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Washington, Not Wall Street, Is in Control
For anyone who takes issue with our increased focus on politics on Mad Money, let me make a few things clear. We are not a partisan show. We don't care about left or right. In fact, if it were up to us, we wouldn't be talking about politics at all.
We'd much rather be directly talking about stocks that work in this environment than talking about Barack Obama's agenda. But we bow to reality and play the hand we're dealt. If you don't like some of the things we've been saying or just wish we'd spend less time on things that seem political, you have to understand that at this moment, Washington is in control, not Wall Street.
As Cramer has said numerous times on the show, as go the banks, so goes the market. And right now the government gets to decide the fate of the banks, everything from Citigroup [C
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], and even Wells Fargo [WFC
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] and JPMorgan Chase [JPM
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]. If they go under or get nationalized, we're stuck in a total rut. If they get better, then Tuesday's rally is for real and the market gets better.
But it all comes down to what the Obama administration does. So far, if you look at the averages, and especially if you look at the performance of the financials, Obama and his team haven't done such a great job. That's not a political statement. It's an empirical statement. Until we get through this crisis and the banks are okay, Washington matters. Get used to it.
For Jim's official response to being called out by the White House press secretary, read here.
Cramer's charitable trust owns JPMorgan Chase and Wells Fargo.
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 Rich and 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.
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