What an absolute thing of beauty tonight’s Daily Show was. Another “Crossfire” moment, I dare say. I cannot wait until the video is available… a transcript would be most excellent too.
In case you missed it, almost the entire half hour was devoted to a discussion between Stewart and Cramer about CNBC’s role in hyping the stock market bubble. When I say “discussion” it was actually more a case of Stewart lecturing and castigating an abjectly apologetic Cramer, whose cynical clowning was ruthlessly exposed with the help of this charming bit of video in which the host of Mad Money admits that he regularly manipulated the market when he ran his hedge fund. Calling it “a fun game” and “a lucrative game,” he suggested that all hedge fund managers act likewise. “No one else in the world would ever admit that, but I could care. I am not going to say it on TV,” he foolishly boasted.
Here’s a money quote (no pun intended) from the Mad Man of Wall Street: “What’s important when you are in that hedge-fund mode is to not do anything remotely truthful because the truth is so against your view, that it’s important to create a new truth, to develop a fiction.” Explains a lot, doesn’t it?
Update: Steve Johnson at the Chicago Tribune documents the scolding.
Stewart creamed him, if anything almost to a fault. He urged Cramer and his newschannel brethren to report rather than blindly trust what CEOs say (Cramer’s primary defense of CNBC’s lack of vigilance). But, really, Stewart didn’t report himself; he delivered a 22-minute opinion column, occasionally interrupted by Cramer shoulder shrugs, “okays,” and mea culpas plus, bringing in financial TV in general, wea culpas.
Unlike Santelli’s infamous rant, it was, as Johnson says, “good populism, well aimed and well delivered.”
Update2: Ta da! Here’s the clip (along with the usual caveat that it may be removed at any time due to copyright violation. Although, maybe Viacom will let it slide this time.)
Between this and Colbert going after Glen Beck O’Reilly and the like, maybe people will pay attention to the BS in the media.
Why in hell do people listen to the talking heads – too many and too many differences of opinion.
Up at DK… it’s actually hard to watch, cringeworthy.
From Yahoo.
“Comedy Central said the on-air version would be cut by about eight minutes, though the entire interview would be available unedited on ComedyCentral.com on Friday. “
It truly was a thing of beauty.
The CEO’s lying….everybody in finance knows not to rely on annual reports or CEO statements. We’re taught that in school while studying finance. The fact that Cramer sat there trying to defend himself with “they LIED to me” is bullshit.
I was glad to see Jon call him on that – 35-1 leveraging – it defies logic.
I was just able to watch the entire un-edited thing through TPM. All I can say is “brutal”. Stewart had Cramer apologizing for his entire network and Cramer’s own mea culpas were just pathetic. I too wouldn’t be surprised if this has a “Crossfire” effect on CNBC.
Favorite word from the interview: “Doucheborrow”. I just I’m just low-brow that way.
P.S. Favorite statement from the interview: “This is not a fucking game”
Navvy — Thanks for the link!
CC: I’d like to see what Joe “Pissy Pants” Scarborough has to say this morning about a lowly “comedian” sounding off and demonstrating more journalistic credibility than that fatuous hack and his insipid coffee klatch could ever hope to muster.
btw, I loved his quip before the interview when mentioning that earlier in the day Cramer had been making a pie with Martha Stewart: “Mr. Cramer, don’t you destroy enough dough on your own show?” Too funny.
Cramer is as crooked as they come.
He was instrumental in destroying many medium sized publicly held companies using naked short selling.
Don’t go to this link if you have anger management issues and had your RRSP or investments tank.
You might think nuking Wall St would be letting them off easy:
http://www.deepcapture.com/
CC – “I too wouldn’t be surprised if this has a “Crossfire” effect on CNBC.”
That was my thoughts when watching this. I have a feeling that Cramer and the CNBC network now wished they had just ignored the original Daily Show clip instead of trying to go on the offensive against Stewart.
Good Morning RT
Off Top, but I had to drop in and tell you that yesterday I won 2 tickets to the season finale taping of the Rick Mercer Report. Can you even believe it? I knew that you too, would appreciate the thought of it.
I wish I could go, but am sending the next best person who can get there, Jay. ( I just hope Sara doesn’t read this)
lol
Nice link anon 1.01 …excellent explanation of naked short selling.
I’d like to see what Joe “Pissy Pants” Scarborough has to say this morning about a lowly “comedian” sounding off and demonstrating more journalistic credibility than that fatuous hack and his insipid coffee klatch could ever hope to muster.
