Once and for All, This Rally Is Real

Lets say the market goes to Dow 9500. Let's say the SPX goes up 10%. Is that a bear market rally? Is that a Trojan horse? Are those points you don't want?

I am struggling with accountability here. There are whole Web sites devoted to dissecting my every move, ones that show that I told you to get out at 11,000 and 10,000 and then to wade back in when Doug Kass gave you the generational low call -- I admit that I totally cribbed and changed views because of him and some work I did on this site which showed the downside too minimal to ignore buying.

Of course I have been lambasted for both: people saying I was an alarmist with my "get out" 10,000 call and people who refuse to recognize that I went positive in the 6000s -- and 680 on the SPX -- just another piece attacking me for not getting people back in, and how I left them high and dry! I am always in shock at this because of the shamelessness with which I just went along for the ride with Doug, mentioning his bottom call about a dozen times here and on the show and how I was all in "Doug."

No matter. I mention this because I stare at the two numbers, the sell, when it still made sense to get out, and the buy, when it made sense to buy, and both are totally ignored by those who say this is all a rally in a bear market. They can't give you credit, because these points don't count.

(Not much different with the permabears who endlessly talk about how if you had stayed in good-quality stocks, you would be fine. What's good quality? If you are the American public, that would be Pfizer (PFE - commentary - Trade Now) and Citigroup (C - commentary - Trade Now) and Merck (MRK - commentary - Trade Now) and Intel (INTC - commentary - Trade Now) and Cisco (CSCO - commentary - Trade Now) -- all of which are strictly in the "so what" category.)

ALL JIM CRAMER BLOG ENTRIES | POST A COMMENT | READ COMMENTS  

---

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.

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.