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Posted
Friday, March 13, 2009 11:43 AM
| By
Willa Paskin
I've enjoyed Jon Stewart's skewering of Jim Cramer and CNBC. Up until last night, it had been dead on and hilarious. Last night, it was mostly just dead on. That said, I remain unconvinced that Jim Cramer is the guy, and CNBC the institution, that most needs public chastising at this particular juncture. Stewart himself probably agrees with that, but, nonetheless, here's Jim Cramer, a guy who literally wears a costume (those cuffs must have been cutting off his circulation), on the receiving end of the most unrelenting dressing-down we've had the satisfaction of witnessing. I'm sure Stewart vs. Cramer will be more entertaining than whatever painful courtroom proceedings are in store for Bernie Madoff, and, just by virtue of having taken place, will be more cathartic than cutthroat interrogations of, say, Alan Greenspan or Dick Fuld, but none of that changes the fact that Stewart's attack was basically a show trial, and a pretty meaningless show trial at that. (The Times compared it to a Senate hearing). When are some of the more serious culprits going to be forced, harassed, teased into explaining themselves? Or can we be sated with the sacrifice of a clown like Cramer?
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