Thanks to a silly SEC requirement, TheStreet.com made Jim Cramer's salary a matter of public record. The stock picker of questionable talent saw his pay jump 30 percent, earning a base of $1.3 million this year (up from $1m) and, by 2010, some $1.87 million. Since we're crunching numbers, consider what would've happened should have followed Cramer's advice on CNBC about keeping your investment in crumble-prone Bear Sterns: If you owned 10,000 shares of the company when it was worth $60 a share, your $600,000 investment would've been worth just $100,000 after JPMorgan paid the $10 a share it bought the company for. That's a depreciation of 83 percent, or an overall value loss of 600 percent. And that's why some of us make the big bucks.

Jim Cramer's faulty Bear Stearns advice earned him comparisons to Neville Chamberlain, courtesy of FBN. But was his misstep a one-time affair, or does CNBC's Mad Money host have a record of doling out bad recommendations?

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This Fox Business Network ad appears in today's New York Times, which touts the new-ish cable network's accomplishments — a list that basically includes "not airing Jim Cramer's crazy." (Click image for larger version) [via TVN]

Jim Cramer might have given questionable financial advice to his Mad Money viewers when it came to their investments in Bear Stearns. Some might say his suggestion – to keep your cash money in the bank, which went from $60 per share to $2 in a week – was not a smart move.

From the mailbag: "Apparently [CNBC anchor Jim Cramer's] TheStreet.com isn't doing so well. In the past two months various editors and reporters have been jumping ship, and they have yet to give out any end-of-year bonuses. Some senior editorial staff didn't receive any annual raise, while other lower-paid employees received just below the standard of living percentage increase." Sour wine grapes!

RE-UP CNBC superboy Jim Cramer has re-signed his contract with CNBC. The deal goes beyond furrowing his brow on Mad Money, however: Jim will also "produce and host four primetime specials a year on the NBC broadcast network." Which, we imagine, will sort of be like Deal or No Deal, but with stock certificates. And more sound effects. [Variety]

According to Barron's, Mad Money host Jim Cramer isn't just a melodramatic nutjob prone to nonsensical angry rants. He's also lousy at picking stocks.

Reportedly, viewers following Cramer's stock picks would be up 12% over the past two years. 'But, that's good!' you'd say.

That is, until you realized that the Dow Jones rose 22% and the S&P 500 jumped 16%, and your "earnings" were below market value.

Which is to say, "that's bad."

[Barron's]

I spend a lot of time trying to be—you know, I joke about being a statesman on Mad Money, I don't throw chairs anymore, I've been kind of methodical about what I have to talk about….I thought, let me go outside of character for a second and talk about humanity of the situation.

I had a platform, I had a pulpit. So I said, you know, maybe this is my chance to say what I feel could happen, what could happen. and I'm not goin to go back there, I've done that, I made my plea on Friday. when—I think and not if—things unravel, I don't want to look back and say i had a chance to do something and i didn't…so it was more my conscience speaking….I kind of want to go look at the world and say I spoke up. and I–I knew and I spoke up. I'm done speaking up. I'm now gonna go back to where I was…but if things play out—not when things play out—the way I think they will do, I will be proud of the fact that I said something.

–Mad Money host Jim Cramer, trying unsuccessfully to explain what this was all about

Say, remember the other day when Mad Money host Jim Cramer thought it might be fun to brag about manipulating stock prices on the trading floor and encourage viewers to do the same? Well, suddenly, it's starting to look as though that wasn't the best idea!

Especially that part where Cramer says, "a lot of times when I was short, I would create a level of activity beforehand that would drive the futures. . . . It's a fun game."

Hey, you know who doesn't think it sounds like a fun game? The Post's Roddy Boyd, who criticized Cramer for the random unsolicited admission, and pronounced it a classic example of "Too Much Information" (otherwise known as "TMI.")

Which might explain Cramer's sudden contrition and horribly awkward denial, in an interview with MSNBC's Don Imus earlier today, where he's asked to clarify whether or not he engaged in illegal activity.

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For all the good things Jim Cramer has done – with raising CNBC's ratings about the only one we can think of at the moment &nadsh; sometimes the fella is just one big case of bad news bears. Like when he admits to manipulating stock prices to make a buck. While he's being filmed. Knowingly.

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Jim Cramer is awesome — minus the TV theatrics

If Jon Friedman isn't playing listicle catch-up with his "Of The Year" awards, he's doting on James Cramer, the Mad Money host whose column in New York magazine is jerk-worth material for the Marketwatch scribe.

You know, the same James Cramer who's been subject to The Lou Dobbs Treatment for at least the past 12 months. Glad we've finally gotten around to noting that Cramer is, like, so totally rad.

• California values life, so obviously, if a prisoner died, they would resuscitate him before execution. [CNN]

• Tina Brown is leaving the Washington Post to hide away in her writer's hole. [NYP]

• Yay, more reality TV! CNBC's Mad Money man, Jim Cramer, is launching an apprentice-like TV show. Invest in some earplugs, and make sure the batteries in your remote are fully charged. [NYO]

• William Shatner sells his kidney stone to charity, and you can watch the uncomfortable jokes and complete weirdness tonight on CNN. Or, right now, on CNN.com. Or, (our recommendation) don't watch at all. [CNN]

• Forget mini-series, CBS has your micro-series. Someday, maybe ABC will have a nano-series. Who knows? [WaPo]