Despite being a millionaire many times over, and a former Wall Street broker and hedge-fund manager placing him squarely in the so-called “1 percent” CNBC’s Jim Cramer supports the Occupy Wall Street protesters. “I am sympathetic to anything that calls out the inequities in the system,” he told us at the 26th Annual New York Police & Fire Widows’ & Children’s Answer the Call Benefit Fund Gala last night. “Anything that says, ‘Look, the rich have had a real big run, maybe they should do more’ … I think they raise legitimate questions.”
But echoing others, such as Bill Clinton, Cramer thinks the movement needs to be specific about what it wants to achieve. “It’s got to get a little more focused,” he told us. “They’ve got to be able to state those grievances in a way that can be addressed by a party and I don’t feel they’ve done that yet.” Cramer says their goals should include holding accountable those responsible for the housing crisis — “Let’s indict them. We all know that they committed, to me, they committed crimes.” — and the repayment of bonuses that were given out at banks that received TARP money. “It’s outrageous!” he said. “It is outrageous what they paid themselves. It is obscene! I mean, there are real reasons to be angry.”
