What I'm Reading -- Jim Cramer's Stay Mad For Life

So I graduated from Law School last Friday, which is relevant to this blog because it should allow me to do two things in the next few months: Blog more and read more. Reading for pleasure is something I love but something that during law school, I never really found time to do as much as I wanted. And given I own a library of books just waiting to be read, I plan to take advantage of my extra time. But, given that it's Christmas Night, and I graduated only four days ago and I'm already back in Ann Arbor for my Bar Review classes which start tomorrow at 9:00 a.m., maybe I shouldn't speak too soon.

I did take advantage of my short break and already read one book, by my good buddy pal (as he likes to say) Jim Cramer. Cramer has written a number of books over the years, and his first, Confessions of a Street Addict, a biography of his time as a multi-million dollar hedge fund manager, is probably his best. For anybody interested in the stock market, or for anyone who watches Cramer's shtick on CNBC each day and is curious about whether Cramer's really that crazy (answer: even more so in real life, and proud of it) that book is for you.

His latest book, currently high up on the New York Times Best Seller list, is unlike his other books. It's not a biography, and it's not a book about stock trading (like his other two tomes). Titled "Stay Mad For Life: Get Rich, Stay Rich, and Make Your Kids Even Richer" the book is not aimed at stock junkies. Instead, it's aimed at the everyman, breaking down everything from 401K and IRA plans to 527 plans to save money for college to, yes, stocks and bonds and mutual funds, and what you should invest in at every stage of your life, from 18 to 81 and beyond. Everything is explained in easy-to-understand language, and it's peppered with typical Cramer-isms and the wit you'd expect from a somewhat crazy, high-strung, completely entertaining multi-millionaire television personality.

I still have another of Cramer's books to read, but this volume was well worth the two days it took me to go through it. I learned a lot about the basics of investing, and when combined with all of the lessons my grandfather has taught me over the years (he started me with investing in the stock market when I was a kid, buying one or two shares of companies like Topps Trading Cards and Electronic Arts, a tactic Cramer recommends in his book to get kids interested in investing) I have a lot to build on. Whether you are retiring or are just starting out, this book will help you, not just increase your knowledge about the markets, but even maybe make some money. And what else could you ask for?

Morning Joe Discusses Fox Business "Peacock Hunting" Stunt

As has been covered extensively by media outlets and news blogs across the web, Fox launched the Fox Business Network (or is it just Fox Business? They seemingly dropped the "Channel" from their name just prior to lift-off) yesterday in an effort to revolutionize the covering of the business world just as Fox successfully revolutionized and took over the cable news network with the incredibly successful Fox News Channel. I wasn't able to check out the first day's coverage (FBN is not offered, yet, on my local cable network) but until they sign up Erin Burnett and/or Jim Cramer (the two CNBCers I watch most) they probably won't be getting my business.

Yesterday, as part of their launch, Fox Business began the day with a "shot across the bow" to CNBC, a playful stand-up by one of their news reporters in Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey, where CNBC is located. Saying she was "peacock hunting" (the mascot of NBC) the reporter joked around about reporting on Wall Street from such a distant location. It was obviously tongue-in-cheek (as was Jim Cramer's response on Street Signs later that afternoon which was also a playful shove, not an "on air outburst" as blogger Ian Schwartz claimed). Sophomoric? Maybe. But, it was probably something that got the Fox faithful pumped up on their first day.

This morning, on MSNBC's Morning Joe, host Joe Scarborough attacked the Fox Business stunt, calling the people behind it "dorks" and "goobers" and saying that while Fox News filled a void in cable news, allowing it to become a huge success, there is no similar void in business news, and CNBC's brand will allow it to maintain its edge over its new rival. The video of Joe's discussion of the stunt, and the start of FBN, is below.

'Morning Joe' Scarborough Attacks News Corp on CNBC Story

Joe Scarborough on his MSNBC morning show, 'Morning Joe,' took a shot at Fox News and its parent company, News Corp, this morning, for, as he put it, "ginning up a story" in the New York Post regarding a rivalry between CNBC anchors Maria Bartiromo, Erin Burnett, and the rest of CNBC's female anchor staff.

For those unfamiliar, the Post, over the past few months, has continuously written about a supposed "feud" between CNBC's top female anchor, Bartiromo, and its upcoming and quickly rising "international superstar" (as Scarborough calls her each day during her segment on Morning Joe), Burnett. I've written about these stories before but The New York Post upped the ante earlier this week when it claimed not just Burnett and Bartiromo were fighting, but dissension went far deeper at CNBC.

A source says reporters including sexy blonde Melissa Francis, who covers energy, have complained to CNBC suits that while they get zip, Bartiromo and Burnett are treated like princesses - with massive promotion, regular gigs on the "Today" show and "NBC Nightly News," perks such as limos and gushing quotes from network brass in newspaper articles.

