Cramer is an imbecile. His “friends behind the scenes” are most likely the gaffers and grips on his TV show. I don;t know any [rofessional who takes him seriously, and suspect that very, very few talk to him.

But he’s a force. Millions listen to him, and, as they will follow any guru, they take his advice.

My “friends behind the scenes” are licking their chops. There is a lot of bearish sentiment, but frankly, most of it is pretty tame, with no expectation of any “meltdowns.” The enthusiasm they have is for two things:

1. vastly heightened volatility, which they feed on, and
2. much more realistic pricing and spreads in debt.

Some people have figured this out. Note the very impressive recovery yesterday of investment banking equities. These guys are about to make a lot of money, and my gues is that whatever underwriting and distriution fees they may lose through a credit contraction will be partially or completely replaced by much larger proprietary trading profits.

Cramer’s rant had some truth to it. Interstingly, I watch his show, as that is a slack time slot for me. Last night he sorta shifted his focus. He did not retract his meltdown stance but did allude that he could care little if the Bear Stearns folded, he does want to see some relief for the homeowners though.

I have dubious views on that too. Some might be genuinely duped, but I would suggest that the vast majority went in with their eyes wide open, took the crap shoot and the dice came up 7 come 11. Busted.

For those that have the time, you might want to go look at the markets in Japan. Mitsubishi UF, THE worlds biggest bank is taking pasting on its stock price. Asset values in land are going thru the roof. Currency trading of the Yen against the regional currencies is cratering. Won’t be long before Japan stops dollar carries.

We essentially have economies #1 & 2 in a liquidity contraction.

YOU GO JIM…..Tell it like it really is….. Smell some more coffee folks and ask yourself. What started this whole mess in the first place. It was the Damn Democratic Government Regulators (DDGR’s) who stepped in and imposed regulation which shut off the flow of dollars to the subprime market. They went in with their oh so common finger pointing and blame techniques. They did this to us and convinced us all under the guise of “predatory lending, Fraud” and “High Foreclosure Rates” When in fact the exact opposite was true, mortgage backed bonds, the industry and the housing market as a whole was making plenty of money. Tell me, do you see a problem with a very a low foreclosure rate in an up trending real estate market, a market in which the value is more than the foreclosed loan amount? The government regulators only goal was to pop the housing bubble and to take control over the entire trillion dollar mortgage market through FANNIE AND FREDDIE MAE and FHA. It is the government regulators who are not only Predatory but Fraudulent and Reckless in there wanting control over the mortgage lending market. Their actions have cause this self fulfilling prophecy, they will only burn the place to the ground if people don’t wake up and put a stop to it. It is because of their reckless actions that a lot of good American people will wind up paying the price. Mean while we are spending billions to build homes in other countries? Learn to read between the lines people and stop allowing the Government to protect you from yourselves.