I am not a real fan of Jon Stewart, but he should get an EMMY for that interview with Jim Cramer and not for comedy, but for hard-hitting financial journalism.  Stewart was dead on while Cramer seemed to be an empty Hologram of himself.  See the whole show (http://blog.indecisionforever.com/2009/03/13/jon-stewart-and-jim-cramer-the-extended-daily-show-interview/ )

Stewart should invite Larry Kudlow on next.  Kudlow (the other Sham Wow guy of CNBC) is nothing more than an oblivious "cheerleader" for Wall Street.

Kudlow questions bailout money for the Auto Industry and others but seems to look the other way when pressed about accountability on bailout money to Wall Street.  He does not question huge bonuses Wall Street executives took while they ran their companies - and people's investments - into the ground.

Maybe CNBC stands for COMEDY - NOT BUSINESS CHANNEL based on the softball approach by some of its reporters/anchors/ guests.  Some seem to be more concerned about cozying up with CEOs and mingling at cocktail parties and summits together, rather than asking the tough questions.

Having an entertaining show is sometimes a way to educate people on complex and technical issues, I have no problem with that.  In fact, it’s a good way to teach certain subjects but not when you are told to put money on the table to follow through on a “sure thing”.

IN CRAMER WE TRUST? 

“I’m a commentator.” That’s what Cramer said to Stewart when pressed on his lack of digging deeper.  Okay I will buy that, but then why all the hype in both promos for his show (In Cramer We Trust) and in his show itself, touting his years in the financial world to ”help everyone make money”?

Maybe all of you fall for slogans and catch phrases because you have been subliminally trained by what you watch over the years.  No one wants to do any due diligence or question the experts.  That’s a shame.  We would still be living in a flat world if Columbus did not “question the experts.”

I sent this Email to Jim Cramer on August 2, 2007.  I never got a response but I think I summarized pretty well what was going on then.  And now, we see how it snowballed to what we have today:

JIM

In watching your show as well as Squawk Box in the morning,   I hear many reasons given for the volatility in the market as well as the uncertainty of different segments thinking that there is a recession on the horizon. 

Joe Kernen commenting this morning his disbelief that many (2/3s) of the people are concerned with the economy.  They are because many are not sure of their job status or have already been laid off and have taken lesser jobs. 

You and others at CNBC should look at the issue of UNDEREMPLOYMENT - not unemployment.  Please read some of my articles

http://wistechnology.com/article.php?id=4040 

http://wistechnology.com/article.php?id=4068

Slumping auto sales, numerous foreclosures, increase in consumer credit balances, large state deficits are all inter-related to this. 

Take for example - a project manager at Motorola making $90K in 2001 gets laid off and has not made more than $30K since then in various jobs he has had to take,   He is degreed and has 20-plus years of experience, Multiply this by 1000s of people at Motorola, Lucent and many other companies and you have less spending money, increased credit card balances, shaky mortgage payments and increasing state deficits.  All of this a byproduct of labor dumping in the US.  (H-1Bs) 

And these are degreed people with high skill sets.

They aren't worried about whether or not to buy Caterpillar, Starbucks or Proctor & Gamble anymore, they are more concerned about just trying to hold on to their house because they already re-financed, cut budgets and everything else that they can do.  No one seems to be aware of this segment or they just don't want to comment on it.

Great economy?  As one person said to me yesterday in commenting that some "Experts" predict that we might be going back into a recession   "Going back in?  When did we ever come out of the recession?" 

When watching all the CNBC shows, anyone that does not see this appears to be clueless to those of us that see it firsthand.  There is no graph or government figure for underemployment and that is the real indicator - not unemployment figures,

In the House of Pain?  These people are lucky to keep their house at all.

Best regards,

JIM

Look again at the date it was sent – August 2^nd of 2007.  By then, I had written a couple of articles on the rise in foreclosures.  The first was back in December 2006 (http://www.midwestbusiness.com/news/viewnews.asp?newsletterID=16186 ).  If I could figure all this out back then, why couldn’t the “talent” at CNBC see this?  I also sent it to Larry Kudlow as well a week later on August 9^th,  2007, so it was not just Jim Cramer that did not have a pulse on the economy:

LARRY 

I watch you just about every day and I always thought you had a handle on things.  I sent this last week to your buddy Jim Cramer and I think you should read it too.

Some of you put too much stock into looking at charts instead of talking to real people…..(and it goes on and I attach what I sent Cramer a week ago).

So Larry and Jim who I used to think a lot of, have morphed into the Vince (Sham Wow) and Billy (OxiClean) hosts of CNBC.  I still turn them on when I am looking for some laughs.  Although laughs are really hard to come by when market declines, so far this year, have erased $8.7 trillion in wealth. (http://www.nbcbayarea.com/news/business/Investing-Heres-the-Safe-Option.html )

CARLINI-ISM :  Finance should not be comedy.  When it is, the last laugh’s on you.