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Posted Monday, March 16, 2009 4:39 PM

Blaming Jim Cramer for the Economy? Really?

Kurt Soller
Last week, the business network CNBC was the latest target of the economic meltdown. It all came to a head when the face of network, "Mad Money" Jim Cramer, appeared on the Daily Show to defend himself in front of Jon Stewart. In our Signal or Noise poll, we asked readers whether Stewart's insistence that the biz press failed us was legitimate or a ploy for great ratings. The results of the poll? Readers thought Stewart's smackdown was more than warranted, saying that Cramer's in the tank with Wall Street, not the public.

"All signal folks," wrote one reader. "We have been waiting to hear this from someone -- anyone -- and for it to come from Stewart? Great." Many others praised the comedian, calling him everything from a God to the greatest and most serious journalist of our generation. "Stewart has exposed Cramer for what he really is: an entertainer in the investment field," wrote commenter sverigeman, while others added that "Cramer looked like he was going to cry," and that this was "the most damning indictment of the financial news networks ever heard." In the end, many thought the debate was warranted, if only because it got to a larger point that supported Stewart's attack: "Stewart's attack was on the media for not doing the jobs the media used to be paid for - not taking things a face value, but investigating to get to the truth of the matter," explained one reader.

But should Cramer (or Erin Burnett, or any other CNBC host) really be blamed for a systematic meltdown of our financial system? Of course not, said one reader, who argued that "Cramer is a scapegoat being used to divert from other sources that has just as much responsibility to inform the American people." A reader that goes by MT2910 also came to the stock-picker's defense, adding that "Cramer is only one man... the media does not create or write the policies that allowed the banks to over-leverage themselves and write sub-prime mortgages." Just as many thought it was definitely time to find someone to place the blame on, scores of readers think that idea, in itself, signals how we're feeling: "The American people want to blame somebody for their pain," writes one reader. "Since they can never find a real culprit, they were settle for the closest thing they can get. Cramer, with his juvenile antics, and pretensions to know-it-all, makes the perfect target."

Did you hear that, Ben Affleck? Maybe you can stop blaming Newsweek now.
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Posted By: Ooohnubian (April 23, 2009 at 9:46 AM)

Kurt Soller - you are uninformed. You obviously either didn’t watch or don’t have the mental capacity to understand what was really happening.

Cramer wasn’t being blamed for the crises. Cramer was being held accountable for HIS part in it. Like giving advice to buy, because of his insider knowledge and talking about how to manipulate hedge funds. To his credit, he was the only one that had the guts to do so. The rest were cowards,

Your article does a disservice to your readers. You offer a cursory opinion that is light in fact and has no depth. People should take your articles with a grain of salt until you learn how to be a true journalist.

Go back to school and learn how to understand the entire situation before you comment on it- you look inept.

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Posted By: k.macconnell (April 16, 2009 at 2:08 PM)

The old saying "you get what you pay for " applies to Jim Cramer and his audience.  Anyone dumb enough to invest their families wealth based solely on Jim Cramers predictions is certainly getting their monies worth.  If you paid nothing for the advice, that is what you will reap from it!

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Posted By: Dredd (April 10, 2009 at 9:17 AM)

We can't blame Cramer if we do not have all the facts.

Much of the federal budget is classified ... a state secret:

http://blogdredd.blogspot.com/2009/04/common-sense-about-state-secrets.html

So how much are we going to blame Cramer with what we do not know?

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