Earlier this week, this video of Jim Cramer started making the rounds on YouTube. (The video has been removed from YouTube, but it is still available at TheStreet.com.) The New York Post got to the story on Tuesday, with followups here and here. In the video, Cramer candidly describes various means of illegal manipulation of stock prices, noting "the Securities and Exchange Commission doesn't get it" and asking "Who cares about the fundamentals?"

In an attempt to mitigate the damage, Cramer called Don Imus and said, "I learned a big lesson here: you got to be a little more clear . . . you can't be as glib, because people will interpret this as being that you're a bad guy."

Henry Blodget (remember him?) speculates that Cramer may have committed "professional suicide." Hmm. I doubt it. The video was originally broadcast on TheStreet.com on Dec. 22, 2006. Cramer comes off looking like a self-important blowhard -- which is consistent with his public persona -- but it doesn't look like a confession of wrongdoing.

Thanks to Greg Call for the tip.

UPDATE: This just in from the lemonade-from-lemons department (aka, The Department of Fat Chances):

"I'm delighted if someone who understands how this works is truly on a reforming bent," says Michael Josephson, an ethics expert at the Josephson Institute of Ethics. He says Cramer should brief regulators on how to stop the practice. "It's not enough to rant on this."

UPDATE2: This story has not hit the big time. No mention in the W$J or NYT.

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