With all the populist sentiment generated from the economic slowdown by politicians, CNBC "Mad Money" host Jim Cramer is seeing eerie similarities with the comments of President Barack Obama and the words of a communist revolutionary.
Cramer, appearing on MSNBC's Feb. 2 "Morning Joe," drew comparisons between remarks between the first head of the Soviet Union, Vladimir Lenin, and Obama. Obama criticized Wall Street's moneymaking on Jan. 30, when he said there would be a time "for them to make profits, and there will be time for them to get bonuses. Now's not that time. And that's a message that I intend to send directly to them."
Cramer said that was similar to Lenin's writings. "Let me tell you something, we heard Lenin," Cramer said. "There was a little snippet last week that was, ‘Now is not the time for profits.' Look - in Lenin's book, ‘What Is to Be Done?' is simple text of what I always though was for the communists, it was remarkable to hear very similar language from ‘What Is to Be Done?' which is we have no place for profits."
According to Cramer, China, which is the United States' largest debt holder - about $682 billion - is currently faring better with capitalism, even though that government has operated communism for the last half century.
"Thank heavens for the Chinese communists, deeply rooted in a profit government," Cramer said. "Because we have decided that profits have no place in the system."
Cramer wasn't sure what phase of the teaching of Lenin the United States was heading, but he narrowed it down to two.
"It's the time for nationalization, and I'll say this," Cramer said. "Either the new economic policy Lenin, or it's the initial storm-the-winter palace Lenin. I'm not quite sure yet. It's a mid-'20s situation. It could go either way."
"Morning Joe" host Joe Scarborough asked Cramer about the $100 billion in tax cuts given to people who don't pay taxes and how close that was to socialism. "This is as close to unprecedented of a total all-out socialist bill as I've ever seen in my life," Scarborough said.
"They pretend to work, we pretend to pay," Cramer replied. "I think that the real issue here is that socialism was always pretty good for creating jobs. I felt there were other forms of economy that actually confiscated jobs and socialism would be a real step-up from what we're [at] here."
Cramer hasn't been afraid to play the socialism/communism card when attacking politicians. In November 2007, he called New York State Attorney General Andrew Cuomo a "communist" for being in his attacks on now-failed mortgage lender Washington Mutual.
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Mon, 02/02/2009 - 16:26 ET by east tennessee johnWhy doesn't someone ask Sgt. Schultz when and if he's ever read a book about market capitalism that wasn't a critique? If not the time for profits, how can it be the time for taxes since taxes are paid from profit, at least currently. Economic moron. If taxes aren't being paid from profit, where oh where will the money come to pay them ? Maybe the government will own the means of production and distribution and Barack , who's gonna send us a check, will determine how much we get. Swell. Sounds like freedom to me.
Because we're all Keynesians now.
Tue, 02/03/2009 - 09:33 ET by JohnMcGrewNow that they've realized that it's not possible to tax as they've dreamed anymore, they're just going to spend and spend with printed money. The "taxes" will be extracted from us all through inflation.
The only upside to this is that all of the people who the Democrats have been removing from having any income tax liability will be taxed anyway, and at a higher regressive rate as well.
Plenty of people have been
Mon, 02/02/2009 - 16:34 ET by MrSnugglesPlenty of people have been saying it for a long time, Obama is a communist. Will anything stop this country from becoming the USSA?
Wait until Obama starts
Mon, 02/02/2009 - 16:41 ET by ThisnThatWait until Obama starts appointing judges. And the Republicans approve them. That's the most scary part.
___________________________________
The challenge is to follow a consistent plan despite inconsistent prices - Sarah Palin, State of the State of Alaska speech
TnT... Exactly...and
Mon, 02/02/2009 - 16:51 ET by bigtimerTnT...
Exactly...and these leftist activist judges that get crammed through will have an effect on all of us one way or the other for decades.
That is what I meant in my last line below....if it isn't too late already or some-such.
As far as I am concerned
Mon, 02/02/2009 - 16:38 ET by bigtimerAs far as I am concerned Cramer is a mad little leftist nut-case.
I wished he would just disappear.
God help this country...we are needing it.
I hope people wake up...and soon, before it's too late...if it isn't already.
Cramer is not much of a
Mon, 02/02/2009 - 16:49 ET by jdhawkCramer is not much of a stock picker, but his tirades occassionally hit the mark. On 3 August 2007, Cramer did his, "They know nothing," tirade on CNBC (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rOVXh4xM-Ww) regarding the lack of the Federal Reserve to lower the fed fund rate fast enough to stave off the credit crisis. It was a tirade heard all over Wall Street and apparently in D.C. as well as the fed rolled back rates 50 basis points that September and another 50 basis points total over October and December of 2007.
