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I’m a big fan of Jon Stewart. I learn more from the Daily Show than from network newscasts. But his artful skewering of Jim Cramer this past week was a cheap shot, an easy way to blow off populist steam about the financial crisis.

While I agree with Stewart’s overriding premise that major financial media let Americans down almost as much as the financial industry did, bunching Cramer along with the liars and thieves went too far. And it’s ironic to me that Stewart would attack a financial journalist who consistently tries to level the playing field between the “institutional financial complex” and the average investor.

Cramer saw this meltdown coming, and called it before almost anyone else, in his famous “rant” months before the October 2007 market peak. He also suggested people exit the market on “The Today Show” when the Dow was around 10,500. That advice saved a lot of people almost 4,000 points.

Cramer is an easy target because of his bombastic style and because he makes many market and stock recommendations. CNBC is an easy target too; you can pull 20/20-hindsight video clips all day. But did any major financial press see last Fall’s crash coming (after the market had already fallen 25%)? Many experts with great track records didn’t get it right either.

Most of the large financial media are as much a part of the problem as the financial institutions themselves. As Cramer admitted, “we can do a lot better.”

But while the highly publicized “Stewart vs. Cramer” episode will ultimately compel better reporting, I fear it may also further cement black-and-white populist thinking on the financial meltdown. This is a highly complex crisis requiring investors and institutions to make finer shades-of-grey distinctions about what happened, how to fix it, and how to move forward productively.

Perhaps one of the overriding lessons of this crisis is the need to distinguish between real content and window dressing. While I clearly see the clowning Jim Cramer does to be entertaining, I mainly see beyond that to his knowledge, perspective and willingness to call it as he sees it. To me, he’ll always be the guy who “got it” a year before Ben Bernanke did.

Similarly, I hope more average investors will be able to see beyond the reserved, steady and credible persona of many mainstream financial media. During the height of the crisis those media mostly stuck to their persona, when maybe what we really needed was a guy screaming at us.

Disclosure: none

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This article has 132 comments:

  •  
    i used to like stewart (more of a colbert fan), but the cramer thing was so overly pious and self serving it made me want to puke. the whole part about, "guys like you knew what the banks were doing", i mean seriously, people seem to think he was telling "the man" off? if cramer was only so well informed...

    then invoking his 75 year old mother and making it sound like cramer ruined her retirement plan. i think the quote was "you used to be able to buy for the long term"... and "you can draw a direct line from guys like you to the guys on wall street... ". yea, and then you can draw a straight line to kevin bacon, it's like magic. in reality, he's so uninformed on who he is actually at "war" with that he doesn't even know that in the first chapter of jim's book he says that "buy and hold" is an investment strategy that will separate you from your money lickety split (not to mention that stuart's misrepresentation of buy and hold is a gross oversimplification of what that really means to value investors).

    cramer has always encouraged people to be diversified, to constantly be diligent in managing your stocks and to think for the long term, in particular to start saving young. all sage advice for these times when 401k's and mutual funds are looking less and less reliable.

    this is all because of his much reviled "lightning round" but you know what, that's probably the only reason anyone know who jim cramer is. i'm sure he's done the math and decided that the damage to his reputation is worth the viewership... it seems as though poor jim is being defined by the very thing that made him famous... shouting out "buy" and "sell". oh well, i guess it's just a twitter world we live in and everything is defined by the soundbite.

    On Mar 15 02:58 AM arnoldsimage wrote:

    > you're an idiot.
    Mar 15 05:51 AM | Link | Reply
  •  
    Seconded arnold.
    Mar 15 06:58 AM | Link | Reply
  •  
    JNH, No one profits from CNBC guests. CNBC reporters aren't allowed to own individual stocks. It doesn't matter to them who comes on, they can't do anything about it.
    Jon Stewart was wrong on this, and had no right to attack Cramer as the one who "lost everyone money." Cramer called it a year early, and SAVED a lot of people money. The ones who lost money, don't watch CNBC. Their Investment Advisors should, though.
    Mar 15 07:57 AM | Link | Reply
  •  
    Whoever wrote the article, please do your research on the real owners of America and the world. What you witnessed between Stewart and Cramer is just the tipe of the ice-berg. Cramer will be scapegoated for sure and most likely end up in jail. But what bothers me is that it will just stop there, no one will go after the puppet masters that control and feed information to such people as Cramer.

    Cramer is not the problem, he's just a very tiny part in it. I like Seeking Alpha, please live up to your name!

    Thanks!
    Mar 15 08:02 AM | Link | Reply
  •  
    I'm not sure that Stewart went too far. As Cramer has gotten bigger and bigger, he's begun to feel as if he is untouchable. As an entertainer, as Cramer is, he needs to be able to take the blows a lot better than he has. He is not the champion of the little guy, as he claims to be, he's strictly an entertainer and people should not trade on his advice. If they followed him, they'd all be out of the market still in five years, long after the inevitable recovery would have recouped losses.
    vfcsstockhouse.blogspo...
    vfcsnewshouse.blogspot...
    Mar 15 08:05 AM | Link | Reply
  •  
    it is a fact that most analysts most of the time are talking up stocks, not talking them down; how often do the folk at CNBC advocate cash? Cramer's rant would be much more acceptable if he specifically targetted the 5% of a portfolio that people might hold for scary stuff. He would then have a genuine reason for calling the program Mad Money.

    Disclosure: About 75% in CEF and 25% in USL.
    Mar 15 08:08 AM | Link | Reply
  •  
    The attack on Jim Cramer was absolutely atrocious and he did not deserve it at all. I also feel the attack was shared and contributed by Bill Orielly who basically dragged Jim's good name through the mud a few days earlier. Personally I have to hand it to Cramer for having the guts to go on television show discussing the market at all the way it has behaved for the past recent Weeks and Months but I do believe he genuinely did and does so because he honestly is concerned about the average investor. Of course no one is right 100% of the time however in his defense there is a plain to see disclaimer given every single time the man opens his mouth about anything because he does have a fairly significant following and you don't get a following like that by being wrong all the time. As far as the silliness of the show, frankly I'm grateful to Jim and his producers for it, especially today when it's so stressful to even think of going near the financial news lately, we all can use some lightening up and I believe his silly ways were an actually health benefit for many people in today's times. John Stewart had no business doing what he did to Cramer as if he doesn't care for the show he doesn't have to watch it, he could care less about what Jim says and his motives were an attempt to protect a lame brain and crew who doesn't have a clue. Both Stewart and Orielly ought to be ashamed of them self and I hope Cramer sues them for every dime he can, he is absolutely entitled to it after such an unwarranted, unwanted, unasked for attack.
    Mar 15 08:11 AM | Link | Reply
  •  
    The only reason Jim Cramer was attacked by Jon Stewart was because Cramer became a vocal critic of Barack Obama not because of stock picks.
    Notice that in the Cramer - Stewart confrontation, Cramer's criticism of Obama's economic policy was never brought up by Stewart. Cramer should invite Stewart to his program and make that subject, Obama's economic policy, the centerpiece of the discussion.
    I now look at Stewart as a hitman for the Obama team & I wouldn't doubt that Carville, Begala, etc. initially urged Stewart to attack Cramer.
    Mar 15 08:37 AM | Link | Reply
  •  
    The whole Stewart thing was nothing more than payback to Cramer for his criticism of the Obama administration and its handling of the financial mess.
    The far left groups and Obama himself cannot stand anyone who does not agree with their policies completely.
    One can only wonder which of the administration's stooges put in the call to Stewart for a "favor".



    Mar 15 08:37 AM | Link | Reply
  •  
    Jon Stewart must need some more face time! There will be viewers siding with both of these guys. Cramer is a guy that goes on TV and gives his opinion of the way it is. He is right more than he is wrong. The market moves in response to many facets. Not the least of which is Jim Cramer. He reads the market before things happen, will little influance!
    But, the gist of it is that the real criminals here that seriously should be hung out to dry, are the fat cat fiancial mortgage guys, not even wall street! Because these are the guys that sold out the U.S. and eventually the whole world by greed and corruption! Then taking bonus money from taxpayers and no one doing anything about it! I cannot understand why these mortgage guys are not being arrested, all their belongings confiscated and sent away forever! They destroyed people no less than Madoff and they are still living it up on taxpayers money while the taxpayers are losing thier jobs, their houses and their savings!! What a friggin bad joke! These guys should be shot and pi**ed on!
    Cramer does what he does because people need a guy like him. He helps people not for his own folly but because he can! If he is a bit out there with his antics it is because he likes to do it that way. Is he foolish sometimes, of course he is. Is he right and wrong sometimes, of course he is. There are too many factors driving the markets for anyone, even insiders to know 100% how things will go.
    Stewart made a bad decision going after Cramer. He will be defending his stand more than Cramer will!
    Mar 15 08:41 AM | Link | Reply
  •  
    I love both Cramer and John Stewart, but John was wrong on this attack. Cramer got attacked from Stewart as he had attacked the Obama poolicies (whom I also voted for and would do so again). Cramer told us to get out in Sept and reiterated it a few weeks ago. He has had his picks and his stinkers, but he called out the crisis long before anyone else in the public's eye and will continue to be getting my support. John Stewart, love your show, this attack however was not warranted, you need to reconsider and apologize.
    Mar 15 08:43 AM | Link | Reply
  •  
    The writer of the article doesn't get it, and it's obvious. Firstly. In his defense of Cramer, Cioffi refers to him as a "financial journalist." That's funny, and I think real financial journalists would object. That's something like calling Stewart a "news anchor." Not so.
    I saw no cheap shots coming from Stewart. He was honest and truthful. I didn't see Cramer object to much of anything. In fact, Cramer agreed with and admitted to almost everything Stewart was putting out. Cramer was apologetic and contrite. Like a little boy who was sent to the principal's office for misbehaving in class. Stewart showed a clip of Cramer coaching the young Wall Street rookie on how to lie and cheat clients (investors) as a tactic to make more money for himself and his brokerage. The clip speaks for itself. If Cramer wants to be a big time TV star, people like Stewart come with the turf, and Cramer knows it. The writer thinks the "Stewart vs. Cramer" episode will ultimately compel better reporting. Yea....sure. Like a cold day in hell. The CNBC crew are for the most part a bunch of shills for Wall Street and the stock market.
    Stewart did not "target" Cramer. Santelli the creep declined an invitation to appear on the Stewart show. In fact, he was scheduled to appear and backed out. Or should I say "chickened out." You know Santelli, he labeled Americans being foreclosed on as a bunch of "losers" Santelli is a coward.
    Get this....Stewart, and many Americans are tired of the CNBC crew attacking the President. Tired of those morons blaming the President for a faltering stock market, and all this "socialism" crap talk. It's not even talk, it's BS. The Santelli rant was the last straw. And, Stewart decided to do something about it.
    Cramer is a decent guy, I like him. Cramer is no darling to wall street. Cramer often calls out Wall Street. He exposes many of Wall Streets dirty secrets. He advises his viewers to use caution when dealing with Wall Street and the market. Between the lines he tells us how crooked and greedy Wall Street can be. Wall Street does not appreciate Jim Cramer. They liked it better when there was no Jim Cramer. I think Cramer does by far, a lot more good than he could ever do harm. Nobody is perfect. And God knows, when it comes to stocks, no one can make the right call 100% of the time. Not even Cramer.
    Mar 15 08:53 AM | Link | Reply
  •  
    You are absolutely wrong im afraid, Cramer said the dow was going higher at 14,500, then at 12,000 he called the bottom!(and the only person to do so he pointed out!), then at 750 he said it was going lower (it rallied to 930,ish. He told people to buy Bear stearns at 60 dollars and sell at $2.00! Need i say more?

    The guy is a complete moron and deserves every bit of anger and humour heaped apon him. His track record is quite frankly abysmal. When you live by the sword you die by the sword.

    The guy flip flops like noone i have ever seen. And to cover up his atrocious record he has the gall to use Warren buffet as an example of getting it wrong!

    To even have Warren Buffet and Jim Cramer in the same sentence is hillarious!
    Mar 15 08:54 AM | Link | Reply
  •  
    I watched the Cramer-Stewart "interview" and my sympathies were with Cramer. I thought he showed some courage and humility during Stewart's inquisition. I also think Jon Stewart's righteous anger should be evenly distributed among the Barney "Fannie and Freddie" Franks and Chris "Countrywide" Dodds of the world. Stewart always performs magnificently with true hypocrites. I hope he offers equal skewering to the corrupt politicians who helped create this mess.
    Mar 15 08:55 AM | Link | Reply
  •  
    I'm never ceased to be amazed at how many people have been sucked in by Cramer. To use his own phrase, "the man knows nothing".

    His charitable fund, Action Alerts Plus, loses money every year and so do his picks and pans as proven numerous times on Seeking Alpha.

