Jim, Jim, Jim. Apparently, how to play well with others isn't in the cards. To fully appreciate the Jim Cramer angle a little journey to his past is in order. This is from Cramer himself: "We had it down to a science in 1992: my wife would pick stocks that technically looked ready to go up, or she would keep track of merchandise to see what was down to tag ends. She would then generate a list of stocks that could move quickly on good news. Jeff would then go to work calling the companies to try to find anything good we could say about them. I would call the analysts to see I they were hearing anything. When we found a stock that looked ready technically to break out, or where the supply had been mopped up, and Jeff found something positive at the company, and I knew the analyst community didn’t know anything positive, we would load up with call options and common stock and then give the good news to our favorite analysts who liked the stock so they could go do their promotion. That would get the buzz going and we would then be able to liquidate the position into the buzz for a handsome profit." (Confessions of a Street Addict, page 61). This is Cramer's big secret. He figured out early that the way to make money betting on stocks was to rig the game - control the news and you control a stock's value. Now he has his own TV show. Nicholas Maier worked for Cramer until 1998. He quit and wrote a book about it called, Trading with the Enemy: Seduction and Betrayal on Jim Cramer’s Wall Street (New York: HarperCollins, 2002). Here's an excerpt showing that Cramer was into naked short selling early on: Jim turns toward his head trader. "Mark, sell ten thousand Bristol Myers." "We never bought any Bristol Myers," Mark replies. "We own the calls," Jim corrects Mark impatiently, aggravated by the delay. "So sell it short?" Mark asks for clarification. Mark knows that according to the SEC rule book, selling stock you don’t already own (even if you do own the call options) must be marked and executed as a short sale. "You are confusing me with someone who gives a shit. Just sell it! I said hit the fucking bid!" adds Jim, not interested in wasting time over petty semantics. Skirting the "plus tick" rule in this case won’t necessarily make us a lot of extra money, but in Jim’s eyes, the rule is still an unenforceable annoyance. "And don’t ever ask me that again!" (Trading With the Enemy, pages 70-71).
Cramer could be focused on recommending stocks that will do well during the re-investment (and growth) that will be forced by the changes coming under Obama. Instead of 'finding the bull market', he's spinning his head off.
Anyway, TheStreet.com was conceived, no doubt, as a way for him to get his research paid for by unsuspecting subscribers. One wonders if "his" analysts bring him their warnings and ideas, long before "Cramerica" gets to hear them. God knows, his show disclaims that all ideas may have been disseminated elsewhere first - how do they get away with that, anyway?
Meanwhile, the blogosophere is catching up to him, because of the ranting going on with him and the bumper-car business channel he belongs to. Remember how he couldn't stand to be on with Larry Kudlow because it was too political? Now look at him.
Here goes, what Cramer really thinks about "Cramerica":
The story of Jim Cramer cannot be fully presented here. But here's an excerpt ...
Does one need more?
Friday, March 6, 2009
Muscling back Wall Street
