So it turns out that the same night James Cramer was bragging about foretelling the Wall Street meltdown he was in the midst of a colossal fuckup. The CNBC host on September 15 recommended shares of Wachovia as a safe haven from the financial panic. Cramer took comfort in the words his former Goldman Sachs boss Robert Steel, who earlier in the show said his company Wachovia had "a great future." "You're a reassuring face," Cramer told him. In between, a CNBC promo promised "Fast, accurate, actionable, unbiased" advice. Wachovia of course went to liquidate at $1 per share Monday, less than a tenth of its value when Cramer recommended the stock. Cramer quickly apologized Monday night. "I wasn't skeptical enough," he said. It's all in the video after the jump.

Keep in mind this is the same sage economics guru who thinks we need a $700 billion bailout to avoid the Great Depression. That plan, as it happens, is put forward by another former Goldman Sachs man, Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson.

Cramer should be thanked for his educational contributions. If nothing else, he has inadvertently reproduced, in a microcosm, the sort of complacent cronyism that led to this disaster in the first place.