Propped up on toothpicks
Don’t be like that. Be on solid ground. Check out parts ONE, TWO, THREE, FOUR and FIVE.
Jon Stewart set his sights squarely on why Jim Cramer and CNBC didn’t see this financial disaster coming. Why weren’t they prepared? Why couldn’t they prepare us? Read this article series, watch the interview, and you’ll understand what Stewart suggests: that TV investing advice isn’t for the average investor. The average investor may look for personal loans on occasion.
It’s for the traders. In fact, the existence of such networks flies in the face of the traditional “buy and hold” strategy of mom and pop investors. The fast-paced buy-and-sell on a dime of day trading is not for the average investor. It’s dangerous if you don’t know exactly what you’re doing, unlike 2009 NCAA bracket predictions…
The big problem that Stewart takes issue with is whether Cramer, CNBC and similar networks are responsible for raising the market up too high on toothpicks. It picked food from the teeth of Joe Investor, then shattered under its own unsustainable weight and sent them crashing down. CNBC and the like may or may not have been complicit in this tsunami, but they certainly should have been in a position to warn the public of what could happen.
Investing upstream
First of all, Cramer appears to have been too comfortable with his sources. “These people were my friends” was what he had to say about the CEOs and Wall Street insiders who lied to him. This, suggests Poniewozik, is deadly to impartial, informative journalism. “If I do that (or say that), they’ll never talk to me again” should never play into the equation.
And don’t be a lemming. It may be safe to say what the last guy said – that the stock market is up – but it takes courage and commitment to comment on where the bus is headed rather than where it’s been. Pundits like Jim Cramer would have garnered much more respect and trust if they had looked up the road and recognized the signs. Not as feel-good or exciting as screaming and throwing rubber toys around, but it’s the right thing to do. Go against the crowd.
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I don’t know if a lot of people saw it, but Stephen Colbert tried to get Stewart to “lose” the interview for $5. He said he bet a lot of money on Cramer so he could make up all the money he lost by listening to Jim Cramer! All kidding aside, I think that there has to be a drastic change in thinking about the finance industry. They’ve obviously been insulated from normal business transactions (such as selling a service or product) and having to deal with customers to whom they are accountable. With all that manufactured wealth, it would go to my head too.