Jim Cramer responds to Barack Obama and the liberal pushback against him & CNBC

[camera obscura]

Most of it's a lot of blather, but here's the crucial part from the end:

After the White House briefing, Rush Limbaugh defended me as a wayward leftist who has seen the light. I am always glad to have any allies and defenders, but I do favor almost all of Obama's agenda, right down to having the rich pay more of their freight in this great country. It's just not the right time. We need to declare a war on unemployment and solve it before we let it get out of hand. We need to stop house-price depreciation. Neither the pork-laden stimulus plan nor the confusing mortgage proposal put forward by Obama will defeat either enemy. When Obama trounces both unemployment and house-price depreciation, he will have the power to enact anything he wants. But all the initiatives he wants to rush, like tax hikes, changes in health care, tinkering with the mortgage deduction -- good grief, right now in the midst of the worst housing downturn ever -- and the tough cap-and-trade rules, will derail any chance we have of turning this economy around. Instead, they put the Second Great Depression smack on the nation's table. The markets thought he could stop it; hence the giant relief rally when he was elected. But in fewer than 50 days of his ascendancy, the markets' hopes were totally dashed and the averages are now forecasting the worst decline since the Great Depression. As someone who listens to what the averages are screaming, I think they are accurately predicting the future.

I welcome any serious exchange with the administration on the issues that are not beyond my ken: fixing house price depreciation, stopping the destruction of wealth as demonstrated by the stock market's plunge, and solving the banking crisis before we nationalize every bank.

Oh, and memo to Bill Maher: Stop insulting my faux great-great-uncle Vlad Lenin. I am using him to dramatize the point of a failed nationalization and confiscation of the banks at the hands of the people. It is funny how the right is certainly very civil as my old friends and new allies as of last week, Fred Barnes and Sean Hannity, don't hold my left wing social view against me when they talk about my criticism of the president! I always love anyone from Fox on the team because they are fierce in their defense with much less gratuitous slamming.)

It's time to get serious. It's time to take the issue from the pundits and from the left and right, and put it where it belongs: serious non-ideological debate to put out the real firestorm, the collapse of the economy from Wall Street to Main Street and the ensuing Great Wealth Destruction for all.

But if it stays ad hominem, we will all be betrayed and the train wreck will become inevitable.

http://www.mainstreet.com/article/moneyinvesting/news/cramer-takes-white-house-frank-rich-and-jon-stewart

Personally, I find this whole schpiel about seriouesness rich, coming from a hack like Cramer, but that's just me.

[Median Democrat]

1. Bi-Partisanship! Both Cramer and Krugman Agree! Obama's Economic Policies Suck

Cramer/Krugman agree that Obama is spending too much/little, that Obama should not nationalize/nationalize the banks, and since Obama won't do so, the economy will fail, and it will be Obama's fault.

See? Bi-partisanship in action!

[depakid]

2. At some point down the line- the public WILL hold Obama accountable for the economy

In other words- he and the Dems will OWN IT. As well they should.

As to Cramer- the only person I want to see going after that sociopath are US Attorney's.

[camera obscura]

4. Good God, did Krugman steal your bike or something?

You seem strangely obsessive in your hatred.

[Median Democrat]

6. I Just Don't See The Point Of Spending Billions On Stimulus Or Bail Outs ...

When the consensus by the left and right is that Obama's economic policies will fail. If they are going to fail, then perhaps we should try a spending freeze and letting the banks fail as advocated by CNBC and McCain.

I don't see any articles explaining why Obama's proposals are superior to the Republican alternatives. Admit it. There are none.

[thevoiceofreason]

7. Worked for Hoover - why not?!?

[damonm]

32. In my experience...

When the Right (who are almost always wrong) and the Left (who are mostly wrong) agree that "x" is wrong, I develop a great faith in "x", as it's probably the right way to go...

[masuki bance]

15. Both Krugman and Cramer supported Obama for president.

[Raine]

24. Compared to the alternative yeah

but so what?

