CNBC's Jim Cramer on Wednesday bemoaned the congressional hearing on antitrust claims in Big Tech, arguing that the companies included in the event should be considered America's "national champions" in a globalized world.

Another company in Microsoft, which was not summoned in the hearing, can also be considered among the prized group, he said.

"I come to praise the titans of tech, not bury them," the "Mad Money" host said, in an effort to "reframe" the discussion after the chief executives of Facebook, Amazon, AppleandAlphabet's Google testified Wednesday afternoon in front of a House Judiciary subcommittee.

These companies are the "best things the American economy has going for it" and the hearings "feel more like an opportunity to rake the ultra-rich over the coals," he said.

The hearing marked the first time all four executives Amazon's Jeff Bezos, Apple's Tim Cook, Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg and Google's Sundar Pichai appeared before Congress at the same time.

America is the "top dog" in many parts of the technology industry, particularly those that big tech deals in, and the country needs to leverage tech to stay competitive with the rest of the world, especially an ascendant China, Cramer said.

While he's in favor of implementing regulations to reign in the business practices of the tech behemoths, including abusing their market powers, Cramer cast doubt about a divided Congress' ability to come to an agreement on a set of rules.

In Wednesday's hearing, Facebook's Zuckerberg was bashed for acquiring WhatsApp, then a nascent rival messaging app, for $19 billion in 2014.

Amazon's Bezos was questioned about using third-party seller data to gain a competitive edge on products the online retail giant sells.

Google's Pichai, who added the title of Alphabet CEO in December, was grilled on the company's China connections after dropping out of the U.S. Department of Defense's $10 billion Joint Enterprise Defense Infrastructure, or JEDI, cloud project deal. The chief was also questioned about its now-abandoned work on a Chinese search engine project called Dragonfly.

Meanwhile, Apple's Cook was pressed on how the company's equal treatment of developers on its App Store. The company has been dogged for taking a 30% cut of sales on in-app payments.

Cramer, though, said he is taking the other side of the coin.

"Every other industrialized [country] has so-called national champions. These are companies that let them compete worldwide and their governments bend over backwards to give them an edge," he said. "In an increasingly globalized economy, maybe America needs some national champions of its own."

Disclosure: Cramer's charitable trust owns shares of Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, Facebook and Microsoft.

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Big Tech hearing a chance to 'rake the ultra-rich over the coals,' Jim Cramer says - CNBC

In recent months, tech giants like Twitter, Shopify and Facebook have been announcing permanent remote work options for their staff, whether the COVID-19 pandemic subsides or not. It appears that the tech world and its CEOs are realizing the numerous benefits that come from giving workers more flexibility over their geographic location. According to recent surveys, 19 percent of employees want to work from home on a permanent basis after the health crisis is over.

But with Facebook CEO Mark ZuckerbergMark Elliot ZuckerbergFive takeaways from Big Tech's blowout earnings NYT media columnist Ben Smith calls Facebook's self-proclaimed patriotism 'very implausible' Facebook reports 11 percent revenue growth as usage surges amid pandemic MOREs announcement came what many see as a catch those Facebook employees that work remotely will have their salaries adjusted according to their location.

While this may sound unfair to some not least considering tech giants hefty profit margins this could be the much-needed salary reform that will make the tech world more accessible to workers. Going remote and adjusting wages accordingly can actually result in a more diverse tech scene, increased inclusivity in the workplace, and a change in how companies value and hold onto their workers. Heres how.

Diversity will improve

Building a diverse workforce should be a non-negotiable priority for todays businesses. We are painfully aware of the need to collectively move towards a fairer and more just society, and the role of US companies includes embracing workplace diversity and equality of opportunity. By bursting the tech salary bubble, the industry can further break the mold of its predictable tech hires.

In allowing people to apply for a job no matter where theyre based, Facebook and other companies will now be able to attract more diverse talent by sheer force of numbers. Statistics show that minorities are likely to be most affected by the financial restrictions of living in overpriced cities like San Francisco: In 2018, 1 in 5 black people residing in the United States lived below the poverty line, compared to 1 in 12 white people. Qualified candidates across the country who a few months ago would not even have been able to consider applying for a job in big tech will now come forward.

That single mom from rural Ohio who can create groundbreaking AI-powered marketing tools but doesnt have the time or money to commute to big city offices will now be able to join your talent pool. A physically disabled tech graduate who couldnt find an accessible job now has his pick of any workplace, and hell likely choose a business that has always valued diversity and inclusion.

Its worth considering that the top ten computer science schools in the United States include universities in non-traditional tech hubs like Texas, Georgia, and New Jersey. Hopefully, remote hiring will allow those skilled graduates to apply for tech jobs without uprooting from home states or hometowns.

