Of Bears, Bulls and Buffoons
Here's a link to a piece about Nouriel Roubini calling Jim Cramer a buffoon, which would seem to be an unremarkable statement of fact.
Roubini predicted the financial crisis and has been generally accurate in his bearish pronouncements. Cramer's follies have been well documented over the past few months - most brilliantly by Jon Stewart; he seems to be trying to will and coax the stock market into reinflating itself - or perhaps he is trying to will and coax investors into inflating the stock market for him.
What do I mean by that last point?
Cramer and his ilk seem to confuse the stock-market with the economy in general, as though the two are the same thing. Thus, they confuse the health of the market with the health of the economy. But this is surely wrong.
On October 9, 2007 the Dow reached an all-time high of 14,164.53 - one year later, to the day, it closed at 8579.19, having lost 40% of its value during the intervening period. In other words, the Dow had registered its all-time high on the very eve of an economic catastrophe. Bubbles can be wonderful generators of wealth for investors who know when to cash in. But for the rest of us, not so much.
Roubini predicted the financial crisis and has been generally accurate in his bearish pronouncements. Cramer's follies have been well documented over the past few months - most brilliantly by Jon Stewart; he seems to be trying to will and coax the stock market into reinflating itself - or perhaps he is trying to will and coax investors into inflating the stock market for him.
What do I mean by that last point?
Cramer and his ilk seem to confuse the stock-market with the economy in general, as though the two are the same thing. Thus, they confuse the health of the market with the health of the economy. But this is surely wrong.
On October 9, 2007 the Dow reached an all-time high of 14,164.53 - one year later, to the day, it closed at 8579.19, having lost 40% of its value during the intervening period. In other words, the Dow had registered its all-time high on the very eve of an economic catastrophe. Bubbles can be wonderful generators of wealth for investors who know when to cash in. But for the rest of us, not so much.