    To use another phrase, there's a sucker born every minute. What did you Cramer fans think when he said he would do a better job when pushed by Stewart???

    Wake up and smell the dead roses!!!

    Mar 15 09:03 AM | Link | Reply
  •  
    I like both their shows. But I thought that Cramer when in too weak. Where was his own clips of him calling out the market, Bernake, Geithner, on AIG (when he ran NY), and when he told people to get out. And where was Jon Stewart's rant on the media as a whole? Bloomberg (can't attack the Mayor of NY), the New York Times Financial News reporters for not getting it right, The Wall Street Journal, for not getting it right. It was not just CNBC who did not investigate the CEO's and the business model that country ran on for 12 years. Investigative journalism is in print, multiple televison stations and networks as well as single outlet that reports happenings on Wall Street.
    Mar 15 09:05 AM | Link | Reply
  •  
    Jon Stewart mopped the floor with Cramer and nobody had it coming more than Cramer. On his show, he oftentimes stresses and boasts about the calls he got right. Why should he not be held accountable for the calls that he got wrong? Unlike some economists like Roubini, Cramer never saw the recession coming and once we were in it, never saw the severity of it. When the subprime issue surfaced, Cramer repeatedly stated that the subprime issue is not a problem (much like Ben Stein, who is holding him accountable? I'm sure that he is keeping his mouth shut about this today) and that it will not derail the economy. It is not that he was wrong about this, it is about just how dead wrong he was! Subprime is the core reason for this crisis. His calls on Google, Bear, Lehman, and Wachowia were just as terrible.
    No stock picker should be humiliated for his bad calls, after all the stock market is a zero sum game and every analyst will be wrong 1/2 of the time. Cramer is slightly below average regarding his stock selections. But the reason Cramer is fair game for Stewart is that he boasts about his good calls and, when pressed about his bad calls, spins them to the point of denying them. And he is here not to only entertain us but also to educate us.
    Mar 15 09:09 AM | Link | Reply
  •  
    The foul-mouthed Stewart and the ignoramus Cramer. In the old days they talked about people being made for each other, well that's what we have here. The rendezvous of the century, or at least the first part of it; and that's just the tip of the iceberg, which apparently is growing larger all the time.
    Mar 15 09:11 AM | Link | Reply
  •  
    Cramer has made huge contributions to investor awareness through his show and his books. He surely has faults, but he has helped many investors. As the author said Cramer was way ahead of almost everybody else in calling our economic mess and what would happen if the Fed and government did not heed his advice. Cramer has consistantly offered measures for regulators to take to improve the investing world for the average person, and he has put to shame many executives who have underperformed.

    As to John Stewart, I have no idea where he gets off taking on Cramer-and for that matter, it was silly of Cramer to participate in Stewart's sideshow. Stewart has been "The Entertainment Guy" for years and has done an admirable job-if you are into the shallow celebrities of today. Am curious as to what Stewart's credentials are on financial matters and why he would be involved in such things.

    It is fine to pan Cramer, but in doing so, you must tell the story of the good things Cramer has done for investors. It seams most reports I see on Cramer are unbalanced against him. Media people have an obligation to report all sides of a person's doings-comments and opinions are done separately. I ought to know-I spent over 30 years working on newspapers.
    Mar 15 09:22 AM | Link | Reply
  •  
    Well I will say this, if there is one thing I have learned and have to accept unfortunately is the fact that the craft Journalism once was and the principals it once held uncompromisingly high above anything has tragically died. Values, principals, beliefs, politicians ... I'm 51 years old, I guess that's pretty old because I don't recognize any of them anymore. Eh, it's not the correct forum for this, just the same, that's too bad.
    Mar 15 09:36 AM | Link | Reply
  •  
    Yes Obami, Cramer is wise in letting the general public know what is going on in Washington. The stooges are the bankers and the media who are owned by the bankers.


    On Mar 15 08:37 AM Obamitall wrote:

    > The whole Stewart thing was nothing more than payback to Cramer for
    > his criticism of the Obama administration and its handling of the
    > financial mess.
    > The far left groups and Obama himself cannot stand anyone who does
    > not agree with their policies completely.
    > One can only wonder which of the administration's stooges put in
    > the call to Stewart for a "favor".
    >
    >
    >
    Mar 15 09:39 AM | Link | Reply
  •  
    Stewart owes Cramer nothing any more than Saturday Night Live owes something to someone they skewer. These are not news shows, and they don't need to pretend to be fair and balanced any more than Limbaugh. They have an agenda, and that's fine: ratings.

    While I don't think Stewart is smart enough about the markets to be the one to Monday morning quarterback ANYONE here, you have to admit...the clips of all these getting it SO wrong are funny and sad to watch.

    They are wonderful reminders that, at the end of the day, you have to DO YOUR OWN HOMEWORK. You don't buy Bank of America just because Cramer said on TV that it's going to $60.

    The moment Stewart downplayed the importance of the stock market as an indicator as to how things are going, he 100% lost me as someone whose opinion matters.

    Cramer, Stewart, Limbaugh, SNL...all ENTERTAINMENT. Nothing more. Do your own homework.
    Mar 15 09:45 AM | Link | Reply
  •  
    A few points here.

    1) Cramer provides a valuable service by *always* reminding his audience of due diligence, never taking his advice as gospel and trying to educate his audience. Whether he is right or wrong about specific market events or equities doesn't bother me at all. Until I see him walk on water or dangling from a wooden crucifix I will never blame him for missed or bad calls. After all, in fairness, I don't have enough years left to target all the others that should be criticized *ahead* of him.

    2) I've enjoyed Stewart. However his pillorying of Cramer seems rather presumptuous. It's as if he believes that through his exposure to the reported events and public sentiment he is now expert enough to lay blame for the results. That's one hell of an ego.

    Allowing that he is a private citizen, as well as an entertainer, he did nothing more that give another public voice to the frustration that many feel. Cramer was the only available "pissing post" and so took it on the chin. I felt a great deal of sympathy for him.

    As to Santelli: I like him a lot. He was also "another voice" of what many were feeling. If he chose (wisely) not to be the undeserving target of rantings of an egotistical comedic panderer to populist sentiment (which may be an accurate description of the premise of Stewart's show), I congratulate Santelli. His rant and opting out of Stewart's show does nothing to discredit him either.

    3) Why has the most important moment of the whole show has been overlooked? When Stewart suggested that the media was at least partly fault for being "in bed" with financial interests, he was right. He then complained about the lack of investigative reporting. He was right that there are many "showmen", commentators, etc., and few reporters. He asked where was the investigative journalism that was the hallmark of good media in past times.

    This was the one potentially useful thing that came out of the show. Where has the true "journalism" and "investigative reporting" gone in our media? The media seems to have forgotten the important role assigned by our founding fathers to it in the preservation of freedom and democracy.

    I presume it has gone the way of many useful values in the pursuit of profits - nay, even survival - at the cost of many more important things.

    4) Regardless of thoughts to the contrary, it is not just a "financial" crises, it is a societal crises engendered by the wanton abandonment of personal and social values - those that made this country so prosperous and highly-regarded by the world at large through nearly two centuries.

    The current situation will bring some of these back to the fore as individuals at all levels are reminded of the results of the abandonment of these values.

    Jack Welch recently commented on the stupidity of running a company for purposes of share price. Maybe this is an early vocal harbinger of the "re-education" which will/should take place.

    MHO
    HardToLove
    Mar 15 09:50 AM | Link | Reply
  •  
    The other side of the argument should bring in the main stream media. Endless stories are aired regarding Octuplet Mom and other mindless garbage. The press was asleep regarding housing crisis and congressional involvement in it. It was just too easy to show Obama, Barney Frank and Chris Dodd blaming Bush.
    Mar 15 09:52 AM | Link | Reply
  •  
    Exactly, you must do your homework and as much as I enjoyed Cramer, at least most of the time, he was never and should never be anyone's sole resource, which is just what I viewed his show as, one resource of as many as I could get without spending a fortune in an attempt to try to make as an informed decision as possible if and when I decide to use any part of those resources be it to add value to a portfolio or gain a small piece of personal investing wisdom from many of those who have a great deal more experience than I have.
    Mar 15 09:57 AM | Link | Reply
  •  
    I'm a fan of both stewert and cramer but I must say I think stewert is wrong here. sure cramer makes some bad calls. Anyone who has ever invested has! But he also provides much needed insight into wall street thatno one else on any station gives. Stewert came off as high and mighty while cramer came off as humbled. Why? Cause cramer actually does care (if u read his books u would understand him much better). Blaming cramer for the state of financial reporting and for people losing money in the market is liking blaming the weatherman for weather. It completely out of his control!
    Mar 15 10:04 AM | Link | Reply
  •  
    Cramer is an entertainer to draw audiences to CNBC. that is why he's on air, in addition to his free advertising of HIS web business from which he derives income[ charitable trust as an aside item].

    when you expose yourselves as an entertainer to sell yourself in some manner[book, movie, tv show] on widely syndicated tv, you're exposed. such is life. remember tom selleck stint withe "rosie odonnel show" re. gun control and NRA?

    sorry not cramer. a "hedge fund' guy can take it???
    Mar 15 10:05 AM | Link | Reply
  •  
    Very nicely written


    On Mar 15 09:50 AM HardToLove wrote:

    > A few points here.
    >
    > 1) Cramer provides a valuable service by *always* reminding his audience
    > of due diligence, never taking his advice as gospel and trying to
    > educate his audience. Whether he is right or wrong about specific
    > market events or equities doesn't bother me at all. Until I see him
    > walk on water or dangling from a wooden crucifix I will never blame
    > him for missed or bad calls. After all, in fairness, I don't have
    > enough years left to target all the others that should be criticized
    > *ahead* of him.
    >
    > 2) I've enjoyed Stewart. However his pillorying of Cramer seems rather
    > presumptuous. It's as if he believes that through his exposure to
    > the reported events and public sentiment he is now expert enough
    > to lay blame for the results. That's one hell of an ego.
    >
    > Allowing that he is a private citizen, as well as an entertainer,
    > he did nothing more that give another public voice to the frustration
    > that many feel. Cramer was the only available "pissing post" and
    > so took it on the chin. I felt a great deal of sympathy for him.
    >
    >
    > As to Santelli: I like him a lot. He was also "another voice" of
    > what many were feeling. If he chose (wisely) not to be the undeserving
    > target of rantings of an egotistical comedic panderer to populist
    > sentiment (which may be an accurate description of the premise of
    > Stewart's show), I congratulate Santelli. His rant and opting out
    > of Stewart's show does nothing to discredit him either.
    >
    > 3) Why has the most important moment of the whole show has been overlooked?
    > When Stewart suggested that the media was at least partly fault for
    > being "in bed" with financial interests, he was right. He then complained
    > about the lack of investigative reporting. He was right that there
    > are many "showmen", commentators, etc., and few reporters. He asked
    > where was the investigative journalism that was the hallmark of good
    > media in past times.
    >
    > This was the one potentially useful thing that came out of the show.
    > Where has the true "journalism" and "investigative reporting" gone
    > in our media? The media seems to have forgotten the important role
    > assigned by our founding fathers to it in the preservation of freedom
    > and democracy.
    >
    > I presume it has gone the way of many useful values in the pursuit
    > of profits - nay, even survival - at the cost of many more important
    > things.
    >
    > 4) Regardless of thoughts to the contrary, it is not just a "financial"
    > crises, it is a societal crises engendered by the wanton abandonment
    > of personal and social values - those that made this country so prosperous
    > and highly-regarded by the world at large through nearly two centuries.
    >
    >
    > The current situation will bring some of these back to the fore as
    > individuals at all levels are reminded of the results of the abandonment
    > of these values.
    >
    > Jack Welch recently commented on the stupidity of running a company
    > for purposes of share price. Maybe this is an early vocal harbinger
    > of the "re-education" which will/should take place.
    >
    > MHO
    > HardToLove
    Mar 15 10:08 AM | Link | Reply
  •  
    I'm a big fan of Stewart, not so much of Cramer, though I sometimes watch his show and learn from it. I thought that Jon's slamming was not his best moment - it was excessive, condemned Cramer more than he deserved and failed to recognize his many fine points. Moreover, Cramer came off as a sensitive, reasoning person, eager to do better, even promising some reform of his show. I give him high marks for his willingness to subject himself to Jon's attacks, and his open minded assessment of the attacks themselves without becoming defensive or nasty in return. In losing, Jim Cramer won the exchange in my opinion.
    Mar 15 10:08 AM | Link | Reply
  •  
    Keep in mind how this all built up:

    1) Santelli rant.
    2) Santelli Daily Show appearance was scheduled, so Stewart put together a montage of some of CNBC's idiocy.
    3) CRAMER took personal offense and went on a mini-media blitz against Stewart.
    4) Stewart, not previously targeting Cramer in particular, proceeded to make it about Cramer.
    5) More back and forth.
    6) The interview.