It really is time to send the “journalists” to the camps, is it not?
Thanks for the link anon1.01.
This whole Stewart vs. Cramer thing is way over blown. Anyone that reads a little knows the markets are a scam and these financial shows are more infomercial than anything else. Cramer probably went home after and had a good laugh.
I’ll stick to keeping my money as far from the market as possible. At least when I hit the casino once a month or so I know what the odds are.
Overblown… perhaps, but it’s still immensely enjoyable to see the corporate media (in the truest sense of that term when it comes to CNBC) have their douchebaggery exposed to ridicule and skewered mercilessly.
Nic — Score!!! Way to go. When are you having the horseshoe removed? Nice of you to send on the tickets to Jay. Maybe it will cheer him up a bit.
This whole Stewart vs. Cramer thing is way over blown.
I didn’t think it would amount to much, so I was surprised at how aggressive Stewart was. Cramer’s voice seemed to be quavering at times; I don’t know, maybe that was completely normal for him. …But, you’re probably right that he would have a pretty thick skin and lose very little sleep over it all.
Actually, I’m wondering how this might affect Cramer’s career. It probably won’t have much effect, but this interview looked really devastating to me.
RT, we’ve seen this before. I remember reading that a network financial show was exposed as nothing more than a half-hour infomercial. As I recall it was about 10 years ago.
Most people will watch Stewart slap Cramer around and applaud, but Dancing with the Stars is on the next day and all is forgotten.
LOL RT.
well if I have managed to get a horseshoe in there, I just may leave it in awhile…see what else happens.
Seriously though, isn’t that exciting???!!! I was so excited last night, I still can’t believe it today. I almost have to keep pinching myself. I told Jay he has to take pics and send us a full report and all of that fun stuff.
I think Jay will be very happy to go.
I just wish I could go too. maybe someday.
“What’s important…is to not do anything remotely truthful because the truth is so against your view.” Okay not to use hypberbole, but didn’t Hitler say something about the bigger the lie the more people would believe it (because they themselves would be ashamed to tell such a big lie)? Not company I’d like to be in. The link to the daily show viewable in Canada is click here: Jon Stewart with Cramer
Oh man, I am so naive. I had no idea… Just reading further from the link above, specifically: http://www.deepcapture.com/category/1-the-players/ ….reading with some interest about this mob character and hedge fund operator, Michael Steinhardt, when suddenly Cramer enters the story. Holy shit! I am blown away.
I’ll stick to keeping my money as far from the market as possible.
You don’t have any choice in that matter, unless you figure out a way to not use money at all.
Exactly, Ti-Guy.
Navvy is right. Watching Cramer sit in that chair as he was disemboweled by Stewart was enough to make a person cringe. Couldn’t Stewart have offered him a glass of delicious hemlock?
Anyone who is shocked at these “revelations” about how and for whom the market works deserves to lose their life savings.
It is estimated that the unprecedented number of puts placed on UAL and American Airlines in the days leading up to 9/11 bagged the global insiders $15 billion. Someone obviously knew that the U.S. Government was going to facilitate the attacks.
Now that’s criminal!
See: Chapter 14, “Crossing the Rubicon” by Michael C. Ruppert
I think Stewart was able to do a lot more than just expose these programs as infomercial. His attacks were truly devastating and exposed how pernicious these sorts of incestuous relationships are. How a supposed “financial news organization” is nothing more than a corporate shill that knowingly lies to its viewers and who directly benefit from the deception.
I highly doubt it. Just ask Tucker Carlson how much he laughed after they canceled Crossfire post Stewart’s appearance.
I think an immediate effect will be people calling in to Cramer’s show and others on CNBC questioning their integrity and asking if the advice they just gave was in their viewer’s best interests or their corporate masters.
Exactly, Ti-Guy.
I hope some day that we start revisiting the wisdom of insisting that everyone become part of the investor class. What it has produced, mostly, is an investment paradigm that is so complex that no one understands it anymore and is therefore ripe for gaming or decay through lack of attention. But, given we’ve bred a generation of moral imbeciles with ADD who don’t understand the difference between value and price, I’m not holding out much hope.
MSNBC.com has the full, AP, story of Stewart on Cramer. CNBC.com – not a peep. Apparently didn’t happen. Search the site for “Jon Stewart” and nothing, nada, zip, squat. However blood does begin running from their eyes.
