James Joseph Cramer (born February 10, 1955) is an American television personality and author. He is the host of ''

Mad Money ''Mad Money'' is an American finance television program hosted by Jim Cramer that began airing on CNBC on March 14, 2005. Its main focus is investment and speculation, particularly in public company stocks. Cramer defines "mad money" as th ...

'' on

CNBC CNBC (formerly Consumer News and Business Channel) is an American basic cable business news channel. It provides business news programming on weekdays from 5:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m., Eastern Time, while broadcasting talk sho ...

and an anchor on ''

Squawk on the Street ''Squawk on the Street'', which debuted on December 19, 2005, is a business show on CNBC that follows the first 90 minutes of trading on Wall Street in the United States. Originally airing as a one-hour program, the show doubled its airtime t ...

''. A former hedge fund manager, founder, and senior partner of Cramer Berkowitz, Cramer wrote several books, including ''Confessions of a Street Addict'' (2002), ''Jim Cramer's Real Money: Sane Investing in an Insane World'' (2005), ''Jim Cramer's Mad Money: Watch TV, Get Rich'' (2006), and ''Jim Cramer's Get Rich Carefully'' (2013). He co-founded TheStreet.com, which he wrote for from 1996 to 2021. Cramer hosted ''Kudlow & Cramer'' from 2002 to 2005.

Early life

Cramer was born in 1955 in

Wyndmoor, Pennsylvania Wyndmoor is a census-designated place (CDP) in Springfield Township, Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, United States. The population was 5,498 at the 2010 census. Wyndmoor has the same ZIP code, 19038, as the towns of Glenside, North Hills, ...

(a suburb of

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania#Municipalities, largest city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the List of United States cities by population, sixth-largest city i ...

), to Jewish parents. Cramer's mother, Louise A. Cramer (1928–1985), was an artist. Cramer's father, N. Ken Cramer (1922–2014), owned International Packaging Products, a Philadelphia-based company that sold wrapping paper, boxes, and bags to retailers and restaurants. Cramer went to Springfield Township High School in

Montgomery County, Pennsylvania Montgomery County is a County (United States), county in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. It is the List of counties in Pennsylvania, third-most populous county in Pennsylvania and the List of the most populous cou ...

. Among his first jobs, starting sometime in 1971, Cramer sold

Coca-Cola Coca-Cola, or Coke, is a carbonated soft drink manufactured by the Coca-Cola Company. Originally marketed as a temperance drink and intended as a patent medicine, it was invented in the late 19th century by John Stith Pemberton in Atlant ...

and then ice cream at

Veterans Stadium Veterans Stadium was a multi-purpose stadium in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States, at the northeast corner of Broad Street and Pattison Avenue, part of the South Philadelphia Sports Complex. The seating capacities were 65,358 for foo ...

during Philadelphia Phillies games. Cramer first began studying stocks in the fourth grade and continued the habit through high school.

Education and early career

In 1977, Cramer graduated '' magna cum laude'' from

Harvard College Harvard College is the undergraduate college of Harvard University, an Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636, Harvard College is the original school of Harvard University, the oldest institution of higher lea ...

with a

Bachelor of Arts Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four year ...

government A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a state. In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive, and judiciary. Government is ...

. While at Harvard, Cramer was the president and editor-in-chief of ''

The Harvard Crimson ''The Harvard Crimson'' is the student newspaper of Harvard University and was founded in 1873. Run entirely by Harvard College undergraduates, it served for many years as the only daily newspaper in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Beginning in the f ...

''. Additionally, Cramer was a National Merit Scholar. After college, Cramer was an entry-level reporter, making $15,000 per year. Beginning March 1, 1978, Cramer worked for the ''

Tallahassee Democrat The ''Tallahassee Democrat'' is a daily broadsheet newspaper. It covers the area centered on Tallahassee in Leon County, Florida, as well as adjacent Gadsden County, Jefferson County, and Wakulla County. The newspaper is owned by Gannett Co., ...

'' in

Tallahassee, Florida Tallahassee ( ) is the capital city of the U.S. state of Florida. It is the county seat and only incorporated municipality in Leon County. Tallahassee became the capital of Florida, then the Florida Territory, in 1824. In 2020, the populatio ...

, where he was one of the first people to cover the

Ted Bundy Theodore Robert Bundy (Name change, born Cowell; November 24, 1946 – January 24, 1989) was an American serial killer who kidnapped, raped and murdered numerous young women and girls during the 1970s and possibly earlier. After more th ...

murders since he lived only a few blocks away. Then-executive editor Richard Oppel said: " ramerwas like a driving ram. He was great at getting the story." He subsequently worked for the '' Los Angeles Herald-Examiner'' writing obituaries. During this time, his apartment was robbed and he lost everything, forcing him to live out of his car for 9 months. He also worked for Governor of California

Jerry Brown Edmund Gerald Brown Jr. (born April 7, 1938) is an American lawyer, author, and politician who served as the 34th and 39th governor of California from 1975 to 1983 and 2011 to 2019. A member of the Democratic Party, he was elected Secretary of ...