[Kalyke]

3. Why would any administration want to work with Cramer?

Nearly everything he's ever predicted has been wrong... unless :think: you want to see what he says and do the exact opposite!!

[Median Democrat]

9. Yet, Krugman and Cramer Have Reached Consensus!

Amazing isn't it! Both would totally agree that Obama has not done enough.

[WeDidIt]

5. So wTF wasn't Lehman Brothers a SELL, Jim? n/t

[SoxFan]

8. This is your brain on coke.

[FrenchieCat]

10. The Tax Cut on the rich doesn't expire until the end of 2010.

When does Kramer believe the right time will be to get the rich to pay more?

[Still Sensible]

11. All I know is: If Cramer said it, it is absolutely

pure bullshit. Run and hide from that lying sack of shit. Why anybody bothers to listen to Jim "Bear Stearns-is-just-fine" Cramer is beyond me. He is and has always been a self serving jerk that pumps stocks for some people and trashes stocks for others.

[AZ Criminal JD]

14. Cramer never said "Bear Stearns is just fine" or anything like it

That is a lie.

[PurityOfEssence]

16. He has been declared a non-person by the self-congratulatariat; ACCEPT IT

Cramer makes some good points, and especially one that should be obvious to anyone with any experience with mob mentality: this is not a time to spook ANYONE. Yes, the rich are subsidized and unfairly under-taxed, and CRAMER AGREES WITH THIS. He's a Democrat. Not only is our tax structure unfair, it's unworkable: you can't bleed the wage-earners dry and expect them to be able to buy anything or even buy into the concept that they'll be rewarded for hard work.

Scaring the "investor class" was not a wise move right now, and it needed to be said.

People should back off from their cliquish need to be more against the current whipping-boy than the next person and heap derision on a third party to get some kind of pathetic board cred here. There's a REASON why Colbert had him on IMMEDIATELY, and it wasn't to humiliate him with kitties in the background, it was to give him a chance to defend himself and say some things that Colbert obviously agrees with. Like him or not, Cramer is his own man, and a very intriguing voice. People like that are to be cherished at times like this, whether one completely agrees with them or not.

This guy has been screaming in the wind for a very long time about the impending fall of the house of cards; to tar him as an idiot with a misrepresentation of Bear-Stearns is chickenshit, childish yelping more fitting of dittohead bullies than sentient beings.

One of the disgusting things about the vengeful downtrodden of late is that they're sanctimoniously thrilled to tear down the whole of civilization as long as the rich get dragged through the dust. To many, the vengeance on the rich is more important than recovery. In this way, they're no better than the "John Galt" idiots who want to help the economy fail outright just to make an "ethical" stand that nobody should EVER help another human being.

When the dust clears, Cramer's going to come out of this very well, and probably better than he deserves, but for being a true free-thinker in a time of raging consensus-enforcers and ideologues, he's getting justifiable press.

[Jennicut]

20. He may be a Dem but he is more a centrist corporatist type.

The so called investor class can kiss my ass. Spooked? Uh no. They held CAUSE the collapse to begin with. Now they are making it worse. So Cramer can throw himself under the bus along with all of CNBC. And take the "investor class" with him. Its class warfare now. Its us vs them because they made it that way. The investor class does not invest very much in their workers. Nope, its all about them. I don't believe in big corporations at all anymore. Kill em.

[PurityOfEssence]

22. A few points

If you can't stand centrist corporatist types, you must hate Obama; he's the poster-guy for Clintonian third-way enabling. (Caveat: they both have good points, however, and they're probably about as left as we can get as a President, even if they are a bit right-of-center.)

This is an absolute crisis. Inflaming flaming assholes who have great power bespeaks childish revenge, not sensible problem-solving. Yes, they should be hung from the budding spring trees, but to further disrupt things now would be reckless selfishness of the first order.

The problem must be solved, and that's the point. Cramer's not necessarily correct with his assumptions of how to proceed, but this was a bad move on the part of the Administration. It was a REALLY bad move. Obama finally throws off a sop to the left, and he does it with a tactical blunder. Great.