"The catfight that started with Maria being jealous of Erin's rise has spread down the line. Now all of the other female reporters are getting p - - - ed off," our insider said.

"They're going to management and telling them they want equal treatment - better public relations, better placement on the air. They are all being divas now. It's gotten ridiculous."

So what was so suspicious in the eyes of Scarborough? The New York Post is owned by News Corp, which owns the cable network Fox News (which not coincidentally was promoting the story and the supposed feud on its airwaves) and is soon to own its own Fox Business Channel. So who has the most to gain by creating dissension within the ranks of CNBC? News Corp, who hopes to poach as much of CNBC's talent as possible for its new business cable channel.

If Joe is right, it's scary that sources that people use, or try to use, to get legitimate news, may be used to manipulate the news. And as Time.com's Ana Marie Cox brought up on Morning Joe discussing this topic, imagine what will happen, and how much power News Corp will have, once they start controlling the Wall Street Journal where they can really give legitimacy to these kinds of stories. Paranoia? Maybe. Probably even. But, maybe not.

This is Why I Love Jim Cramer

I'm a big fan of CNBC's Jim Cramer. Yes, he's loud, obnoxious, and a caricature of a person. But, if you read his autobiography, Confessions of a Street Addict, you'll find he's also very intelligent, thoughtful, and successful. And a self-described nutcase. Well, unhappy with the recent tumble of the stock market, Cramer went on a significant rant while on Street Signs with the great Erin Burnett. If this isn't "must see TV," I don't know what is.

The market today is up some 200 points, and Cramer is a bit more calm and collected. You can watch his calm response to Friday's tirade at TheStreet.com

Erin Burnett versus Maria Bartiromo, Take Two

Looks like I was a few months early writing about the friendly (or maybe not so friendly) rivalry between CNBC anchors Erin Burnett and Maria Bartiromo. Noticing back in March, when I was on a massive CNBC kick, how great Burnett was hosting her afternoon show Street Signs, I wrote about how underrated Burnett was compared to her colleague Maria Bartiromo. But, now, just four months later, after being profiled on Portfolio.com (a story in which this blog was quoted), Broadcasting and Cable and in the New York Post (which dubbed her the 'Street Sweetie'), Burnett certainly is "rated" these days.

Burnett has exploded on the scene to such an extent, apparently Bartiromo is none too pleased. Watching Morning Joe tonight (as I wrote last week, I tend to watch Morning Joe, at least the third hour which I miss while driving into work, at night) host Joe Scarborough, who has Burnett on each morning around 8:20, talked about another New York Post story which details Bartiromo's displeasure with Burnett's rise.

An inside source tells Page Six the Money Honey has been fuming that curvy Burnett, in addition to her duties as anchor of "Street Signs" and co-anchor of "Squawk on the Street," is getting substantial airtime on the "Today" show, which gives her a much bigger audience. "Maria is like, hey, why isn't it me on the 'Today' show? She's very jealous of all the attention Erin is getting," our source said.

Burnett's star is certainly skyrocketing. Broadcast & Cable magazine called the petite, blue-eyed brunette CNBC's "secret weapon" in its upcoming battle with the soon-to-launch Fox Business Channel, which is owned by News Corp., The Post's parent. Adding insult to injury, the trade journal quoted CNBC senior VP Jonathan Wald as gushing about Burnett, "She's a natural. She's both energetic and solicitous, but she never appears fawning."

While there may be some feathers ruffled over at CNBC, as I'm sure there are at most networks when a new anchor is quickly rising up the charts, I think Burnett's success has as much to do with her on-air demeanor as it does her looks as the Post implies. While newspapers may like to refer to her as "Sweet Sweetie" and "curvy,", and there's no doubt Burnett is very beautiful, it is Burnett's ability to interact with her guests and co-hosts, and a certain genuineness which is at the root of her success. Though, TV Newser has a source which says Burnett may be the source of the New York Post story, and may herself be fueling the rivalry, so who knows.

Actually, now that I think about it, has anybody considered that the feud may be a ruse? With the Fox Business Channel set to enter CNBC's territory sooner than later, knowing that papers like the New York Post love stories like this, what if Burnett, Bartiromo, and some CNBC people are leaking these stories to increase their publicity and hopefully ratings going into the Fox Business Channel launch? By increasing Burnett's visibility, both on Morning Joe (where she's great and has a great chemistry with host Joe Scarborough), and the Today Show, and getting these stories about her rise to the top of the business journalism world, and putting her on the same level as the already highly respected and well-known Bartiromo, CNBC suddenly has two top anchors that are household names. Hmmm...

The Lightning Round: Erin Burnett, Curtis Granderson's Catch, and a Few Other Notes

I really need to start updating the blog more often during the summer. I liked it better when I was updating once a day, not twice a week. So let's see what's been going on....

