Cramer, Burnett: Iran Election Results Expected; Lesson for Card Check Proponents

Usually when there’s turmoil in the Middle East, you’ll see a spike in the price of oil, but not this time.

On June 15, the first day of trading since the public backlash in Iran began from what many are calling a fraudulent election, the price of oil has actually declined – after a rally over the past few weeks. But as CNBC’s Jim Cramer pointed out on his June 15 “Stop Trading” segment on “Street Signs,” oil is falling because this was expected.

“North Korea, Syria – I mean these are places when they always have elections, there’s always a couple of people who don’t vote for the right guy,” Cramer said. “But I think the price of oil is going to tell you exactly how everything is going to play out in Iran, which is it’s much ado about nothing.”

According to the host of CNBC’s “Mad Money,” the market was expecting a fraudulent election in Iran with Mahmoud Ahmadinejad winning and compared it to the so-called free elections in the former Soviet Union.

“The shock would have been a free election,” Cramer said. “I mean, we always humored ourselves about the Soviet Union having free elections. There’s always a group of people in the country who believe that. They were discredited repeatedly.”

However, as Jim Cramer’s colleague, “Street Signs” host Erin Burnett pointed out – this is a teachable moment. It reflects how secret ballots could end up in an election as to whether or not unionize a company:

CRAMER: I mean obviously, you were able to vote against this guy, but the idea you thought there was going to be a fair count.

BURNETT: And it wasn’t a secret ballot. I think that’s important. They’re going to know – they know everybody and how they voted.

CRAMER: Absolutely.

BURNETT: It makes a strong point for this whole union conversation we’re having in this country.

CRAMER: The card check, the card check.

BURNETT: But, we’ll leave that debate …

 

Card check, or the Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA), is expected to take the center stage in Congress for debate by the end of the year.