Cramer's Hot-Button Issues

Hot-button issues? I got a ton of them. Two I care about most we are going to kick around on this weekend's Fox News Channel: the screwing the little guy gets in the IPO process and in the brokerage business.

Here's the deal. The little guy gets sandbagged totally by the

SEC

by not being allowed to see the true road show and one-on-ones during the IPO process. If you disagree, read

Adam Lashinsky this morning. He broke a big, important story that philosophically tells me that the regulators, in their paternalism, are doing exactly the wrong thing in trying to protect the little guy from "the hype." Only the big guys know the real stories. Look, we have technology that allows people to see every road show; let's use it. Period. End of story.

The second issue, closer to home, is the absurd state of the brokerage industry. All of the major brokerage firms want "elephants," or large clients. Very few of them want marginal clients. In the bizarre world that is brokerage at the turn of the century, anyone with $100,000 is a marginal client.

And we wonder why discount brokerage has taken off. If we are going to be treated like a nobody, at least let us pay like nobodies.

Come watch this

show this weekend. I know

Fox News Channel

is adding city after city. I have urged

TSC

people to show any new city that gets listed. Ah, one day, maybe, just maybe Philadelphia will be on the list. I am going to try to get some chats organized around the issues, too. They are too important to go undebated.

Random musings:

I am pushing for a massive rollout of

message boards. Other than one particular instance where someone tried to pull some libel out of a hat, I think the boards make a ton of sense. And, I want to put the boards of our competitors out of business. The fastest way to do that is to have all of the thoughtful people come to our boards and leave the others to rage on with anger and thoughtlessness.

James J. Cramer is manager of a hedge fund and co-founder of TheStreet.com. At time of publication, his fund had no positions in any stocks mentioned. His fund often buys and sells securities that are the subject of his columns, both before and after the columns are published, and the positions that his fund takes may change at any time. Under no circumstances does the information in this column represent a recommendation to buy or sell stocks. Cramer's writings provide insights into the dynamics of money management and are not a solicitation for transactions. While he cannot provide investment advice or recommendations, he invites you to comment on his column at

jjcletters@thestreet.com.