CNBC has a great combo going: Money and chicks. Sure, the ads on the station's website sometimes gets managing editor Allen Wastler into hot water with the provocative bikini-clad women on a site ostensibly about finance, but come on: hearing about the economy tanking all the time can sometimes be sort of dry.

That's why the NBC biz chan banks on two of its stars to get the movers and shakers moving and shaking over to their channel. Maria Bartiromo (on the left) of Closing Bell and Erin Burnett (on the right) of Street Signs are two of the biggest…uh…assets that business station has going for it. Especially now, when there is an inverse relationship between how bad off the country is financially and the ratings for the network.

But given the primadonna nature of the station's leading ladies, it was only a matter of time before the rumored catfight between Maria "The Money Honey" and Erin "Street Sweetie" made its way into the pages of Graydon Carter's baby. Because he likes celebrities, beautiful people, and money.

(says Burnett) "You can’t deny that makes you feel awkward. Both people are like, ‘Oh my God, oh my God’—you know it’s not true, but you don’t know where it’s coming from.”

There have been some major interview “gets”—including Christopher Ailman, the chief investment officer of the $160 billion California State Teachers’ Retirement System—who say that they have gone on Erin’s shows, only to be told that if they want to be interviewed by Maria on Closing Bell they could not appear on any competing shows. “Exclusivity is important to Maria,” says Ailman, who says he now “only does Maria when I go on TV. She’s No. 1.”

Oh. Meow? On the one hand, yes, rumors of a feud between Burnett and Bartiromo have (probably) been greatly exaggerated. On the other hand, Bartiromo's fatwah against any other interviewer seems a little bit extreme, especially considering that the rule applies even for other journalists on her station. Once you start putting your own star-power above the good of the station that made you, well then, you're no better than Keith Olbermann or Chris Matthews or Bill O'Reilly or…oh. Gotcha.