Smith Faculty Opinion Article

By Dr. Peter Morici, Professor of International Business E-MAIL WEB SITE

March 16, 2009

Stewart vs. Cramer

If Stewart were a serious guy—if he were more concerned about serving investors than his ratings—he would track Cramer’s prognostications and compare those to other pundits and services. He would do a complete analysis and tell us how Cramer stacks up.

Stewart, the opportunist, is not about to do that when national attention is to be had so cheaply.

Adjusting for the amount of advice Cramer offers, which is determined by his air time, I don’t know whether he would come out better or worse than others. Since Stewart doesn’t know how Cramer stacks up across all his predictions, he should not be hammering him.

Sadly, Stewart likes to make others the fool—the cruel comedy of the adolescent mind.

Cramer foolishly agreed to debate him on Stewart’s home turf, where Stewart treated him badly.

As for all the CEOs and other corporate officials that appear on CNBC and other networks, we should all know by now they are going to put their best spin on their circumstances. I like that they have opportunities to do so.

It’s a shame we don’t have lamps in studios that turn yellow when speakers are fibbing.
Alas, we live in an imperfect world, but we have our own common sense.

I would hate to see the financial networks stifled, because comedian Stewart is better at self promotion than Cramer is choosing his venue when challenged to a duel by a bully.

Peter Morici is a professor at the University of Maryland School of Business and former Chief Economist at the U.S. International Trade Commission.