Wake Up -- Of Course It's Bad Out There

We are in the teeth of it now. You can see it. People are suddenly shocked that Citigroup (C) and "even" JPMorgan (JPM) could have big losses. ARE YOU KIDDING ME? Is anyone really shocked by that?

Looks like tech's not doing well and "even" KLA Tencor's (KLAC) doing badly. Did anyone think that KLAC was having a good quarter? Even an OK one? Executives at Seagate (STX) are dropping like flies. Why would anyone think that the cutthroat disk drive industry would be doing well? Are you nuts?

How about the oils? There was amazement yesterday about Transocean (RIG) starting to see cancellations of projects. With oil at $37, are you going to rent a rig at $700,000 a day? It only took one cancellation of one rig to wreck the house-of-cards pricing in that industry. I had Anadarko's (APC) Jim Hackett on last night; APC is the only natural gas producer I like given that so many are unhedged and many others need money. But I have little faith that the stock can stay up here given the pressure down on the group, pressure that brings all stocks down because of rampant ETF selling. There's no dividend support either, so it isn't happening.

How about the "shock" of Alcoa (AA)? Here's the worst-run major industrial in the worst metals group of the era, and people are SHOCKED that Alcoa's doing badly.

Corning (GLW) gets downgraded by Merrill. Unbelievable? Or perhaps reasonable given how poorly its end markets are doing?

The only thing that shocks and amazes me in this market is if anyone genuinely believes that any industrial company is doing well. The only secular growth trend out there that I see right now is in online education -- Apollo (APOL) and its acolytes, American Public Education (APEI) being my favorite.

But at the end of last year, the analysts got bullish. We saw multiple upgrades, for example, of the semiconductors and the semi-equipment companies. Multiple ones. Based on nothing.

We took up stocks with incredibly disappointing quarters like Eaton (ETN) -- and I like Eaton.

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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. 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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