my mission is simple. to make you money. i'm here to level the playing field for all investors. there's always a bull market somewhere and i promise to help you find it. "mad money" starts now! hey, i'm cramer! welcome to "mad money." welcome to cramerica. other people want to make friends on days like today. my job is not just to entertain you, but to help you figure this out and coach you, so call me at 1-800-743-cnbc. sure, it's rough out there. you hear whispers of a budget deal. we hear intransigence as we go over the weekend and go lower. s&p back, nasdaq up 0.98%.

how the heck do you immunize against this washington-inspired lunacy?! one way to vaccinate your portfolio is to focus on dividends. let's puzzle through this first, though. i don't believe the government is going to stop paying interest on treasury bonds. i think the administration will prioritize with the pay, if congress doesn't raise the debt ceiling. remember, i said if, not when. so it might not be as catastrophic as you expect, but it's pretty cataclysmic. i think they're to buy all the debt that's for sale in the event of a technical default. the fed could make a killing on this debt. it doesn't care about the yield being in jeopardy, like everybody else does. there comes a time when the government either issues debt or default. that has to happen. but i'm not hearing it's going to happen until the end of the month, and that is a long way away. all deadlines seem to be fungible. the seeming lack of concern about treasuries given

editorially rise in bond prices and the decline in yield, makes you feel everything's pretty honky dory, doesn't it? but there are actual owners of debt who aren't going to be as calm as this market is. in fact, i think that's the least furious. particularly the foreign debt holders. the chinese, for example, own about $1.2 trillion in debt and they are gasping pretty loudly all day about this. and who can blame them? why would you ever own u.s. debt if you thought you weren't going to get paid. that would be insane, right? so you become sellers. it would be crazy to be buyers. however, if we don't pay our debt, then our gross domestic product will collapse because of all the other payments the government wouldn't be making. therefore, you end up with this ironic situation where you actually want to buy treasuries because you have to assume you're going into a very serious recession, which we put in favor of u.s. bonds on a flight to safety, but you have to be sellers, especially from overseas, because treasuries would be unsafe. so what the heck does worry in

this crazy universe? then when the smoke clears, let me give you a couple of suggestions all week, but this one today, high-yielding stocks from companies with great balance sheets and those dividends. you have to figure out that all stocks get clocked as we get closer to the deadline or worse the day after the deadline. we're only talking about bounceback candidates here. that might be enough. it might be exactly, it might be exactly what you need to buy into the coming weakness. first thing i would do, i would buy the stocks in utilities, where i don't think there's much earnings risk. that means dominion resources, letter "d," because last week we heard the yield was doing incredibly well. second, dominion's strong utility business allows for the continued increase in dividends. and third, the expert terminal that's well out of every other facility in the books, with the exception of shinu export plant, which were at one time import plants.

they're already permanent. stocks are ready. hooked into pipelines. plus, dominion's ceo has already presold the liquefied natural gas, so the risk is very small. so we need a plan "b" as we approach and pass the debt ceiling. i would consider coned with a 4.5% yield that probably going to 5, because the stock drops on the event of a technical default. why this one? simple. it's not a generator of energy, it's merely a conveyor of energy. and that's a nice way to augment dominion, which has some coal. beyond that, coned has people switching from natural gas. and as 7,000 buildings in the city do have that. a ready supply of gas, natural gas, in a city where tremendous growth is still occurring. one that's not all that affected by domestic crisis, because the economy's more international than many realize. finally, i think we get a chance to buy southern company, s.o., which has a 5% yield, with an amazing history of paying that dividend. i've interviewed southern several times and i think they get the dividend better than any other utility. they have the portfolio match

for the dividend street adviser. dsa is selected southern. because their portfolio has beaten the dow jones dividend by picking the stocks that have consistently raised their payouts, which is exactly the opposite of what a bond can do. i've got three others that are flying with the debt default or the plummeting into default. both sides claim that it's impossible, don't you hate that, that you're all saying that? i heard someone say it's unlikely there's a meteor to crash into the capital. man, whoa, i don't want to be the capital. the first is pfizer. this is as plain vanilla drug company as you can get. it's up on a spike. i might have gone with lily, but i didn't like what i heard about pipeline. merck's got yields and buybacks, however it doesn't have the pipeline that many want. that's why pfizer was going to be so natural. pfizer will be churning out raises, committed to raising their dividends, the company's so proactive and spun off that animal health division. i like that. second is campbell's soup, um um, not bad. here's a company that won't go

bad. it's a serial dividend razor, and i think they have a takeover bid. this looks like quite a bit like heinz. remember that from earlier this year? nothing more consistent than soups and snacks. finally there's dow street. this is a business that keeps taking share and boosting its business. pfizer, campbells, and altria, 2, 3% yielders, and a 5 percenter, all with growth prospects. the yields will go up and that's good for stock prices going here. you know what else, get clocked here, the teleco stocks. that's an opportunity to buy. and i want verizon, which bought the remainder of verizon wireless. the cash flow is there and the interest rate is very well. the growth will be much higher now that it owns all of that wireless business and i don't doubt for a minute that verizon will maintain its policy of boosting the dividend. if you can get this at a 5% yield, not far from here, close stock, good yield, a steal.

