Cramer: How to Play the Dubai Dip

Stock quotes in this article:C 

Oil below $75 -- the true test. We have not been able to handle big dives in oil, and this is the biggest, so an equity price has to be paid commensurate with the losses overseas.

Given that of the major worldwide banks with exposure to Dubai, Citigroup (C) is the only domestic one, the price should not be as high those of other countries. We are not as exposed.

But it doesn't matter. We don't trade that way. We trade on this one commodity, and now everything has to move down -- initially -- probably double what the market goes down on a $2 decline in oil. So we might as well be accepting of a 3% to 4% decline from the start.

So given that the futures are going to take us there, and given that Europe has stabilized, perhaps it would be best to think of the discount that we are getting to the higher-yielding stocks and with the techs that are very strong: the ones related to PCs.

I'm reluctant to be more specific until we see exactly where we go.

Random musings: The hate continues to be spewed in my direction because I said I didn't want a penny tax but I could live with it. OK, here's where I come out. I hate the capital gains tax, but I live with it. I hate the payroll tax, but I could live with it. I don't even believe there should be a dividend tax. I would pay the tax if it were enacted.

I want higher profits so we can have more jobs, but it isn't working so we need help from the federal government to hire people. I linked taxes to jobs simply because I am sick of how high the deficit is, although obviously I want spending cuts more. For this position -- don't want tax but accept it -- I have been pilloried as a champion of the tax, and many people have flooded my email box with hateful, despicable notes about how I am taking away their livelihood. Many of the notes are threatening.

It doesn't matter that I say I am misunderstood; it doesn't matter what I do. And, frankly, it is pathetic that I have become the fulcrum point on this rather than the people proposing the tax. Take it up with them. Not me. I don't deserve the scorn. Nor the threats. I know I will endlessly be held out now as the man who wanted the tax. I can't refute it any more than I have. But like all the lies told about me, I had better start to learn to live with this one, too.

At the time of publication, Cramer had no positions in the stocks mentioned. This post appeared earlier today on RealMoney. Click here for a free trial, and enjoy incisive commentary all day, every day.


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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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