“We not always tell the truth” – Jim Cramer
March 14th, 2009 Posted in Freedom in America, Jobless, Jobs, Money, Spiritual values
Jim and Jon on Mad Money. You do not even have to hide in America. Everyone knows what the truth is but does nothing about it.
What do you think creates this level of openness and this level of inaction in US?
Why do you think social freedom does not translate in to personal freedom?
Do you wonder why Jon Stewart understands US financial market game better than FCC?
Would you ask this question your financial advisor?
Would you ask this question your senator?
“It is pretty funny, in an ironic way, don’t you think? I’ve always liked Jon Stewart, and one of the reasons is that behind his humor and wit, he really does follow politics, trends, the economy, and “gets it”.”
An. Free.
“Its sad because Jon Stewart doesn’t really understand it, but yes, he gets it a tad better than the government that’s for sure. I’ve been watching the Jon Stewart/Cramer wars and it is interesting to note not only what they ARE focusing on, but what they are NOT focusing on. Cramer believes its “shenanigans” and “short selling” while Jon believes its some “Finance cabal” behind the scenes developing finance schemes. The fact is, we are where we are thanks to government intervention into the marketplace. We are here because of government regulation, Fannie Mae/Freddie Mac, and THE FED… The Fed is the worst culprit of them all in my opinion (shared by economists of the Austrian school and the Ludwig von Mises Institute). And while Jon Stewart is showing us all that the regulators and “experts” are buffoons, he is in bed with the idea that deregulation or the free market somehow caused this, and nothing could be further from the truth. On the matter of shorting the stock: Short selling has been getting some bad cred, not unlike oil speculation last year, but there is nothing wrong with short selling (or speculation given that now speculators are taking a bath). In fact, it is the private sector’s way of underscoring that a certain company is in trouble. Regulators are either incompetent (as you suggest), corrupted, or or too overwhelmed to detect when a company is problematic…but the private sector knows, and shorting the stock is one way to highlight mismanagement of a company. It was a short seller that discovered the problems at Enron, not the government. So while Jon Stewart makes sense, he’s been missing it as well. I think all Americans should become more familiar with Ayn Rand and read her masterpiece “Atlas Shrugged”; or learn about F. A. Hayek and “The Road to Serfdom”; take a look at what the economists at the Ludwig von Mises Institute are saying (they predicted the meltdown we’re in long ago), and even pick up Thomas Woods Jr’s recent gem: “Meltdown: A Free-Market Look at Why the Stock Market Collapsed, the Economy Tanked, and Government Bailouts Will Make Things Worse.” Our government is moving in the direction of even more interference and regulation of free people engaged in free commerce in a free market–the very same direction that caused the global recession. Thanks for the discussion!”
I’m not sure if the interference and regulation got us in trouble in the first place. What regulation caused this? What interference? Was it the Fed changing interest rates? I’m not sold that the massive infusion of our money is going to help things and bring fresh opportunity to me. I am afraid the money is going to help the people that burnt us and profited in the first place.
Stewart highlighted that the honking and bell ringing of Cramer et al has sold is a bill of shoddy goods. One day he’s screaming buy, buy, buy and the next day the stock tanked. Playing the market is tricky and risky. Not investing, but playing. The problem is, while Joe sixpack invests his 401K, brokers and jokers three levels above are playing the market with Joe’s money. Nothing to shrug at.
“Thaddeaus, Thanks. Government interfernce into energy, housing, and financials caused the current crisis. In fact, there are over 6 agencies and 8 acts that interfere in housing alone. The Community Reinvestment Act, the Federal Housing Administration (who lifted the requirement for a down payment…Gawd!) and many others all interfering. The 30-yr prohibition against developing the trillions of barrels of oil and gas we sit on was the catalyst that sent the house of cards falling. Tightened supplies forced by government ensured record prices due to an increased in demand without a corresponding increase to supplies. Prices increased to record levels thus forcing folks to make a decision to either pay mortgages or pay for gas. Government interference into housing such as the Community Reinvestment Act of 1979 which was later reinforced during the Clinton years forced banks and financials to issue mortgages to folks who could not afford them. They were either fined by the government or sued by groups such as ACORN for failing to approve sub-prime or loans to folks with poor credit worthiness (Obama, working for ACORN, sued Citicorp for not approving loans to un-credit worthy customers..funny now that he’s president the government now owns part of Citicorp). Government interference into financials further exacerbated the problem. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac (FNM/FDM) would take the toxic loans from the banks, bundle them, and sell them off all over to the world to other investors. Since the mortgages were backed as a real estate security (with AAA rating) even though there was NO EQUITY in them, investors thought they were purchasing a safe investment. Because of FNM/FDM’s involvement, banks/financials had no compulsion to exercise due diligence in the mortgages they were issuing, since they could just re-sell them to FNM/FDM. The FDIC also hurts as they back up all bank deposits up to what, $200K? This then provides no incentives to banks to scrutinize loans because they won’t incur the loss, the taxpayer will. So too the taxpayer doesn’t need to shop around for solid banking because they government “has their back.” Finally, the Fed’s ridiculously low interest rates kept flooding banks and financials with excess money that they doled out as loans, increasing debt, and approve more and more and more mortgages. All of this interference helped create an aberration in housing demand, caused a housing bubble, an unrealistic rise in home values (supply and demand again), and thus the eventual crash. F.A. Hayek specifically warned that a housing bubble was being created back and that a crash was coming back in the 1990s! Thaddeuas, you are right, a massive infusion of more money is the OPPOSITE of what we should be doing. Issuing more paper to issue more debt in today’s environment is silliness! In fact, every action the government is taking is the wrong approach: bailouts, increased money supply, spending, spending, spending, the increased regulation (Lilly-Ledbetter) , and tax increases are all examples of government interference that is wreaking havoc on our economy. We need to embrace the free market and not embrace government…”
da best. Keep it going! Thank you