I've just finished watching the Jon Stewart/Jim Cramer meeting, and it was a real eye-opener. As you've probably guessed by now, Stewart dismantled Cramer, humiliated him, his show, his network, and his profession, indeed his entire world and reason for existence. You might expect this, Stewart's a professional comedian, supposedly he is good at it, but the sad part is that Cramer found himself apologizing to Stewart (who was extremely well prepared, not merely glib and articulate) for his shortcomings. He wasn't just out-debated, he practically admitted he was not doing his job as a journalist and that he and his ilk were just boosters for a corrupt industry, and so obsessed by their financial games that they were totally clueless to the story of the century that was materializing under their noses for over a year, and that had root causes in the economy going back almost a decade.

As Stewart put it, "...the CEOs did a Sherman's March through their companies with our 401ks..." and not only Cramer, but the entire financial world missed it until it was too late. And Cramer had little choice but to agree with him. It was sad to watch him squirm, I've always liked the guy, although I've never taken him or his tribe very seriously (not since I heard Louis Ruykeyser yelling "Buy!" and ridiculing the contrarians on the Street for counseling "Sell!" a week before the market crash in '87. But Stewart was right, and even though he remarked that his gripe was not personal, but with CNBC, it is still difficult to see how Cramer can ever work again giving advice on investments. Too bad that cannot be said about the rest of his tribe.

Basically, Stewart's theme was one we've heard before, but just hasn't been very popular for the last few years; that wealth must be earned , it cannot be created by smart manipulations and get rich quick schemes that can be pitched on TV, he characterized the financial press as an infomercial. I would extend that characterization to the entire financial and investment commuity. We may need banks and a stock market, but they play only a small role in the management and regulation of the national economy. The fantasy that these money games and the fraudulent gamesters that play them have any relation to our lives and our prosperity is a criminal scam.

http://www.thedailyshow.com/full-episodes/index.jhtml?episodeId=220533