    Remember, Stewart said repeatedly, it wasn't about Cramer, it was about how CNBC /marketed/ Cramer's advice as infallible, and how they touted their own network's "expertise" and "analysis" in general -- when the former is indeed fallible and the latter barely exists.

    Stewart was simply going after the age-old comedic target: Hypocrisy.

    Quite frankly, Cramer put himself in harms way by doing his typical egomaniac thing and assuming Stewart's initial CNBC quip was all about him. But hey, that's part of what makes Jim Cramer entertaining.

    Mar 15 10:10 AM | Link | Reply
  •  
    Stewart went after Cramer because Cramer went after Obama. Simple as that. If anyone dares to disagree with Obama , his liberal pals in the media will attack!!!!!

    I feel like I am living in North Korea. All these Liberals believe Obama is some King or God, that is what is disgraceful and dangerous. Maybe Cramer will take a second look at his liberalism and his pals in that political thinking. Stewart is a JackAss, he was a huge wimp after 9/11. He sat there and cried on TV!!!! What a pussy.
    Mar 15 10:16 AM | Link | Reply
  •  
    Cheap shot is too easy for John. His whole intent was to benefit himself. He should move to MSNBC with the other low lifes. Isn't it interesting what some people will do in an attempt to further their own ends. Sounds like Keith Oberman.
    Mar 15 10:17 AM | Link | Reply
  •  
    Ok, I will admit to using CNBC as another free resource to filter though as well however when I saw Mr. Thrill up and down my leg being seriously interviewed the other day on CNBC it did cause me to take a brief pause and evaluate weather or not I wanted to continue using CNBC as a resource. So I thought about it after briefly switching to Fox Business Channel and realizing, hey, it's just another free resource and I need as many resources as I can get these day's I ended up back on CNBC eventually. I guess we all have our motivations.
    Mar 15 10:20 AM | Link | Reply
  •  
    Unfortunately, Cramer had the guts to go on Stewart's show and Sentelli, who really needed the skewering, did not. Sentelli's ranting when he did not even know the terms of the mortgage program,was done out of just plain ignorance; I put Sentelli in the same category as Joe the Plumber.

    Cramer, who is one of the good guys, essentially took one for the team. The team being the regular talking heads on CNBC, who, it seems to me have some kind of journalistic responsibility. I certainly don't expect the talking head on CNBC to have forecast the financial crisis, but their alternate whining and cheerleading makes me look at the TV and say,"Just shut up and do your job". Unfortunately, in something as important as our financial system, they see their jobs as entertainment, not information.
    Mar 15 10:36 AM | Link | Reply
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    Cramer did not have to go on the Daily show. That he chose to do so without making sure some of his warnings were shown by Stewart is Cramer's problem not Jon's who claims to be nothing more than an entertainer. Both of these guys are bombastic but only one affects my pocketbook.
    Mar 15 11:03 AM | Link | Reply
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    I Love Jim Cramer on Mad Money and will not watch Stewart's show any more. When Jim Cramer Speaks ... everyone listens ...
    Mar 15 11:12 AM | Link | Reply
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    Right, Obama's CNN Monkey Stewart forgot to remind viewers that CNN (Comedy Central is part of the CNN family) once had a financial news network which crashed and burned duing far less a job at ventilation of financial practices than CNBC. However, Cramer got his for objecting to the Obama administration and Stewart became one more disposable flak. What's going to happen John when the Monkey's music stops?

    On Mar 15 08:37 AM ElGordo wrote:

    > The only reason Jim Cramer was attacked by Jon Stewart was because
    > Cramer became a vocal critic of Barack Obama not because of stock
    > picks.
    > Notice that in the Cramer - Stewart confrontation, Cramer's criticism
    > of Obama's economic policy was never brought up by Stewart. Cramer
    > should invite Stewart to his program and make that subject, Obama's
    > economic policy, the centerpiece of the discussion.
    > I now look at Stewart as a hitman for the Obama team & I wouldn't
    > doubt that Carville, Begala, etc. initially urged Stewart to attack
    > Cramer.
    Mar 15 11:17 AM | Link | Reply
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    Cramer has always struck me as being intellectually honest, without any political agenda. Can't say the same thing for the Daily Show. It was indeed a cheap shot.
    Mar 15 11:18 AM | Link | Reply
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    MSNBC and Viacom hyped the "controversy" and then pulled these two together to raise the ratings on both shows. Stewart and Cramer are both pros amd showman - they knew what was happening.

    Stewart was right, about the quality of journalism. Its slowly gone from hard investigative reporting to sensationalist entertainment over the last 30 years or so. We could argue thats what the market wants and so the networks provide it, but that doesn't change the "sound bites on the ground". Its not just MSNBC. Its a broadcasting pandemic.

    Cramer was pretty honest. He can't do it all. He is just one guy trying to promote interest in investing and financial education by presenting an entertaining show about investing. Anyone familiar with the psychological methodology employed by Sesame Street to teach preschoolers the alphabet will recognize the same set of tools in use by Cramer.

    Stewart said to Cramer that it was not about him, and that it "was unfortunate that he had become the face.."
    of the controversy.

    I don't believe it was a personal attack. I think it wasopportunism on the part of the networks, and I think the attitudes and demeanor of both participants when they met displayed both a reluctance to go through with it, and resignation to its ratings driven inevitability.
    Mar 15 11:26 AM | Link | Reply
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    nothing said here applies.if you heed the talking heads on tv-tough on you.the dumb-dumbs cant think for themselves.i got out @ 14,000 & i never touched the financials. i saw that the whole mortgage system could not work. all these folks need ratings. thats the agenda. look at all the comments above re a useless subject. not to worry AIG is handing out more bonuses. they arent concerned with all this bs.
    Mar 15 11:29 AM | Link | Reply
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    Not a fan of Kramer, mostly because of style but also because even a genius cannot offer more than superficial advice on the thousands of stocks Kramer professes to understand. Not a big fan of Stewart either because he will always choose entertainment value over the truth, though I do enjoy his irreverence when it hits closer to the truth than the ideas being skewered. In any case, I feel Mr. Cioffi has posted a thoughtful, fair and balanced review of the event that I enjoyed reading.
    Mar 15 11:39 AM | Link | Reply
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    Conspiracy theories and rationalizations ignore the simple history: The Daily Show went after CNBC as negligent journalism - professional misfeasance, if you will. Cramer, for whatever his reasons, chose to pose counter-points. I'm with the minority above who find nothing wrong with Stewart's basic claim: That MSM business journalists were at best disengenuous and at worst criminally involved in the misrepresentation of reality. By analogy to Buiter's notion of "cognitive regulatory capture", business journalists in general drank the cool aid, and then passed it around...

    As to exculpating Cramer on the grounds that he was one of the first to start yelling "run away, run away": Long before I became a regular reader of finance/econ blogs (I was initiated by Yves Smith and I am a fan of hers, and give special attention to Menzie Chinn, Jim Hamilton, Steve Waldman, Steven Keen, Buiter, Thoma) I would ocassionaly bump into Cramer on the TV yelling for the Fed to cut interest rates even more - back when Greenspan still had the Fed gig. I am not a reductionist - how we got here resulted from multiple necessary but singularly insufficient causes - but most everyone counts Fed policy in the years up to 2007 as part of the causal chain. So was Cramer just passing out the Kool Aid he enjoyed believing it was good? Or was it his job to know more about it than the people who still want to believe there's a difference between entertainment and information?

    Someone elsewhere has pointed out that Stewart functions as a court jester: It's his job to speak truth to power when nobody else safely can - people lose their jobs, or access to their subjects, ya know. The (surprisingly to me) proportion of people who somehow think he just done po'Cramer wrongly is evidence that he's just making explicit what people know but don't want to admit: Something is very wrong with a profession that has failed us TWICE on the two most significant events of our recent history - WMD's in Iraq, and the instablity by design of our economy.

    It makes one ask: Just what the hell have journalism students been learning the last 30 years? Is there something wrong with a culture that cannot sustain a profession whose practioners are ethically committed (and financially secure) in telling the truth? Or is the moral: Go along to get along .... unless you can do comedy....
    Mar 15 11:45 AM | Link | Reply
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    I paraphrase.....but I'm just a snake-oil salesman (translation.....I am guilt free)and everybody knows I'm just a snake-oil salesman,(translation.... like CNBC, my staff and I could have shone a bright light on the deregulation and lack of oversight on Wall Street similar to the running gag we made out of the the War in Iraq but my oh so cool demographic of 25 and under hipsters have yet to make that connection so nobody thinks of me as a hypocrate)but what I'm selling now ain't no f*****g snake-oil(translation.... a special tonic that makes Cramer the villian, me the hero, ups my ratings, and gets me a big fat raise from Comedy Central to make up for the paper losses I have suffered in my 401k as a result of a lack of due dilligence and personal responsibility on my part).Plus, I continue to be a darling with the Obama crowd.

    I knew the jig was up when I saw the look on Gibbs' face when asked about the confrontation. A phone call had been made by one of Obama's enforcers.There are incredibly serious power-plays playing out in this country right before our eyes. Personally, I want a Jim Cramer, who actually voted for Obama and gives him credit when he believes credit is due, on the airwaves and providing me with his insight which, by the way, includes much more than just his stock picks.

    Thanks Frank!
    Mar 15 11:45 AM | Link | Reply
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    Cramer? One series of letters: RIMM; boosted till it dropped like a bomb and then blown off. What about anybody who followed that advice? I didn't because I know Cramer, but if you were naive you got a quick lesson.
    Mar 15 12:31 PM | Link | Reply
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    I agree with this post completely. Jon Stewart gave Cramer a total cheap shot on the air. I do not think Cramer was prepared for what Jon Stewart was going to do. We can all see that this was an Obama people retaliation for Cramer's criticism of the pork filled stimulus that does not create the jobs or build infrastructure that was promised by Obama. And Obama has been treating all stock holders as if they are part of the Wall Street problem, when actually most stock holders are middle class citizens that hold stocks & mutual funds in their 401K. Cramer has been the only person to go after and expose the short selling hedge funds that have destroyed the value of our retirement and our parents retirement portfolio. Cramer has been the one to go after Chris Cox for being "lobbied" in to taking away the uptick rule. He has asked for charges to be filed on everybody who has lied & contributed to the financial crisis. For this I truly respect him and hope he keeps it up. After watching the Jon Stewart Show the other night, I found myself disturbed & angry again, at a system that rewards the dishonest & greedy, and shoots down Cramer, the one guy who is trying to do something for the interests of the "buy and hold" middle class.
    Mar 15 12:38 PM | Link | Reply
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    Don't we wish we'd taken Cramer's advice to get out of all financials - his famous rant - in the summer of 2007! His advice to get 20% out of the market last fall could also have saved us a bundle. Sure, some of his advice on individual stocks has been bad (Chesapeake, etc.) but he is honest, and any advice to buy stocks in a vicious bear market had to be bad. He was clearly taken aback by Stewart's attack and didn't defend himself as he could have. I'll continue to watch and enjoy his show.
    Mar 15 12:39 PM | Link | Reply
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    ...JNH, No one profits from CNBC guests. CNBC reporters aren't allowed to own individual stocks. It doesn't matter to them who comes on, they can't do anything about it.
    ...
    Not true go to their website and it is sdisclosed who owns what, even for Jim Cramer.
    Mar 15 12:55 PM | Link | Reply
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    Personally I do not like Cramer or his methods of selling -- however, Cramer did not have anything to do with this Wall Street originated mess. He calls it as he said from info handed down to him from people like Fuld etc. who he said lied to him. I believe this --- most of those CEO's lied constantly to their employees and the America people. We need to indict them and those who profited from this CDS insurance scam. Selling mortgages to the poor to move them off the govt housing rolls was the work of Barney F. and Chris D. with the revoking of the Community Act and uptick rules --- both from Franks and Dodd. Put the blame where it rightly belongs --- Wall Street, SEC and Congress.
    Mar 15 12:58 PM | Link | Reply
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    cramer should be in jail along with his buddy bernie
    Mar 15 01:06 PM | Link | Reply
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    Unfortunately it has come to the fact that a comedy show is the only one that will address the elephant in the room [whether it is pandering politicians, lack of accountability, or lack of real journalism]. This time it was the fact that a channel's propoganda clearly indicated it will report on financial things, give good advice, keep the consumer informed, etc. The truth is it does none of that and only wants to increase its viewership. That truth should have been what Jon Stewart was about, unfortunately, it turned into a populist rant devoid of any connection to the reality of what happened. Love Stewart's show, but in this he blew it. Totally agree with the author of this post.
    Mar 15 01:13 PM | Link | Reply
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    I think most people who are defending Cramer are just angry because McCain lost, and are taking it out on anybody who is not brainwashed by the GOP.

