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Employment can easily be considered a broken record, but you will not and can't buy a house if you are about to lose your job or have lost it. The reversal of the employment picture -- something that has surprised people -- is reason number one for the group's underperformance.

Second, though, is that the $8,000 first-time home credit hasn't been renewed, something that people thought would happen last week, if it was ever going to happen because you have to close on a house in a few weeks to still get it.

To me, this is like "Cash for Clunkers." People thought the auto clunkers program would borrow from sales, but sales projections were made ahead of the program and they were met this week. Actually, they exceeded projections if you would just do some darned homework.

We have one functional automobile company in this country, Ford (NYSE: F) (Cramer's Take), and it was simply not hurt by "Cash for Clunkers" at all. No one pointed it out. Ridiculous.

I think the same thing will happen with houses. This credit isn't important vs. mortgage rates, which are low for everyone, not just the first-time homebuyers. But no matter how many times I write that, nobody cares. What's strange is that the housing stocks should NEVER have run. The key to the housing bottom is that these companies combine or falter. The latter seems to be happening.

Why does all of this matter so much? Because the last leg up was led by these stocks. They have now become key to the market. If the PHLX Housing Sector index, or HGX, keeps going down in the next few days you are going to see a big rollover in Black & Decker (NYSE: BDK) (Cramer's Take), Masco (NYSE: MAS) (Cramer's Take), Fortune Brands (NYSE: FO) (Cramer's Take) and all the other plays that have moved because these stocks had increased.

If you see the HGX continue to get clubbed, the best trade of the week is puts on BDK, FO, and MAS, which are all overextended anyway. Oh, and even if we get a bounce, these three stocks have diverged from their cohort enough to make me think they should be shorted into any strength whatsoever.

Random musings: I feel so good now that I know Nouriel Roubini, the professor, thinks we have moved up too fast, too soon. I mean wasn't he the guy who told us to buy at the bottom and ride it up 50%? Didn't he nail it exactly? Isn't that why we are still listening to him? Can you imagine if I did this B.S.? Think about the heat I take for being right!

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.