The Waco Kid v. Motley Fool v. Jon Stewart v. Jim Cramer

The interwebs are buzzing with different takes on the Jon Stewart-Jim Cramer Cable TV Smackdown. Legendary MSM basher Eric Alterman argues that Jon Stewart (single-handed killer of Crossfire) and Steven Colbert (White House Correspondents Dinner) are two of the most influential and important figures in political media, and this makes a third victory for the forces of reason over the idiocy of the MSM.

“Stewart and Colbert have done yeoman work for the rest of us by exposing the thoughtlessness of the punditocracy's perpetual-motion machine, which spins itself silly powered only by hot air.”

Tim Hanson at financial blog Motley Fool dismisses the interview as amateur hackery and accuses Stewart of insinuating that long-term investing doesn't work. He continues:

“Rather than be angry, let's recognize that the stock market, like most human endeavors, is flawed. There will be disasters and blow-ups from time to time, just as there will be bubbles. Let's use this as an opportunity to educate more Americans about how to take control of their finances and ignore the market's manic day-to-day movements. The solution is not to scare Americans into thinking the stock market is some Ponzi scheme controlled by immoral cretins that can never work for them.”

Money issues are not my area of expertise, but I did watch the interview twice, so here goes.

In no way did Jon Stewart say long-term investing does not work. No sane person would say that. He basically said just what the author says: "let's recognize that the stock market, like most human endeavors, is flawed." Stewart also said, "If it's too good to be true, it probably is." Stewart was mostly talking about the financial schemes where they tell you you'll get rich quick, not long term investing. They were talking about his mother who is 75, so there's not much long-term investing there.

Stewart is angry, and the author is right that anger is counterproductive, but a lot of Cramer's comments made it really sound like people behind the scenes knew this stuff was risky and passed it off as easy money, which would obviously make people angry, whether you think it's their own fault or not. Jon Stewart's original argument, that he harped on all week before the interview, was that Santelli is a fucking idiot (which the author admits) and that CNBC "is not good at hard-hitting reporting" (which the author admits).

At a certain point, it's true that it's counterproductive for Stewart to be overly pessimistic about the market. The difference is Jon Stewart is just a comedian and more people care about what CNBC says about the market. So I think it's totally unfair to say Stewart is "scaring Americans into thinking the stock market is some Ponzi scheme," especially when he's having less affect than CNBC. It's also unfair to scold Stewart for being overly pessimistic while giving CNBC a pass for being overly optimistic, especially when way more people care what CNBC says about the market.

Ultimately, this was all for show. Cramer is just an entertainer too, and the whole thing was about ratings. I think it was more substantive than most news only because so much of the news focuses on gossip and stories like "Obama disparaged the Special Olympics" or "John McCain misspoke today." So, it's fair to say Stewart got too angry. But his main argument was the CNBC was giving bad advice, has silly promos like "In Cramer We Trust," and Santelli sounded like an idiot. It's fair to say the argument was trivial, but I disagree that it was counterproductive.

Finally, he was really hard on Cramer, and this recession is not Cramer’s fault, but Stewart did make it clear multiple times that Cramer is kind of a scapegoat and this “feud” between them was manufactured by the media.

IT’S A MAD MAD MAD MAD WORLD

The headline is not a reference to Mad Money or its host, Jim Cramer, who is currently recovering from John Stewart’s righteous-but-justified-pummeling of him last week. It is more a reference to the fact that we are in a Repression and everyone’s yelling and no one seems to have a single valuable idea that I’ve heard. (aside from the PMW Staff and sometimes John Stewart. Murdock, time to post your ideas for tax reform!) No one else seems to have anything important to say, but everyone keeps talking.

HAS THE WHOLE WORLD GONE CRAZY? What is the world coming to when the most reasonable person in the public debate is GEORGE W. BUSH???

Slate’s Dhalia Lithwick explains the stupidity of Meghan McCain and Ann Coulter’s political catfight. Political discourse becomes a Coors Lite commercial! (Can we AT LEAST replace Ann Coulter with Sarah Palin? Much hotter!).

Meanwhile Michael Steele called out Rush Limbaugh, then apologized. WTF? Are the Republicans even trying? Have they given up? Grab some Libertarian economists. Bring out Mike Huckabee with a Republican-who-actually-gives-a-shit-about-working-people plan. DO SOMETHING! Jeez...