    After all, the showed a video of Cramer obviously giving illegal advice on how to short sell stock and spread rumors for profit.

    Unless you are pissed at John Stewart for exposing the GOP as a group of idiots, why would you defend Cramer?
    Mar 15 01:17 PM | Link | Reply
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    "Jack Welch recently commented on the stupidity of running a company for purposes of share price. Maybe this is an early vocal harbinger of the "re-education" which will/should take place."

    Sorry--that's how Jack Welch ran GE: "for purposes of share price." GE was famous in Welch's tenure for massaging the numbers to always hit or beat by a penny the consensus expectations. He did many good, strategicallly sound things when he ran GE, but he has no credibility on the subject of not running a company for purposes of share price.

    I am surprised and saddened by the number of people who idolize Jack Welch. He is not a man of high principal, as demonstrated by his affair with a woman interviewing him for Harvard Business Review. That broke up his marriage. His current pontificating is difficult to fathom.
    Mar 15 01:42 PM | Link | Reply
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    Stewart was doing nothing more than slinging accusations and trying to ridicule someone else for his own gain. Why doesn't he ask why the Democratic Congress kept resisting changes in Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac that would have lessened their chances for failing if not removed the chance of failure all together? Because he would have been shunned by the loonie left of which he is a part.

    I don't assign blame/responsibility for people's losses in the market nearly as much as I do the left leaning media who makes an effort to protect their chosen ones...and unfortunately we'll never hear about the number of times the left ignored warnings and fought changes that would have protected our investments...wouldn't be as entertaining as pillaring a messager!
    Mar 15 01:52 PM | Link | Reply
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    We are all so gullible about where we get our information. We are naive to think that all of the network news and financial shows on TV are to give us inciteful BALANCED news that will better inform us to make rational decisions. When in reality they are all about getting higher viewer ratings that will allow them to reap bigger advertising income. That is it.
    Stewart's initial target was CNBC, but it became a better story to focus on Cramer. We can certainly see that all of the CNBC shows are dominated by talking heads telling you where to invest your money. Who would watch a show that day after day told you to get out of the market? Where would they get CEO guests to come on and tell you NOT to invest in their company? Yes, CNBC is the eternal optimist because it profits their business.
    They are now convenient targets for our anger. Instead, why are we not asking our government to take responsibility for allowing this catastrophy to occur?
    Mar 15 02:05 PM | Link | Reply
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    ...Cramer agreed with and admitted to almost everything Stewart was putting out. Cramer was apologetic and contrite. Like a little boy who was sent to the principal's office for misbehaving in class...

    I agree, why was Jim so meek and mild! If someone blindsided me as he did Cramer I would want a little piece of him. I have made a lot of money starting with Cramer's advice and then agreeing or disagreeing with him based on my research.
    Mar 15 02:10 PM | Link | Reply
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    CNBC is a fraud and a shill for GE and every overpaid CEO. If you need financial news you need to watch real business news... try Bloomberg.
    Mar 15 02:18 PM | Link | Reply
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    Well written...I am a Cramer fan and I agree he was a bit more contrite than perhaps he needed to be...it looks like Cramer's "style" has overshadowed his "substance" at times...for example, just today, George Will of ABC identified some rules of thumb which included: 1. Don't play poker with someone named SLIM and 2. Don't take financial advice from people who are yelling...
    Mar 15 02:22 PM | Link | Reply
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    Cramer is a very flawed person but also a good example of what Wall Street "pitchmen" have been like over the last 40 years. He is a very insecure guy who found a format to give his life purpose. I know several "successful" hedge fund managers who "Never" comment in public and DO NOT resort to "dirty tricks" to make their money.The "professional" hedge fund world is a very secret place. They are paid and pay their employees to do "proprietary" work. To talk about it would defeat their fery purpose. Cramer and his depiction of the industry are gross distortions. Thye law requires that all funds report transactions and holdings under certain circumstances.This also holds true for people like Warren Buffet. The stock market,all markets are no more,no less than the most sophisticated game in the world.Everyone is searching for the "holy grail". The "can't miss" indicator,the flawless idea,the perfect tool.Ther3e are (were) the Joe Granville's, the Robert Prechter's, The Paul Tudor Jone's, the Soros's, the Paulsons etc who got it very right for awhile. the ones who survive are the ones who act quickly when they realize they got it wrong. It is folly to think that someone who can return 30% for awhile will not lose that and more at some point. The greater the upside,the greater the risk. Those who live by leverage,die by leverage.Everyone is a genious in bull markets and very few make money in a bear.My father used to say that making it waqs hard but keeping it was much harder. He was right.
    Cramer is nothing more,nothing less than a reflection of markets and the people who mistakingly think a schill will make them rich. The market is incredibly avle to predict the future. The huge universe of participants somehow always get it right. That is the real genius of our system. Individuals rarely if ever beat this phenomena over time.
    John Stewart is a phoney!! He pretends to be superior,smarter,more clever than everyone.He,in fact,is no different than Cramer. Some might say his schtick is cruel ans serves no one but himself. The fact is tha he makes his money precisely as Cramer does. The difference is that Cramer knows who he is and Stewart laughingly takes himself seriously.
    This is America. You don't have to watch or listen to either of these clowns. You do so by choice. That we take them seriously and act on what they say is the sad reality of who we are,not them. Americans feel they are "entitled". They want something for nothing. If you want to hate someone,look in the mirror. The fact that 2.3 million ppeople tuned in to see Stewart make disrobe Cramer speaks for itself.
    Mar 15 02:22 PM | Link | Reply
  •  
    30 years and you still need a proof-reader...hehe




    On Mar 15 09:22 AM peapack@verizon.net wrote:

    > Cramer has made huge contributions to investor awareness through
    > his show and his books. He surely has faults, but he has helped many
    > investors. As the author said Cramer was way ahead of almost everybody
    > else in calling our economic mess and what would happen if the Fed
    > and government did not heed his advice. Cramer has consistantly offered
    > measures for regulators to take to improve the investing world for
    > the average person, and he has put to shame many executives who have
    > underperformed.
    >
    > As to John Stewart, I have no idea where he gets off taking on Cramer-and
    > for that matter, it was silly of Cramer to participate in Stewart's
    > sideshow. Stewart has been "The Entertainment Guy" for years and
    > has done an admirable job-if you are into the shallow celebrities
    > of today. Am curious as to what Stewart's credentials are on financial
    > matters and why he would be involved in such things.
    >
    > It is fine to pan Cramer, but in doing so, you must tell the story
    > of the good things Cramer has done for investors. It seams most reports
    > I see on Cramer are unbalanced against him. Media people have an
    > obligation to report all sides of a person's doings-comments and
    > opinions are done separately. I ought to know-I spent over 30 years
    > working on newspapers.
    Mar 15 02:30 PM | Link | Reply
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    What bothers me the most about Cramer is when he yells buy or sell and intimates he has done the work. That is mostly a lie. He is merely passing on someone else's research and claiming it as his own.He occasionally names his "source" but mostly claims it as his own.Cramer's real genius is that he made lots of money on the fringe. He admitingly played dirty and got away with it.To those who worship money he is a hero.To those who really listen he is a very insecure pitiful person.
    Jon Stewart is a pompous ass. He spends his life tearing people down. He feigns elitism when in fact he is just the latest version of Tom Snyder or the cadere of barricuda that proceeded him. Sarcasm is the cruelest form of humor and Steart revels in it. He thinks he is better,smarter,above the rest. In fact,he is just a self serving talking head who makes his moneymaking fun of everyone else.
    Mar 15 02:46 PM | Link | Reply
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    Why watch any of these "financial" networks? Fox, MSNBC or CNBC ? Not for the info they are shills so you cant believe them. At least with Cramer there is an educational part to it.

    No, I watch CNBC because I think the women are prettier. Yes, I am a sexist pig, but I dont care
    Mar 15 03:01 PM | Link | Reply
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    Thanks for publishing this article. Although I often disagree with Jim Cramer on stock and market situtations, I watch him for his fearless willingness to expose what is going on in Washington and Wall Street. The Stewart show was disgusting and appeared to be just a chance for him to spew hatred a personal political agenda.

    I waited a year to hear someone bring up the pending mortgage and real estate meltdown, and Jim was the one that did it. Stewart is out of his mind.

    Please keep up the good work Jim. And, maybe next time, don't hold back - it is not becoming. Put Stewart on a new "Bad Commentators" list and go after him like you do CEOs.

    Thanks for the article
    Mar 15 03:09 PM | Link | Reply
  •  
    Jon Stewart is a buffoon. He wouldn't have
    have attacked Jim Cramer if Cramer hadn't said
    some criticism of the "Obama stimulus" packages
    even though Cramer is correct.
    Mar 15 03:26 PM | Link | Reply
  •  

    …a pro Cramer article with a predominately pro Cramer comment response on a pro Cramer website…

    …‘back up the truck’ and get ‘all aboard’ ‘cause this place is truly a Cramer ‘house of pleasure’!!!
    Mar 15 03:42 PM | Link | Reply
  •  



    On Mar 15 01:42 PM David Van Knapp wrote:

    > "Jack Welch recently commented on the stupidity of running a company
    > for purposes of share price. Maybe this is an early vocal harbinger
    > of the "re-education" which will/should take place."
    >
    > Sorry--that's how Jack Welch ran GE: "for purposes of share price."
    > GE was famous in Welch's tenure for massaging the numbers to always
    > hit or beat by a penny the consensus expectations. He did many good,
    > strategicallly sound things when he ran GE, but he has no credibility
    > on the subject of not running a company for purposes of share price.

    Hmmm. First, I was aware of both the positive and negative takes on Jack Welch. But for my purposes, that does not matter. His prominence and sentiment is all that matters for my purpose.

    Whether from a former saint or felon, the statement about managing to share price demonstrates a *possible* beginning of re-education. I just hope that a new trend has begun.

    >
    > I am surprised and saddened by the number of people who idolize Jack
    > Welch. He is not a man of high principal, as demonstrated by his
    > affair with a woman interviewing him for Harvard Business Review.
    > That broke up his marriage. His current pontificating is difficult
    > to fathom.

    Quoting an old adage, "There's no smoker like a reformed smoker". Jack must have been *SMOKIN'* (thanks to Jim Carry in "the Mask"). ;-)

    Age and experience can do funny things to young men, besides turn them into old men. It may increase wisdom. If I discount all possible present and future good because of past mistakes, I do a disservice to others and to myself. But as with the trust betrayed by one's offspring, it does take time for trust to be regained. So I do understand your skepticism.

    Folks like you and I have the luxury of having most of our past mistakes remain "private". It makes it easier for us to get over them.

    HardToLove
    Mar 15 03:55 PM | Link | Reply
  •  
    I've taken a nasty hit like most everyone here.I blame only myself.
    I became skeptical of Cramer after the sound effects and kids in their twenties calling in with a cultish chant.
    Stewart, thank goodness, contributed to the downfall of Bush. His crusade has changed focus, however, and Cramer was ripe for picking. Let's hope Rushbaugh is next.
    Let's give due credit to Jim that he had the balls to go on that show.I would not like to take on Stewart.
    Mar 15 04:03 PM | Link | Reply
  •  



    On Mar 15 04:03 PM $bruised wrote:

    > I've taken a nasty hit like most everyone here.I blame only myself.
    >
    > I became skeptical of Cramer after the sound effects and kids in
    > their twenties calling in with a cultish chant.

    Yep. That shows he could be sharper. After all, no one can compete with the Michael Strahan "BOOYAH". Cramer should have gotten the rights to it and used it nightly.

    Don't let the showmanship put you off though. Every good public orator speaks to his audience. In today's world, lack of the various props would reduce his audience to mostly old farts, like myself, and leave the younger generation completely out of the picture.

    If there is to be any hope for that generation, one must use techniques that draw them into the process.

    > <snip>

    HardToLove
    Mar 15 04:21 PM | Link | Reply
  •  
    You have to look at Cramer's show like sports talk radio -- or Pardon the Interruption on ESPN. It's about gabbing about stocks and sharing opinions in an entertaining way.

    Stewart's prosecution did seem misdirected at Cramer, whose show is like an open forum for ideas (albeit mainly his own). The people watching the show and investing should be able to form their own opinions. In Stewart's defense, he did say it was not all about Cramer.

    The only thing that surprised me were clips of Cramer off-air in which he seemed to be describing how he could move the stock price of Apple and how they could not openly talk about shorting the market.
    Mar 15 04:35 PM | Link | Reply
  •  
    I would love to fine comb the last 20 years worth of John Stewart video and then give them to Cramer for his show. Wouldn't that be entertaining. Why is it that many comedians are not really funny people at all, but rather arrogant ass holes with an ax to grind. They just get nastier as they get older too. Sorry if you bought some bad stocks there John, we all did. Next time make your own decisions. All that is out there is just data. What we do with it is up to us. No one holds your finger over the "buy" key.
    Mar 15 05:51 PM | Link | Reply
  •  
    That's weird because we, like Cramer, are Democrats!


