Jon Stewart vs. Jim Cramer & CNBC, a scapegoat is born. Investorial is back, baby!
After watching the late re-run of the March 12th edition of The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, I find myself inspired, revitalized and struggling with the inactivity of this blog for the past year. It just might be the right kick-in-the-butt for this blog to come out of semi-retirement?
I feel bad for Jim Cramer. I truly do! And not because he looked ass-silly, being forced into this confrontation by CNBC; a move that will inevitably close the curtains for Cramer’s on-air career. I felt sorry for Cramer not because he seemed in need of a bullet to be put out of his misery, agreeing and nodding to each and every one of Jon Stewart’s passionate pleadings. But as Jon Stewarts puts it best, “It’s unfortunate that [Jim Cramer] has become the face of this situation.”
What I am afraid of is that since Cramer is the face, CNBC will be able to close the book on this tell-tale episode, and continue quietly business as usual. It’s very easy to single out one person instead of looking at the entire system. Jon Stewart did a great job of staying on the right track during the showdown. The funniest and most poignant point of the interview was when Jon Stewart gave his best Carly Simon invocation and laid it out to an ego-bruised Cramer, “This song is NOT about YOU!” It’ll be interesting to see how CNBC reacts to Jon’s plea for the “news” media outlet to turn into an investigative arm, rather than be perceived as in bed with other snake-oil salesmen.
In the past, I’ve bashed Cramer quite often, you can find some examples here, here and here. Heck, I even found an unfinished draft titled “Jim Cramer Is A Pump And Dump Stock Spammer!” that never saw the light of day due to my laziness. Watching the interview struck a personal chord, and it revitalized why I was initially motivated to launch Investorial. This blog’s mission statement couldn’t be more crystal clear, and yet I blew it by laying on the sidelines. I’m sorry.. but it’s time to launch a comeback!
What follows will be a renewed commitment to Investorial. I look foward to a new design, more postings, and I will fight to gain back my reading community. This song is not about me either, I’m not the white knight in dark financial times. I’m just a man who feels that sharing what I think about investment and financial media can be beneficial if we bring out smart discussions and share education.
Like George Constanza exlcaimed, “I’m back, baby!”
P.S. I’ll share with you, some of the better write-ups (in my opinion) regarading the Stewart vs. Cramer showdown out in the blogosphere, from Gawker.com, and TreeHugger.
