Must Obama Crash the Market?

Sickening feeling going home tonight. You check the headlines and the budget stories coming out are for big tax hits for oil and gas. You wonder, does it have to be this way? Does President Obama have to crash the market? Does he know how many people have 401Ks that are teetering and how many pensions are underfunded and annuities that are going kerflooey?

Nobody wants an unbalanced budget, but these taxes are giving us a sense of doom that makes me feel that Dow 6000 is a must -- just a must -- and that he wants it that way.

We are in a weird moment where we have to get used to the idea that we have a president and a party that simply is unfavorable to stocks and stockholders. It's a real test of wills between those who do own something -- stocks, house, whatever -- and a president that wants fairness. And I think it is fairness.

We joke on Mad Money about the government for, of and by the corporations, but that's gone. I know that lots of people today made fun of Eddie Lampert's note in the Sears' quarter, but ask yourself -- are we not at some sort of moment where free market capitalism is just being trampled?

I know Obama wants to move fast and on all fronts, and it is true that healthcare in particular got a big free ride during the Bush administration -- the levels of profitability might have been too high. But I am sitting here tonight looking at Humana (HUM - commentary - Cramer's Take), UnitedHealth Group (UNH - commentary - Cramer's Take), Aetna (AET - commentary - Cramer's Take) and CIGNA (CI - commentary - Cramer's Take) and trying to figure out if they have any earnings power at all. What the heck are they worth?

For years we have worried that the U.S. government was going to use its clout to get big price cuts for its drug buys. That's certainly in the cards now, but not in the stocks -- although it sure was getting there today. I had to sell some of my fave drug stocks just to miss a possible Humana-like crushing. Who knows if one will occur but it sure seemed likely at the bell?

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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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