    On Mar 15 01:17 PM Paul H. M. wrote:

    > I think most people who are defending Cramer are just angry because
    > McCain lost, and are taking it out on anybody who is not brainwashed
    > by the GOP.
    >
    > After all, the showed a video of Cramer obviously giving illegal
    > advice on how to short sell stock and spread rumors for profit.<br/>
    >
    > Unless you are pissed at John Stewart for exposing the GOP as a group
    > of idiots, why would you defend Cramer?
    Mar 15 06:08 PM | Link | Reply
  •  
    Jim Cramer on a deeper level is a teacher, and if you don't get that, you've missed the gift he offers. Jon Steward with his sanctimonious finger-pointing had 3 fingers pointing back at himself. I used to find him funny, but now I find him to be cruel and ignorant.
    Mar 15 06:16 PM | Link | Reply
  •  
    One has to question all of these shows on the basis of responsibility. The Ceo's that appeared on Cramer either lied or were under the influence of something as they said their companies were just fine. It is history that some imploded within weeks.These shows are supposed to derve a public purpose yet,willingly or stupidly they have served as a platform for at best fraud. Cramer is touted by himself and CNBC as "a genius". Sure, I am too. He willingly and foolishly hurt a lot of people badly and to the best of my knowledge no one has been held accountable. It wasn't just the CEO of Wachovia,Angelo Mozillo,the Ceo's of Fannie and Freddie and the financial institutions. It was his "buddy" Mel Kamrmazan ceo of Sirius and numerous others that Cramer welcomed and vouched for. Cramer swore to their integrity and and prowess. It was naausiating how he kissed up to them. He brags about his expertise but did NOT know enough to even qusetion anything that was said. Even the common man,with NO Expertise in finance would wonder how these companies were viable with the already disclosed billions of write downs and the "shadow market". How can anyone defend him or anyone defend the fraid perpetrated on all of us?
    Shiela Bair appeared on Cramer's show and Kudlow and said as recently as a year ago that this banking problem is minor. She said that it was nothing compared to the S+L crisis and NOTHING to worry about. She is the head of the FDIC. Bill Seidman who ran the Resolution Trust Corporation and was arguably a hero said the very same things. I saw both more than once make these very statements on CNBC. I made investments based on what they said as if they didn't know then who would? The rest is history and now Bair is wanting to spend hundreds of Billions to "save the system" and Seidman wants to "Nationalize the banks". I could go on and on but I think the case is made. Why do these shows and people go unfettered? Why is there no consequence for their actions and lies? Dan Dorfman was basically drawn and quatered for touting deals etc. Cramer,Kudlow and the like go scott free. To the best of my knowledge not one of the "money Honey's" or the ret of the cnbc people have a financial degree of any kind. Thyey wontanly talk and comment as experts and it is allowed. These people are giving financial advise without any training to do so. At least Santelli was a trader.
    John Stewart and Kieth Olberman are two of a kind. They are angry,cruel,self serving McCarthy's who slander at will. Where the hell is the FCC? Where are the regulator's. Both of these laughable pundits are left wing liberals and shills for the Democrats. What is the difference between them and the hate jocks on radio? Stewart and Olberman use broadcast t.v. to incite hatred, promote left wing politics and class warfare.
    If t.v. is a measure of this country then we are about to implode. I believe these people are pariah's who live off of America's fear and hatred. They should not have a platform to spread their bitterness and should be held accountable for the lies and slander they use every day. Freedom of speech is one thing but these people promote hatrted and cynicism which is supposed to be regulated by the FCC.
    There have been people ruined,people slandered and harm done to millions by all of the above and they should be held accountable.
    Mar 15 06:46 PM | Link | Reply
  •  
    No one listened when Grennspan was talking about a housing bubble caused by Conrgess. When Barney Frank and coronies changed the rules that permitted the banks to lend money to people who couldn't pay back the loans. None of the political pundits spoke about the democratic congress for changing the laws which Clinton aprroved to help people get morgtages when they knew that the borrowers would never pay the loans. Jon Stewart is a bad comedian who would do better if he went after the right people.

    No one jumped on the bandwagon when Cramer hollered about the uptike rule removal. Oh wait Bernanke is trying to have it reinstated now. That is like closing the barn door after the horse runs away.
    Mar 15 06:51 PM | Link | Reply
  •  
    Frank Cioffi wrote:

    "This is a highly complex crisis requiring investors and institutions to make finer shades-of-grey distinctions about what happened, how to fix it, and how to move forward productively."

    That may be true: But it is not how a system of retributive justice works. The damage done by this crisis -- call it what you will -- is incalculable. World-wide damage comes with a "Made in USA" label. Damage is spread in every country, many cities and towns, families, individuals, etc. Nothing can be aggregated across so many units.

    Many people may blame Madoff. While he is certainly a big-time crook, he is also a victim of the crisis, without which his scheme might not have come to light.

    The Obama administration is making a big mistake in not finding people to blame. People hate; many love to hate, need to hate, want to hate. If the Obama administration doesn't give people appropriate targets for their hatred, the hatred may well turn to the Obama administration.
    Mar 15 07:02 PM | Link | Reply
  •  
    ummmmmmmmmm....anyone ever hear of COMEDY?? did you not laugh?? what is wrong with you people? yes, they cherry picked. THAT IS WHAT COMEDY WRITERS DO!! newsflash: the daily show, on COMEDY CENTRAL, is a COMEDY SHOW.
    lighten up, frank. this would have been a one-bit segment had cramer and cnbc not gotten all bent out of shape and dismissed stewart as an insignificant clown. it looks like they called him out and he answered. and BOY DID HE ANSWER. i think that they will leave well enough alone this time. 3 spankings is about all they can take.




    On Mar 15 01:13 PM Dave Shafer wrote:

    > Unfortunately it has come to the fact that a comedy show is the only
    > one that will address the elephant in the room [whether it is pandering
    > politicians, lack of accountability, or lack of real journalism].
    > This time it was the fact that a channel's propoganda clearly indicated
    > it will report on financial things, give good advice, keep the consumer
    > informed, etc. The truth is it does none of that and only wants to
    > increase its viewership. That truth should have been what Jon Stewart
    > was about, unfortunately, it turned into a populist rant devoid of
    > any connection to the reality of what happened. Love Stewart's show,
    > but in this he blew it. Totally agree with the author of this post.
    Mar 15 07:20 PM | Link | Reply
  •  
    guys - COMEDY is what these guys are about. this isn't fair and balanced reporting. ITS COMEDY. lighten up already.

    what the hell is wrong with you people?? geez.


    On Mar 15 01:13 PM Dave Shafer wrote:

    > Unfortunately it has come to the fact that a comedy show is the only
    > one that will address the elephant in the room [whether it is pandering
    > politicians, lack of accountability, or lack of real journalism].
    > This time it was the fact that a channel's propoganda clearly indicated
    > it will report on financial things, give good advice, keep the consumer
    > informed, etc. The truth is it does none of that and only wants to
    > increase its viewership. That truth should have been what Jon Stewart
    > was about, unfortunately, it turned into a populist rant devoid of
    > any connection to the reality of what happened. Love Stewart's show,
    > but in this he blew it. Totally agree with the author of this post.
    Mar 15 07:22 PM | Link | Reply
  •  
    Stewart did to Cramer as the most extreme surrogate for the financial media exactly what he did to Begala/Carlson/Carvill... on CNN's Crossfire. He held them responsible for distracting people from the real news, to which they had the access and the acumen to explain. I watch CNBC at the open in California, and read Cramer on TSC/Real Money. Every once in a while, I catch Mad Money, and cringe. Cramer might advise every one to do their home work, but in fact most people who follow Cramer are knee-jerk traders without a clue. The smart ones fade Cramer's picks. Just watch the aftermarket action if you doubt this.
    Stewart wants the news media to be more than overhyping stenographers for what politicians and CEOs say. He wants an advererial media. Cramer should know better. His first job out of Harvard was as a beat reporter. I hope he showed initiative in that job. If he did, perhaps he can do the same in the future
    Mar 15 07:48 PM | Link | Reply
  •  
    Please realize that Mad Money is just a TV show. When you watch Cramer, please remember you are getting the opinion of one person..It is not Goldman Sachs recommending a stock. Cramer is trying to educate you on how to make your own decisions. No one could predict the severity of this downturn. Cramer did provide warning of the credit freeze. If the hedge funds and all of their brains could anticipate this we would have had a crash in a very short order. This is not journalism.
    I am always impressed that CNBC try's to report professional opinions as what they are. Their own staff is fairly neutral.
    Jon Stewart has little qualification to be judging Cramer. Stewart ought to stick to Comedy.
    Mar 15 07:57 PM | Link | Reply
  •  
    "bunching Cramer along with the liars and thieves went too far"

    Are you kidding me? Everytime Greenspan would try to slow things down a bit Cramer would jump around like a crazed chimp. Greenspan caused much of our mess and if Cramer had his way it would be much, much worse.

    And I ask you: how many times has this incompetent called the market bottom so far since the highs of 2007?
    Mar 15 08:06 PM | Link | Reply
  •  
    Nicely done Stewart. You put Cramer in his place- as a stock picker and out of the reach of policy making.
    Mar 15 08:12 PM | Link | Reply
  •  
    There is no way that anyone who ever worked in or watched the finer and finer pricing and dicing that went on and the epic struggles to shovel the "investment grade" rubbish out the door could ever say this is a crisis that is hard to explain with infinite shades of grey. Returns kept falling, as in the end that was the only way valuations could get supported and the the risks were not properly enunciated to investors or properly analysed by them. That is the root cause. Everyone associated with the industry bought into the premiss because that is how they got paid.

    Cramer was the wrong target. I like the Stewart show but increasingly as he has touted his "not news but entertainment" values so he has sought to become more "man of the people and truth" relevant. This lack of clarity is a well practised tool of parody. Many very funny comedians have used it. Guests know (or occasionally in the practice of the art, do not know) that the intention is to poke fun at them. Point out the contradictions or make them up. Stewart is loosing sight of this. Why is that? Because he is popular and increasingly those with a message are willing to go on the show because an appearance benefits them. Increasingly he has guests on the show to faun over them and poke fun at the guests enemies thereby making the guest "right". True parody which in my opinion Stewart has stopped practising on guests he likes does not make this distinction. It parodies everything.

    As far as I know, Cramer is a professional stock picker whose personal wealth rises and falls on the decisions he daily airs. Good enough to get his own show. He entertains with his style because independent, outside mainstream characters appeal to us. Cramer is not the buffed presentational face of CNBC. However perhaps he was the only one willing to turn up.

    Wrong target, on the wrong show for the right reasons. When is Stewart getting his own hard news program to complete his transformation?
    Mar 15 09:16 PM | Link | Reply
  •  
    Crammer's nothing more than a game show host who's in tight with certain big houses... anybody who knows his past knows who I mean - they are the ones who pull his strings, one in particular IMHO.

    He says stay away from stocks for 5 years and then every day he marches right out and pitches stocks, and trots out CEO after CEO of tanking companies to pitch their wares - since his "sell and stay away for 5 years" he has had the CEO of FWLT on 2 or more likely 3 times that I have seen, and that stock has fallen from 40 to the teens in that time frame.


    On Mar 15 08:05 AM VFC wrote:

    > I'm not sure that Stewart went too far. As Cramer has gotten bigger
    > and bigger, he's begun to feel as if he is untouchable. As an entertainer,
    > as Cramer is, he needs to be able to take the blows a lot better
    > than he has. He is not the champion of the little guy, as he claims
    > to be, he's strictly an entertainer and people should not trade on
    > his advice. If they followed him, they'd all be out of the market
    > still in five years, long after the inevitable recovery would have
    > recouped losses.
    > vfcsstockhouse.blogspo...
    > vfcsnewshouse.blogspot...
    Mar 15 09:31 PM | Link | Reply
  •  


    Crammer and Kudlow, are both idiots.
    Mar 15 09:58 PM | Link | Reply
  •  
    Mr Obama recently "said it was a good time to buy in to the stock market."
    Jon did you get in on this civil rights attorney's financial call? Did the liberals dare to follow their Messiah's call and put money in the financial institution that they despise? Could this be the reason the market finally had its first an up week since Mr Obama's crowning.

