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RealMoney.com: Jim Cramer Blog
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Why Can't Anything Fail?

By Jim Cramer
RealMoney.com Columnist

2/29/2008 3:37 PM EST
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We don't get a bottom. We just drift down -- or on days like today, we raid down hard. One of the reasons we don't get a bottom is that nobody goes under. We just have so many companies on life support.

Take Charter (CHTR - commentary - Cramer's Take). This ridiculously hobbled cable company is what I mean about there being no conclusion to anything around here. Fitch just took Charter to CCC. Charter should be defaulting. When it does, Comcast (CMCSA - commentary - Cramer's Take) and Time Warner Cable (TWC - commentary - Cramer's Take) should be able to buy the assets, the subscribers, for a nice discount.

But it doesn't go under. It just hangs around. The whole capitalism pruning process isn't working.

Same with the banks and mortgage insurers. How in heck can Fremont General (FMT - commentary - Cramer's Take) still be around? Look at those statements this morning. But it exists still, and it drags out the cleansing process.

No one ever wants to root for failures. Nevertheless, we need to see some of the retailers and restaurant chains that did LBOs file for bankruptcy to take out restaurant capacity. When we look at Sprint (S - commentary - Cramer's Take), we see more than 50 million subs up for grabs, but it will be a bleed-off, because no bank is EVER going to let Sprint go belly-up, but no one in management will sell the company to anyone. The new management just got in. It doesn't matter that the stock is down huge today. It just hangs on like everything else.

Brokers? No one went under during this one, which is incredible. Airline capacity is back.

Thrifts? Nobody goes under.

Homebuilders? All of the publicly traded guys hang in. Nobody closes.

We know the monoline story.

So we just go on and on and on without getting a takeout in capacity and cheap assets for sale and a cessation of competition.

It just makes for a tougher environment than I have seen in years, because every company I follow that should be going under just keeps ticking.

No rest for the weary and no closings either.

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






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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.

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