Jon STewart vs Cramer

[jbones11]

http://www.thedailyshow.com/full-epi...isodeId=220533

Anyone else see this ?

Jon Stewart pretty much made Cramer look like the town idiot...and Cramer didn't exactly help himself any.

[Reel Fanatic]

It's pretty sad when people like Jon Stewart are propped up in the media to be real investigative journalists...

I'm no big fan of Cramer but he should have stood his ground and put an idiot like Jon Stewart in his place. Cramer's only flaw in this "interview/ debate" is that he didn't have the balls to tell Stewart to go "F" himself on The Daily Show set.

It's not people like Cramer that F'ed up. The Cramers of the financial world don't have access to all of the minutia in the accounting of a company. They have access to basic balance sheet data at best along with historical performance and speculative future performance/ product demand and that's it.

Anyone can make BS claims of financial strength and then back it up with fabricated data just to get investors to spend their money. Look at Fanny Mae and Freddy Mac...

[iguana1]

Reel Fanatic,

Pretty sure Stewart has never claimed he is an 'investigative journalist'. He is on Comedy Central! It is an entertainment show, what I think is sad is that he shows more common sense than most of the 'news media'

[JUST RELEASED 34]

Stewart is an ASS......Cramer is the man.....

[Reel Fanatic]

Iguana-

I realize who Jon Stewart is and what channel he is on. Unfortunately, there are some real idiots out there who think they are getting real news on his show.

By going head to head with political figures and financial pundits and attacking them on substantive issues he is, by default, setting himself up as an investigative journalist. Furthermore, the media outlets are showing clips of the Stewart/ Cramer "interview" and touting it as worthy news (Jon Stewart takes on Cramer, The Showdown between Stewart and Cramer, etc.

When you have an idiot with a microphone, it can be a very dangerous thing when that person's network allows them to use their bully pulpit in a journalistic manner. If he is supposed to be a comedy show, then keep the interviews light and comedy related. If little Jonny wants to be a real journalist, he should hang up his comedy credentials and throw his hat into the journalism ring. Did you ever see Gilligan's Island take on serious socio-political issues? How about Three's Company?

Little Jonny Stewart is trying to be the Jay Leno, Johnny Carson, or David Letterman of The Comedy Channel, and for the most part, he is. But, the big difference between little Jonny and his more worthy counterparts is that Carson and Leno understood/ understand their job as an entertainer. Stewart thinks of himself as a real journalist at times but then runs and hides behind his comedy shtick when he gets in over his head. Unfortunately, when he gets in over his head, he moves on to something else and the damage has been done...kind of like the drive-by media.

What really gets me is why serious political figures (especially ones who know they are going into a hostile environment) actually appear on his show and give him credibility.

[iguana1]

Reel Fanatic,

I did see the Stewart/Cramer thing. From my perspective they are both entertainers, just one admits it and the other pretends to be a journalist. Recognizing that you do not like Stewart, I think guys like him and Letterman have some value in keeping the rest of the media honest. It looked to me like Cramer walked into the punch as he did not realize Stewart had the footage he showed. And it is a good thing someone is bringing this stuff up as the stuff Cramer was talking about on tape was pretty serious (and not in a good way).

Have you ever noticed that these late night shows never take on the few serious news show out there? Ever seen them lampoon McNeil/Lehrer, Meet the Press or 60 minutes?

Whether or not you like Stewart, I thought he did a good job articulating the sentiments of a huge portion of the population as it relates to the financial crisis. His quote to the effect of "You took our 401ks and pensions to fund your party, burned the f&^%ing house down and walked away rich as hell" sits pretty well with a 60-something who just lost half of their retirement.

[Reel Fanatic]

Iguana-

I don't hate little Jonny ( I think when he sticks to comedy he can funny as shit) and I am no big fan of Cramer either (I want straight talk without the show and the shouting). He puts way too much "show" into what should be a seriously debated subject. Personally, I like the Fox News pundit pit. They take four pundits and each have to defend their stock picks against the other pundits- you get all sides.

The difference between Cramer and Jon Stewart (to me) is that Cramer is just a pundit and that all he professes to be. He's just a Wall Street pundit and he tries to keep an otherwise dull discussion lively. Jonny on the other hand is venturing into dangerous territory that he is most likely not qualified to be judgemental on. He's accusing Cramer and people like him for causing people to lose their retirments and 401k's. The Cramers of the world didn't cause this mess.

This mess started in the housing industry due to bad loans being sold and Fanny Mae and Freddy Mac encouraging lenders to write them. Fanny Mae and Freddy Mac then guaranteed the loans, re-packaged them with good loans and sold them to investment banks who ultimately lost their shirts on them. So, if we really want to lay blame on someone, we should lay at the feet of Barney Frank, Chris Dodd, Franklin Raines, and a whole slough of other assholes in our Federal guv'ment.

I don't see a problem with people like Jon Stewart or Letterman, or any other comedian for that matter, commenting on what any responsible person could read in the headlines. But to jump into the trenches and play journalist by interviewing/ interogating people as if they truly know what they are talking about is bad entertainment. I wouldn't want my local butcher trying to play doctor just because he knows how to use a knife and damn sure don't want the comedians of the world trying to pose as journalists just because they have a camera and a microphone.

[iguana1]

Reel Fanatic,

I see your point. I happen to see the issues differently, and therefore see Stewart in this case calling out a real issue. I think the broad financial sector bears the responsibility for the situation we are in, and Cramer is one of their cheif spokesmen. Shows like Cramer's encourage people to engage in a meaningless game of amateur speculation thinking they will get rich for doing nothing. This is the attitude that has permeated the entire sector. Nobody in the business talks about putting capital to work effectively anymore, or any investment fundamentals for that matter. This has ruined the game for the honest, regular investor (who by the way, after fees has probably lost money over the last 15 years). Regular people should gamble on sports with their pocket money, not on financial products with their retirement.

Blaming this entire crisis on Fannie and Freddie just doesn't fly. Fi-serv has become over 20% of the ecomony and 40% of the profits. It just doesn't make sense.

[Reel Fanatic]

Iguana-

We'll have to agree to disagree on this. Blaming TV investment advisors/ pundits for fraud committed within the federal gov't and within the banking heirarchy is equal to blaming the weatherman for the rain. Whether you get your information from the squawk box or from sitting down in front of your broker, everyone ended up in the same boat- myself included. For the past two years, economists and investors alike have been concerned about this looming recession- they all felt like the economy was heating up too much. If every American investor had put their money in mutual funds and had never listened to any of the Cramers of the TV world, we would still be in the exact same mess of equal magnitude.

It is a widely known fact that this is the first recession in our nation's history that was caused by the housing market. Being in the lure manufacturing business, a large number of the people who fish are involved in the trades in some way, shape, or form. We started to see the shiat hit the fan over a year ago when new projects started to dry up. The leftward leaning media have always turned a blind eye to government intervention as the cause of anything unless they can hang it on the neck of the Republicans. Unfortunately, it doesn't fly this time so they need another whipping boy to divert our attention.

[iguana1]

Reelfanatic,

Here's two new lures for your company

Subprime Ninja - for making bait, catches lots of small dumb ones.

CDO - for the occasional really big dumb one, 60% of the time it works every time.