Justice -- and journalism -- grinding slowly

Disgraced, downbeat and about to face judgment, one of the people most associated with the financial crisis had his cultural comeuppance under the bright lights of TV cameras yesterday.

Bernie Madoff? Well, yeah, him too. But more people probably saw Jim Cramer, the CNBC host who stole the only thing Madoff didn't make off with – the pop culture spotlight. Much like Madoff – the billionaire bilker who finally allowed the "alleged" to be brushed away by admitting to financial fraud – Cramer also faced his accuser. But instead of a judge in robes behind a bench it was Jon Stewart in a suit behind a talk-show set. And the host of Comedy Central's "The Daily Show" didn't disappoint those who want answers on why not enough questions were asked about the go-go years that have nearly caused the economy to stop. Stewart excoriated Cramer and his colleagues for missing – or worse yet, being accomplices to – the financial crisis.

And it wasn't just rhetoric, but reality, as clips from a shaky camera showed how shady the game is played. Grainy footage showed a grinning Cramer regaling his days manipulating the market as a hedge fund manager. Chastised, Cramer (a good sport if not a good journalist) copped to many of the charges Stewart leveled, and pledged to try to do better.

The scheduling serendipity of Madoff's court appearance and Cramer showing up on "The Daily Show," was a rare, albeit brief, cultural catharsis for a nation reeling from the rapidity of the economy's meltdown. And while it won't raise anyone's 401(k), it might have raised spirits, as it shows that although the justice and journalistic systems grind slowly, they can still work.