A Recovering Perma-Bear Opens Up About The 'Lunacy' Of The Camp He Once Belonged To

Gluskin SheffDavid RosenbergIn the investment business, bears stick together. And they're brutal to those who are anything but bearish.

David Rosenberg warns that some bears are way beyond irrational.

He's clearly not a fan of Zero Hedge. More specifically, the chief economist at Gluskin Sheff thinks that the blog "is living on the lunatic fringe," according to a note he sent out Friday.

He takes issue with this post from Zero Hedge, "For CNBC, 2014 was the worst. year. ever.," which along with noting precisely what the title says, also suggest that perhaps "if without the Fed and other central banks, the real S&P500 wouldn't look like the chart of CNBC's Nielsen ratings..."

"This is heavier than religion, the Tea Party or Red Sox Nation for that matter," Rosenberg says. "To these fanatics, if the market rallies, it is due to some unholy alliance somewhere, and if the market dives, it is a case of good triumphing over evil."

Long before the financial crisis, Rosenberg was one of the few Wall Street experts who correctly predicted trouble was coming. For years after the crisis subsided, he maintained a negative slant in his research notes, earning him the title of perma-bear.

In 2012 he flipped. And Zero Hedge and the bears quickly turned their backs on him.

"When I changed views two-and-a-half years ago, I became a pariah and a subject of jokes and derision," he wrote. "Now they have turned their attention to CNBC."

"I think these guys should subject themselves to a New Year's resolution: show respect because there are in fact two sides to every debate."

To this debate we might add that however fantastical some of Zero Hedge blogger Tyler Durden's ideas, he is almost always entertaining. Which is the point, right?