Turning Japanese? I Don't Think So By Jim Cramer About this article: We've taken nationalization off the table with some aggressive behind-the-scenes forbearance, meaning the banks aren't being asked to charge and charge as they mark their portfolios to their worst holdings. I am not disagreeing with the bears' notion that many portfolios are marked too high; however, I would say that a bank's job is not to mark every house that it doesn't trade to the worst sale, but to hold mortgages to maturity. Many will turn ultimately out to be better than they are marked, even as some banks have truly resisted any markdowns. In other words, the fire's been tamped -- still burning, but not out of control. It's time to examine another argument of the bears that may not be holding up to scrutiny right now: the "Japanization" of America. The theory is that we are at the beginning of a long savings spiral... Or, call us at 1-866-321-TSCM (8726) Monday-Friday, 8 a.m.-6 p.m. ET. Outside the U.S. and in Canada, call 1-212-321-5200.

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