. Cramer was one of the first reporters at ''

American Lawyer ''The American Lawyer'' is a monthly legal magazine and website published by ALM Media. The periodical and its parent company, ALM (then American Lawyer Media), were founded in 1979 by Steven Brill.Juris Doctor degree from Harvard Law School. Cramer started investing in the stock market while he attended law school. He made enough from trading to cover tuition. Cramer began promoting his holdings by leaving stock picks on his answering machine. While at Harvard, alumnus

Michael Kinsley Michael E. Kinsley (born March 9, 1951) is an American political journalist and commentator. Primarily active in print media as both a writer and editor, he also became known to television audiences as a co-host on ''Crossfire''. Early life and e ...

introduced him to ''

The New Republic ''The New Republic'' is an American magazine of commentary on politics, contemporary culture, and the arts. Founded in 1914 by several leaders of the progressive movement, it attempted to find a balance between "a liberalism centered in hu ...

'' owner Martin Peretz, who contacted Cramer to write a book review. After first profiting from the stock picks he heard on Cramer's answering machine, Peretz gave Cramer $500,000 to invest. In two years, Cramer made $150,000 for Peretz. During his years at Harvard Law School, Cramer worked as a minor research assistant for

Alan Dershowitz Alan Morton Dershowitz ( ; born September 1, 1938) is an American lawyer and former law professor known for his work in U.S. constitutional law and American criminal law. From 1964 to 2013, he taught at Harvard Law School, where he was appoin ...

. He assisted Dershowitz's campaign to acquit alleged murderer

Claus von Bülow Claus von Bülow (born Claus Cecil Borberg; 11 August 1926 – 25 May 2019) was a Danish-born British lawyer, consultant and socialite. In 1982, he was convicted of both the attempted murder of his wife Sunny von Bülow (born Martha Sharp ...

even though Cramer believed von Bülow was "supremely guilty."

Career

Goldman Sachs

In 1984, Cramer worked in sales and trading at New York investment bank Goldman Sachs. Cramer was admitted to the New York State Bar in 1985 but did not practice. His license to practice law was suspended on April 2, 2009, for failure to renew his registration.

Hedge fund

In 1987, Cramer left Goldman Sachs and started a

hedge fund A hedge fund is a pooled investment fund that trades in relatively liquid assets and is able to make extensive use of more complex trading, portfolio-construction, and risk management techniques in an attempt to improve performance, such as s ...

, Cramer & Co. (later Cramer, Berkowitz & Co.). The fund operated out of the offices of

Michael Steinhardt Michael H. Steinhardt (born December 7, 1940) is an American billionaire hedge fund manager, philanthropist, and former antiquities collector. In 1967, he founded a hedge fund, Steinhardt Partners which he ran until he closed it in 1995. After a ...

. Early investors included friend and classmate Eliot Spitzer, Steve Brill, and Martin Peretz. Cramer raised $450 million in $5 million increments and received a fee of 20% of the profits he generated. Cramer claims to have sold all of his stocks on the Friday before Black Monday (1987). From 1988 to 2000, Cramer claims to have had only one year of negative returns – 1998, a year when the

S&P 500 Index The Standard and Poor's 500, or simply the S&P 500, is a stock market index tracking the stock performance of 500 large companies listed on stock exchanges in the United States. It is one of the most commonly followed equity indices. As of D ...

rose 29%. The underperformance in 1998 led to significant investor withdrawals. In 1999, the fund returned 47% and in 2000, it returned 28%, beating the S&P 500 by 38 percentage points. Cramer claims to have produced a 24% average annual return over 14 years and "routinely akenhome $10 million a year and more." However, his results have been disputed. In 2001, Cramer retired from managing the hedge fund. The fund was then taken over by his former partner, Jeff Berkowitz.

SmartMoney

Cramer was also an "editor at large" for '' SmartMoney'' magazine and was accused of unethical practices when he made a $2 million personal gain after buying stocks just before his recommendation article was published.

TheStreet.com

In 1996, Cramer and Peretz launched TheStreet.com, a financial news and investment

website A website (also written as a web site) is a collection of web pages and related content that is identified by a common domain name and published on at least one web server. Examples of notable websites are Google, Facebook, Amazon, and Wi ...

. In August 2019, TheMaven acquired the company for $16.5 million.

