I know we've spent every night talking about the Paulson bailout plan (or Invest In America Plan as we call it) ever since the rumors about it started last week, but to be fair, we've actually been talking about this plan, or something like it for months. Ever since March, if not earlier, Jim's been calling for the government to buy mortgages and mortgage-backed paper, and starting around July 16 he called for the creation of a Mortgage Resolution Trust almost every show. If we were the kind of egomaniacal people who demanded credit for every idea we pushed that eventually got adopted or at least proposed, we wouldn't have room for anything else on the show.
But just to be clear, this has been on your TV screen for months, and it should've been on someone's radar. Jim is a cable TV host and he's been pushing a plan similar to Paulson's for months, but Congress was blindsided by this? Come on. So for people who act like Paulson's plan came out of nowhere, even though we've been suggesting the government do this for months, come on! If there's any fault, it's with the administration for waiting so long before putting this plan forward. Lehman and AIG had to go down, not to mention Fannie and Freddie before they were scared enough to realize that, yes, we have a big, systemic problem.
Funny that an administration so sold on preemptive war has been so incapable of taking preemptive action when it comes to the economy.
Cliff Mason is the Senior Writer of CNBC's Mad Money w/Jim Cramer, and has been that program's primary writer, in cooperation with and under the supervision of Jim Cramer, since he began at CNBC as an intern during the summer of 2005. Mason was the author of a column at TheStreet.com during 2007, which he describes as "hilarious, if short-lived." He graduated from Harvard College in 2007. It was at Harvard that Mason learned to multi-task, mastering the art of seeming to pay attention to professors while writing scripts for Mad Money. Mason has co-written two books with Jim Cramer: Jim Cramer's Mad Money: Watch TV, Get Richand Stay Mad For Life: Get Rich, Stay Rich (Make Your Kids Even Richer). He is 100% responsible for any parts of either book that you did not like.
Mason has also had a fruitful relationship with Jim Cramer as his nephew for the last 23 years and will hopefully continue to hold that position for many more as long as he doesn't do anything to get himself kicked out of the family.
Questions for Cramer? madmoney@cnbc.com
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