Jim Cramer Part 2

Famous Cramer Quotes:

"No! No! No! Bear Stearns is fine.....Bear Stearns is not in trouble.....Don't move your money from Bear. That's just being silly. Don't be silly." (CNBC, Mad Money, March 11, 2008.)

"It's time to buy, buy, buy!" (CNBC, Mad Money, June 13, 2008)

"Whatever money you may need for the next 5 years, please take it out of the market right now, this week." (NBC, The Today Show, October 6, 2008)

And this from the New York Times on September 30, 2008:

"...Mr. Cramer later told his TV audience to buy Wachovia, calling it one of only a few potential 'winners' in the $700 billion bailout...."

Jim had his "buddy" Robert Steel, the CEO of Wachovia, on Mad Money and pronounced that the $10.71 price of the common stock was a bargain. Within 2 weeks it was $1.81 (source New York Times, October 19 2008). Cramer has defended his rant about Bear Stearns by clarifying that he was not referring to the common stock, but to withdrawing money from Bear Stearns brokerage accounts, presumably due to SIPC protection. Yet SIPC protection only goes up to $500,000 for cash and securities (with only $100,000 in cash protected); and to state that Bear Stearns was not in trouble....well.

Uh......

"Only those who will risk going too far can possibly find out how far one can go." (T. S. Eliot)

Perhaps.....but then again, try asking those poor souls recently employed by or invested in Bear Stearns, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, Lehman Brothers, AIG and Washington Mutual.

Adieu L'ancien Regime

Plucked from off the front page of the Weekend Edition of the WSJ today:

"For financial institutions, 'the clock is ticking a heck of a lot faster today,' said Matthew Kelley, a bank analyst at investment banking firm Sterne, Agee and Leach, Inc...".

So it's come to this: the days of quoting banking analysts at the storied investment banks (Goldman, Morgan Stanley etc....) are now gone forever. We are left to quote the obscure; no offense meant to the good people at Sterne, Agee and Leach. Wow......if ever you needed a handy way to measure the magnitude of change on the Street!

It's almost like the extinction of the dinosaurs.....when the giants that utterly dominated the landscape suddenly disappear; the furry, little brown mammals- so long trampled underfoot emerge timorously into the daylight- without fear of being squashed or eaten, to forage amidst the detritus, and pick up where the leviathans left off. Adieu l'ancien regime.