Apparently Bankers Are Feeling Threatened by Elizabeth Warren
CNBC’s stock market whisperer Jim Cramer went on a mesmerizing rant Tuesday about the threat that Democratic presidential hopeful Elizabeth Warren’s progressive policies pose to Wall Street executives.
“Elizabeth Warren, don’t listen. I favor CEOs,” Cramer said in a segment of the program appropriately titled Squawk on the Street, as if he had just divulged a secret and did not have an entire career built on this exact idea.
“You think it’s positive to have a CEO?” asked his colleague, David Faber, after a beat of awkward silence.
“I think, yeah, I mean…” Cramer said before diving a little deeper into the richest people in the world’s responses to Warren’s candidacy.
“If she becomes president, what do you think is going to happen to the banks?” Faber asked.
“Well that’s not a—it would be a sub-optimal situation for the banks,” Cramer responded.
He continued: “There were these hearings in the ‘30s where they brought rich people in front of Congress and just kind of trashed them.” I think he is probably referencing the Pecora Investigation, when the U.S. Senate Banking Committee conducted hearings to figure out how the 1929 financial crash happened. Seems like a pretty good idea actually! Is Warren taking notes?
Then, Cramer continued: “I’ve got to tell you when you get off the desk and you talk to executives, they’re more fearful of her winning.”
It really says a lot that this guy’s version of authentic shoe-leather reporting is hanging out with the richest people in the world.
Faber added that he had also received intelligence from his sources that Warren was threatening: “By the way, I hear it too, and it’s another reason why companies are being implored to do things now if you want to get done—M&A [editor’s note: this means mergers and acquisitions, i.e. layoffs] or anything—think about doing it soon because come early to mid-2020, if Elizabeth Warren is rolling along, everyone is going to be like ‘that’s it.’”
By the way, if the name Jim Cramer rings a bell for you, it could be because you’ve heard of his many cool books like Stay Mad for Life: Get Rich, Stay Rich, You Got Screwed! Why Wall Street Tanked and How You Can Prosper, and Confessions of a Street Addict.
You may also remember this guy because he told everyone not to sell their holdings in investment bank Bear Stearns on March 11, 2008: “Bear Stearns is fine. Do not take your money out. Bear Stearns is not in trouble. If anything, they’re more likely to be taken over. Don’t move your money from Bear. That’s just being silly. Don’t be silly.”
On March 14, 2008, Bear Stearns collapsed, getting a bailout from J.P. Morgan and the New York Federal Reserve. So yeah, maybe don’t take this guy’s financial advice.