I’d always thought he was just a TV loudmouth, but apparently he was a very sucessful hedge fund manager.
What do you guys think of this guy?
Needs to switch to decaf.
I caught him for about a month during the summer when I had cable.
First thought: oh, this is funny. A guy yelling and screaming and wiping his brow over stocks.
2nd: Naturally, a total buffoon. I thought these guys died with the internet bubble.
3rd: Wait a minute. He actually seems to know a lot about these stocks, whether it’s him or a research team. Once you get past the buffoonery, he seems to know what he’s talking about AND he talks about his misses as well as his hits. He goes into fundamentals, and market and world conditions, and even if he’s too bullish, he seems to support it.
And, I must admit, I love his schtick. It seems genuine, and it cracks me up. I thought Dan Rather’s piece on him last night was superficial and shallow, though. There were some aspects of the story I wanted more information on.
“Booya to the tenth power, Jim”
“e to the booya power squared, Detroit.”
I have VERY, very little money in the stock market, and yet I watch “Mad Money” semi-regularly anyway, just because the show is funny and Cramer is often a hoot.
Now, is his act just a put-on? Presumably, yes. I HOPE it is, for his sake, because he’ll die on the air one day soon, if it’s not.
Look, to use a crude analogy, Emeril Lagasse is a serious, successful professional chef. Steve Irwin is a serious, intelligent, educated herpetologist. But when they’re on TV, they know they have to do more than just cook or drily recite facts about reptiles. They have to do something to grab and keep the attention of casual viewers.
So, Emeril yells “BAM,” Irwin yells “Crikey,” and Cramer yells “Booyah!” That part is all show biz, not to be taken seriously. But once you get past the schticks, they’re all very knowledgeable in their fields, and actually have interesting, worthwhile things to say.
If it is, it barely is.
On 60 Minutes last night, he was definitely more subdued in the “interview” atmosphere, but they showed him when he was working at his hedge fund, and he was wound up almost as much as he is on his show.
He also said that his father called him years ago and said, “you know what. . .you’re going to die before me.” That was kind of his wake-up call.
So, I’d say that while he hams it up for the cameras, it’s more of an “exaggeration” of his natural state, than a total put-on.
He said he carries about 2000 stocks “in his head”. Smart guy. He went to Harvard.
From the little experience I’ve had with Wall Street types, Jim Cramer’s on-air performance is not that unusual. And he’s less vulgar than they are in private.