I watched the Daily Show’s Jon Stewart interview Jim Cramer last night. Stewart basically said that CNBC is directly tied to the destruction of wealth on Wall st. He played a few clips of Cramer discussing some of the various ways he made money as hedge fund manager. Although there was nothing illegal that he did, Stewart said, “We need that this Cramer to protect us from that Cramer!”. The audience cheered and applauded. Stewart also went on to say that money moves so fast “behind the scenes” that it’s impossible for people to know what’s going on. In a nutshell, he complained that Wall St. is corrupt and the American people need protection from the evil Wall St. He complained that people have lost money in their 401k’s because Wall St. told them to just buy and hold and don’t worry about it. Where was Stewart when stocks and 401k’s and RE were making money hand over fist? Nobody complains when they’re making money. But when they start to lose, they damn the same system that made them money. It’s up to the investor to educate themselves so they can make better money managemnet decisions. They blindly follow the advice of financial advisors and T.V personalities. When things are going well, they take credit for being smart by listeing to these people. When things go bad, they grab the torches & pitchforks! Who’s the bigger fool, the fool or the fool who follows him?
What I think is the biggest crock is that people think Cramer is some kind of god or something. I don’t really follow the guy too much but I can easily see what is happening. This guy says XYZ Inc is going to blow up tomorrow, his 50 million fans go out and buy it that day, low and behold it blows up. Why? BECAUSE EVERYONE WENT OUT AND BOUGHT IT BECAUSE OF HIS PICK! I just joined his mailing list the other day just to keep track of what he’s saying, not that I’ll follow his info to the T.
I actually enjoy watching both Cramer and Stewart. They both make me laugh. I haven’t followed the direction Cramer’s picks. I’ve read two of his books and I’ve found them very helpful in learning how to analyze companies and stocks. The one thing he preaches is buy and homework instead of buy and hold. He also explains what homework means and that you should be spending about an hour/week for each stock you own. I also enjoy the “Fast Money” show on CNBC. I’ve followed their trade picks all week and most of them have gone up. I even plugged those picks into the “virtual trading” section on CBOE.com. Using a total “virtual” investment of $3000, I’ve bought and sold these picks each day and I’ve “made” over $600. Perhaps if you can find someone that enough people follow, you may be able to trade according to where they tell the “herd” t go. Just have the sense to get out when you post a profit and move on :biggrin :bobble :beer
Not a huge fan of following the herd. After all, look at how well that worked out for the people that put all of their money in real estate, tech stocks, mortgage backed securities, etc.
I was talking about buying a stock that the herd will pile into. Then quickly selling to lock in the profit before it drops.
Not a big fan of that either. :cheesy Seriously though, trying to do that seems like a bad idea from the start. How do you know when the herd will bail? What happens when the big mutual fund that is doing the same thing dumps umteen million shares all at once and drops the bottom out of the price? I’d rather pick something that I know is undervalued and ride it for a while. Give this book a read, I think it is a better overall strategy vs quick trading:
Cramer
use him.
scalp .0075 to .025 as recommendations are released.
probability analysis first.
Jim Cramer, whose stockpicking acumen seems slightly worse than your average monkey with a dartboard, frequently issues recommendations that people act on, then brushes off the failures with a shrug.Source: http://meganmcardle.theatlantic.com/archives/2009/03/cramer_v_stewart.php
LOL
Since nobody has mentioned it yet,
The only reason Jon Stewart went after bababooya in the first place was him bashing BO’s economic polices.
That was one theory, but he had VERY valid points and capitalized on the sinister nature of the ‘behind-the-scenes’ games that go on on Wall Street. This isn’t news to me, but it was an eye opener to MANY would-be investors out there. Nothing he said was out of line. Cramer submitted as if he was a dog being scolded by his master. I think Cramer is a great entertainer, and from time to time has great advice, but he, and his picks, should ALL be taken with due diligence and research and not acted on blindly.
I think Cramer just wanted to let Stewart do all the talking until he finished. Cramer was out of his element and was in a no win situation. But the idea that CNBC is somehow “in bed” with these evil fat cats on wall st is off base. CNBC reports the news. They don’t create the news. Instead of whining about all the shady things going on and how we need protection from these evil doers, why not seek information on how to learn to be a better investor? That would be more productive.
For us! But what does that matter? There is a reason we get zero basic financial education in public schools. There is a reason you can’t pick up a newspaper without reading an article by an “expert” that you should contribute more to your 401K.
There is no reason for US to be more productive than THEM, to them.
I know this because I profit off of US. I rent homes to the financially illiterate. I pay as little as 25% of their rent in mortgage payments.
I don’t like Steward. I don’t even think he is funny. I think that Colbert is a lot funnier. But the problem with Cramer is that he is trying to pick stocks. Nobody can pick stocks. That is like picking which number is going to come up on craps. He does a decent job of explaining what an industry looks like and the lead company in that industry, but it is all entertainment anyway.
I could go either way on Cramer, but the guy does at least appear to have a ridiculous amount of knowledge about a lot of different companies. I saw an interview with him where the interviewer asked him how he knew so much of about stocks. I’ll paraphrase his answer: “I don’t do anything else besides stocks. I don’t golf, I don’t collect coins, sometimes I even get lost driving to my house because I’m so focused.” To me, that kind of devotion to a subject is impressive, regardless of whether or not you like the man personally.