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RealMoney.com: Jim Cramer Blog
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Eerie Silence Surrounds the Banking Collapse

By Jim Cramer
RealMoney.com Columnist

7/14/2008 12:21 PM EDT
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Is Washington Mutual (WM - commentary - Cramer's Take) IndyMac (IMB - commentary - Cramer's Take)? Or is First Horizon (FHN - commentary - Cramer's Take)? How about National City (NCC - commentary - Cramer's Take) as IndyMac?

 
We are in that moment where the whole banking system is collapsing around us, and everyone's saying, hey, cool, the FDIC is ready. Or, "Doesn't matter, what's it to ya?" Maybe they are all IndyMacs. That's what the market is saying. This is 1990, when banks would collapse on a daily basis, and the S&P at first gets all agitated and then figures, so what. The bank index (BKX) is still well above where it was in 1990, so there is mucho room to fall.

I think that we are not yet in the "so what" moment, but we have gotten a sense from the Treasury that only Fannie (FNM - commentary - Cramer's Take) and Freddie (FRE - commentary - Cramer's Take) are too big to fail.

I just wish we had an idea of the back end of IndyMac. What happens to all of those bankrupt loans? Where are they being put? Are they being sent somewhere? Does someone get to take over Indymac? How about Washington Mutual? Is Fannie or Freddie our Resolution Trust? Is anybody listening out there? Does anyone have a plan for the biggest goner of all, Citigroup (C - commentary - Cramer's Take)?

We've got an amazing train wreck going on here, and nobody's even thinking about bottom-fishing. Notice how all of the outfits and buyers of all of this junk have gone silent? Where are those buyers of Nat City and Washington Mutual? Did they disappear? Looks like they are in the same place as the stakeholders in Ambac (ABK - commentary - Cramer's Take) and MBIA (MBI - commentary - Cramer's Take)MBI. Silence. Silence. Run silent, run dead.

I marvel of the inability of this group to take us all down. I marvel that the FDIC has unlimited capital to take over the banking system because of those darned 4 million homes. I marvel that the California and Florida housing markets have the ability to wreck the whole shooting match.

But they do.

And the yawning that's going on away is a sign that either everyone knew it or no one knows it.

Can't figure out which one's right.

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


After the failure of IndyMac Bancorp (IMB) and the government's pledge to backstop mortgage giants Fannie Mae (FNM) and Freddie Mac (FRE), what will be the next financial company to require federal help?

Lehman Brothers (LEH)
Washington Mutual (WM)
National City (NCC)
Downey Financial (DSL)
Let the market sort all this out.





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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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