Selling Is the Easy Answer

Suddenly, people think I am a genius. You know what I did? All day, every day, I am hit by people with ideas: "Take a look at the semis down here; Morgan Stanley's late in its sell call." Or, "Buy some banks, they've been hammered mercilessly." How about this one: "Medco Health (MHS - commentary - Trade Now), great quarter, scoop some up."

You know how I have answered the question this morning? You know how I have made myself look so smart? I have been saying, "Sell it" to whatever the proposition might be, including Burlington Northern (BNI - commentary - Trade Now) (which I explained away as Warren Buffett's attempt to make U.S. Bancorp (USB - commentary - Trade Now) and Wells (WFC - commentary - Trade Now) (two rogue outfits) a smaller part of his portfolio and to minimize his exposure to Goldman Sachs (GS - commentary - Trade Now) and GE (GE - commentary - Trade Now)). Or if it is a group of stocks someone touted, I shot back, "Sell 'em all." I am thinking of getting even smarter and writing, "Short them all." But I need a little uptick in the market to have that happen, something made difficult by Buffett's foolish buy of a railroad. Every time I have done it -- and I have done it half a dozen times -- every single person agreed with me. They rethought their positive ideas on the spot and decided to go negative right along with my new stance.

It felt so good to be so negative. So rigorous and cozy. I'm so glad I didn't get asked about BNI or Black & Decker (BDK - commentary - Trade Now) during yesterday's session -- those would have been costly sell calls! But even with those, you can dismiss them as aberrations across a broad panoply of needing to sell. Sometimes you get hit with a takeover when you are bearish. I even wrote about it in Confessions of a Street Addict. It the hazard of being negative.

Again, I see the ease of going flat-out negative. How can you go wrong with the sell call? Why own anything? The gloom is so palpable that it has worn me down. Why not go with the flow?

Goldman Sachs? Why not sell it? A lot of points there. Intel (INTC - commentary - Trade Now)? Good sell call, as this was the last good quarter. Caterpillar (CAT - commentary - Trade Now)? Why not sell off that soggy EU number.

I could go on and on. CSX (CSX - commentary - Trade Now), Norfolk Southern (NSC - commentary - Trade Now), Union Pacific (UNP - commentary - Trade Now)? Short 'em all. There's only one Buffett. Short 'em right into the strength.

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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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