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Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson's poor communication skills could drive this country into the Great Depression II, claims Jim Cramer, host of CNBC show Mad Money.
Cramer drives me nuts. Sure he seems intelligent and knowledgeable, but then he starts using silly sound effects on his show. Kind of like if Jerry Seinfeld resorted to lame props.
However, yesterday someone emailed me a video of Cramer explaining why the US needs to pass this $700 billion rescue plan for Wall Street and, perhaps more importantly, why Paulsen's poor communication skills might sink it.
I can't comment on the plan itself, or Cramer's opinion of it, but for a finance guy he sure makes some excellent points about messaging.
For instance, Paulson and President Bush keeping referring to "credit markets freezing up." Cramer phrases it this way: a credit freeze means you can't get a loan for your kid to go to college.
It's a great example of show, don't tell. "Credit freeze" might mean little to the average American; you can't get a loan for college or a credit card to buy stuff means a whole lot more.
Doesn't this happen all the time in the communicator's world? How often do you want to say to your CEO, "With all due respect, your communication skills are hurting this company"?
(CNBC's Web site didn't offer an embed code for the video, so you can't watch it here. Instead click on the screen shot below, which will take you to the video on the CNBC Web site.)