    Here is a tuff question-- you must make a 25,000 dollar investment and it must be made with the advise from only one of the 3 people .
    Who would you choose ?
    Jim Cramer-- who did have a career in the financial world
    Mr. Obama-- a civil rights attorney
    Jon Stewart --- the lifetime award as a comic/comedian

    As for me I would do my own research and have total responsibility for this the results of this investment.
    Just like I pick my own beer !!!
    Cheers DuffBeer
    Mar 15 10:55 PM | Link | Reply
  •  
    CNBC, specifically Mad Money, is all about entertainment and ratings. It was Cramer who recommended WaMu as a buy two weeks before it went into receivership. He was recommending buys on a number of companies that were sliding downward with the markets. If they portend to stand up for the little guy then why are they silent on General Electric, CNBC's parent company. That's obvious.
    Mar 15 10:59 PM | Link | Reply
  •  
    CNBC is right wing propaganda all day long. Cramer might have been critical of what was happening in the economy; but he still recommended stocks everyday and all the way down.

    CNBC is garbage. I've watched since it was FNN; but it is no longer watchable. Just a bunch of talking heads screaming their opinions. Who is Carusao Cabrero, kernan, Kudlow, Gasparino to be giving their opinions. They are liars and right wing flaks for GE, that is what they are. Kudlow is the biggest joke. They are totally unprofessional and they try to manipulate the market and American political opinion everyday. It is truly disgusting what this country allows as supposed news-an
    absolute joke that supposed news programs are just allowed to spread lies with no one calling them on it.



    Mar 16 12:22 AM | Link | Reply
  •  
    Random observations:

    1. The financial journalist establishment has generally done a mediocre job of critical, investigative reporting.

    2. CNBC hypes itself as the best, proclaiming a higher standard than they live up to.

    3. The reading/viewing population has built up this vague sense of being betrayed by said establishment.

    4. The market crash made many people mad. They don't know at who or at what, but they're mad.

    5. Stewart is not the world's finest financial reporter.

    6. But he was in the right place at the right time, and the only one verbalizing what said population felt. It struck a nerve.

    7. Cramer made a tactical error, stepping into the lion's den. It showed unexpected guts, but reinforced the lack of preparation of said financial journalists, of which he is one. He got outclassed by a comedian in preparation and common sense.

    Yeah, Stewart took cheap shots, but there were too many hits. These hits were not Cramer's bad individual picks, they struck at not being thorough, passing off lazy, superficial analysis for in-depth expertise.

    What amazes me most of all is that no other journalist of any stripe did the homework Stewart (a comedian, for crying in a bucket) did. I would have expected this from 60 Minutes or one of their peers. Where were they???
    Mar 16 12:49 AM | Link | Reply
  •  
    By the way, Motley Fool keeps a record of most stock pickers' picks' performance. Cramer, while not the very best, is better than most on that score.

    Mar 16 12:51 AM | Link | Reply
  •  
    Cioffe has it wrong. Cramer, The Mouth, got his due. Live by the sword, die by the sword. And who says Cramer doesn't profit from being on TV and having a "financial show"? He spends most of his time on-camera promoting himself, his "charitable trust," the stocks he owns, his "The Street Dot Com," or whatever it is called, and anything else he can use to make a buck. By the way, just what is his relationship with this so-called "charitable trust?" Is he an officer? Does he get paid? And what is the money in the trust used for? In sum, Cramer disgraced himself, his profession, and his network. I would not surprised now If NBC took him off the air.
    Mar 16 01:15 AM | Link | Reply
  •  
    Cramer clearly did not go into this expecting such a scripted attack by Stewart. His manner and body language seemed to indicate that he expected to take some barbs, but that it would be a civil discussion.

    But Stewart knew what would "work"-- a populist rant about Wall Street crooks, with a Wall Street celebrity sitting right in front of him.

    Cramer was agreeing with Stewart, but that did not matter. It was about bringing someone down. Those videos Stewart showed were prepared for whenever the moment came that Cramer made his defense. (It reminded me of Barry Scheck in the OJ trial..."There! There! How about THAT, Mr Fung ?")Stewart knew that moment would come, and he would be ready. If Stewart were a real journalist (and not just someone who plays a journalist on TV), he might recognize it as "yellow journalism".

    Stewart did not show any knowledge or insight into what happened to cause the financial crisi-- there is no evidence he has any. But he knows how to make compelling TV.
    Mar 16 02:36 AM | Link | Reply
  •  
    Who are YOU trying to protect?

    Get the TRUTH!

    deepcapture.com

    You are the clueless one!
    Mar 16 02:38 AM | Link | Reply
  •  
    I did and do admire both Stewart and Cramer. Cramer is not perfect and has made mistakes since his 'stop trading" rant and Stewart was right to point them out just as he points out the contradictions in politicians. It is the research that his staff does that makes the show so good and why it makes it possible for both to get a little humor into our lives and secure an antidote to the evening news (and now, CNBC). I thought Jim did a very good job, not in defending CNBC, but in explaining that the picture wasn't all black and white. Perhaps he was hoisted on his own petard, but it was only to half-mast.

    Some people may dismiss Cramer's show as entertainment but lot of folks act on his prescriptions immediately, hence the effect he has on the stocks that he recommends on his show. When you clearly have the kind of power that he has, you have to be a lot more responsible in your behaviour than a clown like, say, Jon Stewart.

    But the issue really isn't Cramer. He is probably the best and most conscientious of the CNBCers... it is they who seem to spend all of their time kissing up to CEO's so they can get access rather than doing a proper job of reporting. They are pretty much the journalistic versions of the lobbiests that those same CEO's hire in Washington except that they get paid a lot less.

    Personally, I'd replace the whole CNBC crew with Cramer, Stewart and their crews. Things would be a lot livelier and a lot more honest.


    On Mar 15 05:51 AM eatthis wrote:

    > i used to like stewart (more of a colbert fan), but the cramer thing
    > was so overly pious and self serving it made me want to puke. the
    > whole part about, "guys like you knew what the banks were doing",
    > i mean seriously, people seem to think he was telling "the man" off?
    > if cramer was only so well informed...
    >
    > then invoking his 75 year old mother and making it sound like cramer
    > ruined her retirement plan. i think the quote was "you used to be
    > able to buy for the long term"... and "you can draw a direct line
    > from guys like you to the guys on wall street... ". yea, and then
    > you can draw a straight line to kevin bacon, it's like magic. in
    > reality, he's so uninformed on who he is actually at "war" with that
    > he doesn't even know that in the first chapter of jim's book he says
    > that "buy and hold" is an investment strategy that will separate
    > you from your money lickety split (not to mention that stuart's misrepresentation
    > of buy and hold is a gross oversimplification of what that really
    > means to value investors).
    >
    > cramer has always encouraged people to be diversified, to constantly
    > be diligent in managing your stocks and to think for the long term,
    > in particular to start saving young. all sage advice for these times
    > when 401k's and mutual funds are looking less and less reliable.
    >
    >
    > this is all because of his much reviled "lightning round" but you
    > know what, that's probably the only reason anyone know who jim cramer
    > is. i'm sure he's done the math and decided that the damage to his
    > reputation is worth the viewership... it seems as though poor jim
    > is being defined by the very thing that made him famous... shouting
    > out "buy" and "sell". oh well, i guess it's just a twitter world
    > we live in and everything is defined by the soundbite.
    >
    > On Mar 15 02:58 AM arnoldsimage wrote:
    Mar 16 03:03 AM | Link | Reply
  •  

    Did Cramer really do anything unethical or illegal? No, I don't think so? He was just wrong on a lot of stock calls but he has a lot of company in that regard. He was ahead of the Fed on the arc of this crisis.

    I believe that Cramer's mistake is to try to make a show every day. He can't help but get caught up in the moment. His advice gets skittish, short sighted, and contradictory.

    What the average investor needs to know about Cramer is that his popularity is his undoing in that his advice becomes the herd's knowledge. And as we all know, the herd gets slaughtered.
    Mar 16 03:20 AM | Link | Reply
  •  
    Folks,

    Get a life. So an investor spokesperson got lampooned. Ohh its the end of the investing world. It was funny and Cramer even had some fun with it. So take a breath, relax, and watch Cramer on CNBC if you like.

    As the old saying goes, 'Some days you eat the bear and some days the bear eats you' Kit Karma Coffee House
    Mar 16 09:04 AM | Link | Reply
  •  
    A political assassination, pure and simple. Hope Stewart (or whatever his last name really is) got paid well. Anyone else noticing a pattern?

    Cramer offers up a lot of swill amid of few good pieces of advice on his edutainment show. It's easy to cherry-pick a couple of bad Cramer moments to make the guy look like a fool. Very few on Wall Street, even the best and most ethical people, saw this downturn coming or recognized its swiftness. But Cramer was right in his criticism of the Obama administration, and their lack of focus on the banks and the economy. Wouldn't it be easy to pull a "Jon Stewart" on little Timmy Geithner or Barney Frank if you comb the archives for all the stupid and outrageously inaccurate things they've said the past several years? 20/20 hindsight can turn even second-rate comedians into righteous political warriors.
    Mar 16 09:09 AM | Link | Reply
  •  
    A political assassination, pure and simple. Hope Stewart (or whatever his last name really is) got paid well. Anyone else noticing a pattern?

    Cramer offers up a lot of swill amid of few good pieces of advice on his edutainment show. It's easy to cherry-pick a couple of bad Cramer moments to make the guy look like a fool. Very few on Wall Street, even the best and most ethical people, saw this downturn coming or recognized its swiftness. But Cramer was right in his criticism of the Obama administration, and their lack of focus on the banks and the economy. Wouldn't it be easy to pull a "Jon Stewart" on little Timmy Geithner or Barney Frank if you comb the archives for all the stupid and outrageously inaccurate things they've said the past several years? 20/20 hindsight can turn even second-rate comedians into righteous political warriors.
    Mar 16 09:10 AM | Link | Reply
  •  
    Unless Cramer continually told people to get out after the DOW 10500 point, and why, he's not exactly any Meredith Whitney. A used-car salesman, was how he struck me; visibly out of his depth when not on a show he controlled, constantly shifting position and blindly repeating stock phrases. Give me real thinking.
    Mar 16 09:25 AM | Link | Reply
  •  
    I think it's ridiculous that Cramer being villianized simply because people have so much pent up anger regarding their losses in the market, job losses or maybe just the general state of the economy. Everyone keeps mentioning Cramer stock picks. While as was mentioned earlier the stock picks as tracked by Motley Fool are better then most, they really dont account for a large portion of what he offers on his show. Cramer constantly preaches tools such as buy and homework, diversification is the only free lunch and using dividend yeilds to protect your investments amongst many others. These tried and true strategies are good reminders to the average investor and he helps his viewers to build a good basis of financial/market knowledge. Honestly I really dont know how those things can be questioned. Also one of the best aspects of the show is that in sharp the political media coverage we receive, Cramer never allows his own affiliations to cloud his suggestions. This has been clearly demonstrated by his slamming of both the previous administration and the current one. In fact I have never seen a media personality more willing to acknowledge his own mistakes and attempt to be fair and honest in his assessments. Anyone who watches Mad Money would clearly recognized that Cramer regularly beats himself up (on air) about any wrong decisions or bad stock calls and Stewart took advantage of his humanity and humility and used the opportunity to blame and vilify him. The market and macroeconomic picture is constantly changing and for Stewart or whomever in the media to take little sound bites and try to claim that that's what Cramer offers on a nightly basis is just wrong. Cramer has countless causes such as the restoration of the uptick rule and the banning of inverse ETFs (SKF,FAZ etc), that had they been adopted earlier would have had a major impact on the situation we are currently in. Although he does stock picks, he has never encouraged anyone to act simply on what he says. On the contrary he forbids people to act without doing their own due diligence and homework. But unfortunately people frequently dont choose to do that and then are unwilling to take responsibility for their own financial decisions. Anyone who acted based some sort of feeling or sound bite of what they may have heard on CNBC or anywhere else frankly gets what they deserve. Especially because if they were to follow the Mad Money on a regular basis could clearly see that Cramer emphasizes the potential pitfalls of the market and how to preserve capital in this type of market. Stewart's comment about his mother was the most ridiculous point of the entire interview. If his mother lost money then she should've read Cramer's books. Had she done that she wouldve never made the decisions that Stewart claims she made. It's so ridiculous how people's opinions of the interview are based on the fact that Cramer spoke with humility, clearly regretting any missteps he may have caused people to make (typical Cramer) and Stewart went in with guns blazing. And some say Fire Cramer! Ridiculous. He stands in sharp contrast to the majority of ridiculous one sided media information we receive.
    Mar 16 09:49 AM | Link | Reply
  •  
    I can't stand Stewart! He is a cheap shot artist and
    has all the young stupid Americans eating out of his
    hands. On the other hand I now know why Cramer is a bleeding heart liberal. I sure wouldn't want him in a fox hole with me. What a wimp. He turns on anyone.
    God Bless Rich Santelli a great American who says what he believes and screw the media. He also sticks to his guns and is very consistent with his philosophy. He also is a big fan of Frank Capra movies. Another great American.
    Mar 16 10:03 AM | Link | Reply
  •  
    Are John Stewart and his followers really that dumb that they would believe any person can forecast the stock market accurately. haha...thats the only funny part I can see in this whole episode.
    Mar 16 10:11 AM | Link | Reply
  •  



    On Mar 16 03:20 AM mr freddo wrote:

    >
    > Did Cramer really do anything unethical or illegal? No, I don't think
    > so?

