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Cramer continued his defense of Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke, which started Wednesday afternoon during Stop Trading!, and railed against the congressman who questioned his integrity. The charges are “preposterous,” he said, and the economy is in too tenuous a position for this political theater.
Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee claims that Bernanke not only forced a shotgun wedding of Bank of America [BAC
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] and Merrill Lynch but also that he “deliberately hid concerns and pertinent details” of the merger, Issa said in statement. But Cramer called this all but impossible and described the Fed chief as “completely and utterly incapable of doing what Issa described.”
“Ben Bernanke’s the single most honest and independent man I’ve come across in 30 years on Wall Street,” Cramer said.
Certainly, no one has been a bigger critic of Ben Bernanke than Cramer has. Does the phrase “They know nothing!” ring a bell? Whether it was the delay in cutting interest rates back in August 2007 or the need to buy mortgage bonds, the Mad Money host was never short on criticisms of the central bank.
But Bernanke eventually came around, cutting rates and buying those mortgage-backed bonds in hopes of propping up the economy. He’s done such a good job that Cramer wants him reinstated when the chairman’s term is up in January. But that’s possibility is in danger as a result of Issa’s charges. Unless the congressman retracts his statement, “the man who rescued this market is going to be tarnished.”
“And we need this guy,” Cramer said.
The drama cost us a potential rally after the Fed left interest rates unchanged and issued a positive statement that the recession seems to be easing. Maybe not enough to warrant increasing those rates, but certainly the economy showed signs of improvement. And Oracle’s [ORCL
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] strong quarter on Tuesday catalyzed the market as well. The company reported a return in enterprise business, or corporate IT spending, and that pushed the Nasdaq up 1.55%.
The bottom line, though, is that Cramer sees Bernanke as key to the stability of the market. His steady hand has led us this far, and we need his leadership for a full recovery. Rep. Issa’s charges threaten that.
“Ben Bernanke should be regarded as a hero, not a borderline crook,” Cramer said. “And anything that derails his chances of being reappointed in January as Fed chairman will indeed derail this stock market.”
Cramer's charitable trust owns Bank of America.
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