Global finance sans a single unemployed investment banker

• Auctions are hot - when the chips are down, the wealthy stock up on jewelry and clothes! We’re in fly reel acquisition mode over here, but only because some manufacturers have turned over their lines - the old but still good gear goes to eBay. I guess everyone has their needs.
• Jim Cramer is 100% entertainment, which is why his show’s ratings are going through the roof now that the S&P is off 38% over the last twelve months. Nutty Money sells a lot of ads, and your retirement account spirals down the crapper.
• The government is “rescuing” banks galore under the guise of getting them to lend again. Many community banks are refusing the cash, saying they don’t need it. Maybe they should think again - the big banks taking the free money are using it not to perk up their core business, but instead for acquisitions. Gotta have a warchest, even if it’s compliments of taxpayers.

And…

• The Federal Reserve Board of Governors is taking the rest of the week off. The financial markets have temporarily stabilized (emphasis on temporary), so they’ve gone out partying and chasing MILFs. The bill for their carousing has blown through $3 trillion (emphasis on trillion), it’s just that they won’t see the tally until the next statement arrives.

Adieu.

Why anyone would listen to financial advice from a television program host is beyond me. It’s comedy, not advice:

After it was announced March 16 that J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. (NYSE:JPM) was purchasing Bear Stearns Cos. (NYSE:BSC) for $2 a share, the stock plummeted over 80 percent at the open of trading on March 17.

But, on March 11, Cramer told an e-mailer not to sell the beleaguered investment bank’s stock on his show’s Web site:

“Dear Jim: Should I be worried about Bear Stearns in terms of liquidity and get my money out of there? –Peter
Cramer says: “No! No! No! Bear Stearns is not in trouble. If anything, they’re more likely to be taken over. Don’t move your money from Bear.”

They don’t call it “mad” money for nothing.