Jon Stewart Calls Out Jim Cramer
March 11, 2009 by Tisa Silver
Filed under Finance
Jon Stewart, host of The Daily Show, apologized to CNBC’s Jim Cramer and ridiculed him, all in the same minute.
Stewart has strongly criticized CNBC. The Daily Show aired a clip of Jim Cramer saying that Bear Stearns was “not in trouble” just a week before the bank’s collapse. Stewart made fun of Cramer for recommending that investors buy shares of Bear Stearns right before the company’s stock fell from $69 to about $2 per share.
Cramer responded that the clip was taken out of context. The Mad Money host claimed his comments were directed only to people who held brokerage accounts with Bear Stearns.
After reading Cramer’s response on-air, Stewart conceded that Cramer was correct in that the clip was not a recommendation for investors to buy shares of Bear Stearns. However, Stewart aired another clip in which Cramer did recommend the stock, just five days earlier.
Watch the video and share your thoughts on who won the battle!
I’m no fan of Jim Cramer, but Jon Stewart is nothing more than a cheap shot artist. What stock picker gets it right 100% of the time, and sometimes there are spectacular failures. Take for example Warren Buffett’s admission in the most recent Berkshire report that he bought two Irish banks and ConnocoPhilips at the top of the oil bubble. An investor who has a 60% batting average will do pretty well. And it doesn’t take a genius to make fun of all the bad moves. The only person who doesn’t make mistakes are those sitting on the sidelines.