I am pretty far left, but am still a capitalist, and I have a lot personally at stake in this society. Even if I wasn't a homeowner, didn't have children, didn't have a career that necessitated a society that's not in total disruption, and was much younger, I STILL wouldn't wish scorched-earth vengeance to be loosed on the land. Call me a running dog for the establishment, or whatever snide dismissal is in vogue these days for those who prefer a bit of orderliness and RESPONSIBILITY in the community, but don't expect much support from those of us who are choking back our anger at the raptor class in the interest of the common good. Remember: the people who get hurt the most in times of disruption are those with the least.

The oneupmanship of "I hate them more than you do" is tiresome schoolyard grandstanding.

One's value as a person isn't shown by how one behaves at one's award ceremony, but by how one comports oneself in times of strife.

[Hello_Kitty]

27. Sounds like a personal problem.

:eyes:

[Hello_Kitty]

30. Boo hoo. Cramer did it to himself.

He opened his big fat gob and took on Jon Stewart. You don't pick a fight with a skilled satirist unless you are a glutton for humiliation.

[Still Sensible]

21. Sorry, you are mistaken

Here's the clip from March 11, 2008

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gUkbdjetlY8

And here he is later admitting he was wrong about Bear Sterns

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ayGcF8dnTV0&feature=related

What propaganda source sold you on the idea it wasn't true? Couldn't be more true actually.

[Vinnie From Indy]

12. Any person that offers the following...

"I always love anyone from Fox on the team because they are fierce in their defense with much less gratuitous slamming" should be considered a moron par excellence.

Have fun with your new friends Rush and Sean!

[harun]

13. Cramer has jumped the shark. He may come back to the light though.

He knows the RW is full of it. Just knows 99% of his audience is also RW.

[Dr Fate]

17. In what way has Cramer established any credibility? What has he been right about?

I'm sick of all these people with ZERO credibility who act like we should hang on their every word.

[Festusss]

19. Armchair Quarterbacks, the whole lot of them - n/t

[OwnedByFerrets]

18. Why would we want to hear ANYTHING you say.....

other than to do just the OPPOSITE.

[Supersedeas]

23. Great Wealth Destruction -- Obama is responsible for that??? But that's not ad hominem?

[GreenTea]

25. The huckster Cramer can dish but can't take it.

[Supersedeas]

34. typical beancounting momma's boy

[Hello_Kitty]

26. Cramer likes "wealth". People, not so much. Uncle Vlad not withstanding. eom

[No Elephants]

28. "I welcome any serious exchange with the administration?" Sure, right after the Obama-Limbaugh

debates. On the one hand, these self important celebrities need to deflate. On the other hand, the Obama administration brings this kind of thing on itself by mentioning them and thereby bestowing MUCH more importance on them than they have managed to garner for themselves. And that's when you get the President of the United States, the most important single person in this country, in the same paragraphy with Limbaugh and Bill Maher.

This nation is in more trouble than it has been in at any time in my almost 66 years. The administration needs to take its eyes off media personalities and focus them elsewhere. This is unseemly and counter-productive.

[Hello_Kitty]

31. I disagree.

Those media personalities are what passes for news now and some of them (such as Limbaugh) wield an incredible amount of influence over certain segments of the population. Making Limbaugh the official head of the GOP was a stroke of brilliance. For years, Republican politicians have used him to stir up the base and get their message out, while pretending he's a harmless entertainer. Now he's gotten nationwide exposure for the ugly, hateful bigot he is and Republicans are trapped. They dare not offend him (lest they have to publicly prostrate themselves for it) but being associated with him does not help them with moderates or independents.

[Cash_thatswhatiwant]

29. I cannot wait until he goes on tonight!

[iamthebandfanman]

33. the rich want to keep making money for themselves...

why is this so surprising to anyone?
of COURSE wall street people and some economists dont like any of this... because we are going to be winged off our dependency from them and their filthy gambling money.