So far, the best they’ve come up with is Rep. Connie Mack, from the anti-bailout wing of the GOP. He is demanding that Geithner resign or Obama fire him (and his colleage Chuck Grassley wants AIG execs to either resign or kill themselves!!!) Seriously? Geithner was confirmed less than two months ago! Did you think he would turn things around in two months? Is it his fault that Asshole International Group wasted the bailout the money on wild parties and bonuses? Geithner hasn’t been impressive, but he’s pretty much done what you'd expect someone to do in the first two months of a four year job: NOT MUCH. Frankly, he has not done enough for anyone to assess his job performance in any way.

There’s a reason Obama has consistently had a 60% or so approval rating. It’s not because 60% of America is liberal. It’s because it’s too early to say. For all the crap I give the American public, they are actually smart enough to know that no one really knows anything at this point. All I know is the Democrats are in power, the public is being both smart and fair and Republican political strategy is a hopelessly failure. What’s the world coming to?

ADMIN UPDATE: Sham-less Self-Promotion

Greetings PMW Nation

Things have been a little crazy over here. Our bailout from ShamWOW fell through. I guess you should not trust a product that has the word SHAM in it. The Waco Kid has fallen off the face of the Earth, apparently mired in academic tribulations. We have received word that Goofers has been away on business much of the time, and is so busy that he has barely had time to attend to his vast gun collection. He hopes to make his umpteenth comeback before too long (kudos to anyone who knows the word umpteenth).

We want to recognize the great work of Lance Murdock, who has helped us keep up our posting rate. Also, special thanks to Resident Mathematician Nick for catching our epic math mistake (so many zeroes to keep track of with the stimulus!). The Waco Kid is hanging his head in shame as both his hope of Howard Dean and prediction of Bill Bradley for HHS failed. Turns out Gov. Kathleen Sebelius (D-Obama VP Short List/Kansas) will have that job. Finally, Waco and Murdock have concluded their Blago coverage. There may be a concluding post, but Blago's simply a train wreck and there’s little else to say.

Thanks to all our great readers. Also, thanks to LeVar and Friends in the comment section. You guys are great. As always, send us your guest posts. Even funny pictures or anything. This is a community process, we share everything but the profits! (Still none yet).

One more thing, anyone who has not seen Jon Stewart’s week of tearing CNBC a new one, and his climactic interview with Jim Cramer (who was a humble and fair in the role of Wall Street and CNBC’s fall guy), find it on the interwebs and watch it out now! YouTube or comedycentral.com surely has it.

Cheers for Beers

PMW Staff

And the Walls Came Tumbling Down

History is about to be made. Unfortunately, (or fortunately depending on how you look at it) it is not being done here. Rumors are starting to circulate that William Shatner, yes William Shatner (Captain Kirk himself) is eyeing the top spot in Canada's Government, Prime Minister. A few weeks ago he declined the role of Governor General because he thought he would be more effective in the role of Prime Minister. This is one of those rare cases where the sheer beauty of the world we live in gets thrust into reality and thus becomes a better place.

Prime Minister's Log, Supplemental: The mounties... Began ... to rebel against the orders... I gave. Must... Call in the national guard. Red Alert, eh. The Montana ... hunters ... are approaching the border... Can't ... Quite ... Give the order ... for the retreat ... of the mounties and get them oooot, eh.

Price Line Negotiator: Have you ever wanted a discount on your taxes? Are you tired of national healthcare? PRICE LINE NEGOTIATOR: Ask for 10% off your taxes. Most countries charge a fortune for these services. Canada shops the lowest possible rates so you don't have to and passes on the savings to you the people.

On behalf of all of us, I would like to express my sincere hope and desire that this comes to pass. It would become open season for news outlets who need a new filler to focus on now that Bush is gone. Remember that if this comes to pass, you saw it here first... Unless you happened to read this article. That is all.

-Lance Murdock

Repression: An Economic Brunch

It’s not quite Recession, not quite Depression. We’re in a Repression, an economic brunch. Hear that? We’re going out to brunch! What a wonderful thing for Obama to include in the stimulus package (I’ve had brunch down the street from Obama’s house in Hyde Park!)

A Repression sounds like being in denial and we’re all in denial about the economy anyway. Congressional Democrats were putting things like CONDOMS in the bill, which are good, but not related to the stimulus (of the economy…). Congressional Republicans are blocking the plan without really having a better plan and clearly are in denial about losing more seats in 2010.