CNBC

Cramer was a frequent guest commentator on CNBC in the late 1990s. From 2002 to 2005, Cramer co-hosted ''Kudlow & Cramer'' (first called ''America Now'') with

Larry Kudlow Lawrence Alan Kudlow (born August 20, 1947) is an American conservative television personality and financial program host for the Fox network who served as the Director of the National Economic Council during the Trump Administration from 2018 ...

. ''

with Jim Cramer'' first aired on

in 2005. The stated goal of the show is to provide people engaging in do-it-yourself investing with "the knowledge and the tools that will empower you to be a better investor". Cramer is required to disclose any positions he holds in a stock that is discussed on the show and is not allowed to trade any security he has spoken about on CNBC for five days following the broadcast.

Other media appearances

Cramer hosted a one-hour radio show, ''Jim Cramer's Real Money'', until December 2006, which spawned ''

''. On November 13, 2005,

Dan Rather Daniel Irvin Rather Jr. (; born October 31, 1931) is an American journalist, commentator, and former national evening news anchor. Rather began his career in Texas, becoming a national name after his reporting saved thousands of lives during Hur ...

interviewed Cramer on '' 60 Minutes''. Among the topics of discussion was Cramer's past at his hedge fund, including his violent temper. In 2005, Cramer appeared as himself in two episodes of ''

Arrested Development The term "arrested development" has had multiple meanings for over 200 years. In the field of medicine, the term "arrested development" was first used, ''circa'' 1835–1836, to mean a stoppage of physical development; the term continues to be use ...

''. He announced that he had upgraded Bluth Company stock to a "Don't Buy" from a "Triple Sell," and then said that the stock was not a "Don't Buy" anymore, but a "Risky." Cramer has also made appearances on ''

Today Today (archaically to-day) may refer to: * Day of the present, the time that is perceived directly, often called ''now'' * Current era, present * The current calendar date Arts, entertainment, and media Films * ''Today'' (1930 film), a 1930 ...

'', ''

NBC Nightly News ''NBC Nightly News'' (titled as ''NBC Nightly News with Lester Holt'' for its weeknight broadcasts since June 22, 2015) is the flagship daily evening News broadcasting#Television, television news program for NBC News, the news division of the NB ...

'', ''

Live with Regis and Kelly ''Live with Kelly and Ryan'' (or simply ''Live'') is an American syndicated morning talk show hosted by Kelly Ripa and Ryan Seacrest. Executive produced by Michael Gelman, the ''Live with...'' show formula has aired under various hosts since ...

'', '' Cheap Seats'', ''

Late Night with Conan O'Brien ''Late Night with Conan O'Brien'' is an American late-night talk show hosted by Conan O'Brien. NBC aired 2,725 episodes from September 13, 1993, to February 20, 2009. The show featured varied comedic material, celebrity interviews, and music ...

'', ''

The Tonight Show with Jay Leno ''The Tonight Show with Jay Leno'' is an American late-night talk show hosted by Jay Leno that first aired from May 25, 1992, to May 29, 2009. It resumed production on March 1, 2010 and ended on February 6, 2014. The fourth incarnation of the ...

'', '' Late Show with David Letterman'', '' Jimmy Kimmel Live!'' in February 2008 and as a guest judge on '' The Apprentice'' in January 2007 and was interviewed by Jon Stewart on ''

The Daily Show ''The Daily Show'' is an American late-night talk and satirical news television program. It airs each Monday through Thursday on Comedy Central with release shortly after on Paramount+. ''The Daily Show'' draws its comedy and satire form from ...

'' in March 2009 (see Jon Stewart–Jim Cramer conflict). Cramer also appeared in the 2008 motion picture '' Iron Man'' spoofing Stark Industries on his show ''Mad Money'', and he also appeared in the movie '' Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps''. He also claims to have consulted for the original '' Wall Street'' movie by telling the filmmakers how he would get through to Gordon Gekko.

Controversies

Fox News Channel lawsuit

In 2000, Cramer and TheStreet.com settled a lawsuit with Fox News Channel in which Fox had claimed Cramer had reneged on a deal to produce a show for Fox. The conflict began when Fox complained that Cramer promoted TheStreet.com stock on its network.

Admission of market manipulation

In a December 2006 interview, Cramer described activities used by hedge fund managers to manipulate stock prices—some of debatable legality and others illegal. He described how he could push stocks higher or lower with as little as $5 million in capital when he was running his hedge fund. Cramer said, "A lot of times when I was short at my hedge fund ... When I was positioned short—meaning I needed it down—I would create a level of activity beforehand that could drive the

futures Futures may mean: Finance *Futures contract, a tradable financial derivatives contract *Futures exchange, a financial market where futures contracts are traded * ''Futures'' (magazine), an American finance magazine Music * ''Futures'' (album), a ...

