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.
“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.”