This morning, my wife got an e-mail from Overstock.com, enticing her to buy cheap stuff. She’s an Overstock fan (I rarely buy anything there), so she actually pays attention to the deals. Nothing out of the ordinary here. Right?
Well, tacked onto the bottom of the e-mail is a message from Overstock CEO Patrick M. Byrne. It reads as follows:
Dear Honored Client,
We take seriously our duty to save you money. We know the current financial crisis is of concern to many of you. If so, you may find this interesting. Otherwise, please just enjoy your shopping.
In recent weeks, “The Daily Show”’s Jon Stewart has exposed TV personality Jim Cramer as a liar (see these recent clips, 1 2 3). But I think he’s worse: I think he’s a criminal.
If that sounds hard to believe, please see this video (which Jim did not expect to reach the public) of Jim Cramer bragging about using the press to manipulate the stock market illegally. For a full analysis of the career of Jim Cramer, please read my essay: “Jim Cramer is a Complicated Man.”
Warren Buffet says that, “If you ever sit down at a poker table and in 15 minutes haven’t figured out who the pigeon is, you’re the pigeon.” Similarly, if you are getting any advice from Jim Cramer or CNBC, you are the pigeon. CNBC is a 24/7 hedge fund infomecial designed to trick you into making bad investments for the benefit of hedge funds. Again, watch the tape of Jim. Then read the critique. Then turn off CNBC.
Or else, just ignore this message and enjoy your shopping.
Most respectfully,
Patrick M. Byrne, PhD
CEO, Overstock.com
patrick@overstock.com
Whoa. As Brooke says, we’re in a whole new era.
March 13th, 2009 at 3:42 pm
I am actually not an Overstock fan, or I wasn’t until this morning. I routinely delete their emails, since they send too many. But today was unusual. I have no need to buy anything right now, so I’m not sure why I even opened the email-looking for a distraction on a weird Friday? There must be a market research survey out there to explain it.
Anyway, I was just giving a quick skim, when I got to the bottom and saw this crazy manifesto from the CEO. And that’s when I went to the site and saw that the CEO is on a mission. Check out the blog: http://www.deepcapture.com/ and this statement at Overstock (Milton Friedman ALERT): http://www.overstock.com/Patrick-Byrne-and-naked-short-selling/7371/static.html
I disagree with some of this, but it’s interesting and unusual nonetheless.
March 13th, 2009 at 4:32 pm
I can’t believe I mischaracterized my own wife on the internet.
Whenever we’re looking at a thing to buy, you DO check Overstock, though, in addition to other places.
March 13th, 2009 at 8:59 pm
Well, regardless of Cramers reputation now the mans record as a money manager is top of the pops. Where as Byrne has run his company into the ground losing massive amounts of shareholders money and done some pretty scammy accounting and actions.
I guess at least Cramer is successful where as Byrne has failed at both things LOL Not sure if Cramer is totally sane from what I have heard of his show (never seen it before) but I do know that Byrne is a paranoid nutjob.
March 14th, 2009 at 6:22 am
There are many things WE are not at liberty to tell you. But, miscreants: be it known that your day is fast approaching. We might all be living under a bridge somewhere as a result of the war that is being waged on our financial system, but as a result of that war, there will be a lot of famous names in some prison, somewhere soon. In my heart of hearts, I envision the good Dr. Patrick Michael Byrne leading us to that prison and allowing us to take out our frustrations and desires for justice on these un-forgiven captives. All I want is to be a part of it in some small way. We’ll see, won’t we???? I can wait. I have been shown information that you and your friends are never going to be qualified to see or allowed to alter with your inside players. I know what is in store for the evil scum that are bent on ruining our world. We have a little something for you boys. Be ready for us.
Obama is an empty suit. That’s pretty obvious. Just ask yourself why they had Stanford employees inside of FINRA. Yeah, inside. See, we knew that, you didn’t. But we did. You may have won some battles, but we will win this war. In fact, that information on Stanford we had was minor in comparison to what is about to break. Stanford isn’t anything we didn’t know about before. At least now, you’ve heard. Again, we are very lucky we have a leader in front of us on the magnitude of Patrick Byrne. In the end, I think we win. Not everybody will be so lucky. That’s why you have to join us now. We will not pluck you from the fires when the end days come. You have to be with us today to be among the chosen few tomorrow.
You may wonder why there are many things I am not at liberty to tell you. I’m just trying to imagine the hedge fund boys and trading desk managers who read these posts squirming in their seats and fearing our information. You need to be afraid. We have you. We won. You can rest assured that a judgment day is fast approaching. I hope that’s enough to ruin your day as you have ruined so many of mine.
March 14th, 2009 at 10:02 am
Great stuff, thanks for putting that out. Your post, however, left out a post-scriptum at the letter’s end:
<<>>
March 14th, 2009 at 10:13 am
Oh, as my own “PS” let me quickly respond to “pickupsticks.” A read of this recent article will readily show that Dr. Byrne is no nut( http://www.utahpulse.com/featured_article/utah-online-retailer-sets-his-sights-struggling-economy ). In fact, accusing him of being so is part of the M.O. of the miscreant network who simply attacks the person, but never refutes the message. They can’t. The data doesn’t fit their agenda, so they continue to try to discredit the messengers as whackos. They are, of course, simply ignored, much to their chagrin. As to the “scammy” accounting, Overstock was looked into by the SEC (at the request of the miscreant network) and given a complete clean bill of health. All this documentation is readily available at the company’s website or at http://www.deepcature.com .
March 17th, 2009 at 9:25 am
lenofus, who showed you that information, boy genius Dave Patch? Or was it Phil Saunders? Did he manage to throw it out he window of the insane asylum where he’s been committed? Or did they let him out and he gave it to you while he was filling up your gas tank. “Thank you, come again”
Remember, We know that YOU are cuckoo.
March 26th, 2009 at 12:38 am
The saga of Pat Byrne vs the Naked Short-selling Scamster Criminals is the stuff of Shakespeare. I’ve just discovered it today through a video posted on Google, and I can’t help but have tremendous respect for the guy. He’s a veritable Jeremiah!
I’ve never shopped at Overstock.com before, but I will now.