Cramer’s politics of investing

Fallen hedge fund star John Meriwether gave what sounded like a doctoral dissertation on the benefits of alternative investments.

Fallen hedge fund star John Meriwether gave what sounded like a doctoral dissertation on the benefits of alternative investments. Tarnished Internet analyst Henry Blodget delivered a wide-ranging postmortem of the Internet bubble. Then it was Jim Cramer’s turn to speak at the Ira W. Sohn Investment Research Conference, held each year in New York on behalf of the Tomorrows Children’s Fund for young cancer patients. Cramer, the self-promoting market commentator for TheStreet.com and CNBC, skipped the high analysis and went for the obvious: Buy stocks that benefit from Bush administration policies.

Among the picks in his “Bush League All-Stars” portfolio: Alcoa, which Paul O’Neill headed before he was named Treasury secretary; and Halliburton, run by Vice President Dick Cheney before his current gig. Other Cramer favorites included Microsoft (“Welcome home, strong-arm tactics”), Pfizer (“Worried about drug prices? Wrong administration”) and Philip Morris (“I keep waiting for Bush to take up smoking”). When his microphone gave out, the ever-passionate Cramer, undaunted, compensated by shouting at the audience: “I can’t believe this theme is not more evident to people. We’ve just elected the most pecuniary, profit-oriented administration in history. These are guys that are trying to make you money.” When the microphone came back on, Cramer’s booming voice apparently blew out one of the overhead lights. To no one’s surprise, he railed on, unfazed.

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