Tough data point, the employment number. Lagging. But when you see it, the number doesn't feel like it's lagging. In fact, it is thesis-busting, as in, "We aren't getting better, let's stop fooling ourselves." It just feels like, "Come on, we know the truth, we need to have a second stimulus plan."
That will be the battleground for the second half of this year: further budget-busting vs. putting more people to work, because we sure aren't doing a great job of putting them to work.
The market will stall out, no doubt about it, if we don't see consistently declining job loss over time. It is not enough to get good numbers from a bunch of tech companies and oil companies or banks. No one will view them as sustainable. You get a weak turn in Bank of America (NYSE: BAC) (Cramer's Take) and no turn at Citigroup (NYSE: C) (Cramer's Take) with these numbers.
More stimulus.
It's worth it.
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 was long Bank of America.











Reader Comments (Page 1 of 3)
6-25-2009 @ 9:53AM
dang1067 said...
Cramer, EAT-SH!T!!!
6-25-2009 @ 10:05AM
Fred Peirce said...
Jim Cramer is a fool. The only way to turn things around is to put more money in the pockets of the citizens so they start spending again. Stimulus packages only serve to take money out of people's pockets, convincing them to hang on to what they have left in anticipation of future tax increases. It's a downward spiral and increased govt. spending only makes things worse. Cut taxes and see immediate benefits. A simple fact of life that apparently Cramer and Obama can't come to terms with. Message to our wonderful govt. - you can't spend your way out of debt.
6-25-2009 @ 10:12AM
Sam said...
I stopped listening to this fool when he went on Stewarts TV Show and got his brains beatout. Now he is brain dead! Stimulus Package another way for Barry Hussein Obama to waste our monies.
6-25-2009 @ 10:14AM
bumfuzzeled said...
Cramer has been wrong about everything. We should learn our lesson and do just the opposite of what he suggests. Repeal the stimulus package and not spend the Billions yet to be released.
6-25-2009 @ 10:26AM
PETER said...
WE NEED JOBS OBAMA IS NOT COMING THROUGH HE IS SHRINKING THE JOB MARKET INSTEAD.
CORPORATEAMERICA AND SMALL BUSINESSES MUST BE REWARDED TO EXPAND. THEREFORE JOB CREATION
SIMPLE WHY DONT THEY GET IT???
6-25-2009 @ 10:19AM
Jane T. said...
Shut up and go away, Mr. Cramer. You have no credibility any more. No one cares what you say. Your days of manipulating the stock market for your own personal gain are over.
6-25-2009 @ 10:27AM
PETER said...
CRAMER BARRY OBAMA IS NOT CREATING JOBS HE IS SHRINKING THE JOB MARKET
HE MUST REWARD COMPANIES LARGE AND SMALL FOR HIRING.. HE MUST REWARDTHEM BIG TIME AND FORGET ABOUT WASTING OUR MONEY ON BAILOUTS... GIVE THE MONEY TO FIRMS KEEPING THEIR BUSINESSES ON OUR SHORES AND THE SMALL BUSINESSES THAT ARE GROWING IN THE SMALL TOWNS HIRING NEW PEOPLE.STOP COMPANIES FROM HIRING ILLEGALS AND HIRE US CITICZENS . GET COMPANIES TO STOP HIRING DOUBLE DIPPING MUNICPAL AND NATIONAL EMPLOYEES THEREBY CREATING JOBS FOR PEOPLE WHO NEEDONE ...
6-25-2009 @ 10:50AM
Phil said...
The stimulus money, 90%, is earmarked for union paying jobs and is being delayed due to battle lines between the various Unions as to where the money will be spent. The economy will continue to get worse until the American people wake up and demand change.
6-25-2009 @ 11:20AM
riprog said...
Take a message Kramer, "Stimulus grows Govt, not the markets." Write it on a post it note and glue it to your forehead. The stimulus is nothing more than political gravy for wacky left voting blocks. It was never intended to restore our broken economy. More stimulus will only entrench the command economist who insist we buy $4.oo light bulbs, 9.00 cotton grocery sacks and the proverbial electric car. Tell government to get out of the way, let the bad businesses crash and burn and out of the ashes will raise the phoenix of new entrepreneurialism.
6-25-2009 @ 11:28AM
salome said...
just a minute please-------CONTACT YOUR REPS as on friday they vote for CAP AND TRADE..please call and tell them NO.........definitely phone,FX if you can--don't bother with the eMail--
http://www.house.gov/house/MemberWWW_by_State.shtml
6-25-2009 @ 11:33AM
beanerecmo said...
Notice the unions will not have their health care benefits taxed, stimulate that!!
6-25-2009 @ 1:57PM
beachpaul said...
We need stimulus, you need stimuli.
6-25-2009 @ 11:39AM
Roundersbb said...
Believe it or not, he might be right. The banks got the last stimulus and they are not loaning any money to anybody. Michigan took their stimulus money to balance their budget and canceled 137 highway projects.
6-25-2009 @ 11:57AM
farrb1 said...
Need to help small businesses, period. They can move the fastest, hire quickly and change the market perception within days, weeks and months...not years!!! Not the 500 people small businesses tho, I'm talking about the 100 or 50 and less. They can make the difference Obama is looking for but all his high and mighty bs wall-street oriented cronies don't know anything about the real work force of this country. GET RID OF THESE HIGH PRICED A-HOLES. They are the problem. They are not realists and cannot understand that a major grass-roots program is what will make the country turn the corner allowing new jobs, home purchases, savings, health care reform and a new outlook by the VOTING PUBLIC.
6-25-2009 @ 12:14PM
ricksTR561 said...
If I had the $100,000 plus for each working citizen that this first package cost I wouldn't need the damn jobs....just the fat-ass bankers and insurers don't need the ******* jobs....or the money. Us ordinary folks could all pay off our mortgages, and still have thousands left. How stupid to think that stimulating the wealthiest of Americans will help unemployment....that money was just socked away by the thieves, just in case the rest of us figure out what they really did. It'll at least pay for their defense attorney......
6-25-2009 @ 12:28PM
joynglp said...
No more money.....we have dug a big enough hole (inflation is just around the corner)!! DON'T listen to him!!
6-25-2009 @ 6:03PM
randy said...
Grab your ankles & kiss your azz good buy so much for change I liked it better the other way. To all that voted for the man of change, you still have not figured out you have been hood winked by a dark kenyan man lol
6-25-2009 @ 1:01PM
poogeyair said...
THE FIRST WORDS OF COMMON SENSE TO HAVE EVER BEEN UTTERED! I HAVE BEEN UNEMPLOYED FOR TOO LONG NOW AND I WOULD BE HOMELESS WITHOUT THE PAST STIMULUS PROGRAMS ALL YOU HATERS!
6-26-2009 @ 2:46PM
zeromonet said...
Hmmm...sounds like Jim Cramer doesn't pay his taxes.
6-25-2009 @ 2:13PM
Doug said...
A fundamental shift in consumer spending seems to have occurred before Christmas. People have reeled in their spending and nothing is going to get us out of this recession until consumers start buying way beyond their means again. No amount of stimulus money is going to get consumers to change their minds when large corporations continue to lay off hundreds of thousands of workers in the U.S. while expanding their overseas operations. Let's face it: Americans have been severely jolted out of their spending spree and are scared sh*tless that they're going to lose their job if they already haven't. Until that fear has been addressed, look for the recession to continue.