Cramer gets grilled

Recently Jon Stewart has been vocally criticizing CNBC in their part in this economic meltdown, and unfortunately Mad Money host Jim Cramer has become the unofficial spokesperson of the network. He appears on The Daily Show for an interview. Even the W.H. Press Secretary Robert Gibbs announces how he enjoyed the grilling.

I won't debate that CNBC could've done a better job with journalistic research, but I think too much blame has been put on the network. And I am sure that CNBC had either guests or other anchors/reports who's brought up contrarian views based on company fundamentals, and that Stewart's team probably picked only old clips it could use against Cramer et. al. The bottom line is that the stock market is the world's largest casino! Play at your own risk. Just like a casino, corporations aren't going to tell you how to beat the "house"... Many of these Wall Street CEOs outright lied to reporters and journalists, and unless you're an investigative reporter, you're not going to dig deep into their corporations to find dirt about their balance sheets and whatnot.

In addition, Mad Money is always prefaced with a disclaimer telling viewers to conduct their own research and that Cramer's opinions are his own. So why beat up on Cramer about it? He should be regarded as a TV entertainer foremost.

Stewart and his producers know that some folks despise Wall Street and its allies during these difficult times, and that picking on CNBC and the like would certainly bump up ratings. Really, there's nothing to see here.

Cramer unloads on the White House

Uh oh, I think the White House, especially Press Secretary Robert Gibbs, is going to regret ever picking on Rush Limbaugh and Jim Cramer. In his latest column, Cramer gives the W.H. a piece of his mind, even disclosing that he'd previously contributed to the Democratic Party and had voted for Obama. Now he's a vocal critic of Obama and his economic policies, and it's not pretty...

Gibbs vs. Cramer

W.H. Press Secretary Robert Gibbs seems to be getting more and more questions about TV personalities dissing the President's economic policies. The latest comes from CNBC's Mad Money host Jim Cramer where he calls Obama's budget plan "the greatest wealth destruction I've seen by a president."

Ouch. The capitalists at CNBC seems to be getting on the White House's nerves lately. Just a few weeks ago it was Rick Santelli, surrounded by traders on the floor, who blasted Obama's mortgage rescue plan.

And how does Gibbs spin Cramer's criticism? Says Gibbs:

If you turn on a certain program it's geared to a very small audience. No offense to my good friends, or friend at CNBC. But the President has to look out for the broader economy and the broader population.

Jim Cramer has a very small audience? What comes out of Cramer's mouth can move markets. Well, I guess Obama has the same influence as it seems everytime he opens his mouth, the Dow dips a few hundred points...

Is turmoil caused by financial terrorism?

The Dow was up 240 points before opening, then lingered between 100 and -100, then finally surged 400 points on news that the U.K. temporarily banned short-selling. Following suit, the SEC may also enforce such a ban as early as Friday morning.

Short sellers are getting a bad rap these days. It's perfectly legal to bet against a stock, but it's illegal if rumors and misinformation are spread to manipulate a stock's price. Some people have even gone as far as to call these short sellers unpatriotic in betting against American investment pillars like Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs in a time of market upheaval.

Others are also joining forces to discourage, if not stop, short selling. New York A.G. Andrew Cuomo will investigate into whether there were any illegal activities to influence stock prices of financial companies. Several mammoth pension funds -- California State Teachers' Retirement System and the New York State Common Retirement Fund -- ceased to lend shares for short sales.

Jim Cramer even speculated on "financial terrorism" -- people out there who want to weaken America by bringing capitalism to its knees.

The ban on short selling is controversial. Is it really fair? Why not also ban long buying? Just stop all trading completely for a few days then. Are short sellers being singled out and punished unreasonably? Well, the next few days would be interesting. If the market continues a downward spiral even after this ban, then we'll all find out the problem is really deeper than short sellers. But right now the ban is welcomed news to investors, CEOs, and regulators.