Having a workforce that is representative of the U.S. population that includes people of color, people with disabilities, and those from low-income backgrounds inevitably leads to a better understanding of the challenges facing the country at large, beyond the confines of big tech cities. This will better inform companies as they develop their product, penetrate new market segments, and weed out the prominent problem of technology bias. Not to mention that diversity has a proven correlation to financial performance and innovation qualities that all companies hoping to survive the recession cant do without.

Work environments become more inclusive

While allowing employees to work remotely will no doubt see much of the workforce move out of tech hubs like Silicon Valley, many offices will remain open. The bursting tech bubble means that even employees who do work from the office should experience less exclusive environments due to a more accessible cost of living in traditional tech bubbles.

As fewer tech workers are drawn to the big tech locations to earn inflated salaries, the cost of living will fall. In fact, rental website Zumper recorded a record drop in San Francisco rent prices, with both one-bedroom and two-bedroom rents down 11 percent from last year. Thats in line with a wider trend of falling prices over the course of the pandemic. Reduced costs gives employees more equal access to opportunities and resources in big tech cities, making them less exclusive.

Those who take the remote opportunity to leave big cities should also benefit from more inclusive and harmonious work lives. Tech cities harbor multiple issues that induce stress and can affect workers mental wellbeing and productivity. Residents of San Francisco are antagonized by the housing crisis and excessive traffic, and a recent survey of local tech workers revealed that one third would leave the area if they could work remotely, even if it meant taking a pay cut.

Ultimately, leaving overpriced and overcrowded cities will result in a higher quality of life and better mental health and well-being for employees, even if their $300,000-a-year salary is reduced by 25 percent.

What the critics of Facebooks policy dont consider is that in the long term, the flexibility and trust created by remote work between employees and their companies will soon drown out concerns over salary shifts.

Companies will value their workers more

As the country becomes one big hiring pool for all tech companies alike, in the long run competition for the best talent will grow. And as tech salary bubbles dissipate, employers will have to attract candidates using more than just the promise of a hefty paycheck. Remote tech workers will have a broad pick of businesses seeking their expertise, and their demands will focus more on non-monetary benefits.

Tech companies will need to demonstrate how they will provide opportunities such as career progression, especially to minority communities who have historically been faced with fewer chances for advancement in STEM jobs. They should also offer wellness programs and employee benefit schemes as the world acknowledges the importance of ensuring the well-being of a remote workforce.

All of this will force employers to see their team members through a different lens: one which paints them as individuals with individual needs, not as human machines that work harder the more theyre paid. Company culture will become more centered around the non-salary-related rewards of working as part of a team, and those that are attracted to the role simply as a means to earn a big paycheck will likely be steered elsewhere.

And of course, by allowing employees to go remote, tech companies will save money on wages, office space and operational costs. This money can then be reinvested into furthering diversity and inclusion and well-being initiatives to staff.

If we do this right, the remote revolution promises to improve work culture across the board. Our productivity and mental health will improve while our carbon footprints fall. By going one step further and bursting the tech salary bubble, companies big and small will be more empowered to foster necessarily diverse and inclusive teams, in which workers feel significantly more valued as individuals.

Rachel Sheppard is the director of global marketing at global pre-seed accelerator Founder Institute and co-founder of the Female Founder Initiative, a program launched in 2016 as a means of offering support, funding, and visibility to female founders.

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Why bursting the tech salary bubble is a good thing | TheHill - The Hill

In the past when tech company CEOs have testified the popular review of those hearings has not been positive for lawmakers," said Duke University researcher Matt Perault, who testified before House antitrust last year on behalf of Facebook, where he served as director of public policy. "Often it seems like they dont have the kind of understanding of the products and business models that most Americans do."

And even when lawmakers do their homework, hearings with the tech leaders often lost direction, with lawmakers asking questions far afield of their purported purpose and getting caught up in partisan feuding. Theyve sometimes jumped from topic to topic for hours, with questions on everything from cryptocurrency to data privacy to hate speech and allegations of bias. And when Pichai last appeared before the House Judiciary Committee, then under GOP control, Democrats and Republicans bitterly clashed over allegations the company stifles conservative views. (Google and other major platforms deny the charges).

This time has the potential to be different. The hearing is the culmination of the Democratic-led subcommittees investigation into competition online, which has included hundreds of hours of meetings and calls and the collection of over 1.3 million documents, according to senior Judiciary aides. That makes the members of the 15-person panel set to question the CEOs uniquely prepared for the challenge, according to Gene Kimmelman, senior adviser for consumer group Public Knowledge.