    You mean outside of admitting that he used to manipulate the market when he was a hedge fund manager?
    Mar 16 10:47 AM | Link | Reply
  •  
    So much venom, anger, and hate here directed at "liberals" and Jon Stewart, the "shill" for liberals and Obama. Seems like I could change "liberals" to "conservatives," "Jon Stewart" to "Rush Limbaugh," and "Obama" to "Bush" and we're in the same place we've been all along! Sheesh!
    Mar 16 11:13 AM | Link | Reply
  •  
    The Obama Stock Market - Howard Kurtz, The Washington Post
    www.washingtonpost.com...
    Mar 16 11:54 AM | Link | Reply
  •  
    It worked....These morons will have higher ratings and the blog adds credibility. People are talking about them. Mission accomplished. They are entertainers.

    Cramer couldn't make the call daylight after darkness never mind a market turn. And Stewart has an army of writers that found an opportunity to exploit.
    Barons evaluted cramer objectively and his advice is terrible. But fun to watch just don't base a trade on anything he says.

    Somebody figured it out which caused the Europeans to try to cash out and then the house of cards crumbled.

    Bush gave us fair warning in 2003 but everybody thought he was an idiot and ignored him.
    Mar 16 12:02 PM | Link | Reply
  •  
    I am mad as hell at the "mugging" of Jim Cramer. Dolan, you provided a concise and honest summary of what Jim brings to the table. Kudos!


    On Mar 16 09:49 AM dolan wrote:

    > I think it's ridiculous that Cramer being villianized simply because
    > people have so much pent up anger regarding their losses in the market,
    > job losses or maybe just the general state of the economy. Everyone
    > keeps mentioning Cramer stock picks. While as was mentioned earlier
    > the stock picks as tracked by Motley Fool are better then most, they
    > really dont account for a large portion of what he offers on his
    > show. Cramer constantly preaches tools such as buy and homework,
    > diversification is the only free lunch and using dividend yeilds
    > to protect your investments amongst many others. These tried and
    > true strategies are good reminders to the average investor and he
    > helps his viewers to build a good basis of financial/market knowledge.
    > Honestly I really dont know how those things can be questioned. Also
    > one of the best aspects of the show is that in sharp the political
    > media coverage we receive, Cramer never allows his own affiliations
    > to cloud his suggestions. This has been clearly demonstrated by his
    > slamming of both the previous administration and the current one.
    > In fact I have never seen a media personality more willing to acknowledge
    > his own mistakes and attempt to be fair and honest in his assessments.
    > Anyone who watches Mad Money would clearly recognized that Cramer
    > regularly beats himself up (on air) about any wrong decisions or
    > bad stock calls and Stewart took advantage of his humanity and humility
    > and used the opportunity to blame and vilify him. The market and
    > macroeconomic picture is constantly changing and for Stewart or whomever
    > in the media to take little sound bites and try to claim that that's
    > what Cramer offers on a nightly basis is just wrong. Cramer has countless
    > causes such as the restoration of the uptick rule and the banning
    > of inverse ETFs (SKF,FAZ etc), that had they been adopted earlier
    > would have had a major impact on the situation we are currently in.
    > Although he does stock picks, he has never encouraged anyone to act
    > simply on what he says. On the contrary he forbids people to act
    > without doing their own due diligence and homework. But unfortunately
    > people frequently dont choose to do that and then are unwilling to
    > take responsibility for their own financial decisions. Anyone who
    > acted based some sort of feeling or sound bite of what they may have
    > heard on CNBC or anywhere else frankly gets what they deserve. Especially
    > because if they were to follow the Mad Money on a regular basis could
    > clearly see that Cramer emphasizes the potential pitfalls of the
    > market and how to preserve capital in this type of market. Stewart's
    > comment about his mother was the most ridiculous point of the entire
    > interview. If his mother lost money then she should've read Cramer's
    > books. Had she done that she wouldve never made the decisions that
    > Stewart claims she made. It's so ridiculous how people's opinions
    > of the interview are based on the fact that Cramer spoke with humility,
    > clearly regretting any missteps he may have caused people to make
    > (typical Cramer) and Stewart went in with guns blazing. And some
    > say Fire Cramer! Ridiculous. He stands in sharp contrast to the majority
    > of ridiculous one sided media information we receive.
    Mar 16 12:03 PM | Link | Reply
  •  
    It was a sheap shot out of context. Cramer did a great job of not fighting him, as well he had the ammo to do so. I will not watch Stewart again.
    Mar 16 12:39 PM | Link | Reply
  •  
    I'm taking my ball and going home!

    C'mon people! For real!
    Mar 16 01:16 PM | Link | Reply
  •  
    The idea that the financial pres "let" people down misses the point. First and foremost, CNBC & all the rest of the media are in the same category as Jon Stewart. They are infotainment. Nothing more.
    Mar 16 01:38 PM | Link | Reply
  •  
    Dear eat this,

    Cramer took one on the chin for the financial news industry as a whole. Unfortunately for him, as he manned up. It looks, at first pass, like an attack on Cramer alone. Bit Stewart repeatedly said that was not the point. It was a failure of the financial industry as a whole that was the point of Stewart's anger.

    Repeatedly, Stewart said that this was not about Cramer, to the point of saying, 'look, this is as Carly Simon says, this song ain't about you.' Stewart's complaints started a few weeks early with a deserved overall criticism of the financial news industry in general with, as any good expository writing has, some specific examples. Cramer took repeated exception on several CNBC affiliate shows, and like the prariedog that sticks his head up, got his head taken off. There were a lot of cowardly lil' dogs that kept their heads down.

    Cramer claims with one hand to be an "entertainer", while with the other hand, he proclaims himself as an expert. Repeated clips show a somber Cramer dancing up to and possibly over the line of breaking SEC rules and saying that the SEC is too ignorant to realize when it does happen.

    Cramer acknowledges on the Stewart show that CEOs have lied to his face on a national financial show, Cramer failed to report that to his audience.

    Cramer acknowledges being aware of the huge leverage ratios that investment banks were responsible for, yet he did not share that information with his fan base.

    Yes, there are more sophisticated investors using more sophisticated sources to make their choices.

    Cramer is the source for the masses. It is not a fine tuned instrument. Yet, he throws out picks and pans as if these are well thought out and he fails in epic fashion to educate his audience about the looming precipice the market is charging towards.

    Why is this?

    Easy answer. How many CEOs and CFOs would come on Cramer's show if he called them on their puffery?

    There absence would hurt apparent value of Cramer's on air content.

    How many financial institutions would advertise on the CNBC if Cramer regularly pointed out the nature of the fabric of the emperor's new clothes? Not a great number is my conjecture.

    Stewart's point wasn't the ratio of hits to misses on individual stock picks, but the overall dismal failure of the financial news networks to provide the mass consumer market with real knowledge, all the while, promoting a buy and hold stratagy that the financial industry as a hold does not practice.

    Eat this, you have pointed out that Cramer doesn't support that policy himself. He needed to sing that out loudly and clearly on his broadcasts instead of saving that info for the individuals that forked over $24.99 for his book.



    On Mar 15 05:51 AM eatthis wrote:

    > i used to like stewart (more of a colbert fan), but the cramer thing
    > was so overly pious and self serving it made me want to puke. the
    > whole part about, "guys like you knew what the banks were doing",
    > i mean seriously, people seem to think he was telling "the man" off?
    > if cramer was only so well informed...
    >
    > then invoking his 75 year old mother and making it sound like cramer
    > ruined her retirement plan. i think the quote was "you used to be
    > able to buy for the long term"... and "you can draw a direct line
    > from guys like you to the guys on wall street... ". yea, and then
    > you can draw a straight line to kevin bacon, it's like magic. in
    > reality, he's so uninformed on who he is actually at "war" with that
    > he doesn't even know that in the first chapter of jim's book he says
    > that "buy and hold" is an investment strategy that will separate
    > you from your money lickety split (not to mention that stuart's misrepresentation
    > of buy and hold is a gross oversimplification of what that really
    > means to value investors).
    >
    > cramer has always encouraged people to be diversified, to constantly
    > be diligent in managing your stocks and to think for the long term,
    > in particular to start saving young. all sage advice for these times
    > when 401k's and mutual funds are looking less and less reliable.
    >
    >
    > this is all because of his much reviled "lightning round" but you
    > know what, that's probably the only reason anyone know who jim cramer
    > is. i'm sure he's done the math and decided that the damage to his
    > reputation is worth the viewership... it seems as though poor jim
    > is being defined by the very thing that made him famous... shouting
    > out "buy" and "sell". oh well, i guess it's just a twitter world
    > we live in and everything is defined by the soundbite.
    >
    > On Mar 15 02:58 AM arnoldsimage wrote:
    Mar 16 01:48 PM | Link | Reply
  •  
    I have always enjoyed both Stewart and Cramer, and took them both with a grain of salt. Prior to last week I never knew that Stewart was a saint passing himself off as an entertainer. What a hyprocrite! As for Cramer I will continue to enjoy him with that aforementioned grain of salt, and will continue to take his constant advice to do my homework.
    Mar 16 02:07 PM | Link | Reply
  •  
    Thunderbolt,

    Thank you for a prompt and courteous reply.

    I believe you are missing Stewart's point. Stewart's whole contention was that shows like Cramer's shouldn't be infotainment, shouldn't be infomercials, but be real honest to goodness journalism. It proports to be valid financial news on one hand to gain viewership, yet claims existance in the entertainment world when necessary for self-protection.

    You, as a sophistcated investor, recognize this and aren't swayed by the content of Cramer's show. Unfortunately,this is not so for the less knowledgable. Mad Money targets an unsophisticated audience to whom it give entertaining "advice" about a vital area of economic life.

    The second part of Stewart's criticism was this; Cramer's show creates a curtain that hides a world of "high" finance that the average 401K investor has no knowledge of. Behind this curtain exist legal, near legal, and illegal shennanigans the likes of which the working joe has no idea of. These financial 'games' occur with the average investors funds, without his knowledge, but with him bearing the risk. When it works, the back room finance fellow makes a killing and the front room client has no knowledge what happened. When the whole thing goes south, the back room guy only collects his exorbenant fee and bonus while the 401K guy goes broke.

    That is what the Financial Network News industry as a whole has not told the financial network news consumer.
    Not just Cramer is at fault here.


    Finally, shows of Cramer's nature could be more of a financial "Sesame Street", educating the neophite, rather than exploiting him for the benefit of the network's sponsors.

    Thanks for reading the rant.

    As Stewart so rightly pointed out, "This isn't a 'F'n joke."

    On Mar 16 01:38 PM UserThunderBolt wrote:

    > The idea that the financial pres "let" people down misses the point.
    > First and foremost, CNBC &amp; all the rest of the media are in the
    > same category as Jon Stewart. They are infotainment. Nothing more.
    Mar 16 02:12 PM | Link | Reply
  •  
    Moron president??

    You're one president late in making that call, buddy.


    On Mar 15 09:13 AM Iphufoth wrote:

    > Cramer was singled out by the bleeding heart liberals. Why? He has
    > been warning everyone to "Obama Proof" your portfolio. He made fun
    > of this moron President
    Mar 16 03:02 PM | Link | Reply
  •  
    Kudos to Cramer for actually manning up and admiting his mistakes and defending some of his statements. and Kudos to Stewart for actually trying to get to the bottom of things and holding people accountable- some might even call that Journalism. The most ironic part is that a comedy show host and an investor/entertainer are the only ones having this VERY serious discussion on a basic cable comedy channel. What was congress doing during the financial meltdown? interrogating baseball players and oilmen and writing blank checks to failed businesses- that's the real joke people, and it's on us.
    Mar 16 03:11 PM | Link | Reply
  •  
    I don't understand what all the fuss is about. Cramer is a comedian. John Stewart is a comedian. Cramer spoofs market "analysts" while Stewart spoofs vidiot journalism. I don't expect real portfolio advice from Cramer and I don't expect real news from Stewart. I watch them both for the belly laughs.

    Neither of these people are to be taken seriously and yet here I see a whole parade of people defending one or the other.

