Jim Cramer (Kind Of) Owns Up To His "Bear Stearns Is Fine" Comments

Jim Cramer became a feast for late night comedy after he called Bear Stearns "fine" a week before its spectacular collapse. Cramer appeared on CNN's Reliable Sources, hosted by Howard Kurtz, this morning, and kind of owned up to his clearly incorrect remarks about Bear Stearns. Watch the video below and decide for yourself if Cramer gave a true mea culpa.

Comments

[GerryS]

12:04 PM on 03/24/2008

Watch Cramer's show (circus) and listen to the sound effects- that should tell you something important right there!

[Tom95134]

11:29 AM on 03/24/2008

Who the hell would believe Cramer anyway. He reminds me of a carny pitchman sellling Vegimatics.

[chronicBob]

11:25 AM on 03/24/2008

I don't play the market, but I thought his program was oddly amusing.But after seeing him weep over Eliot Spitzer a couple of weeks ago, I will watch his show only for the 1.2 seconds it takes me to click past it.
If I did invest, his style of overwrought hype and shoot-from-the-hip prognostication, would be the last resource I would use for advice.

[TheyAllSuck]

11:19 PM on 03/24/2008

You do realize he meant it? He was college buddies with Spitzer. You can dislike him for his over-the-top hyping presentation, but he was choked up about his pal Elliot & his wife. That wasn't an act. You're basically saying you don't like him because he gets too emotional.

[dadw5boys]

09:47 AM on 03/24/2008

$170.00 FOR STOCK 1 DAY AND $37.00 FOR STOCK 2 DAYS LATER??????

This can only mean they had been in trouble for 5 or 6 months.

This does not happen over night it is long term rotten decision making!

[TheyAllSuck]

11:25 PM on 03/24/2008

You make it sound like the investment house has a unified view about how it invests in derivatives. I doubt it does, or the industry, for that matter. The REAL problem is that the financial industry is essentially UNREGULATED (where it matters). ALL of these investment/commercial are taking investment positions WAY over their available capital. Given the choice between letting analysts shoot for the moon in a few trades and "risking" bankruptcy, the investment banks are allowing the trades through. Or not factoring their conglomeration of trade to their overall financial position. This is not MERELY bad decision making. This is GREED decision making, KNOWING they won't go to jail for GAMBLING.

[findingthetruth]

09:09 AM on 03/24/2008

Cramer's comments and predictions are a STRONG indication as to WHY he supports Hillary. Cramer feels Hillary's economic plans are ON TARGET.

This country will certainly regress WITH expertise of Cramer and his candidate. Scary !!!!!

[cfreedom]

10:16 AM on 03/24/2008

Speaking of clowns talking about business ...

[Sumocat]

08:46 AM on 03/24/2008

After reviewing the video, it does appear he was talking about keeping your money in Bear Sterns the bank (still safe), as opposed to Bear Sterns the corporation (sorry stockholders), which is how most people would interpret talk of keeping money in a bank.

[NewRiver]

11:13 AM on 03/24/2008

Agreed. The problem is that people hear what they WANT to hear, not what the speaker is SAYING. Now Cramer's pace is quick, so you have to pay attention, but the question was about keeping money in Bear Stearns, not holding or buying shares of BSC. In fact, if you pay close enough attention to the video clip, Cramer mentions that Bear may be a takeover target. And my guess is that even Cramer (who had been negative on the stock) was surprised at the "bargain price" JPMorgan got Bear's assets at. Even at $10/share it's a steal...if my math is right, JPM spends $1B for Bear's assets valued at $7.7B, and the Fed guarantees the loan and eats the low grade Mortgage Backed Securities.

[TheyAllSuck]

11:33 PM on 03/24/2008

$2/share was a steal. I'm not sure $10/share is a steal. Sure, its not the $30/share at the close on friday, but face it, investors were dead WRONG about its VALUE. That indicate a lack of transparency where it mattered. Who cares if Bear Sterns has X amount in assets if it has 20*X in outstanding, potential debts?

[cynicalgirl]

11:25 AM on 03/24/2008

Not true. If you look at the rest of what he says (which is not posted here but available from the Daily Show on 3/17) he shows the chart where Bear is at $62.

[Sumocat]

03:30 PM on 03/25/2008

Yeah, he's pointing out the company is still okay, which it was at the time, so people with money in the bank were not going to lose their money. He also pointed out a buyout was more likely, which is what happened. The buyout price sucks, but the company didn't go under.

