Cramer Calls Out Roubini

Does Roubini favor nationalization because he has people short through this RGE Monitor outfit? Is that what this is all about?

James Cramer, May 5th 2009

The beef between Cramer and Roubini is heating up.

Yesterday’s op-ed piece in the Wall Street Journal by Nouriel Roubini makes the point that “We Can’t Subsidize The Banks Forever“.

No sh#t. I don’t think anyone actually wants to do that, Doctor Doom.

Roubini was early and right on the crisis, but he may be wearing out his welcome and I’m not sure how many more six-figure speaking engagements are coming his way these days.

He is clearly still in the camp of Bank Nationalization:

Stress tests aside, it is highly likely that some of these large banks will be insolvent, given the various estimates of aggregate losses. The government has got to come up with a plan to deal with these institutions that does not involve a bottomless pit of taxpayer money. This means it will have the unenviable tasks of managing the systemic risk resulting from the failure of these institutions and then managing it in receivership. But it will also mean transferring risk from taxpayers to creditors.

OK, that seems to be a fair point.

But James Cramer, who was recently referred to as a buffoon by Roubini, is interpreting the piece as a dig at Warren Buffett. Cramer commented on the piece this morning on RealMoney Silver:

James Cramer: Today Roubini, my favorite perma-panda, takes on Warren Buffett in a piece entitled “We Can’t Subsidize the Banks Forever,” in the Op-Ed section of the Wall Street Journal. This debate reminds me of the Pope v. Stalin when Stalin responded to the query about the pope being an opponent with “How many divisions does he have.” The simple truth is that the professor can’t stand up to the nation’s bank arbiter and this veiled attack seems like sour grapes as the answer isn’t that we subsidize banks forever, it is that we subsidize them for as long as we have to. Does Roubini favor nationalization because he has people short through this RGE Monitor outfit? Is that what this is all about?

So now Cramer is calling into the question whether or not Roubini is using his pulpit to steer the conversation back into a direction that would be better for the investors in Roubini’s RGE Monitor service?

Them’s fightin’ words where I come I come from.

I also think it’s cute that Cramer called him a Perma-Panda.

Read Here: Cramer Attacks Roubini

Full Story: Roubini Op-Ed (WSJ)

Comments

[ACCOUNTANT:]

Roubini has been beating the nationalization drum from the beginning. He reminds me of the Gartner Group during the leading up to Y2K. Everything you read always referenced back to their projections - which they had at $1.8 trillion in cost. Of course it was all very self-serving, considering they were selling tons of services to get companies ready for Y2K. In end, total cost world wide was estimated to be about 1/3 of the Gartner Group projected estimates.

Same type of thing will happen to Roubini - he has so overshot the estimates of the losses the banks will incur that it is funny - except that people are still listening to him. Warren Buffet is right on the mark with his assessments - and he has the inside knowledge of sitting on Wells Fargo's board. Roubini is interested in his six figure speaking engagements. Wonder which one carries more credibility.

May 06 09:14 AM

[kelm:]

Cramer is a buffoon. His attack is simply mud slinging. Cramer's view is we subsidize as long as necessary. How long is that? Sounds like it could be a very long time with no defined end state. Isn't that really what Roubini is saying. Wait a few weeks or months and we'll see who was right and who was wrong and remember, Jim Cramer describes himself as an entertainer. Be wary of taking investment advice from an entertainer.

May 06 09:23 AM

[mbkelly75:]

Like him or not - Cramer is more honest as a trader than Roubini is on any given day of the week. Cramer has a HUGE amount of experience in the markets and Roubini is a professor. I can not count the times over the decades when book knowledge was not even near accurate when you actually tried using it. You can learn a lot from the people who have actually done it compared to the people who have book knowledge instead of real experience.

May 06 09:35 AM

[twitee:]

Cramer is nothing but a fraud...ex-GS employee arm of the corrupt government-paid by GE to save their Financial Arm.

ALL the CNBC commentors are designing grabage shows and comentaries to fool the average public and investors!

May 06 02:21 PM

[ain't no fo...:]

I sometimes flip on crammer's show when I come in from a workout to see if the 3 or 4 burly U.S. marshals are there yet to slap him in the leg irons and take him off to camp cupcake on securities fraud charges - no luck yet, but I have a high degree of confidence it will happen - and it couldn't happen to a more deserving hypocrite.


On May 06 01:23 PM Amish Rake Fighter wrote:

> If any of the stuff over at deepcapture.com is true, Cramer has a
> huge amount of experience scamming the market and he should probably
> be in jail, but the regulators don't regulate.
>

May 06 02:22 PM

[DRBRUCE:]

CRAMER, ROUBINI, WHY WRITE ON "ALPHA", AS JM BROWN IS DOING HERE, BY QUOTING OTHER PEOPLE AND THE PRESS WITHOUT ANY INSIGHT INTO OUR FINANCIAL PROBLEMS, NO ORIGINALITY IN THIS SPACE

May 06 02:31 PM

[mgcolin:]

People PLEASE look at the numbers on the US economy. The smart money knows Roubini is right. and Schiff Too.
I Just read Schiff's book predicting this.

Very accurate predictions, but not much of a book, only suggestions were gold and int'l stocks bought through his brokerage.

i dont know what to invest in other than a weakening dollar, and higher oil (I think)

I still wanna believe everything is OK, but Roubini is one very wise economist.

May 06 05:17 PM

[mgcolin:]

I also can't believe anyone as 'academic' as Roubini could ruffle a veteran trader (a very rich and charismatic one) like Cramer.

Again Jim this is the second or third time you've taken up this Doctor Doom....Why would this kook Dr. Doom bother you so much?

Jim and Wall Street and Washington - You can't pump up the economy again. Wall Street can't carry the burden anymore and the people of the US/UK/Spain aren't willing to face the reality of the hangover from banking deregulation and ridiculous goal of "everyone is a homeowner".

May 06 05:26 PM

[Northstar10000:]

I have flowed Cramer's picks and he is average at best. you could put your money in an index fund and have done as well or should I say lost as much. He has called multiple bottoms like the banks at much higher prices.

May 08 10:34 PM