." He also encouraged hedge funds to engage in this type of activity because it is "a very quick way to make money." Cramer stated that everything he did was legal, but that illegal activity is common in the hedge fund industry as well. He also stated that some hedge fund managers spread false rumors to drive a stock down: "What's important when you are in that hedge-fund mode is to not do anything remotely truthful because the truth is so against your view, that it's important to create a new truth, to develop a fiction." Cramer described a variety of tactics that hedge fund managers use to affect a stock's price. Cramer said that one strategy to keep a stock price down is to spread false rumors to reporters he described as "the Pisanis of the world", in reference to CNBC correspondent Bob Pisani, whom Cramer insinuated was able to be manipulated, saying "You have to use these guys." He also discussed giving information to "the bozo reporter from ''

The Wall Street Journal ''The Wall Street Journal'' is an American business-focused, international daily newspaper based in New York City, with international editions also available in Chinese and Japanese. The ''Journal'', along with its Asian editions, is published ...

''" to get an article published. Cramer said this practice, although illegal, is easy to do "because the SEC doesn't understand it." During the interview, Cramer referred to himself as a "banking-class hero."

Performance of Cramer's investments

As manager of his hedge fund, Cramer claimed to have realized a "rate of return of 24% after all fees for 15 years" until he retired from the hedge fund in 2001. He self-reported a 36% return in 2000, at the peak of the

dot-com bubble The dot-com bubble (dot-com boom, tech bubble, or the Internet bubble) was a stock market bubble in the late 1990s, a period of massive growth in the use and adoption of the Internet. Between 1995 and its peak in March 2000, the Nasdaq Compo ...

. However, this performance has not been independently verified. In January 2000, close to the peak of the

, Cramer recommended investing in technology stocks and suggested a repeat of the stock performance of 1999. In February 2000, the year in which Cramer claimed to have produced a 36% return, Cramer claimed that there were only 10 stocks he wanted to own and he was buying them every day. These stocks were 724 Solutions,

Ariba SAP Ariba is an American software and information technology services company located in Palo Alto, California. It was acquired by German software maker SAP SE for $4.3 billion in 2012. Company beginnings Ariba (now SAP Ariba) was founded in ...

, Digital Island,

Exodus Communications Exodus Communications, the world's largest web hosting provider at the time, was a data center provider that provided retail and commercial server colocation and was an Internet service provider to dot-com businesses. Exodus went public in 1998 ...

, InfoSpace, Inktomi, Mercury Interactive, Sonera,

VeriSign Verisign Inc. is an American company based in Reston, Virginia, United States that operates a diverse array of network infrastructure, including two of the Internet's thirteen root nameservers, the authoritative registry for the , , and gene ...

, and Veritas Software. He also dismissed the investing strategy of Benjamin Graham and David Dodd and claimed that price–earnings ratios did not matter. All 10 of these stock picks fell in value significantly during 2000 as the

burst, making the 36% reported return during that year questionable. On October 6, 2008, on ''

'', when the

was valued at 1,056, Cramer suggested to investors, "Whatever money you need for the next five years, please take it out of the stock market." Five months later, the market bottomed at 666, a 36.9% decline. Five years after Cramer's sell advice, on October 6, 2013, the

was valued at 1,678, an increase of 58.7%. Cramer was criticized for repeatedly giving erroneous advice during the

Financial crisis of 2007–2008 Finance is the study and discipline of money, currency and capital assets. It is related to, but not synonymous with economics, the study of production, distribution, and consumption of money, assets, goods and services (the discipline of fi ...

. He recommended investing in

Bear Stearns The Bear Stearns Companies, Inc. was a New York-based global investment bank, securities trading and brokerage firm that failed in 2008 as part of the global financial crisis and recession, and was subsequently sold to JPMorgan Chase. The comp ...

, Merrill Lynch,

Morgan Stanley Morgan Stanley is an American multinational investment management and financial services company headquartered at 1585 Broadway in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. With offices in more than 41 countries and more than 75,000 employees, the fir ...

Wachovia Wachovia was a diversified financial services company based in Charlotte, North Carolina. Before its acquisition by Wells Fargo and Company in 2008, Wachovia was the fourth-largest bank holding company in the United States, based on total asset ...

, and

Lehman Brothers Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. ( ) was an American global financial services firm founded in 1847. Before filing for bankruptcy in 2008, Lehman was the fourth-largest investment bank in the United States (behind Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, a ...

before the stocks fell in value significantly and several went out of business. On August 8, 2008, before the climax of the

financial crisis of 2007-2008 Finance is the study and discipline of money, currency and capital assets. It is related to, but not synonymous with economics, the study of production, distribution, and consumption of money, assets, goods and services (the discipline of fi ...