* For those of you visiting the site for the first time after reading Portfolio.com's great profile of CNBC's Erin Burnett, welcome. The author of the piece, Claire Atkinson, was kind enough to link to my blog here and plug a post I did way back in March (okay, it's not "way back", but it seems that way) on how much CNBC I was watching and how impressed I was with the talented and personable Burnett. You can check out that story and my original thoughts on the Erin Burnett v. Maria Bartiromo debate right here.

My opinion hasn't changed much since I wrote the original post in March. I still think Burnett is destined for big things at CNBC (or elsewhere) and obviously others agree. Sadly, though, I haven't been home to watch Street Signs lately (oh the joys of being in law school and being home with nothing to do at 2:00 every afternoon) but I'll be back watching soon enough.

* Hot day at Comerica Park yesterday. And I should know, as I was there, watching the Tigers close out a sweep of the Boston Red Sox. A great series for the Tigers, and a great way to close out the first half, winning 5 of 6 against Cleveland and Boston, two of the top teams in the American League (aside from the Tigers of course). And while the Tigers had five errors yesterday (no, that's not a typo) they also had one of the greatest catches I've ever seen live, when Curtis Granderson ran what seemed like an entire football field, climbed the left-centerfield wall and absolutely robbed Willy Mo Pena of a home run. Absolutely incredible. And because of Major League Baseball apparently has nothing better to do and has no interest in growing their game by making sure as many people see the catch as possible, most of the highlights of the catch have been yanked from YouTube (longtime readers know my experience with MLB Advance Media and my law school buddy Kurt's thoughtful response) but a few are still out there, and you need to see this catch if you haven't already.

* I recently finished reading John Meacham's American Gospel: God, the Founding Fathers, and the Making of a Nationand I would recommend the book to anyone and everyone. It takes a look at religion from the founding of North America through the founding of the United States and through the Cold War and shows just how smart the Founding Fathers really were when they decided to promote freedom of religion for everyone. Espeically today, when religion is so often used as a weapon and those who do not believe in what others think everyone should believe are vilified, and when people misconstrue history and tradition for political and ideological gain, it's just tranquil to be able to read the founders own words and see how truly important they thought it was that people would be able to practice any religion (or none at all). And how important that ideal has been throughout the last 250 years.

Moving on to a lighter subject, I'm now reading Phil Rosenthal's You're Lucky You're Funny: How Life Becomes a Sitcom. For those unfamiliar, Phil was the co-creator, writer, producer, ect. ect. of Everybody Loves Raymond. The show is largely based on his life and his parents, and the book not only goes through some of Phil's life-story but also the story about how Everybody Loves Raymond came into being and took on a life of its own, becoming one of the most successful sitcoms of this generation. Plus, you already know Phil's a great writer, so you can't really good wrong, and the first few chapters have been really good. Plus, it's only $5.00 at Amazon for the hardcover edition. How can you beat that?

CNBC's Erin Brunett Covers Digg Revolt on "Street Signs"

I was watching CNBC's Street Signs with Erin Burnett, as I often do afternoons 2:00-3:00 and near the end of her show, she started talking about copy-protection of DVDs and the recent uprising at website Digg.com. For those unfamiliar, Digg is a social news site where news stories are "digged" to the top of the pile and "buried" to the bottom if they aren't good. What shows up on the Digg front page is whatever the Digg faithful votes for. Until earlier this week, when Digg chose to remove posts which contained a crack to the decryption of the new HD-DVD Technology after receiving a "cease and desist" letter from the HD-DVD crowd. Needless to say, the Digg folks revolted, flooded the site with posts and diggs, and eventually Digg changed their ways. Burnett had two guests on this afternoon to talk about the Digg revolt and copy protection in general, and it was a very interesting discussion. The video is below.

Apple, Amazon.com Post Huge Earnings

I feel like I've been transported back to 1999, when the tech bubble continued to grow and it seemed like every day stocks like Amazon.com and EBay and Yahoo were going up, 25, 30%. First, Amazon.com posts huge earnings on Tuesday (we'll get to that in a moment) and its stock goes up 26% on Wednesday, then Apple responds in kind with their own blowout quarter this afternoon according to the Associated Press.

Apple Inc. blew past Wall Street expectations Wednesday, posting quarterly profits that jumped by 88 percent, fueled by strong sales of its iPod players and Macintosh computers.

In the first three months of the year, the Cupertino-based company said it earned $770 million, or 87 cents per share, up from $410 million, or 47 cents per share, in the year-ago period.

Sales were $5.26 billion, up 21 percent from $4.36 billion last year.

Analysts, on average, were looking for earnings of 64 cents per share on sales of $5.17 billion, according to a poll by Thomson Financial.