Obama is in denial about the fact that his friend/enforcer/chief of staff, Rahm Emmanuel, has failed to provide him with adequate vetting services, or anything worthwhile. Can we just have Rahmbo go on TV and cuss out Bill O’Reilly? That’d be more fun. Per the Fairness Doctrine, he can cuss out Keith Olbermann too. Finally, we all know Blago’s in denial, even as his appointee, Sen. Burris, is being asked to resign.

ERIC HOLDER IS RIGHT! He wins the Cajones Awards. In the tradition of Joe Biden, he bucks the Democratic trend of pussyfooting around the issues. He was also awarded the No Bias No Bull Award by Anchorhottie Campbell Brown.

Just because we elected Obama doesn’t mean we’ve solved all race problems. He didn’t say white people HATE black people, or even that they don’t RESPECT black people. He said they don’t talk about race and they don’t mix with black people. That seems reasonable (and largely very true!)

Conservatives bashed liberals and black people for supporting Obama just cuz he was black, since race shouldn’t matter, and now they’re saying electing him was a historic event of racial reconciliation, which now means race shouldn’t matter. See the pattern? No matter what happens, the Republicans try to avoid talking about race. What’s a word for some who always avoids stuff? Oh yeah...coward!

In fairness, New York Times columnist Charles M. Blow is right as usual. (another decent journalist infiltrated the MSM!) “Cowards” is kind of harsh and divisive, if true.

PMW contacted both Black Republicans regarding Holder’s comments and neither was available for comment.

Admin Update 2009: Recession hits PMW

Greetings PMW Nation!

Time are tough, but now they are really hitting PMW hard. Already running on a shoestring budget, we have struggled to operate with a volunteer workforce. We have tried to recruit more people, but Goofers and Waco have been getting busier and busier. Our Editor Emeritus Viceroy Fizzlebottom has been M.I.A. for months. Despite the fine work of our new editor, Murdock, and a good post by our friend Nick, it looks like we're not gonna make it.

We needed a bailout. We asked Obama for a favor and, once again, he turned us down. Neither Goofers' nor Waco's endorsement meant anything to him! Luckily a more prosperous business has offered to buy us out. Everything here will operate as before, but our new corporate ownership will take on any and all profits from this website (suckers!) From this point forward, we shall be officially known as ShamWow!®-Political Mouthwash.

ShamWOW!®-Political Mouthwash! Works against Democrats AND Republicans.

Easily removes political correctness
Absorbs all bullshit
WILL scratch the surface of any issue (unlike the Mainstream Media)
Lasts ten years (hey, we can last as long as a stupid towel)

RATED #1 by Blog Commenter LeVar Burton! GUARANTEED to distract you at work OR YOUR MONEY BACK. Sorry, creepy guy with headset NOT included.

ShamWOW!®-Political Mouthwash: You’ll Say WOW, that was hilarious AND insightful EVERYTIME!

Thanks always to all our readers!

PMW Staff

GUEST POST: Total Shortfall

A $42 BILLION DEFICIT BROUGHT THEM TOGETHER. NOW THEY WILL HAVE THEIR REVENGE!

Governor Schwarzenegger (R-Hollywood) slashes the state’s budget for state parks and other government programs to make up for the state’s growing debt. It seems like a good move, but it will come back to burn him.

Pretty soon they're gonna cut forest firefighting equipment out of the budget and they won't be able to afford to import any more water and the whole state will be engulfed in flames. The rich Hollywoodites will be donating $10 a bottle VOSS water to the cause, but it'll be no use as the firefighters will have already been laid off.

Arnold will set off to try and arm-wrestle the fire for control of the state, but will only end up army rolling out of his Hummer when he drives it off an enormous washout on the 1, sending the car flying off the cliff and into the ocean.

Mel Gibson will walk over from his heavily modified 1973 Mustang in a leather jacket asking for gas. They'll look across the washout to see their best friend Billy Baldwin setting up a ramp to jump over to them. When he tries to get back into his car he'll be complaining about the door handle being too hot to touch, and despite his friends' cries of protest, Billy will decide to kick in the window so that he can attempt to jump the washout.

But when he does he's hit with a huge backdraft exploding outward catching his leg and shirt on fire. Frantically Billy tries the drop and roll strategy forgetting where he is and rolls right off the cliff. Arnold will let out a guttural scream, tear off his shirt and grab the nearest claymore while Mel will quietly brood and grab the nearest sawed off shotgun. The pair will embark into the depths of the forest fire on a revenge story for the ages.

-Nick