Warren Buffet v. Jim Cramer - Sadly, The Latter Is Far More Influential Now

[Median Democrat]

As yesterday's Jon Stewart segment showed, Cramer is a trader, not an investor. The segment Stewart showed where Cramer endorses the idea of buying over-priced stocks in order to play the market, as well as pumping Bear and Steans shortly before it declared bankruptcy, was great. In contrast, as Jim Cramer goes on daily diatribes encouraging people to panic while also railing against Obama, we could consider the conflicting advice given by Warren Buffet, which is receiving little attention in the WSJ and CNBC:

Be fearful when others are greedy. Be greedy when others are fearful.
Warren Buffett

The smarter the journalists are, the better off society is. For to a degree, people read the press to inform themselves-and the better the teacher, the better the student body.
Warren Buffett

A public-opinion poll is no substitute for thought.
Warren Buffett

I don't look to jump over 7-foot bars: I look around for 1-foot bars that I can step over.
Warren Buffett

I never attempt to make money on the stock market. I buy on the assumption that they could close the market the next day and not reopen it for five years.
Warren Buffett

If a business does well, the stock eventually follows.
Warren Buffett

In the business world, the rearview mirror is always clearer than the windshield.
Warren Buffett

It takes 20 years to build a reputation and five minutes to ruin it. If you think about that, you'll do things differently.
Warren Buffett

It's far better to buy a wonderful company at a fair price than a fair company at a wonderful price.
Warren Buffett

Let blockheads read what blockheads wrote.
Warren Buffett

Look at market fluctuations as your friend rather than your enemy; profit from folly rather than participate in it.
Warren Buffett

Of the billionaires I have known, money just brings out the basic traits in them. If they were jerks before they had money, they are simply jerks with a billion dollars.
Warren Buffett

Only buy something that you'd be perfectly happy to hold if the market shut down for 10 years.
Warren Buffett

Only when the tide goes out do you discover who's been swimming naked.
Warren Buffett

Our favorite holding period is forever.
Warren Buffett

Price is what you pay. Value is what you get.
Warren Buffett

Should you find yourself in a chronically leaking boat, energy devoted to changing vessels is likely to be more productive than energy devoted to patching leaks.
Warren Buffett

The business schools reward difficult complex behavior more than simple behavior, but simple behavior is more effective.
Warren Buffett

The investor of today does not profit from yesterday's growth.
Warren Buffett

There seems to be some perverse human characteristic that likes to make easy things difficult.
Warren Buffett

Time is the friend of the wonderful company, the enemy of the mediocre.
Warren Buffett

[alstephenson]

1. K & R for relevance.

What wonderful quotes! Thanks for posting!

[Gabi Hayes]

2. amen...I saw that clip last night, and it was one of the finest bits he's ever done:

really went after Cramer and CNBC, including some monster who he showed asking that Standford guy "do you like being a billionaire," or "what's it like being a billionaire?"

he then tried to decide who deserves more to be in jail: the 'journalist' kissing Stanford's ring, or Stanford himself

highly recommended

Stewart's indignation was palpable

[Median Democrat]

3. WSJ and CNBC Were On The Frontline Cheerleading Bush's Policies...

Now, they are trying to avoid responsibility themselves by trying to pin the results of their mess on the Obama administration by attributing every decline to something Obama said, rather than reports coming in on a daily basis that confirm that economy is a world of hurt. My favorite was CNBC blaming Obama for the DOW sliding on a day that a report came out confirming that the GDP fell by 6 percent in the last quarter of 2008.

Obama was not president in 2008, Bush was. The filth being published by the Murdoch owned WSJ and CNBC is simply fraudulent.

[Gabi Hayes]

4. on now

[Median Democrat]

5. The Amazing Thing Is That Like Rush, Cramer Has A Following Despite His Record

This story notes Cramer's failure to outperform an index fund, which to be fair, is better than politicians following Rush's policy pronouncements:

http://businessandmedia.org/articles/2007/20070820162902.aspx

/snip

With increased volatility in the stock markets, business coverage has been front and center for the major newscasts. But NBC has made an interesting choice of who’s reporting it.

The “NBC Nightly News” can draw from a deep pool of CNBC business reporters, but it has continually featured “Mad Money” host Jim Cramer. Cramer has appeared on the “Nightly News” five times in 2007 and eight times on the “Today” show.

However, analysis in an article in the August 20 Barron’s written by Bill Alpert showed some weaknesses in his expertise as a stock picker in addition to other recent antics.

“Last spring, he was giddily exhorting the Dow Jones Industrial Average toward 15,000, with no troubles in sight. Earlier this month, as the Dow tumbled in the direction of 13,000, he had an on-air meltdown, complete with screaming, sobs and predictions of financial doom,” wrote Alpert.

Beyond Cramer’s infamous meltdown on August 6 and his admission in December 2006 on TheStreet.com (NASDAQ:TSCM), a financial Web site he launched in 1996, of manipulating the press to influence the markets when he was working at a hedge fund, he’s not an all-knowing stock guru.

/snip