JIM CRAMER ON WHY IT PAYS TO MANIPULATE THE MARKET

At press time, they’d not quite yet posted last night’s Daily Show, devoted entirely to Jon Stewart interviewing Jim Cramer.  But click here to go to the site – it should certainly be up by the time you do.

 

And click here, if you haven’t already seen it, for the remarkable December, 2006, Cramer interview Stewart kept showing clips from.  It will be interesting to see how the S.E.C. reacts.

 

GOOGLE 411

Craig D.: “Leave it to Google to come up with something like this!  Here's a number worth putting in your cell phone, or your home phone speed dial: 1-800-GOOG-411 (1-800-466-4411).  This is an awesome service from Google, and it’s free – great when you are on the road.  Don’t waste your money on information calls and don’t waste your time manually dialing the number.  For example:  I am driving along in my car and I need to call the golf course and I don’t know the number.  I hit the speed dial.  The voice at the other end says, ‘City and State.’  I say, ‘Garland, Texas.’ He says, ‘Business, Name or Type of Service.’ I say, Firewheel Golf Course.’ He says, ‘Connecting’ and Firewheel answers the phone.  How great is that?  This is nationwide and it is absolutely free!  Here’s a quick and amusing demo.”

UNWANTED SALES CALLS

James Musters:  “Do you get them on your ‘do not call’ phone line?  Or junk faxes?  Tired of telling them to take you off their list?  Here is a link to a quick on-line FCC complaint form.  I just used it and was surprised at how streamlined and simple they made it.”  

THE $2 TRILLION SOLUTION

Jonathan Levy:  “Realizing this was mostly a joke, it still hit me pretty quickly why this would not work.  Most people with a spare $1 million probably can already spend about as much time as they wish in the U.S. and get on the citizenship path.”

 

Thorsten Kril:  “The $2 Trillion Solution is already in place!  And has been for a long time.  It’s called the EB-5 visa.  Bring $1 million to invest in a new business and you get a green card.  The $1 million does not go to the Federal government, but serves to create small businesses and jobs, which is better.  So far it has not brought in $2 trillion, though.”

 

☞  Only about 1,000 EB-5 visas were issued in a recent year – it would take 2,000 years at that rate to bring in $2 trillion.  So (and, yes, my tongue is partly in my cheek, because this whole notion of jumping to the head of the line if you’re rich sounds so un-American*) we need to make it easier.  What if you don’t want to do all the paperwork, make all the promises, and then work like heck to start a business?  What if you just want to buy a house and employ a cook and a gardener, patronize the local businesses, and pay taxes?  Uncle Sam needs the money!

 

*And yet, at the same time, hugely American, no?