Jim's Quotes from this segment:  

Jim:          Let's talk about the United States of Apple! Or more appropriately, iUSA versus The United States of America. Why? Because when you take a measure of both, it goes a long way toward demonstrating why I think stocks are the best asset class for you to own, as our corporations are doing everything right, while our country's leaders... they seem to be doing everything wrong. The contrast explains a ton, particularly on a day when Apple rallied 10 points, while the overall market did pretty much nothing, represented by the Dow dipping 16 points...

Alright, so let's compare and contrast Apple versus America...

First, our nation's deeply in debt. We're almost as bad as those nare-do-well countries in Europe that you hear talked about all the time. And if we weren't such a huge part of the global economy, with a currency that has a legacy of being worth a lot, then you could bet we'd have the IMF on our doorstep very soon...

Apple? It's got $76 billion in cash. No debt. Apple's approaching its cash horde not as a liability, like so many on Wall Street view it, but as something that the company can rely on, if things start going badly, or if there's some terrific opportunity that doesn't currently exist, at least to them. Sure, I would like Apple to pay out a dividend. No doubt. I believe passionately in dividends. Given that there are only 30 companies in this country with a market capitalization larger than the cash position that Apple has on its balance sheet, you can argue that they already have enough for a rainy day. They've got enough for 10 monsoons.

But let me ask you... which would you rather invest in? The bonds of a country that keeps pumping out debt, and is mortgaged to the eyeballs, or a company that is prudent enough to say, we're sitting on this cash until we find something that is credible, and then we'll pounce. I'll take Apple for certain.

Second, let's consider the way Apple is run, versus the way we run our country. Now I know we're in a democracy... sort of... and Apple's a business which per se can't really be a democracy.

Finally, there's the notion of the future versus the past. On Apple's conference call, I heard more about the things to come than the current lineup. A new iPhone on the horizon, thousands of new applications for the iPad in the mill, a cloud product which maybe just blows us away. And we all know that Apple's working right now on something we can't even get our heads around, and we're not even present at the creation yet. Our country? I've read the polls. Many believe that our best days are behind us, that our standard of living is slipping, and that in a true reverse-echo of President Reagan, people do not expect to be better off in the future than they were in the past.

Does anyone believe that Apple's future will not be as bright as its past? I think it'll be much brighter. And again, as a testament to Steve Jobs (CEO), I believe there will be a terrific Apple, even without the leadership of this great man. Apple turned out to be his greatest legacy.

The bottom line...

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[end of segment]

*Note:  An asterisk next to a stock indicates that Jim owns it currently for his charitable trust.  If you are interested in a particular stock, Jim Cramer recommends that you always do the homework on each stock, and that you wait at least one trading week after his show recommendation to evaluate whether it is a good stock trade or investment for you. 

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