Cramer v. Stewart: It’s about Responsibility

Jon Stewart is in the same business as Jim Cramer…they create TV ratings. Neither is on a higher moral ground than the other. Stewart’s genre is comedy, and Cramer’s is, at best, infotainment.

Stewart is misguided to think that Cramer is responsible for any of his viewers’ investment demise. Each investor is responsible for his or her own investments. What and when to buy or sell short is up to them, as well as when to offset a position. Putting it on Cramer is endowing him with too much importance. Ratings do not signify importance…they signify popularity. Putting it on Cramer gives away one’s power to be in control of their risk management.

Even if Cramer is winless in his stock picks, he is coming from a good place. IMHO, he is an educator deep down and he may be better suited in an Endowed Chair at a college or university. He’d be a good fundraiser no doubt.

The fact is, there just isn’t that much worth reporting when it comes to stocks – it’s trivial. Furthermore, if one is to follow CNBC’s ethos of “Buy and Hold” no one would need to watch the station day after day unless they were bored and wanted to be entertained. News that is deemed “Breaking News” today, scrolled at the bottom of the screen, loses its magnitude by the next day, nevermind years from now.

If one puts such importance on Cramer, his advice, and CNBC as a whole, it signifies the desparate level of financial literacy we’re at as a nation of investors.