The stock is currently up almost 8% after hours, and it is probably only getting started. $5.26 billion in sales is gigantic number, and this is before the Apple IPhone and the Apple TV. Imagine what their sales numbers are going to be like once those products are released. It's almost scary to think about.

Then there's Amazon.com. I wrote about that stock earlier this afternoon, in a post I've moved and reposted here. As I took a break from studying earlier this afternoon to watch some of CNBC's Street Signs with the great Erin Burnett, she was discussing Amazon.com's blowout financial quarter and the stock is up 26.75% as of this writing, up $11.93 to $56.66. I don't think Amazon ever went up that much in the entire time I owned it, which was many years, as I waited, and waited, and waited for it to regain its former glory. Today does remind though of following the tech boom in high school (and, sadly, not investing in Amazon.com like I should have, too bad the Detroit News wasn't paying me more to write my sports columns) when stocks like Amazon, Yahoo, and EBay would go up 25, 30% seemingly every day. Except back then, the stocks were 300, 400 dollar stocks, not $55 stocks. I owned a small amount of Amazon for a while, but mainly it was a learning experience, as I got in far too late, as the tech bubble was bursting, and had to wait for years for the stock to do anything other than go down. I waited for a day like today during my holding of Amazon. Never quite happened though. And I love Amazon.com, as a company. I love buying books, and I can't remember the last time I bought a book at a bookstore. Just too expensive compared to Amazon.

With giants like Microsoft set to report earnings tomorrow and the Dow Jones Industrials Average hitting 13,000 today, it certainly has a feel of 1999, even if the NASDAQ is still at half the amount it was at its peak. Oh to be able to go back and buy Yahoo and Amazon and EBay before anyone could pronounce Yahoo or EBay. Or even Google for that matter. Next time, maybe.

CNBC Overrated/Underrated: Maria Bartiromo v. Erin Burnett

When I was home over Spring Break a few weeks back, I found myself watching a lot of MSNBC. That wasn't surprising. I've watched quite a bit of MSNBC in the past six months, starting just before the 2006 elections and watching Hardball, Countdown with Keith Olbermann, and Scarborough Country regularly ever since. I'd been a fan of Keith Olbermann's since his SportsCenter days and remember being in high school watching his then-MSNBC show The Big Show to catch up on the days headlines.

What was surprising though was that I started watching more CNBC than I ever had before. I've always been a casual (at the very least) observer of the stock market. My grandfather got me started with stocks before I was 10, somehow convincing his stock broker to allow me to purchase five shares of Electronics Arts (should have held on to that one) or ten shares of Topps Trading Card Company (held on to that one too long even when I knew Upper Deck was the true premium trading card of my generation). I always found the market interesting, and while my interest has ebbed and flowed over the past decade and a half, I've always had the market in the back of my head.

Then I started watching Jim Cramer's Mad Money. What a great show. Cramer, the former Goldman analyst, wildly successful hedge-fund manager, and all around, self-described, crazy-man, hosts a show where he goes over the market in detail. Which stocks he likes, which he doesn't, and when he isn't screaming, throwing things at the cameras, and pressing one of a few dozen sound effect buttons (no -- I'm not kidding) he actually makes a lot of sense. So much so I bought and read his autobiography, Confessions of a Street Addict and became an ever bigger Cramer fan.

But, Cramer's Mad Money is not the only CNBC show I've been watching. Lately, the 2:00-3:00 show (which, coincidentally features Cramer's "Stop Trading" segment @ 2:40) has been really good, covering the market downturn and upturn and downturn again with good interviews and analysis. It's hosted by Erin Burnett, and if anything has struck me since I've increased my CNBC viewership it is how underrated Burnett is and how overrated supposed CNBC star Maria Bartiromo is.

VS

Maria's fine, don't get me wrong. She's a fine journalist, and she does a good job. But, she's also kind of annoying. And, maybe it's because I don't watch CNBC all day (Lately I've been watching from 2:00-3:00 and catching Cramer's Mad Money at 11:00, and I'll watch The Big Idea if I'm around and nothing else is going on) and I haven't watched CNBC a whole lot during the past few years (so I've missed Maria's rise to the top) but I just don't see what the big deal is.

But, I do think, especially given the recent controversy surrounding Bartiromo involving some improper dealings with Citigroup, it wouldn't be the worst idea for CNBC to start thinking about a successor to their "superstar" anchor. Burnett would be great choice. On her afternoon show, Street Signs, she comes off as very personable, very intelligent, and has a great rapport with both the people she interviews and with Jim Cramer during their daily segment.

While NBC may consider Maria the true 'star' of the network, keep your eye on Burnett. She's a natural at the anchor desk and I think she'll continue to rise up the CNBC heirachy. Now, if you'll excuse me, it's almost 6:00 and I've got Mad Money and Jim Cramer to watch.