[quote=Allan from Fallbrook]An overlooked and extremely important fact about Jim Cramer is this: He’s not an investor, he’s a trader, and there’s a huge difference between the two.
He got his start with Goldman Sach’s Sales & Trading desk and then went on to run his own hedge fund. He is not in this for value investing, or investing at all, for that matter.
He’s a profit taker and his experience and background bear this out. The idea that Cramer was somehow hornswoggled with the rest of us is laughable. Read some of his comments about creating market momentum and some of the ploys he used to use from his hedge fund days and then tell me how, exactly, he was duped with the rest of us. He was one of those doing the duping.[/quote]
I think Cramer USED to be one of those doing the duping. But I bet if you looked at his brokerage account statements you’d find that he’s been destroyed in this bear market. Perhaps as much as his viewers, or more. Now, for him maybe that means going from $80 million to $40 million (or whatever), but I bet his accounts have been hit big time. Cramer is an attention-seeking blowhard and I bet – for better or worse (mostly for worse these days) – that he eats a lot of his own cooking. My bet is he’s wealthy enough such that his life is more about ego gratification than money at this point (think “self-actualization” on Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs). This whole episode is a huge embarrassment for him. And I bet he’s lost a boatload of money. (Also, recall that he faces enormous restrictions on his trading as a result of his show and thestreet.com ramblings – so he can’t trade like he used to.)