It would be terrific if this tirade, which was right on the mark, has as significant an impact as the above. More likely, NBC will never have him on one of their "news" shows again and cancel his nightly show. Time will tell . . .
I don't mean to hog the
Mon, 02/02/2009 - 16:55 ET by jdhawkI don't mean to hog the blog, but I thought this might be relevant:
From a teacher in the Nashville area.
Who worries about "the cow" when it is all about the "Ice Cream?
The most eye-opening civics lesson I ever had was while teaching third grade this year.
The presidential election was heating up and some of the children showed an interest.
I decided we would have an election for a class president.
We would choose our nominees. They would make a campaign speech and the class would vote.
To simplify the process, candidates were nominated by other class members.
We discussed what kinds of characteristics these students should have.
We got many nominations; and from those, Jamie and Olivia were picked to run for the top spot.
The class had done a great job in their selections.
Both candidates were good kids. I thought Jamie might have an advantage because he got lots of parental support.
I had never seen Olivia's mother.
The day arrived when they were to make their speeches; Jamie went first.
He had specific ideas about how to make our class a better place. He ended by promising to do his very best.
Everyone applauded. He sat down and Olivia came to the podium. Her speech was concise.
She said, "If you will vote for me, I will give you ice cream." She sat down.
The class went wild. "Yes! Yes! We want ice cream." She surely could say more. She did not have to.
A discussion followed. How did she plan to pay for the ice cream? She wasn't sure.
Would her parents buy it or would the class pay for it? She didn't know.
The class really didn't care. All they were thinking about was ice cream.
Jamie was forgotten.
Olivia won by a landslide.
Every time Barack Obama opened his mouth, he offered ice cream, and fifty-two percent of the people reacted like nine
year olds. They want ice cream.
The other forty-eight percent of us know we're going to have to feed the cow and clean up the mess.
Cute example. So much of
Mon, 02/02/2009 - 21:59 ET by ThatDudeCute example. So much of politics in America runs on this kind of logic. Offering something the people want will win support. It's hard to win if you say you'll make ice cream available when your opponent declares that he'll give them out for free. The means with which it will be accomplished doesn't even register for many. If it means taking from another to fulfill the right one feels has been invoked, then all the better because it works on their envy.
Pretty cool guy...I can
Mon, 02/02/2009 - 17:00 ET by RR GOPPretty cool guy...I can only hope to be his roomie when we're at FEMA Camp #4 together.
One of the 24% who thinks George W. Bush was a great President. One of the 89% who wants to bring back the stock and pillory.
Yet Congress....
Mon, 02/02/2009 - 17:25 ET by Prester John...can collect it's automatic pay raise.
Cramer is usually off his rocker
Mon, 02/02/2009 - 17:44 ET by R D HelmBut every once in a while he hits it.
He hit this one clear out of the park.
-Dave
Our clueless political leaders are about to drive us all over a cliff. The time to HITM is now-before we go over.
Kramer
Mon, 02/02/2009 - 17:55 ET by jdubyaSaid Kramer: "I think that the real issue here is that socialism was always pretty good for creating jobs. I felt there were other forms of economy that actually confiscated jobs and socialism would be a real step-up from what we're [at] here."
Socialism does not create jobs. It takes jobs from the free market or, even worse, recreates jobs that would have been phased out.
I cannot believe this guy actually believes this is true, unless this is cherry picked from the actual conversation (which I have no desire to follow up on because I think this guy is a hack).
So when the entire economy is under Barakus Neptunius Horrendus and we need to give other people jobs, would he sanction removal of the automated machinery just to give some slob a job screwing caps onto tooth paste tubes? I wonder what the pay would be for that position?
I guess it depends on:
1. What political party you are registered under.
2. What union you are a member of.
3. How long you have been in that union.
4. How many of your family/friends/neighbors you were able to get into a union.
5. How many of your family/friends/neighbors you were able to turn over to the authorities for not meeting any of the above criteria.
After hearing him zig and
Mon, 02/02/2009 - 18:11 ET by Chris NormanAfter hearing him zig and zag from liberal to conservative and back again, I've come to the conclusion that Kramer suffers from a form of bipolarism called bipoliticalism.
The "Mainstream" Media: By liberals. For liberals.
That makes perfect sense
Tue, 02/03/2009 - 09:35 ET by JohnMcGrewKramer, in fact, was an Obama supporter. More buyers remorse?