It was initially thought the election of President Barack Obama was just going to hit your pocketbook in the form of higher taxes. But if the past several days are any indication, the president has found another way to hit it - by attacking your stock portfolio.
On CNBC's Jan. 25 "Mad Money," host Jim Cramer advised his viewers to be aware of this and to strategically position their stock portfolio with an eye on Obama and Washington's expanded role in the private economy.
"In the last week the world of investing has been turned upside down by Washington," Cramer said. "We can no longer afford to look at stocks the same way we did before the GOP upset in Massachusetts. With the Obama administration now on an anti-shareholder rampage, we now have to factor in political risk when we evaluate different sectors. And the risk may be higher than anytime since Jimmy Carter, who truly hated profits, especially if they were big. In the midst of earnings season, suddenly politics has become just as important as revenue growth or market share gains or earnings' beats. So we need a new prism for valuing stocks."
Cramer explained he was going to show viewers how to be aware, as the president is now determined to use populism as a political tool.
"And tonight I'm going to give you that prism, a whole new methodology for putting prices on stocks in a world where the President has shown he can and will smash any given sector as part of his lurch toward populism," Cramer said. "Suddenly stockholders seem to be Obama's public enemy number one, or PENO as I call it."
According to Cramer, Obama's anti-bonus rhetoric was intended to be directed at so-called Wall Street fat cats. However, the law of unintended consequences has shown that other investors that are using the stock market to save for college and retirement have been hit. The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) sank 552 points over the course of three days following Obama's strong rhetoric about the banks and bonuses.
"As we saw from an Obama-induced sell-off last week that caused stocks to correct more than any time in recent memory for certain," Cramer said. "Doesn't matter that most people put their kids through college with stock profits, retire with the aid of stocks. These seem to be of no importance to Obama, who seems to think that [CEO] Lloyd Blankfein from Goldman Sachs is the only person with big stock holdings in the country and everyone else is immune to huge stock declines."
Cramer explained that if Scott Brown had not pulled the upset against Martha Coakley in the Jan. 19 Massachusetts special election to fill the seat vacated by Ted Kennedy's death, Obama might not have been forced to play the populist card and things could be different.
"Maybe if Martha Coakley, the Democrat, had won in Massachusetts, Goldman Sachs' stocks would have opened up 10 points when it reported and ended big the next day, too," Cramer said. "But, given that Goldman reported right when Obama launched his [Paul] Volcker fuselade, it was katy bar the door and the stock was crushed, despite the restraint Goldman showed on bonuses, which no one thought would happen.
The "Mad Money" host likened Obama's new attitude about banks to Lady Gaga's "Revenge."
"Coakley's loss killed more than the Democratic supermajority in the Senate," Cramer said. "She killed the banks. And to think that Wall Street once loved Obama, now we know indeed, in true Lady Gaga fashion, he doesn't want our love. He doesn't want to be friends. He just wants revenge."
Cramer warned shareholders to be on the look out during the President's Jan. 27 State of the Union address.
"So who's is next in the battle of capital and the White House Bear-in-Chief?" Cramer asked. "Isn't that the real question? We know business is the enemy now. It's all become clear to us. We need to be ready for anything, including some grenades that might just come to shareholders in the State of the Union address on Wednesday. Fire in the hole!"
