Earnings Still Matter

Too little too late? For some, yes. For Washington Mutual (WM - commentary - Cramer's Take), yes. For Wachovia (WB - commentary - Cramer's Take)? Maybe.

For Apple (AAPL - commentary - Cramer's Take)?

Oops, that's the problem: The earnings are no good. We sit here and fret about European property banks that were just these blips on our early-morning screens -- Fortis? Hypo? B&B -- what the heck, I didn't even know they were important. We follow their bailouts and we wonder how in heck did we do this to them? Did we? Did they have Lehman trouble? Who didn't have Lehman trouble?

And then Morgan Stanley downgrades Apple and we get a bunch of retail downgrades and then we realize that we are in uncharted earnings and assets waters.

It feels like every man is out for himself at these moments.

You can't take solace in anything because we just don't know if anyone's making the numbers or who is going to be in business a few weeks from now.

Look, this is a terrible time. Remember the stakes: The plan is about trying not to crash, the plan is about not letting the banking system disintegrate. It is not about upside surprises and better earnings.

Those are just totally off the table.

At the time of publication, Cramer had no positions in the stocks mentioned.

---

Jim Cramer is a director and co-founder of TheStreet.com. He contributes daily market commentary for TheStreet.com's sites and serves as an adviser to the company's CEO. Outside contributing columnists for TheStreet.com and RealMoney.com, including Cramer, may, from time to time, write about stocks in which they have a position. In such cases, appropriate disclosure is made. To see his personal portfolio and find out what trades Cramer will make before he makes them, sign up for Action Alerts PLUS. Watch Cramer on "Mad Money" weeknights on CNBC. To order Cramer's newest book -- "Jim Cramer's Stay Mad for Life: Get Rich, Stay Rich (Make Your Kids Even Richer)," click here. Click here to order "Mad Money: Watch TV, Get Rich," click here to order "Real Money: Sane Investing in an Insane World," click here to get "You Got Screwed!" and click here for Cramer's autobiography, "Confessions of a Street Addict." While he cannot provide personalized investment advice or recommendations, he appreciates your feedback and invites you to send comments by clicking here.

TheStreet.com has a revenue-sharing relationship with Amazon.com under which it receives a portion of the revenue from Amazon.com purchases by customers directed there from TheStreet.com.