    Everyone take a deep breath and remember Carville's famous guiding principle: IT'S THE COMEDY, STUPID!
    Mar 16 03:57 PM | Link | Reply
  •  
    Great and (mostly) insightful comments on everyone's part. Remember,though, that CNBC and Stewart are all infotainment. They respond to the moment, they missed the long term trouble with over-extension on consumer credit and Wall Street monkey business that has been brewing since the late 1980s, etc. This is nothing but an extension of a faulty business and consumer mentality that has been percolating for two decades. They're fun and entertaining, but offer no long term solutions and never have. Americans live in the moment, and if people and businesses would just make some longer term plans, we would have some short-term pain but long-term strength. I might even do an SA blog on this.
    Mar 16 05:20 PM | Link | Reply
  •  
    I am not sure how this could have been construed as being too harsh on Cramer. Have you ever watched his show? He knew that by going onto the show that the cards would be stacked against him. He knew that John Stewart's staff would find anything that could be used against him. For instance his 2006 interview when he stated how you could influence the Market by throwing out BS info.

    This is Jim Cramer's job. To interview, investigate and give his best opinion on what stocks he thought were strong. He didn't do his job and his network is a joke. They interviewed CEO's, CFO's and never once asked a tough question. If they did they never followed it up with another probing question. This is journalism 101.

    Stewart even said it was unfortunate that Cramer had become the figurehead and I believe it. John Stewart may be the host of a comdey news show but they do better reporting(aside from the skits) then the major networks which is pathetic.

    I do have to give Cramer some credit. He took it like a man by showing up and eating his humble pie unlike that idiot Santelli. Santelli of course would never show his face on that show. He would get destroyed before getting on stage. Jon's a comedian but the man isn't stupid.
    Mar 16 05:30 PM | Link | Reply
  •  
    Cramer is the type of guy who likes to lay claim to a certain clairvoyance regarding anything financial. It is for this reason that I don't like him. He is a loud mouth with a history of continuing ethical lapses who prefers to color himself the defender of the little guy. While he is knowledgeable about certain things, he is way overboard in his own self exaltation.
    While Jon Stewart's hammering was entertaining, it was also off base. Jon isn't any financial or political genius by any stretch of the imagination. His strengths are humor and capitalizing on the misled Bubbas that actually tune in less for humor and more for political indoctrination. These are the grassroots of the fascist party of America.
    Mar 16 05:49 PM | Link | Reply
  •  
    Seriously? He will go to jail? Why would he? And everyone else will get off scot free? Didn't Madoff just get life in prison?


    On Mar 15 08:02 AM User 376665 wrote:

    > Whoever wrote the article, please do your research on the real owners
    > of America and the world. What you witnessed between Stewart and
    > Cramer is just the tipe of the ice-berg. Cramer will be scapegoated
    > for sure and most likely end up in jail. But what bothers me is that
    > it will just stop there, no one will go after the puppet masters
    > that control and feed information to such people as Cramer.
    >
    > Cramer is not the problem, he's just a very tiny part in it. I like
    > Seeking Alpha, please live up to your name!
    >
    > Thanks!
    Mar 16 05:53 PM | Link | Reply
  •  
    How do we defend the indefensible... How about some mea culpa's from the industry...Not one meaningfull yet. Yes the peasants are upset and mad !! Do we blame their spokesmen.
    Mar 16 07:17 PM | Link | Reply
  •  
    Cramer is a "MANIPULATOR" read..I prove it...watch date....


    I bought 25000 at $2.75-$3.00 a shares of Barclays Bank (BCS) the day Cramer open is mouth on CNBC

    Today close is $5.75

    The company is at -85% of 52 week high with PE of "1" ?

    With Dividend coming....this year...not like BAC or Citi in 3 years???? But Cramer want you to buy them?

    The CEO just put this in the news recently...

    "We have committed to recommencing dividend payments during the second half of 2009. Thereafter, and as
    previously announced, dividend payments will be made on a quarterly basis. We will set out our dividend policy
    at the Annual General Meeting in April." John S.Varley CEO





    seekingalpha.com/artic...

    Barclays (BCS): “No! We are talking about a bank that is in grave trouble. No European banks are investible, nor do I want to invest in any of their securities.”

    www.thestreet.com/stor...

    Cramer: Dangerous Debt
    01/26/09 - 09:52 AM EST

    Random musings: Barclays(BCS Quote - Cramer on BCS - Stock Picks) makes it? They actually didn't blow up? It's interesting to see what happens to a bank when it reports decent numbers. It can go higher.

    Now this....

    seekingalpha.com/artic...

    Barclays (BCS): “Such a sell it's scary…”???


    www.thedailyshow.com/f...
    Mar 16 11:30 PM | Link | Reply
  •  
    Crass journalism desperate for ratings.
    Mar 17 12:18 AM | Link | Reply
  •  
    WWell, I am afraid that your speech seems to indicate that you are part of the same contigent as Kramer and CNBC and the rest of the cherleading squad for Greed U. I sense that the tarred brush may have, in your mind, a striped your rep also.
    Mar 17 12:19 AM | Link | Reply
  •  
    like Rushbo is not a hate spewing mongrel


    On Mar 15 06:46 PM beachcruiser wrote:

    > One has to question all of these shows on the basis of responsibility.
    > The Ceo's that appeared on Cramer either lied or were under the influence
    > of something as they said their companies were just fine. It is history
    > that some imploded within weeks.These shows are supposed to derve
    > a public purpose yet,willingly or stupidly they have served as a
    > platform for at best fraud. Cramer is touted by himself and CNBC
    > as "a genius". Sure, I am too. He willingly and foolishly hurt a
    > lot of people badly and to the best of my knowledge no one has been
    > held accountable. It wasn't just the CEO of Wachovia,Angelo Mozillo,the
    > Ceo's of Fannie and Freddie and the financial institutions. It was
    > his "buddy" Mel Kamrmazan ceo of Sirius and numerous others that
    > Cramer welcomed and vouched for. Cramer swore to their integrity
    > and and prowess. It was naausiating how he kissed up to them. He
    > brags about his expertise but did NOT know enough to even qusetion
    > anything that was said. Even the common man,with NO Expertise in
    > finance would wonder how these companies were viable with the already
    > disclosed billions of write downs and the "shadow market". How can
    > anyone defend him or anyone defend the fraid perpetrated on all of
    > us?
    > Shiela Bair appeared on Cramer's show and Kudlow and said as recently
    > as a year ago that this banking problem is minor. She said that it
    > was nothing compared to the S+L crisis and NOTHING to worry about.
    > She is the head of the FDIC. Bill Seidman who ran the Resolution
    > Trust Corporation and was arguably a hero said the very same things.
    > I saw both more than once make these very statements on CNBC. I made
    > investments based on what they said as if they didn't know then who
    > would? The rest is history and now Bair is wanting to spend hundreds
    > of Billions to "save the system" and Seidman wants to "Nationalize
    > the banks". I could go on and on but I think the case is made. Why
    > do these shows and people go unfettered? Why is there no consequence
    > for their actions and lies? Dan Dorfman was basically drawn and quatered
    > for touting deals etc. Cramer,Kudlow and the like go scott free.
    > To the best of my knowledge not one of the "money Honey's" or the
    > ret of the cnbc people have a financial degree of any kind. Thyey
    > wontanly talk and comment as experts and it is allowed. These people
    > are giving financial advise without any training to do so. At least
    > Santelli was a trader.
    > John Stewart and Kieth Olberman are two of a kind. They are angry,cruel,self
    > serving McCarthy's who slander at will. Where the hell is the FCC?
    > Where are the regulator's. Both of these laughable pundits are left
    > wing liberals and shills for the Democrats. What is the difference
    > between them and the hate jocks on radio? Stewart and Olberman use
    > broadcast t.v. to incite hatred, promote left wing politics and class
    > warfare.
    > If t.v. is a measure of this country then we are about to implode.
    > I believe these people are pariah's who live off of America's fear
    > and hatred. They should not have a platform to spread their bitterness
    > and should be held accountable for the lies and slander they use
    > every day. Freedom of speech is one thing but these people promote
    > hatrted and cynicism which is supposed to be regulated by the FCC.
    >
    > There have been people ruined,people slandered and harm done to millions
    > by all of the above and they should be held accountable.
    Mar 17 09:23 AM | Link | Reply
  •  
    Cramer is done.
    Mar 17 10:46 AM | Link | Reply
  •  
    Cramer 'levels the playing field' bewtween retail and the big boys? Are you kidding me?? He is an entertainer who reverses his opinions within days and who contradicts himself a dozen times within just a week or two. he pollutes the air with noise and bs - I have yet to meet a single person who has become a better stock market investor by watching Jim Cramer. A hell of a lot of folks got well, 'cramered' though...
    Mar 17 10:58 AM | Link | Reply
  •  
    CRAMER has been wrong more than he's been right. Bear Stearns! He lied about not telling people to invest. I saw him tell people it was a buyout candidate and he repeated the same with LEHMAN BRO..


    Let's name some other winners

    rememeber he wrote GOOG on his forehead when it was 600-700! How many investors have been crushed by that call
    Mar 17 12:55 PM | Link | Reply
  •  
    Cecily S,

    Remember when he strongly recommended GOOG at 200 when it was at its all time high? How many investors did very well by that call?

    Everything that goes up will also come back down. Take Cramer's recommendations when they make sense to you (nobody would buy everything he recommends) and always carry a trailing stop order. The trailing stop will get you out before you get hurt too bad. If your stock advances 10%, you've locked in a profit.
    Mar 17 02:07 PM | Link | Reply
  •  
    Cecily S,

    Remember when he strongly recommended GOOG at 200 when it was at its all time high? How many investors did very well by that call?

    Everything that goes up will also come back down. Take Cramer's recommendations when they make sense to you (nobody would buy everything he recommends) and always carry a trailing stop order. The trailing stop will get you out before you get hurt too bad. If your stock advances 10%, you've locked in a profit.
    Mar 17 02:07 PM | Link | Reply
  •  
    I agree with you. I think Cramer does a lot of good but he didn't defend himself. He took it like a pussy. It was weird. He had a lot of ammo to come back with but he didn't do it. It would have been a lot more balanced if he had offered any sort of defense.


    On Mar 15 05:51 AM eatthis wrote:

    > i used to like stewart (more of a colbert fan), but the cramer thing
    > was so overly pious and self serving it made me want to puke. the
    > whole part about, "guys like you knew what the banks were doing",
    > i mean seriously, people seem to think he was telling "the man" off?
    > if cramer was only so well informed...
    >
    > then invoking his 75 year old mother and making it sound like cramer
    > ruined her retirement plan. i think the quote was "you used to be
    > able to buy for the long term"... and "you can draw a direct line
    > from guys like you to the guys on wall street... ". yea, and then
    > you can draw a straight line to kevin bacon, it's like magic. in
    > reality, he's so uninformed on who he is actually at "war" with that
    > he doesn't even know that in the first chapter of jim's book he says
    > that "buy and hold" is an investment strategy that will separate
    > you from your money lickety split (not to mention that stuart's misrepresentation
    > of buy and hold is a gross oversimplification of what that really
    > means to value investors).
    >
    > cramer has always encouraged people to be diversified, to constantly
    > be diligent in managing your stocks and to think for the long term,
    > in particular to start saving young. all sage advice for these times
    > when 401k's and mutual funds are looking less and less reliable.
    >
    >
    > this is all because of his much reviled "lightning round" but you
    > know what, that's probably the only reason anyone know who jim cramer
    > is. i'm sure he's done the math and decided that the damage to his
    > reputation is worth the viewership... it seems as though poor jim
    > is being defined by the very thing that made him famous... shouting
    > out "buy" and "sell". oh well, i guess it's just a twitter world
    > we live in and everything is defined by the soundbite.
    >
    > On Mar 15 02:58 AM arnoldsimage wrote:
    Mar 17 03:47 PM | Link | Reply
  •  
    come on guys. cramer deserved it. if he could truly pick winning stocks, above the dow or nasdaq indexes, he would be running a hedge fund (and would have been shorting the market last year). let;s face it, he is an entertainer, and too many people have lost money listening to his rants. no need to stick up for cramer. he is a big boy, making far more money than the likes of us
    Mar 17 05:14 PM | Link | Reply
  •  
    I SAY IT WAS ALL A GIMMICK. IT GOT ALL THE ATTENTION THEY BOTH WERE LOOKINT FOR!!!!
    LV
    Mar 18 06:18 PM | Link | Reply
  •  
    I love Stewart and I like Cramer generally, but I agree that this was a cheap-shot. Stewart works in the gray area between entertainment and news; Cramer works in the gray area between entertainment and finance. Stewart beat Cramer up for not doing hard-hitting investigative reporting. When does Stewart ever do that?

    Stewart performs a valuable and entertaining function by shooting spitballs at politicians, business leaders and celebrities, highlighting their misdeeds. His expectation that Cramer should have gone Mike Wallace or Michael Moore on the finance world is crazy. It's a little like Cramer hammering Stewart for not breaking the Guantanemo Bay story and taking down the Bush administration.

    Stewart should focus on the people who really were responsible for protecting the investors, not his fellow-entertainer from the finance world
    Mar 26 12:29 PM | Link | Reply