Cramer on BloggingStocks: The destruction of the financials

Posted Nov 18th 2008 8:58AM by Jim Cramer
Filed under: Market Matters, Citigroup Inc. (C), Bank of America (BAC), Cramer on BloggingStocks, Financial Crisis, MetLife Inc. (MET)

From TheStreet.com Network

TheStreet.com's Jim Cramer says the action in some of the banks and insurers is sickening.

They've gotten to the fortress banks. They have crushed everything financial because the word is out: No more bonuses and no more dividends if you take federal money under President Obama.

I don't know if it is true. But I sense from the action since the election that something big and bad is happening to the banks and the insurers. It looks like there is a quid pro quo developing and that quid pro quo is that if you want to get help from the government you are not going to get a bonus and you have to hurt your shareholders.

What else can the takeaway be for the way Citigroup (NYSE: C) (Cramer's Take) and Bank of America (NYSE: BAC) (Cramer's Take) are acting? What else is there driving Prudential (NYSE: PRU) (Cramer's Take) and MetLife (NYSE: MET) (Cramer's Take)? These are big firms! Great firms!

We are witnessing nothing less than the wholesale destruction of pretty much every single financial company in the country and it is happening with breathtaking speed.

All of these are breaking the print prices of where they raised money. Does anyone even notice the action in MetLife? It is sickening. The Hartford (NYSE: HIG) (Cramer's Take) yields 13%. You know that isn't staying that high.

Here's my question: Am I the only one who is frightened by this? Am I the only one? Is everyone else so smug that they can look at these prices and say "buy, buy, buy?"

These companies are going to be zombies. Major American companies. It's unbelievable to me.

And all I ever hear is "buy, buy, buy."

I just can't believe it's happening.

Jim Cramer is co-founder and chairman of TheStreet.com. He contributes daily market commentary for TheStreet.com's sites and serves as an adviser to the company's CEO. At the time of publication, Cramer had no positions in the stocks mentioned.

Tags: bac, c, featured, financial crisis, FinancialCrisis, hig, jim cramer, JimCramer, met, pru

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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

11-18-2008 @ 10:38AM

billp37 said...

Cramer's comments on PRU Thursday November 13, 2008 cnbc terrified Sandia National Laboratories retirees.

http://www.prosefights.org/nmlegal//libel/libel.htm#cramer

11-18-2008 @ 10:33AM

nick said...

Crammer really talks a good game, this guy had to be a used carsalesman in another life. This jewish carpet bagger has taken the gentile down the path of destruction, he is great at telling others how to lose their money.

11-18-2008 @ 12:20PM

BHarrison said...

Personally, I find Cramer to be one of the few, very few, voices of truth and reason amongst this economic chaos. No one, including Cramer, wants to hear the dire truth about all of these matters; but it does no good to ignore the reality and the truths behind what has and is occuring.

I do take exception somewhat to his expression of sympathy for those in the financial industry. A vast number of these people made enormous amounts of revenues based on the FRAUD of the subprime mortgage loans and the "derivatives", the basis of the pyramid and Ponzi schemes that have caused the collapse of our and the global economy. These are the people who deserve to be laid off more than any of the employees in the other industries.

The CRIME behind all of this is the irresponsibility, the unbounded GREED, and the CORRUPTION of the CEOs, the CFOs, and the upper management who orchestrated and perpetuated these pyramid and Ponzi schemes that undermined the financial integrity, and finally the "faith and confidence" in the markets . . . AND these CORRUPT individuals are still in charge of the FIs and the corporations . . . that is the BIGGEST TRAVESTY of all. Heck, Paulson, who is in charge of the government's recovery efforts, is ONE of those CORRUPT CEOs himself; and he has failed to address the CRIMINAL aspects of corporate management or removal of those individuals.

Behind all of this is the reality of the fact that Congress, who are the "Gate Keepers" of the integrity and stability of our economy, allowed all of this CORRUPTION to occur by failing to perform their fiduciary responsibility to provide reasonable and adequate "oversight and managment" of the FIs. . . . And most of these CORRUPT INEPT, INCOMPETENT, AND Congressmen are still in office.

Recovery will not be possible UNTIL the economy bottoms out and INTEGRITY is restored in the FIs, and the markets. Prosecution of the CRIMINALLY CORRUPT CEOs and upper management is a critical part of recovery. The American people will not have faith and confidence to invest in a market that is STILL controlled by those scoundrels.

Part of the quandary is that we do not have the luxury of time to wait until George Bush leaves office.