CNBC's Jim Cramer blamed Wall Street for the 'seething anger' of Americans after AOC slammed a screenshot from his show as a 'selfie' of late stage capitalism

Shalini Nagarajan

Apr 16, 2020, 18:43 IST

CNBC's Jim Cramer blamed Wall Street for the 'seething anger' of Americans after AOC slammed a screenshot from his show as a 'selfie' of late stage capitalism

Rusty Jarrett/Getty

Jim Cramer, host of CNBC's "Mad Money".

A screenshot from Cramer's show that presented a complete disconnect between a heating up stock market alongside a crumbling US economy was shared widely last week on Twitter, including by New York US Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.
Jim Cramer, host of CNBC's Mad Money show, addressed widespread frustrated responses to the screenshot by calling out Wall Street for "the seething anger sweeping this country".
"At the end of the day, the stock market's made up of big, huge companies, not the small- to medium-sized businesses that are the backbone of our economy," Cramer said.
"You don't have to like it - I know I don't - but it's the big dogs with pristine balance sheets and gigantic scale that can survive this lockdown."
Ocasio-Cortez tweeted the screenshot last week, alongside the caption: "When late stage capitalism takes a selfie
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Firebrand CNBC host Jim Cramer blamed Wall Street for the "seething anger" of Americans right now as the economy crumbles while the stock market bounces back.

More than 22 million Americans have filed for unemployment since mid-March, casting a bleak image as the coronavirus pandemic continues to inflict damage on the US economy. At the same time, however, the S&P 500 last week had its best week since the 1970s.

Cramer this week discussed the anomalies of the stock market being bullish even during an ongoing public health crisis and a collapsing economy.

"There's a seething anger sweeping this country and it's directed point-blank at Wall Street," the host of CNBC's 'Mad Money' observed once the market closed on Tuesday night ending in yet another relentless rally.

His remarks were made in reference to a screenshot from his show that gained sweeping attention online.

The screenshot, which presents a complete disconnect between the "best week since 1938" for the Dow Jones index against continuous weeks of record American job losses, was shared widely by users on Twitter.

The screenshot gained particular attention after it was shared by lawmaker Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez who captioned the image: "When late stage capitalism takes a selfie."

Ocasio-Cortez's tweet was reshared more than 43,000 times.

"At the end of the day, the stock market's made up of big, huge companies, not the small- to medium-sized businesses that are the backbone of our economy," Cramer said.

"You don't have to like it - I know I don't - but it's the big dogs with pristine balance sheets and gigantic scale that can survive this lockdown."

"While I'd rather have stocks go up than go down ... believe me, there's no joy in Stockville right now," Cramer said, while acknowledging he understood why the screenshot had provoked negative sentiment.

"I agree it's messed up, but the contrast between a roaring stock market and an obliterated job market does tell you a lot about what's happening at this moment."

"But when big business gets crushed, you get a lot more layoffs," he said on Mad Money. "You don't want to cut off your nose to spite your face."

On Thursday, the US Labor Department reported that a further 5.2 million American workers filed for unemployment in the last week, pushing the total claims in the past four weeks to roughly 22.03 million, a record for a period of that length.