[ntmessage]

08:37 AM on 03/24/2008

No one who invests in the market and knows the show would have interpreted his comments as you have. No one who used Bear Sterns for trading or investing has lost any money due to the Bear Sterns acquisition. Most who bought the stock did lose money, however he did not recommend the s Stock for purchase as was negative on the stock for months.

[djmarch]

07:45 AM on 03/24/2008

Think about it folks...If Cramer is such an investment guru, then why isn't he still a hedge fund manager ?

[cfreedom]

09:05 AM on 03/24/2008

Running a hedge fund is a high-stress profession and he tired of it. The guy is in his 60's and has made a fortune and i'm guessing he preferred the spotlight to the meatgrinder. It was his choice to make the change. He has more dough than Pepperidge Farm.

[magnetplanner]

09:52 AM on 03/24/2008

This guy invented the pump-and-dump. How he has any credibility after the tech crash of 2000 is amazing.

[belairpatrol]

01:08 PM on 03/24/2008

If Crammer is such a guru, why is he still working??

[CheneysACoward]

07:33 AM on 03/24/2008

Unreal....Some place in America, some poor SOB took this clowns advice...now he spins . Maybe he's part of the Bush family?

[cfreedom]

09:08 AM on 03/24/2008

He's a lifelong Democrat and he clearly said BSC common stock was worthless but money was safe in the bank. He was right and so why pull him into some obtuse political rant?

[pahpah25]

09:42 AM on 03/24/2008

I GUESS PEOPLE FORGET THAT FIRST AND FOREMOST..THIS MAN, CRAMER, IS AN INFO-ENTERTAINER..................ANOTHER SNAKE-OIL SALESMAN..........I ASKED MY BROKER WHAT HE THOUGHT OF CRAMERS ADVICE..AND HE BURST OUT LAUGHING.........HE GETS PAID TO 'MENTION' CERTAIN STOCKS ETC. ON HIS SHOW..?WHO PAYS THIS GUY?

[cfreedom]

10:22 AM on 03/24/2008

Your use of all Caps says it all. And any legitimate broker understands that Cramer's job of predicting stock moves nightly is an impossible task, but that doesn't change the fact the guy knows stocks and chances are he's made a gazillion more dollars in the market than your broker ever dreamed of making.

[NewRiver]

05:49 PM on 03/24/2008

Here's a thought...do you think your broker would "endorse" Cramer? And suppose he tells you that Cramer is worth listening to, do you think he might be concerned that you'll stop listening to him?

[loki]

03:26 AM on 03/24/2008

See, now we should feel save and supportive of letting Corporate America turn our Social Security into another pool of play money for them. They are so smart and do such a great job of investing it, why all that money the younger Americas would be wasted in SSI. Give it to those wonderful people who brought you the collapse of 29, and ever single on since. Corporate America knows how to take your money away. Thats for sure!!! They can even make you feel good while they do it.
It doesnt really matter anymore though. I think the powers that be have figured out that getting their fingers on whats left of SSI , or future contributions isnt going to be as easy as they hoped. So its full court press on Ronnie Reagans Economical Train Wreck for America strategy. Drive the whole country into the economical train wreck, force all no corporate social programs to their death, and create a country of people in debt to their necks, with no way to have that debt forgiven (thank Bush Bankruptcy reform for that) so they will be willing to work for pennies just to keep from losing what little they have. And the fat corporate elite will get fatter and fatter. Isnt Neo Con republican ideology the greatest !!!

[kevinabt]

03:33 AM on 03/25/2008

They already have a plan for stealing the SS funds. They inflate the money supply thus reducing the value of the dollar. When SS benefits are paid out in dollars they are worth less than the dollars that were paid in orginally. So benefits are continuously being reduced and wealth redirected without any need for controversial legislation.

[loki]

03:20 AM on 03/24/2008

Wow, Kramer helped cover for the sinking of the BS ERON?
Of course he would. Corporations pay goons like him to spread the false words to increase stock prices and sales. How else could they steal so much money from the small investors. They sure dont steel from their own.

[mirza]

03:16 AM on 03/24/2008

A shill--pure and simple

[Novista]

03:09 AM on 03/24/2008

Can any of the financial experts here give an accurate assessment of the value of Bear Stearns paper assets?

Or, what about the value of their headquarters, a billion and change?

And have you noticed it is not really a done deal yet, though JP Morgan Chase thinks they already own the place ...

[amanda85]

02:22 AM on 03/24/2008

You call that "owning up"? More like spinning at light speed...

[diamndpeace]

01:24 AM on 03/24/2008

Jim Cramer is almost as entertaining as Larry the Cable Guy.