Sunday, Mar 15, 2009
The best showdown of the financial crisis so far (3x video clips)
The Daily Show: Jon Stewart interviews Jim Cramer
The feud between Jon Stewart (Daily Show) and Jim Cramer (Mad Money) finally came to a head last Thursday when Cramer agreed to be interviewed on The Daily Show. Stewart rips into Cramer mercilessly. Definitely worth a watch. Sample quotes:
"I understand you want to make finance entertaining, but it's not a f***ing game." /
"To pretend that this was some sort of crazy once-in-a-lifetime tsumani that nobody could have seen coming is disingenuous at best and criminal at worst." /
"All the incentives of these companies were for short-term profit, and they burned the house down with our [pension savings] and walked away rich as hell." /
"In what world is a 35-to-1 leveraged position sane?" /
"When are we going to realise in this country that our wealth is work?"
15 Comments
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1. drewster said...
Here's a better link with all three videos clearly shown:
Jon Stewart and Jim Cramer: The Extended Daily Show Interview
2. little professor said...
It was a great showdown, but I did feel a little bit bad for Cramer, the way he got ambushed with those clips. It got a bit personal, whereas Jon should really have concentrated more on the general shenanigans that were going on in the whole industry.
3. techieman said...
Watched the whole thing.When you're right you're right and when you're wrong.... Cramer is entertaining on his own but he was bound to crumble since Stewart is sharp. Anyway whose fault is it if the Americans takes stuff he says as gospel without taking personal resposibility for their investments? You have to ask why did he stop running a hedge fund?
I think the tone was set by the first question about CNBC on the floor in Chicago. He sould really have stood his corner more, basically Stewart should have Rick on http://www.cnbc.com/id/15840232?video=1039849853 - so he can pick on someone his own size!
See this : http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/chi-santelli-cnbc-video,0,4962596.htmlstory.
for ricks response: http://caster.wgnradio.com/uncut/jwuncut090223e.mp3
4. techieman said...
http://beltwayblips.dailyradar.com/video/hardball_rick_santelli_responds_to_robert_gibbs/ - on video this is gonna run.
5. flashman said...
Cramer’s hedge fund did OK but there is a lot to be suspicious about. Subpoenas were served on him a few years ago, which accused him of using his media/research capacity to collude with short sellers. For no apparent reason the chairman of the SEC intervened and had the subpoenas rescinded. There is a suspicion in the biz that he is protected by friends in high places and that he reciprocates by using his media position to protect their positions. How else can his insistence that Bear Sterns was fine be explained? The whole industry knew it was fuc*ed and an ex hedge fund owner would certainly have known. My take is that he is a tortured patsy and is given no choice but to ruin his reputation in this way. Talking of friends in high places, there was a rumour doing the rounds a few years back that his best mate is Eliot Spitzer (Spitzer was the most feared legal enforcer is wall street).
6. techieman said...
flash - shouldnt you be out doing the hair of the dog tour on your (mountain) bike - its luverly out there. Off out meself now.
7. flashman said...
techie: How dare you. I wouldn't be seen dead on a mountain bike. Only 1980's Italian road bikes for me. No strenuous activity today. I've got a picnic with the kiddies and a litre of iced Frascati penned in. Have a good one
8. bellwether said...
Cramer is a fool. Stewart is making a narrow point regarding misuse of CNBC because the public tend to absorb this in making decisions.
But the government and legislature were UTTERLY complicit in fostering the artifical growth. That's the only real story. Everything else is scapegoating
9. bellwether said...
Not that I want to be absolute about it!
10. drewster said...
Jon Stewart's main point is that the media are traditionally supposed to confront authority and pick holes in their actions. CNBC have failed utterly in this task (as did Fox News with their constant pro-Bush coverage). The business model of CNBC is perverse - they show adverts for stockbrokers, who only make profits when people buy and sell, not when they hold.
This points to the larger problem in America in general: corporatism and the power of corporations, and their overly-close relationship with politicians. In America it's still perfectly legal for companies to bribe - sorry, donate to - politicians.
11. Horizon said...
Sometime back I can recall Cramer on CNBC, talking about how he others would push bad paper on unsuspecting clients, and run with the profits. Laughing about how, that is just the way it is.
I wish someone could come up with that clip!
12. mountain goat said...
Glad the roles of banks in this are starting to be seen as criminal. Some bankers and ratings agency staff need to go to prison. It is not a crime to offer deadbeat mortgages but it is to rate them AAA high quality debt.
That was fraud. No different from making counterfeit coins or bank notes, since these days it is the banks who are the issuers of 95% of the money in the economy (as loans).
Instead we argue about whether they should get a bonus cut!
13. Ron said...
While I enjoy watching Cramer every night, one must remember the show is primarily entertainment. The financial networks exist to promote their advertisers financial and investment products. Who would expect them to warn about the credit bubble or coming Washington national debt collapse which will destroy much of the remaining private wealth in America today or what this will do to the dollar, the stock market, bonds, gold or the real estate market?
It is ironic that Jon Stewart and a comedy show instead of the regulators or news media had to bring all of this public. Also in Cramers defense he is far less guilty than most of the other financial media for their efforts together with Wall Street, the politicians, incompetent regulators for what has happened.
China is now worried about their dangerous over investment in US Treasury obligations. Washington ’s long-term choice is either repudiation or monetization. For monetization to be effective, the depreciation in the dollar would have to be substantial and this in turn would dramatically raise prices of imports for American consumers which would mean a tremendous drop in foreign imports. Debt monetization would cause more disruption to exporting nations than selective repudiation of Treasury debt.
The Campaign to Cancel the Washington National Debt By 12/22/2013 Constitutional Amendment is starting now in the U.S. See: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=67594690498&ref=ts
Thanks,
Ron with 30 plus years in the investment business and banking industry.
14. James said...
techie - worth noting that Santelli was invited, but only Cramer agreed to go on.
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