Watching for Signs of Confidence

Can we stabilize Main Street and forget about Wall Street? Can we handle Morgan Stanley (MS - commentary - Cramer's Take) and Goldman Sachs (GS - commentary - Cramer's Take) continually going down and still have an up market?

Pretty sobering isn't it?

My inclination is to say yes. The deposit institutions are better off than we think, and so are Goldman and Morgan, but nobody cares about the latter. (Unless you own them, as I do for my trust, as seen in Action Alerts PLUS!)

Obviously, after any crushing of this market as we have had, the notion of going straight back up is pretty much off the table. I think that it is harder to raid the market down with the new rules. You can see how that is playing out. But in the end, if a bunch of big firms want to raid the market down with the futures, it can be done.

What we need now is more of what President Bush said as well as a drastic temporary cut in rates that would allow central banks around the world to do their job of avoiding a serious crash on the world's bourses that could eventually extend to the Main Streets of the world.

Today's a good start.

But what really needs to happen is a whole lot more Buffett to buy Constellation Energy (CEG - commentary - Cramer's Take) and a whole lot less Morgan Stanley to fold/merge/die. Two days of more confidence, and I think we get that.

Two days of less confidence, and we can be glad we let a little stuff go into this rally, which is really the only plan I feel is operative. I always like to be opportunistic on both sides, and I am picking at some drug stocks with great potential.

But otherwise, I, like you, am simply watching.

At the time of publication, Cramer was long Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley.

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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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