The quote that appears in smaller print below is not my post nor my sentiments exactly. I believe that the only person one can "sit at home, watch TV, and actively trade stocks" off of is Cramer, but that probably involves the following caveat: it must be using either other people's money and/or you must have $2,000,000 of your own free money to spread around without going nuts on any one position.
But the issue he raises is core, as it goes to the viability of what CNBC and Cramer does.
Since I spent the better part of three years trading off of CNBC in the late 1980's I will be writing a lot on this topic.
As your curiosity rises and if you must know, I'll only say:
One still gets a big kick following CNBC MINUTELY EVEN WHEN ONE HAS NO DIRECT MONEYS TO INVEST BUT IS/HAS RECREAT[ED/ING] A NEW PLAINTIFF'S LITIGATION PRACTICE.
Now, this other guy:
Posted: 26 Mar 2008 03:19 AM CDT
Last week I showed you a widely-distributed video of CNBC stunt-host Jim Cramer loudly gesticulating to his Mad Money fan base that Bear Stearns was "fine" and that "Bear Stearns is not in trouble".
The day was March 11, Bear stock was trading at $62, and Bear immediately blew up.
Several members of the Cramer fan base promptly emailed me and said, no no no, Cramer explained that he was just saying that you shouldn't move your money out of your Bear Stearns brokerage account. Which is a little odd, given that Bear was primarily a hedge fund prime broker and not a consumer broker, and Cramer's show is aimed at regular folks, a.k.a. consumers. However, it is possible that his defenders could have a point.
Except they don't.
On the very same day, March 11, Cramer also recorded a different video (not embeddable, so just follow that link) on TheStreet.com in which he explains in detail how Bear the company is "totally solvent; there's not an issue; Bear is not in trouble, I want to make that point vociferously".
Oh well.
I will give Cramer's fans credit for one thing -- he is highly entertaining. Although frankly I'm still not sure how he's ever going to top confessing publicly to securities violations last year. One can but hope.
Why am I being mean to Cramer? Two reasons.
First, his whole approach is fundamentally fraudulent. You can't sit at home, watch a TV show, actively trade stocks like Cramer says, and make money. At best you're going to badly lag the indices, and in the process unduly enrich your brokerage firm, the tax collectors, and -- yes -- CNBC and Jim Cramer. Cramer's show is just another stupid tax, like a state lottery, or cigarettes.
Second, he says he likes it (fast-forward to about 3:15 and watch to the end).
As a side note, I may not be able to embed TheStreet.com videos, but I sure can embed Jon Stewart's take on Cramer's Bear Stearns call -- just fast-forward to 4:40 or so:
That ends "the other guy's comments."
I do agree with the first part of his last substantive paragraph, except...[more later, though don't expect me to say that I did it successfully].
By the way, I have earlier blogs on this guy's rampage, and I do believe I was able to incorporate the John Stewart clip.
Also, I think this guy is missing another point: Cramer was talking about people who had creditor money with Bear, not just stock traders, I believe.
