Cramer on the Pain of Cendant

Spotting fraud. Let's just say I have thought about this concept a great deal since the Cendant massacre. I don't think it can be flushed out if the people involved are sophisticated actors who are given to lying. And I do take it as a given that people are not lying to me or defrauding me when I buy their stock.

But only cash doesn't lie.

Frankly, my problems with Cendant were always with CUC International (referred to as CU, because of its symbol at the time). Last year, my local elementary school was part of a test CU ran to see if elementary schools could raise PTO money through sales of CD-ROMs. My wife helped run the project. We sold a ton of Sierra Davidson CD-ROMs. Beats selling gift wrap or candy, believe me. (We know now that at least some of the sales from this company were real -- my daughter booked 'em!!!) ...