it went to five thousand. Did they let it leak a little bit and say, boy I don't know. The conspiracy theorists would say, 'Maybe they'd let it leak for a while, and then they addressed the issue.' " Bolling added: "That would be a humongous accusation and probably the net result would be no different, but if they're going to try and pull drilling, that may be the way they do it." [Fox News, Fox & Friends, 5/3/10]
Bolling: "I Would Sacrifice A Few Caribou" For Lower Gas Prices
ERIC BOLLING (host): You know what Marc, I would sacrifice a few caribou so that Pam in Kansas, who fills up her flatbed F-150 every -- three times a week, it doesn't cost her 800 bucks a month to do it.
He has called Social Security a "ponzi scheme", typical of other FBN quacks and on the Saturday "Business" Block.
From the 08.14.2009 edition of Fox News' The Live Desk:
Bolling has suggested a Beck-Palin ticket.
From the 11.18.2009 edition of Fox Business Network's Happy Hour
Beck fill-in Bolling suggests footage of chanting ACORN protesters "looks a little bit more mob" than town hall disruptions
August 07, 2009 6:15 pm ET
From the August 7 edition of Fox News' Glenn Beck:
Fox's Bolling falsely claims there were "zero terror attacks that killed Americans on American soil" since 9-11 under Bush
January 14, 2010 1:16 pm ET
From the 01.13.2010 edition of Fox Business' Happy Hour:
I have news for you, Bowling Ball Man, Bush DID NOT keep the country safe after 9/11.
Sexism from Bolling:
From the 01.29.2010 edition of Fox Business' Happy Hour:
Bolling called out for selective reporting of polls by Leslie Marshall.
From the 03.17.2010 edition of Fox Business' Happy Hour:
Race-baiting from Bolling:
More Hispanic-bashing from Bolling:
From the 02.17.2011 edition of Fox News' America's Newsroom:
He hates Arabs.
From the 01.31.2011 edition of Fox News' America's Newsroom:
On the May 1 edition of Bulls and Bears, Fox News host Eric Bolling claimed claimed that American citizens "pay taxes," as opposed to "illegals not paying taxes." In fact, according to the Congressional Budget Office and the Social Security Administration, undocumented immigrants do pay taxes, including individual income, sales, property, and social security taxes.
Bolling on AZ law: "This is a great bill, every state should have it."
Bolling on defending the Rich and busting unions:
Bolling cheerleads for the GOP's union-busting vote in Wisconsin.
From the March 10 edition of Fox News' Fox & Friends:
Note to Eric: We DO need Unions.
From the January 15 edition of Fox News' Bulls & Bears:
Anti-IRS fearmongering:
From the 02.16.2011 edition of Fox News' America's Newsroom:
He brings up the "nearly half of Americans don't pay taxes" canard.
Fox Business host Eric Bolling revived the right-wing lie that nearly half of Americans don't pay taxes, claiming on Fox News' Fox & Friends that "43 percent of households don't pay any federal tax" in order to suggest that "socialism" is coming if the nation does not change course. In fact, all working Americans pay federal payroll and other taxes, such as federal excise taxes.
Bolling Pushes Claim That "35 Percent Of Total Wages In America" Are From Government Handouts.
More Bulls and Bears bullshit:
From the November 20 edition of Fox News' Bulls & Bears:
From the 11.03.2010 edition of Fox Business' Follow the Money:
Bolling on Islamophobia:
Bolling thinks that "Park51 = Terrorism Center."
From the August 19 edition of Fox News' Fox & Friends:
Bolling's hypocrisy on Moderate Muslims strikes again.
But that raises an obvious question -- how much further away should it be? Where is the boundary line between "extremist" mosque and "moderate" mosque? Columbus Park? The Holland Tunnel? Washington Square? (side note: such boundaries apparently don't exist outside Manhattan, as Muslims have been happily praying away inside the Pentagon since 2001 without so much as a murmur of controversy).
Fox Business' Eric Bolling endeavored to answer that question yesterday, asking one of his guests of Park51's Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf: "This imam says he's a moderate Muslim, if I'm not mistaken. If he's a moderate Muslim, why wouldn't he propose to move this mosque two or three blocks away and make everybody happy?"
Bolling: "Privatize" TSA and start "aggressive profiling," including "cultural profiling"
From the 11.27.2010 edition of Fox Business' Bulls & Bears:
From the 07.28.2010 edition of Fox News' Fox & Friends:
He likes to fearmonger about gold, just like Chalky Beck does:
Like Glenn Beck before him, Fox Business host Eric Bolling appeared on Fox & Friends today to promote the high price of gold (like Beck), use fear of the economy to suggest the price of gold will continue to raise (like Beck), and -- with a little help from host Brian Kilmeade -- even suggesting gold coins as the "easiest" way to buy gold. Not disclosed? Both Bolling's and Kilmeade's shows, like Beck's, conveniently profit form advertising gold. In fact, Rosland Capital (a regular advertiser on Beck's show), even sponsors gold updates on Bolling's old show, Fox Business' Happy Hour.
In fact, Bolling explained, "Gold, guns and tea [referring to the tea party] are the hottest thing right now, because people are frankly scared of the economy. If it fails, if it falls off the cliff, these are the only things you're going to be able to rely on."
After sufficiently scaring the audience into buying gold before the collapse of civilization, Kilmeade wanted to know how he and the audience could "get in on the gold rush." That's when Bolling helpfully suggested buying a 1/5-ounce coin as a "great way" and the "easiest way to be involved in the rally in the price of gold."
Gold Trader Bolling: When Gas Reaches $5 Per Gallon, "Buy Gold ... It's The Real Deal"
From the 02.22.2011 edition of Fox News' Glenn Beck:
He provides cover for Lila Rose, while smearing Planned Parenthood:
Eric Bolling helped Lila Rose promote the falsehood that Live Action exposed Planned Parenthood covering up the sex trafficking of underage girls. Bolling ignored the fact that that Planned Parenthood had contacted the FBI to report the possibility that sex trafficking was occurring, which completely undermines Rose's claim that they are covering up sex abuse.
Bolling insanely advocates more nuclear permits in the wake of the Japan Earthquake in which nuclear reactors that didn't work:
From the 03.11.2011 edition of Fox Business' Follow The Money with Eric Bolling: