Jim Cramer spent a few seconds on his show complaining about the coronavirus briefings/rallies Trump stages in the White House every day but as he fleshed out his complaint, it turns out he had all the wrong reasons for saying anything. He wasn't concerned about the lies from Donald Trump as much as he was the reality checks from experts like Dr. Anthony Fauci.
"Dr. Fauci completely just made us feel awful again by talking about how horrible it's going to be in the fall," Cramer groused.
Growling a bit, he continued, "These press conferences or shows or whatever you want to call it are unwatchable. They're unwatchable because you can't tell whether things are great or things are catastrophic."
If you listen to the experts, Jim Cramer, you know exactly what's up. Catastrophe. Stop listening to President CrazyPants tell everyone it's all roses and champagne he's serving with that shit sandwich.
After rambling a bit about hospitals opening for elective surgery, Cramer decided the reason the rallybriefings are unwatchable is because of the New York Times.
" I'm looking at better news medically except when I pick up The New York Times and it turns out that we are so clueless about this thing," he said. "But if we're so clueless and you have all of these people like [Eli Lilly CEO] David Ricks trying the RA drug -- really David Ricks is such a serious guy."
He's also the CEO of Eli Lilly & Co and he has a vested interest in a breakthrough drug. You can read a transcript of the interview he did with Cramer and others about COVID-19 and the research they're doing. But again it's all hypothesis, trial and error at this point.
"Aren't some of these people going to come through with some great proof? And I'm not talking about a vaccine," Cramer said. "Is it okay to be hopeful? I guess that's what I'm asking."
In a word, Jim Cramer, no. It's not okay to be hopeful. It's not okay to pimp big Pharma because the markets get all tingly in the leg when the government buys up a zillion of their pills without justification for doing so.
I realize this is difficult for everyone, really. That's not sarcasm. It is. But it is long past time for people to begin to understand that literally nothing will be the same again. Workplaces will change, stores will change, but mostly, priorities have to change, because there are no guarantees that this virus will be contained or treated with any miracle cures. Let me know when they find a cure for the coronavirus we all call the common cold. No cures, no vaccines.
Right now, we don't even understand all the damage this virus does. We don't know why some people's blood clots or why young and healthy non-smoking athletic adults end up on ventilators but not ALL young and healthy adults. We don't really understand all the ways it can be transmitted, we don't know why it impacts African-Americans more than others, and we don't know how to keep it from spreading other than wearing masks and washing our hands all the time. So why would anyone be hopeful about a miracle drug?
So no. Don't be hopeful. And don't rag on the medical experts for not knowing or preparing for the worst. Anyone with half a brain ought to be preparing for the absolute worst, because there have been no indicators for optimism or any "best case scenario."
