Canadian Personal Finance Blog

Ann Coulter is the same as Jim Cramer

I must explain this title a little more I suspect, but Ann Coulter well known Conservative instigator (much in the vein of Ken Linseman or Bobby Clarke was on the old Flyers team), is coming to Ottawa to talk to the University of Ottawa about Media Bias (amongst other topics), and it has caused a well orchestrated foofera in the media in Canada.

I find Ms. Coulter amusing, much as I do most of the Conservative and Liberal pundits, and I think she has the right to say what she wants (as long as she doesn’t say that all Personal Finance Bloggers should be burned at the stake (and she stays away from the hate speech rules in Canadian law)). Her raison d’etre is to instigate and cause sensational headlines, and she succeeds without argument in this area. There are few that have a middle of the road response to her, they either hate her, or love her (I think she is funny in a very obtuse way).

My opinion is, if you don’t like what she is saying, voice your opinions and/or don’t listen.

This however, has little to do with Personal Finance or Investing, however Jim Cramer does. Mr. Cramer has an entertaining show on CNBC, where he fires off rapid fire tips and hints about stocks, which some folks find very interesting, and worse, other folks view as “sound financial advice”.

Let me be clear, in my opinion, Mr. Cramer is like the kid at school that got you to smoke your first cigarette. You remember, “C’mon it can’t hurt?”, but in this case he ridicules and rales against those who might not want to smoke, which is a way to coerce folks into doing things, that does work. Buying individual stocks on the basis of anyone on the TV’s say so, without researching the stock and knowing how your finances are working is a recipe for disaster (again in my opinion).

Should Mr. Cramer receive a letter from a Financial Blogger pointing out how dangerous some of his advice can be (on the financial side of things)? Nope, he gets to say what he wants, much like Garth Turner has done, and others, they can voice their opinions, just like I can voice my opinion: that they both simply predict enough things that eventually they will be right (by shear volume), and that is where they make their fame: their Great picks in the area of investing.

This strategy works time and time again, I have used it while playing games, you simply occasionally shout “There it is!” when a card is turned over or a dice is rolled and it will eventually be in your favor and people will remember you Calling your shot! and they will hate you for it (thus you have a further advantage). My concern with all pundits, instigators or commentators is when they portray their opinion as either a fact or worse as a de facto truth (with no proof).

Remember what your father used to say Opinions are like noses, everyone has one, but you don’t have to follow it (some fathers might say some other part of the anatomy, but you get the point).

Free speech (within the confines of the laws of the land where you are exercising that free speech) allows everyone (including whiny financial bloggers) to voice their opinions, the challenge is to figure out what is fact, what is opinion, and what is just wrong. This is the downside of living in a democracy, you don’t have the luxury of listening only to the one true voice, you get to listen to many true voices (in their opinion) and you have to decide.

I would love to see Ms. Coulter talk, because her words are hilarious, but her detractors visceral reactions are even funnier. As for Mr. Cramer, I occasionally turn his show on for a laugh as well.