Once again, someone has squared off against one of CNBC's star personalities, and this time it's a liberal economist taking aim at the old standby, "Mad Money" host Jim Cramer.
An April 8 Associated Press story reported that, on the heels of "The Daily Show" host Jon Stewart taking Cramer "to task for trying to turn finance reporting into a game," New York University Professor and Huffington Post contributor Nouriel Roubini blasted Cramer in an interview. Predictably, Cramer responded.
"Cramer is a buffoon," Roubini said to the AP. "He was one of those who called six times in a row for this bear market rally to be a bull market rally and he got it wrong. And after all this mess and Jon Stewart he should just shut up because he has no shame."
As the AP story by Rob Gillies pointed out, Cramer recently wrote on his blog that Roubini is "intoxicated" with his own "prescience and vision." Cramer has repeatedly lashed out at the gloomy economist on his TV show, "Mad Money" and disagrees with the belief there is more market pain to come.
"I think we cannot get too negative here after what your statistics show," Cramer said to Mark Haines on CNBC's April 8 "Squawk on the Street," where he was promoting his 1,000th "Mad Money" episode.
And that's where Cramer responded Roubini's remarks to AP. He invited the New York University professor to appear on his show and defended his assertion that the rally started when the financial markets reached their lows earlier this year.
"Well, we got that guy Nouriel Roubini and he attacked me today, which I regard as a great badge of honor. As all my attackers," Cramer said directly to Roubini, "I always welcome you on ‘Mad Money.'"
He then told Haines, "I think we are not going to see that level again. I know that you could have an Art Hogan situation because I've now stuck my neck out. But, I do believe at that level, below 7,000 on the Dow, 650 on the S&P - buyers will come in because it was such a voracious rally. You can't afford to miss it this time."
