Jim Cramer's Best Blogs

We all know that Citigroup (C Quote), Wachovia (WB Quote), Washington Mutual (WM Quote) and National City (NCC Quote) are in trouble. Bank of America (BAC Quote) says it isn't in trouble, but obviously the market doesn't believe management because the stock failed to rally when it said its dividend was safe. Any short-selling hedge fund could hire 30 actors and have them line up at a Washington Mutual or two and get a bank run going. Then we would have to hear about a "hasty" Treasury department plan to bail out WM. Hasty? How can these guys not see it coming?

No revelation that Lehman (LEH Quote) or Merrill's (MER Quote) in the soup, although I do marvel that at no price do they seem interesting to anyone -- value guys, takeover guys, or acquirers in general. But how about Comerica (CMA Quote), Regions Financial (RF Quote), Sovereign (SOV Quote), Huntington Bancshares (HBAN Quote), Suntrust (STI Quote), Fifth Third (FITB Quote), First Horizon (FHN Quote), Marshall & Ilsley (MI Quote), Zions (ZION Quote), Key (KEY Quote), Colonial (CNB Quote) and BB&T (BBT Quote)? Their charts are indicating there is much more devastation ahead. Every one of them is small enough to fail, and no one would give a darn. If the FDIC follows the trail blazed by IndyMac (IMB Quote) it would be great because IndyMac Federal isn't foreclosing anymore. Get rid of the foreclosures, get rid of some of the overhang. But is that the plan, or do they have no place to put the foreclosed loans?

We know that the Gang of Four -- MBIA (MBI Quote), MGIC (MTG Quote), PMI (PMI Quote) and Ambac (ABK Quote) -- has been obliterated, a long-running saga of puffing by management and disastrous numbers. These companies are important, even if everyone seems to think that they have gone down without much repercussion other than the 40th story about how private mortgage insurers are now raising rates. Golly gee, who is paying them anything? They don't have enough money to pay the bank back for heaven's sake!