CRAMER-COME-LATELY PUTS THE 'BULL' IN BULL MARKET
Written by John Crudele
JIM CRAMER had a big helping of crow for breakfast yesterday.
The loudmouth host of CNBC's "Mad Money" frantically told investors before Wall Street opened yesterday to take their money out of the stock market.
But he forgot to apologize for telling them the exact opposite for the past year - a time when the value of their stockholdings declined by an astounding one-third.
No wonder financial cable network CNBC puts a disclaimer on the screen every time Cramer speaks - which, in essence, is really dissing Cramer since the station wants no part of his predictions.
The former Wall Street hedge fund manager, who is proudly touted by CNBC as one of the sharpest minds on Wall Street, wasn't dressed in a costume like he often is on his own show.
And he even left behind all the silly sound effects when he told host Ann Curry of the "Today" show on sister station NBC that "I thought about this all weekend . . . Whatever money you may need for the next five years, please take it out of the stock market right now, this week."
That's nice, Jim. But you are 12 months too late!
Cramer now seems to believe that the stock market could suffer a 20 percent decline from current prices.
That warning came only after it was obvious from action in foreign financial markets that Wall Street was headed for another rough week. The Dow Jones industrials didn't disappoint, with a drop of 370 points yesterday. It had been down 800 points during the session.
Stock prices are already down 30 percent over the past year - during which time Cramer was the loudest of the stock market's defenders.
Right here at The Post we issued that same warning just weeks before stocks began their descent. And just to reinforce that - correct - view, we again alerted readers to market dangers right before all hell broke loose in the banking system last month.
No disclaimer.
Cramer is probably best known for his impassioned on-air plea last August for the Federal Reserve to start cutting interest rates. The Fed did cut rates. And Cramer came off as some sort of hero on the air, although the Fed was really acting at the behest of a White House whose party was seeking re-election.
But if Cramer wants some credit for starting the rate cuts, he can have it. The move was an utter failure and interest rates to people like home buyers have risen even as the Fed was supposedly reducing borrowing costs.
Cramer's stock market calls have been spoofed in YouTube videos and are fodder for bloggers.
"Lest we forget," wrote one blogger, "Cramer announced the end of the housing crisis some time ago (I've got street creds, he said). He also predicted 14,500 for the Dow in '07. The man is a shameless advertisement for his own products, books, TV show, etc."
Wrote another: "I have studied Jim Cramer's main recommendations for one year. Conclusion: He is absolutely the best contrarian indicator I have come across in over 25 years of investing."
In other words, bet against Cramer.
