The Only Thing to Fear is Fear Itself...And the SEC

As mentioned before I went down to NYC for a taping of the intro scene to Cramer's Mad Money (Back To School). For a 40-60 second scene the shooting took about 7 and a half hours. I was basically an unpaid extra, but it was worth it to see Cramer (one of the few celebrities I actually look up to) in person. It was pretty boring and at least 7 of the kids ditched during lunch. Although I did get a free Mad Money T-Shirt, as well as 2 Bulls!

The main problem was that it was happening during the transit Strike, so I ended up walking about 100 blocks by the end of the night, The first 50 trying to find a damn wireless hotspot so I could do my conference call about updating web pages for my internship. The next 50 trekking it to the train station to get back home (Thank Jebus Metro North didn't shut down too).

It was pretty cool when he spoke to us, he was a very calm and realistic person in real life... Well he was calm then. It's nice to see someone isn't a complete sellout and A-Hole off the camera. He spoke to us a little about foreign markets (he likes Brazil) as well as how people do after hours trading based on his recommendations.. And how many people screw themselves over doing it. Such as one instance where a stock he recommended that doesn't even trade primarily in the US went up 3 dollars on his recommendation and people sold it off in foreign markets, but since it isn't primarily traded in the US the next day it had opened up unaffected, stupid moves like that can cost people thousands of dollars.

Another thing I was surprised to hear was about how the SEC is down his throat, and in fact its very hard to maintain a relationship with his former Hedge Fund partner Berkowitz. (I wouldn't be surprised if they monitor his phone calls and emails between him and other professionals out there. ) But infact it is pretty much illegal for him to talk to Berkowitz about his recommendations considering his actions can have a profound effect on the market. So besides sports and social matters there isn't much he can do with him. I would hate having to be careful what I say about the stock market at all times and worrying about dissemination of information, but with the SEC cracking down you can't blame them.

Sorry about the lack of posts, I've been busy working for a Anheuser Busch distributor, and it was a pretty busy Christmas... I'm hoping new years isn't the same, I've been trying to fight off Bronchitis since Thanksgiving and haven't had a day to rest until today. I have a couple pictures of the classroom where we did the shooting and I'll post a picture of my Bulls :). I hear they're ebaying for like $50 a piece on eBay... Even though they sell for $5 at the NBC experience store.

Besides that I've been busy with everything else since I've been back home for X-mas Break, so I apologize for the lack of posting, It'll pick up again within the next 2 weeks depending on work and Internship.