He bristled on CNBC that Darryl Issa would use the word "cover-up":
It’s a shameful term. The idea that he can make this completely baseless charge just tells me — you know, we got a little too much democracy in this country.
Far be it for me to defend Darryl Issa, but, as Yves Smith notes over at Naked Capitalism, Bernanke’s involvement in BofA’s acquisition of Merrill looks pretty sketchy:
[T]he Fed began selling out its vaunted independence in the Greenspan era, when the Maestro made nice to the Clinton administration for an unidentified quid pro quo. presumably reappointment as Fed chairman. And Bernanke hasn’t simply been coordinating policy with the Treasury, but has instead acted as an off balance sheet vehicle for the Treasury, enabling it to circumvent budgetary constraints and evade the need for Congressional approval (and oversight too).
BofA CEO Ken Lewis told the NY attorney general’s office that he’d been pressured by Bernanke into going through with the Merrill deal despite the fact that he knew Merrill was going to the dogs and he didn’t want to.
As Tyler Durden notes, Bernanke’s been juggling with knives for years now. It’s sad that Cramer thinks the Masters of the Universe are all-wise financial guardians whose wisdom must not be challenged, but there is a reason that the Federal Reserve Transparency Act has 243 cosponsors, well in excess of the 218 needed for a majority. Nobody trusts what’s going on at the Fed.
Jim Cramer, however, thinks the problem is just too much democracy.
Paging Jon Stewart. . . .
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Also.
Cramer often looks coherent about things when he is compared to Larry Kudlow.
Otherwise, Cramer just looks and sounds like a buffoon.
Is Issa remembering who the president was at the time of the BoA/Merril merger? Probably not.
Who does Cramer think he is, Plato????
(Toga! Toga! Toga!)
Thinking about the talking heads of TV makes me wonder what the plural of ‘doofus” is.
Agree. Cramer is a buffoon. He is part of the circus of the bread and circuses that is the MSM.
I should point out that it is not just Helicopter Ben’s crazy ass policies that need to be examined closely along with the Fed’s books. We need to look at how the Fed has been used by the White House as its own extra-Constitutional piggybank outside the budget-making function of the Congress.
a clock is right twice a day and cramer may be right.
according to cramer and his ilk, america is the “free-est country on earth” because it is the bastion of capitalism.
democracy = capitalism.
more specifically, democracy = corporatism.
there is too much corporatism in this country.
also.
taibbi on goldman sachs and the fed.
http://zerohedge.blogspot.com/…..major.html
Jane,
Thanks for the post. lol! The quote would make a great 4th of July t-shirt !
Jon Stewart’s show is written!
Yeesh…”democracy” is cool and all, but watching that clip does make me think there’s way too freedom of speech in this country.
Hmmm, does that mean Cramer’s a few slices shy of a loaf?
Can we vote him off the island?
Cramer needs to immigrate to China, where economic policy decisions are state secrets, and disclosure of which may be punishable by death. This being said, the thought of rethug pundits ripping Issa, who is a corrupt thug if there ever was one, has a certain appeal to it.
Kudlow is hopeless.
His world is club tennis, (you know, where you tie the arms of your expensive sweater around your neck while playing) and parties in the Hamptons.
Anything that would negatively affect that lifestyle is an affront to the Constitution.
Cramer occasionally has relevant things to say until he froths up and offers unfiltered streams of consciousness that border on insanity.
Kudlow is a living Republic talking point doll.
Thanks for that.
Taibbi has been all over the financial meltdown for months now, and should be a must read for anyone with a sense of humor that wants to better understand the royal screwing we’ve been served up.
I realize this is about the FRTA, but that recent Frontline show tended to point to Goldman Sachs point man at Treasury as the chap who pressured Lewis into the shotgun marriage with Merrill. Lewis agreed to buy within 48 hours of hearing Thane’s offer, without due diligence. He’s not totally blameless for the flamingo up at Nation’s Bank (aka BoA).
Nice to see excellent econoblogs like Naked Capitalism and Tyler Durden’s in the mix of discussion. Now for a little Baseline Scenario…
Of course Jim Cramer would feel this way, because here he is talking about he, his wife, and their buddies would manipulate stocks on the backs of pensioners etc!…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HRa0B34jMOQ
What an asshole he is.
Fixed that for you, Jim.
Proper Latin would be “doofi.”
Me: “Jim Cramer is a fucking moron.”