, Cramer recommended investing in bank stocks. An August 20, 2007, article in ''

Barron's Barron's or Barrons may refer to: *Barron's Educational Series, a publisher of books, as well as college entrance exam preparation classes and materials, now an imprint of Kaplan Test Prep ** B.E.S. Publishing, the former owner of Barron's * ''Barr ...

'' stated that "his picks haven't beaten the market. Over the past two years, viewers holding Cramer's stocks would be up 12% while the Dow rose 22% and the S&P 500 16%." A February 9, 2009, article in ''The Wall Street Journal'' noted that betting against Cramer's Buy recommendations using short-term options could yield 25% in a month.

Recommendation regarding Bear Stearns in March 2008

On the March 11, 2008, episode of Cramer's show ''Mad Money'', a viewer named Peter submitted the question "Should I be worried about

in terms of

liquidity Liquidity is a concept in economics involving the convertibility of assets and obligations. It can include: * Market liquidity, the ease with which an asset can be sold * Accounting liquidity, the ability to meet cash obligations when due * Liq ...

and get my money out of there?" Cramer responded "No! No! No! Bear Stearns is not in trouble. If anything, they're more likely to be ''taken over''. Don't move your money from Bear." On March 14, 2008, the stock lost more than half of its value on news of a Fed bailout and $2/share takeover by

JPMorgan Chase JPMorgan Chase & Co. is an American multinational investment bank and financial services holding company headquartered in New York City and incorporated in Delaware. As of 2022, JPMorgan Chase is the largest bank in the United States, the ...

. On March 17, 2008, Cramer claimed his statements were made in regards to the liquidity of accounts held at Bear Stearns as opposed to the stock. Cramer stated he was not recommending the common stock but allaying concerns about the account holder's liquidity held in a Bear Stearns brokerage account. Cramer later wrote about the incident: "I did tell an emailer that his deposit in his account at Bear Stearns was safe, but through a clever sound bite, (Jon) Stewart, and subsequently (Frank) Rich—neither of whom have bothered to listen to the context of the pulled quote—pass off the notion of account safety as an out-and-out buy recommendation. The absurdity astounds me. If you called ''

'' and asked me about Citigroup, I would tell you that the common stock might be worthless, but I would never tell you to pull your money out of the bank because I was worried about its solvency. Your money is safe in Citi as I said it was in Bear. The fact that I was right rankles me even more." An article by author

Michael Lewis Michael Monroe Lewis (born October 15, 1960) Gale Biography In Context. is an American author and financial journalist. He has also been a contributing editor to ''Vanity Fair'' since 2009, writing mostly on business, finance, and economics. He ...

for

Bloomberg News Bloomberg News (originally Bloomberg Business News) is an international news agency headquartered in New York City and a division of Bloomberg L.P. Content produced by Bloomberg News is disseminated through Bloomberg Terminals, Bloomberg Tele ...

states that TheStreet.com listed Bear Stearns as a "Buy" at $62 per share on March 11, 2008, which was the same day as the caller's question and a day before the collapse of Bear Stearns. During the Jon Stewart–Jim Cramer conflict, on ''

'' on March 12, 2009, Cramer admitted he made mistakes on his Bear Stearns calls.

Performance of Action Alerts charitable trust

Cramer claims that, between 2002 and May 2009, the performance of his ''"Action Alerts PLUS"'' charitable trust outpaced the

and the Russell 2000 Index. The charitable trust realized a return of 31.75%, the S&P 500 had a return of 18.75% and the Russell 2000 had a return of 22.51%. On an annual basis, the trust outperformed the S&P 500 by 7.35% and the Russell 2000 Index by 3.33%. Paul Bolster explains that Cramer beats the market in part because of the excess risk in his picks. "If we adjust for his market risk, we come up with an excess return that is essentially zero", Bolster said, adding that "zero", in this case, means his returns are roughly in line with the risk he's taking on. Another criticism of Actions Alerts Plus is that it does not compare itself to indexes that include dividend reinvestment (as the SEC requires for stock-oriented mutual funds). According to Kiplinger's article "One recent ction Alerts PLUSand included a chart, under the headline "Action Alert PLUS is CRUSHING the S&P 500," showing that the picks returned about 39% from the portfolio's inception through last March 31, compared with 15.5% for the S&P 500 over the same nine-year, three-month period. But the S&P figure did not include reinvested dividends. With them, the S&P 500 returned 38.3%." A study done by Wharton researchers Jonathan Hartley and Matthew Olson found that in the timeframe of August 2001 to March 2016, Cramer's charitable trust underperformed the

S&P 500 The Standard and Poor's 500, or simply the S&P 500, is a stock market index tracking the stock performance of 500 large companies listed on stock exchanges in the United States. It is one of the most commonly followed equity indices. As of ...

primarily as a result of underexposure to market returns in years after the 2008 financial crisis. As of March 31, 2016, Cramer's trust since inception had a cumulative return of 64.5% whereas the S&P 500 fewer dividends returned 70% during the same time frame. Wharton finance professor Robert Stambaugh said he didn't think the findings showed significant underperformance or outperformance when adjusting for a variety of factors, but did state "It's a commendable attempt to dig more deeply into the style that underlies Cramer's stock picks."

