Academic

Last week, I wondered whether Bear Stearns' CEO Alan Schwartz was telling the truth when he assured the markets that "there is absolutely no truth to the rumors of liquidity problems." Today, we learn from the NY Post that SEC Chairman Christopher Cox has Schwartz's back: "The fate of Bear Stearns was a lack of confidence, not a lack of capital."

That makes these videos of Jim Cramer all the more interesting. First, here is Cramer on Tuesday, March 11, when BSC was trading at $62.97/share.

This is Jim Cramer on Monday, March 17, after Bear announced that it had entering a merger agreement with JP Morgan for $2/share.

Cramer has been raked over the coals for this performance, but in light of Cox's comments, Cramer has a much more sensible defense to his initial remarks: I was right on the liquidity issue! Of course, he has completely blown that defense with the lameness of his subsequent comments, when he suggested that he wasn't talking about the common stockholders.