Heh. I watched the Today Show this morning with some keen interest to see if any mention would be made of it, seeing as they’d had Cramer on bleating the other day. Again, not a peep.
Weasels.
SR — Anyone who is shocked at these “revelations” about how and for whom the market works deserves to lose their life savings.
Well, aren’t you a clever clogs.
Perhaps they do, but that’s not really the point. Or at least not entirely the point.
I watched the Today Show this morning with some keen interest to see if any mention would be made of it,
Bloody morning television. I hope Stewart goes after that next.
*sigh* Pamelin Wallin on Canada AM is but a distant memory.
I think Stewart was able to do a lot more than just expose these programs as infomercial. His attacks were truly devastating and exposed how pernicious these sorts of incestuous relationships are. How a supposed “financial news organization” is nothing more than a corporate shill that knowingly lies to its viewers and who directly benefit from the deception.
Most will never see this segment and the ones that do will forget about it once the markets start to move upward again.
I highly doubt it. Just ask Tucker Carlson how much he laughed after they canceled Crossfire post Stewart’s appearance.
The difference is Tucker was a moron, Cramer already has his pieces of gold safely tucked away. Once the heat is turned down the networks will find another flim flammer to fill his spot.
Tucker wasn’t a moron… he was a foppish prick.
That was quick. Viacom has already pushed the video down the memory hole.
Just an observation. During a contract in Africa a few years back I happenned to meet a couple of reporters who were there to interview a local governor. I seem to remember that they only planned to ask the governor nice questions since they would not be allowed back into the country if their questions were too pointed or their articles cast too much aspersion on the said governor. I wonder is cnbc treatment of excecutives follows a similar logic – certainly appears to. They definitely need a rethink on how they gather information.
CC: Party poopers… Or should I say, FASCISTS!!!
Oh well. We’ve all seen it now and know where it can be seen otherwise.
PJ — There’s certainly a parallel there. The same can be seen on the political front with “friendly” pundits and reporters getting access and those more critical or prone to serious inquiry being rebuffed.
p.s. Do you actually live in Bali? What a jammy bastard.
They definitely need a rethink on how they gather information.
They are never going to change. Access is vital to modern “journalism.” “Journalists” themselves use it competitively for career advancement. The real problem is that, in a highly competitive environment, access is all that counts now.
If anyone is looking for it, they host full episodes on the Comedy Network site.
Try this: Cramer v. Stewart
I have only scratched the surface, but that deepcapture link is incredible. Thanks for posting Anon….to be sure, CNBC and all the rest the oligarachs are already working hard and fast to dissapear this whole thing. I predict the “war between Cramer and Stewart” meme that was so overplayed in the media in the last week, is about to drop right off the radar. Bring on the next spree shooting, please.
I just skimmed the first few posts but am looking forward to delving more into it.
Anon… alas, we hardly knew yee.
The Vancouver Sun has the transcript you were hoping for earlier.
My favourite line of the night:
“There’s a market for cocaine and hookers. What is the responsibility of the people who cover Wall Street? Who are you responsible to?”
Heh! Granted we knew yee – but hardly.
Ti-Guy has a point about the importance of access to journalism but it’s always been that way. The problem today isn’t so much a function of access as what some journalists are willing to give away in exchange for access. It’s the surrender of skepticism, the reluctance to criticize that has transformed journalists into talking heads for the powerful. What’s overlooked is that “giving in” to important sources often undermines their respect in the reporter and can encourage media manipulation. If a hack is willing to play the stooge, it’s hard to resist treating him as a stooge.
While I enjoy watching Cramer every night, one must remember the show is primarily entertainment. The financial networks exist to promote their advertisers financial and investment products. Who would expect them to warn about the credit bubble or coming Washington national debt collapse which will destroy much of the remaining private wealth in America today or what this will do to the dollar, the stock market, bonds, gold or the real estate market?
China is now worried about their dangerous over investment in US Treasury obligations. Washington ’s long-term choice is either repudiation or monetization. For monetization to be effective, the depreciation in the dollar would have to be substantial and this in turn would dramatically raise prices of imports for American consumers which would mean a tremendous drop in foreign imports. Debt monetization would cause more disruption to exporting nations than selective repudiation of Treasury debt.
The Campaign to Cancel the Washington National Debt By 12/22/2013 Constitutional Amendment is starting now in the U.S. See: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=67594690498&ref=ts
Thanks,
Ron with 30 plus years in the investment business and banking industry.