Cramer on BloggingStocks: That 'stimulus' package just won't get it done

Posted Jan 29th 2009 9:15AM by Jim Cramer
Filed under: Market Matters, Nucor Corp (NUE), Cramer on BloggingStocks, Recession

From TheStreet.com Network

TheStreet.com's Jim Cramer says after seeing what was passed, forget the infra plays.

Is President Obama listening to all of those good businesspeople around him? Or is it all being done for show? Did they really get behind that stimulus package that couldn't stimulate a fraction of the jobs that have already been lost this month?

I couldn't help but feel that way after speaking to Dan Dimicco from Nucor (NYSE: NUE) (Cramer's Take) last night. Nucor's had about a 50% drop in production of steel -- the kind of steel that would be used in any real infrastructure package -- and he was simply aghast that anyone could check off on anything that small, that the amount of steel that would be used in that package was minuscule and wouldn't mean a thing.

Now, Nucor doesn't need it to make the numbers. They have such a low cost basis on their steel that when prices come down, the other guys can't even make it for the cost that he can sell it.

But it does make me feel that as much hope that I had for the Obama administration, anyone who is buying the traditional infrastructure stocks here -- the Jacobs Engineerings (NYSE: JEC) (Cramer's Take) or the Granite Constructions (NYSE: GVA) (Cramer's Take) or the Vulcan Materials (NYSE: VMC) (Cramer's Take) -- off what just passed is simply not going to outperform this market.

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: featured, gva, jec, jim cramer, JimCramer, nue, vmc

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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

1-29-2009 @ 10:27AM

beachpaul said...

Most of the states will receive that money for,wink, wink, rebuilding infrastructure. My original home state is almost 400 billion down for this year, never mind the fiscal year beginning July. '09. The only thing they will rebuild is their budget. These corporations that are "to big to fail" need to do just that in a bankruptcy court. The shareholders should get wiped not the public treasury. Protecting special interests is why we are where we are.

1-31-2009 @ 7:58PM

Vik said...

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/2193853.stm

sound familiar?

2-01-2009 @ 12:02AM

MARVIN said...

Unfortunately any stimulus package given to the businesses that rely on the general public for their sales or support will do very little good over the long term . This is due the lack of spending money from the general public. The bulk of the general public are cash strapped due largely to the huge fuel price increases we had to pay. This affected the publics buying power, cutting out any reserves that they had. Without any home equity and the banks lowering credit card limits "while also raising interest rates on these same credit cards," the public is losing their buying power. Until the general public gets adequate money reserves to be able to purchase expensive items such as appliances, cars, homes etc., there will be a very slow recovery. Good luck to these companies! The bailouts are only a bandaid. Give some relief to the general public. The tax breaks won't give any spending power to the public. Those are for the long term, not the immediate future. The government is giving the bailout to the wrong end of the spectrum!