Is this the turning point? Where fake news holds real news up to a higher standard.
I feel for Jim Cramer. It was painful to watch him take it for all the CNBC weasels and the financial world, et al. I should add painfully good. Jon Stewart was amazing, summing up a nation's psyche with, "I understand that you want to make finance entertaining, but this is not a fucking game". Cramer was at least genuine, it seems, in trying to atone. Saying, on the spot, he will try to change. Watch the show here.
Cramer is in a unique position, sort of like a mobster turned good: yes he has killed people and his friends are wise guys, but from time to time he does well and has the church painted. Cramer would make a great mafioso, but that's not who he is. He is marketed as a trusted name by a corporate TV channel.
Yes, Cramer is entertainment. His Mad Money show is very well produced and slick. But he knows this is a game played in back rooms using false information to manipulate positions. Foment anyone? He has done the manipulating himself. He admits it.
So when Cramer goes on the air and says "I spoke with a CEO like Dick Fuld and he said 'statement A'", knowing that CEOs lie and have lied to his face before, he has to take responsibility and not just turn around and repeat the "statement A", then down the road, with self-imposed impunity, say I was lied to.
I think its time to peel back the fairyland veneer that Wall St has built and see it for what it is. We need to embolden the SEC to go after these schemes that are beyond the grasp of the average investor. Hedge funds should not have carte blanche anymore. And hopefully networks like CNBC stop cheerleading and investigate these crimes they are knowingly broadcasting.
In sports, when a Roger Clemens makes a over-reaching statement, the commentators attack him for lying. In sports, the Alex Rodriguez steroid story was broken by Sports Illustrated. In sports, Patriot's coach Bill Belichick was fined $500,000 for cheating within a week of being caught. In sports, ESPN is not owned by Las Vegas.
And as much as sports is influenced by gambling [why are the Vegas odds printed in every newspaper?] and tips are shared in back rooms, it's SPORTS! Your money, while wasted on high ticket prices, is still your money and you can choose to not go [or gamble].
The financial world and CNBC are different. That is people's 401k and retirement money. They have to be held responsible. Either that or put up graphics on screen as disclaimers: "this guy may or may not be talking complete bullshit, invest at your own peril".
I guess it's a weird sentiment in America where if you really screw up on Wall St, like Ivan Boesky to Bernie Ebbers to Ken Lay to Bernie Madoff, there is no real venom, no real justice. We just let them sit in a prison, but not a dangerous one where they are someone's bitch "tossing salad". A nice one. With tennis courts.
Steal billions of dollars and get your day in court. Loot a water-logged DVD player in New Orleans after Katrina and you should be shot on the spot.
The fake world of finance is busted by the fake news of the Daily Show. Is anyone surprised?
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