Criticism of President Obama's policies in March 2009

On March 2, 2009, Cramer said that President

Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II ( ; born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, Obama was the first African-American president of the ...

was on a "radical agenda" and said that was responsible for "the greatest wealth destruction I have seen by a president". In response to a reporter's question, Press Secretary

Robert Gibbs Robert Lane Gibbs (born March 29, 1971) is an American communication professional who served as executive vice president and global chief communications officer of McDonald's from 2015 to 2019 and as the 27th White House Press Secretary from 20 ...

replied, "If you turn on a certain program, it's geared to a very small audience. I'm not entirely sure what he's pointing to make some of the statements......You can go back and look at any number of statements he's made in the past about the economy and wonder where some of the back-ups for those are, too." On March 5, 2009, Cramer responded to the White House, saying, "Backup? Look at the incredible decline in the stock market, in all indices, since the inauguration of the president, with the drop accelerating when the budget plan came to light because of the massive fear and indecision the document sowed: Raising taxes on the eve of what could be a second Great Depression, destroying the profits in healthcare companies, tinkering with the mortgage deduction at a time when U.S. house price depreciation is behind much of the world's morass and certainly the devastation affecting our banks, and pushing an aggressive cap and trade program that could raise the price of energy for millions of people." By the end of Obama's term in office, major stock market indexes had more than doubled from the levels of March 2009.

Subsequent debate with Frank Rich

Referring to March 8, 2009, charges leveled against Cramer by ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...

'' columnist Frank Rich, Cramer said that he does not understand how Obama and his staff plan to raise taxes, institute cap-and-trade limitations, and rework the healthcare system all during a recession. The article says: "It isn't that Cramer disagrees with Obama's vision for the country – he even agrees with taxing the rich – but now is not the time to put those plans into action. The president needs to solve our housing, employment, and financial problems, and only then turn his attention to healthcare and changing the mortgage deduction."

Debate with Jon Stewart in 2009

On March 12, 2009, Cramer appeared on ''The Daily Show with Jon Stewart''. Stewart reiterated earlier claims regarding the CNBC host's "silly and/or embarrassing and/or stupid financial observations." Moreover, he claimed CNBC shirked its journalistic duty by believing corporate lies rather than being an investigative "powerful tool of illumination." Cramer disagreed with Stewart on a few points, but acknowledged that he could have done a better job foreseeing the economic collapse: "We all should have seen it more." Stewart also discussed how short-selling was detrimental to the markets and investors. Cramer admitted to Stewart that short-selling was detrimental, stated his opposition to it, and claimed that he had never engaged in it. This contradicts earlier statements in which he described going short while managing a hedge fund. In a December 2006 interview from TheStreet.com's "Wall Street Confidential" webcast, Cramer said, "A lot of times when I was short at my hedge fund. ... When I was positioned short—meaning I needed it down—I would create a level of activity beforehand that could drive the

." He said, "I will say this: I am trying to expose this stuff, exactly what you guys do, and I've been trying to get the regulators to look at it." However, Stewart played several video clips from 2006 where Cramer discussed the spreading of false rumors to drive down stock prices and encouraged short-selling by hedge funds as a means to generate returns. At one point in a clip from December 22, 2006, he said, "I would encourage anyone in a hedge fund to do it." He called it a very quick way to make money and very satisfying. He continued, "By the way, no one else in the world would ever admit that, but I don't care, and again, I'm not gonna say it on TV." Stewart responded, "I want the Jim Cramer on CNBC to protect me from that Jim Cramer." Cramer again admitted that he could do better and that he should try to change. The interview ended when Stewart pointedly suggested: "Maybe we can remove the 'financial expert' and the 'In Cramer We Trust' and start getting back to fundamentals on the reporting, as well, and I can go back to making fart noises and funny faces." Cramer responded: "I think we make that deal right here".