Weve seen in the past high-profile hearings with CEOs that are just one-offs thats not what this is, said Kimmelman, who served in the Justice Departments antitrust unit under the Obama administration. This is the culmination of many hearings, many interviews, thousands of hours of work by the staff and engagement with the members."

Officials are also hoping to keep the hearing from straying too far off course. Democratic lawmakers and senior House Judiciary aides say they expect Wednesday's session to have a needle-like focus on the competitive concerns posed by the companies, the central premise of the hearing.

I believe that it will be largely tethered to the antitrust concerns because that is the purpose of this committees investigation, it is the driving purpose behind the hearing, said Rep. Joe Neguse (D-Colo.), vice chair of the House Judiciary antitrust subcommittee, the 15-member panel hosting the session.

But Republicans say they are preparing for a wholly different kind of hearing: a free-wheeling event where lawmakers air their grievances on everything from competition to online misinformation and allegations of an anti-conservative bias in Silicon Valley.

Ahead of the hearing, Republican staffers on the Judiciary Committee urged lawmakers to make the bias allegations a focal point of the session, according to a memo obtained by POLITICO. And they suggested that proposing legislation to update U.S. antitrust law based off of the sessions findings would be premature dealing a blow to the prospects of a bipartisan bill emerging out of the investigation.

GOP Rep. Ken Buck of Colorado said while he is planning to press the CEOs on whether their acquisitions or their platforms stifle competition, he expects other lawmakers to fire off questions on a wide range of fronts, including the bias charges.

I think you will see a free-for-all, Buck said.

Rep. Kelly Armstrong (R-N.D.) said he anticipates Republicans will hone in particularly on Facebook and Google over accusations they stifle viewpoints on the right. Armstrong said those allegations are pressing "given how much influence they have over the general public coming into the election.

Some critics of the tech giants have voiced concern that raising issues like allegations of bias could dilute the hearing. Others say it's par for the course on Capitol Hill.

"Ive never seen a hearing not wander a bit astray," said Kimmelman. "Every lawmaker has a different angle on these things and different pet issues, but I do believe there is a desire to make sure at the very least they dot all the is and cross all the ts on antitrust and competition concerns.

To do that, lawmakers will need to pepper all four chief executives with exacting questions. Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.), another member of the subcommittee, said one strategy lawmakers plan to take Wednesday is to focus on issues that cut across the tech giants.

I think they can all be assured they will get a lot of love, each one of them, she said. We do intend to split our time and talk about each one of them because I do think that there are some common fact-patterns that have emerged across companies in terms of anti-competitive behavior.

Jayapal said one such area where lawmakers share concern about all four companies is their ability to box out competitors with the vast troves of consumer data they collect. Another, she said, is their ability to deploy "copy, acquire, kill" strategies to duplicate, buy out or otherwise neutralize budding rivals.

But the largely virtual format of the hearing could make it harder for lawmakers to come out on top in those exchanges, according to Daniel Schuman, policy director at the left-leaning advocacy group Demand Progress.

In a circumstance where youre going back and forth with the witness where they can pretend not to hear you, where you talk over each other, where you have a little bit of the technological confusion that goes on top of the interaction anyway it becomes more likely that the member can lose a little bit more control of the interaction," said Schuman, who has pushed for Congress to bolster its virtual offerings.

And the virtual format could lessen the overall impact of the hearing, according to Buck.

It's unfortunate that we don't have them in person," said the GOP lawmaker. "I think it would be a much more informative and impactful hearing if we were dealing with this in person.

Even if lawmakers' stick the landing on their questions, tech industry officials remain skeptical anything new will come out of them.

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Carl Szabo, vice president and general counsel of tech trade group NetChoice, said hes very curious to know what questions will be asked that haven't been answered. Szabo, whose tech trade group counts Facebook, Google and Amazon as members, cited the fact that the companies have already turned over scores of documents to the committee.

He added, "What this is ultimately going to do is be dragging tech CEOs before Congress and berate them in front of the cameras, not looking necessarily for answers to antitrust, but looking for publicity."

But even the act of pressing the CEOs for answers on the record could mark a victory for lawmakers, according to Mitchell, regardless of whether or not the CEOs take the bait.

I do think that theres actual real information to be gleamed, and if Bezos and the other CEOs try to dodge those questions and evade and obfuscate, it adds to the picture of these companies believing that they are in charge and that they dont have to answer to anyone, she said.

Betsy Woodruff Swan contributed to this report.

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Congress looks to prove it can keep Big Tech in check - POLITICO