Well I actually don't watch CNBC either... but anecdotally, every time I've heard about him really banging the table to buy, it's been near a top. His callers are the really valuable information, because it gives you some insight into the sentiment of the crowd.
For sure... I had some guy come to me with a gold futures position once, he was in a lot of pain so we looked at some charts, perfect head and shoulders and a big decline... the H&S occurred at the same time his broker was telling him to buy... I told him about smart money and dumb money and let him figure out who was which... Aren't there some gains from very short term gains from Cramer's reco's? I've not tried that but I heard an ad where he has a service that alerts you ahead of when he transacts, if it's ahead of when he make the announcements then it might be a good thing... Wall Street is just ruthless on the unwary, just ruthless.. I was reading USA Today article about ponzi schemes today, they pointed out that the buy and hold people are the best victims for those schemes... it sort of makes up for all the times I got s%^t thrown at me by Buy and Holders though
The truth is that 90% of this planet is populated by idiots. Some are more stupid than others, but in general none of them are particularly bright. If the planet was made up of only those people, we would all still be scrounging around for food on the ground, wandering around half-naked hoping not to get eaten by predators. ALL of human advancement has been achieved by the top 10% of us, and most of that by the top 1%, like Einstein, Gallileo, Newton, and others. Pretty much everyone else is just a dumb moron who came along for the ride. Given that, is it all that surprising that most people are buy and holders who are the type to fall for confidence scams and are susceptible to joining cults? How could it be any different? The most annoying thing about stupid people is that they generally have no idea that they are stupid. They pontificate about things they only half understand as though they were fact, they pretend that they are greater than they are, and most of them live in their own little dream worlds where everything is someone else's fault. This is exactly why the market appeals to so many people in the top 10%... because in the rest of your life, especially in the business world, you have to put up with these idiots. You might not like it, but the structure of the system is such that you MUST bullshit and play their games, or you will never get anywhere. Working your way up in the corporate world is pretty much like being trapped in an insane asylum full of morons and having to work your way through these crazy idiots until you get to the top. It can be done, but not unless you have a lot of tolerance. Trading, on the other hand, is the ultimate meritocracy. It has no BS at all. It's just you, your mind, your computer, and no excuses. Losers can't handle this personal responsibility, because it strips them of all of their silly little illusions about themselves. The market is a wonderful mechanism for eliminating self-delusion, because you can't argue with your bank account. This is one of the reasons that so many idiots become buy and holders. They can't admit to themselves that someone can beat the market, because if they admitted that, then they would have to admit that they CAN'T. And that is an admission that most people living in their little dream worlds can't make... so they prefer to just tell you that you are crazy, and go on living in fantasy-land where all short-term market movements are random and the only strategy is to buy and hold until you die. The bottom line is that if you try to explain this to people, they either won't get it, or they will have a bias against believing it. They don't want to believe that anybody can be anything other than mediocre, because that makes them feel a lot better about their own mediocrity. Trying to convince people like that of anything is pretty much pointless, so don't... just go and take their mutual fund money in the market.
Cramer's new book is titled "Getting Back to Even." A very fitting name considering how he has consistently buried people's portfolios.
Cramer appears to be more sensationalism than substance at time. However never underestimate his knowledge of Wall Street. He has more inside contacts than Bernanke.
Cramer is the head bozo at CNBC. However, lets not forget Najarian , Gartman and other various Wall Street disinfo agents the network trots out.
ever notice their disclaimer? something to the effect that whatever he says may have been previously stated (presumably to others prepositioning to benefit from his ranting), and should not be relied upon .... wonder why they're trying to protect the station? hmmm