Criticism of the Federal Reserve in 2007-2008

On August 3, 2007, in what was described a " rant" Cramer made a plea for the

Federal Reserve The Federal Reserve System (often shortened to the Federal Reserve, or simply the Fed) is the central banking system of the United States of America. It was created on December 23, 1913, with the enactment of the Federal Reserve Act, after a ...

to cut interest rates. Cramer said of the Fed Committee, "They're nuts. They know nothing. This is a different kinda market. And the Fed is asleep." When the transcript from the August 7, 2007, meeting of the Federal Reserve Open Markets Committee was subsequently released on August 28, 2007, it showed that Cramer's comments elicited laughter from participants during a comment from Dennis Lockhart, president, and CEO of the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta. "I believe that the correct policy posture is to let the markets work through the changes in risk appetite and pricing that are underway, but the market observations of one of my more strident conversational counterparts—and that is not Jim Cramer aughter��are worth sharing." Cramer was vindicated for his negative outlook when the

and the

Great Recession The Great Recession was a period of marked general decline, i.e. a recession, observed in national economies globally that occurred from late 2007 into 2009. The scale and timing of the recession varied from country to country (see map). At ...

took hold. On ''

Hardball with Chris Matthews ''Hardball with Chris Matthews'' was an American television talk show that was hosted by Chris Matthews. The program premiered on the now-defunct America's Talking network in 1994 (as ''Politics with Chris Matthews'') before moving on CNBC, and t ...

'' on September 19, 2008, Cramer blamed the Federal Reserve for the

United States housing bubble The 2000s United States housing bubble was a real-estate bubble affecting over half of the U.S. states. It was the impetus for the subprime mortgage crisis. Housing prices peaked in early 2006, started to decline in 2006 and 2007, and reac ...

"Inverse Cramer" ETF

In 2022, in response to a long-running series of unrelated humorous comments on betting against Cramer's stock recommendations, ''The Financial Times'' uncovered SEC filings which revealed that Tuttle Capital Management, the same firm behind an ETF which betted against Cathie Wood's ARK funds, had filed to launch two funds with one labeled "LJIM" and the other "IJIM", representing "Long Cramer" (which would bet with all of Cramer's recommendations) and "Inverse Cramer" (betting against everything that Cramer recommended) respectively. The Inverse Cramer ETF listed in its filings that aside from jokes or obviously meritable investment recommendations, in general, the fund would bet against all of Cramer's recommendations both on ''Mad Money'' and Cramer's Twitter feed, and the fund estimates to have a "high turnover rate". The fund gained additional coverage upon Meta Platforms' Q3 2022 earnings miss and Cramer's subsequent apology, which outlined another loss for the company and was seen by some that Cramer's apology was seen as a sign to buy Meta stock. Upon the launch of the fund, prior to Meta's earnings, Cramer responded on Twitter by touting his reputation and claiming the ETF would not last long before stating he wouldn't be making further comments on the company. He apparently reversed this decision, though, and continued to make comments before seemingly reversing course and "welcoming" the fund, though further touting his reputation.

SEC subpoena of journalists in conjunction with its investigation of Gradient Analytics

In February 2006, the

U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is an independent agency of the United States federal government, created in the aftermath of the Wall Street Crash of 1929. The primary purpose of the SEC is to enforce the law against market ...

served subpoenas requesting information from several journalists, including Cramer, in conjunction with allegations of collusion between short-sellers of Overstock.com and Gradient Analytics, a stock research firm. The SEC indicated it had no intention of enforcing the subpoenas after lawyers for Dow Jones objected to the government's demands for communications between journalists and their sources. SEC Chairman Christopher Cox said neither he nor any of the SEC's four other commissioners were aware of the subpoenas, which he called "highly unusual."

Calling House Speaker Nancy Pelosi "Crazy Nancy" during an interview

On September 15, 2020, during a TV interview with US Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, Cramer addressed her as "Crazy Nancy", and then sent several tweets in which he defended his actions. He later apologized for using the phrase, which was also employed frequently by President

Donald Trump Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who served as the 45th president of the United States from 2017 to 2021. Trump graduated from the Wharton School of the University of P ...

. During a discussion about the likelihood of a coronavirus relief bill, Cramer expressed doubt over the deal saying, "I mean, what deal can we have, Crazy Nancy?" He then quickly added "I'm sorry, I—that was the president. I have such reverence for the office, I would never use that term." "But you just did," Pelosi replied.

Personal life

From 1988 to 2009, Cramer was married to Karen Backfisch, with whom he had two children. On April 18, 2015, Cramer married Lisa Cadette Detwiler, a real-estate broker, and general manager of The Longshoreman, an Italian bistro/restaurant in the borough of

Brooklyn Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

in New York City. In a 2013 interview on '' The Carlos Watson Show'' Cramer stated that he dealt with mental health issues surrounding his anger and his workplace behavior, attributing the problem to his childhood experiences with his father. Cramer lives in Summit, New Jersey. He also has a 65-acre estate in the New Jersey countryside and a summer house in

Quogue, New York Quogue () is a village in the Town of Southampton in Suffolk County, on the South Fork of Long Island, in New York, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, the population was 967, down from 1,018 at the 2000 census. Geography Accor ...

, on Long Island. In 2009, Cramer and four other investors purchased the DeBary Inn in Summit, New Jersey. He and his wife also own Bar San Miguel, a restaurant and bar serving Mexican cuisine in

Carroll Gardens, Brooklyn Carroll Gardens is a neighborhood in the northwestern portion of the New York City borough of Brooklyn. Taking up around 40 city blocks, it is bounded by Degraw and Warren Streets (north), Hoyt and Smith Streets (east), Ninth Street or the Gowan ...

. Cramer was one of about 200 candidates for the

Time 100 ''Time'' 100 (often stylized as ''TIME'' 100) is an annual listicle of the 100 most influential people in the world, assembled by the American news magazine ''Time''. First published in 1999 as the result of a debate among American academics, ...

in 2009. Cramer loves Philadelphia and has said the key to an economic resurgence of the city is a high-speed rail connection with New York City. He is a passionate

Philadelphia Eagles The Philadelphia Eagles are a professional American football team based in Philadelphia. The Eagles compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) East division. The team play ...

fan and cried after the team was victorious in

Super Bowl LII Super Bowl LII was an American football game played to determine the champion of the National Football League (NFL) for the 2017 season. The National Football Conference (NFC) champion Philadelphia Eagles defeated the American Football Conferen ...

. He has held season tickets for 20 years and has met former Eagles coach

Doug Pederson Douglas Irvin Pederson (born January 31, 1968) is an American football coach and former quarterback who is the head coach for the Jacksonville Jaguars of the National Football League (NFL). Pederson spent most of his 13-season playing career ...

many times. In December 2021, Cramer announced he tested positive for

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was identified in Wuhan, China, in December 2019. The disease quickly ...

after attending an event that required PCR testing. He said his symptoms were mild due to having two injections of the

Moderna COVID-19 vaccine The Moderna COVID19 vaccine ( INN: elasomeran), sold under the brand name Spikevax, is a COVID-19 vaccine developed by American company Moderna, the United States National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), and the Biomed ...

and a Moderna

booster Booster may refer to: Amusement rides * Booster (Fabbri ride), a pendulum ride * Booster (HUSS ride), an evolution of the Breakdance ride * Booster (KMG ride), a pendulum ride Arts, entertainment, and media Fictional characters * Booster, a cha ...

. His wife was sicker and she received the Johnson & Johnson initial dose and the Moderna booster.

Bibliography

* ''Confessions of a Street Addict'' (2002) * ''You Got Screwed! Why Wall Street Tanked and How You Can Prosper'' (2002) * ''Jim Cramer's Real Money: Sane Investing in an Insane World'' (2005) * ''Jim Cramer's Mad Money: Watch TV, Get Rich'' (2006) * ''Jim Cramer's Stay Mad for Life: Get Rich, Stay Rich (Make Your Kids Even Richer)'' (2007) * ''Jim Cramer's Getting Back to Even'' (2009) * ''Jim Cramer's Get Rich Carefully'' (2013)

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Cramer, Jim 1955 births 20th-century American businesspeople 20th-century American non-fiction writers 21st-century American businesspeople 21st-century American non-fiction writers American business and financial journalists American male journalists American business writers American broadcast news analysts American columnists American finance and investment writers American financial analysts American financial commentators American financial company founders American financiers American hedge fund managers American infotainers American investors American mass media company founders American media executives American money managers American stockbrokers American stock traders American talk radio hosts American technology company founders Businesspeople from Pennsylvania CNBC people Goldman Sachs people The Harvard Crimson people Harvard Law School alumni Jewish American writers Living people New York (state) lawyers People from Springfield Township, Montgomery County, Pennsylvania Writers from Summit, New Jersey Stock and commodity market managers 20th-century American male writers Harvard College alumni 21st-century American male writers 21st-century American Jews

Early life

Education and early career

Career

Goldman Sachs

Hedge fund

SmartMoney

TheStreet.com

CNBC

Other media appearances

Controversies

Fox News Channel lawsuit

Admission of market manipulation

Performance of Cramer's investments

Recommendation regarding Bear Stearns in March 2008

Performance of Action Alerts charitable trust

Criticism of President Obama's policies in March 2009

Subsequent debate with Frank Rich

Debate with Jon Stewart in 2009

Criticism of the Federal Reserve in 2007-2008

"Inverse Cramer" ETF

SEC subpoena of journalists in conjunction with its investigation of Gradient Analytics

Calling House Speaker Nancy Pelosi "Crazy Nancy" during an interview

Personal life

Bibliography

See also

References

External links