i also want to some disclosure some health care in investment trust, especially ones where they believe there's a ton of exposure to medicare. i want cash, with a tremendous wind at its back, which is the aging baby boom generation. people still age, even when they shut down. this got a remarkable record in dividend history. i think this 4.2 percent yielder is already down 3% for the year. of course, you should buy these gradually as we go lower. the market will break down for certain as the deadline draws closer, and of course, we go over the deadline, that's going to be a bad day. but dividends won't give these a real floor. dominion, pfizer, altria, southern company, fabulous records of dividends. just what you might need as we approach and even go over the debt ceiling deadline. ben in california, ben? >> caller: jim? >> ben? >> caller: thank you for what you do. >> you're welcome. >> caller: my question is jcpenney's. and what i thought i detected was a cyclical pattern and my

cyclical pattern quickly turned into a downward slide. i tried to use your incremental buying system and pretty soon i ran out of money. and i was just wondering, should i just cut and run, get rid of it, or hold on to it? >> a lot of people are cutting and running, getting rid of it. i've lost faith in the company. i thought the company, i believed in the company and thought that it could fix its balance sheet. it then said that everything was fine, and then that day issued equity. if you come on "mad money" and you say things are fine and then you issue equity, you're a wall of shame candidate. so i can't therefore bless this stock anymore. let's go to cheryl in pennsylvania. cheryl? >> caller: hi, jim. >> cheryl? >> caller: okay, first the testimony, okay. back when starbucks was $20, you were recommending it. >> yes. >> caller: and i bought that. >> well done. >> caller: and then coors at $30. i bought that and just cashed the profits in on friday. >> you're terrific. i think that's the right thing to do. starbucks, both are good stocks by the way. go ahead. >> caller: what i want to know,

some of those profits, i would like to concentrate on the health care section now since obama care's in effect. >> right. >> caller: okay, i have pfizer as my pharmaceutical and i was thinking of melinda, moh. >> no, you need higher qualities. wellpoint has great turnaround. aetna and singer are both better than that. thank you for the kind words, starbucks. let's go to david in kentucky, please. david? >> caller: mr. jim, some time ago you recommended tgi. after looking into it, i bought a few hundred shares. it has now pulled back, in light of the pullback and the recent acquisition, it's time to take another look. >> you know what, let's not. i mean, that is a great aerospace play, but i do prefer boeing as boeing comes down off of a possible shutdown. i want to be careful. i said coors. she may have liked ko. i like both kors and taps. okay, it's rough out there. the government might be shut down, but our door is open,

complete with my survival good from gridlock. remember, these are going to go lower than everything else, but they will bounce. "mad money," right back. >> announcer: coming up, playing the game. short sellers piled on to gamestop, expecting some serious carnage. but instead, the stock's nearly doubled this year. could the holiday rush for the newest consoles continue to push the stock to a new high score or will it reset? don't miss cramer's exclusive with its ceo. and later, food fight. wall street's been salivating over two tasty new stocks on its menu. tonight, cramer's pinning these hot and fresh plays against each other to find out which one investors should be chowing down on. plus, energy boom? the bakken, the eagleford, the marcellus. america's shale energy has changed the oil and gas industry, and tonight, cramer's speaking to a company blazing a trail in what could be the next

hot play. don't miss his exclusive with cimarex, all coming up on "mad money." don't miss a second of "mad money." follow @jimcramer on twitter. have a question, tweet cramer, #madtweets. send jim an e-mail to madmoney@cnbc.com. or give us a call at 1-800-743-cnbc. miss something? head to madmoney.cnbc.com.

some trends transcend in washington. next week we're getting brand-new video consoles from sony and microsoft, with sony releasing the 15th. and microsoft following up on the 22nd. these are going to be huge events, a $13 billion market in the u.s. alone. in particular, these new consoles are going to be used for gamestop, gme, the world's largest multi-channel retailer. over 6,500 stores in the u.s., australia, canada, and europe. gamestop has already doubled through this year, but the company has been doing really

well, even with their core business devoted to selling games for systems that are seven years out of date. when gamestop reported in august, building up 8%, with huge upside guidance in the current quarter. and gamestop didn't even exist the last time xbox and playstation came out. so digital and mobile games online. company's mobile up an astounding $1.36 billion. let's check in with the ceo, paul rains, find out more about how his company is doing ahead of these giant product launches and great video games that are right now in the stores. mr. rains, welcome to "mad money". >> hey, jim, great to be here. >> have a seat. i have to tell you, not only do you have more irons in the fire, but i think people miss -- including me -- i underestimated what you got. is it "grand theft auto," which is the most incredible numbers i have ever seen? is it the affinity group, where

you have more than 30 million people? is it the balance sheet? what did people miss that this stock was able to double under the radar screen? >> jim, it's a complex story. and the transformation of gamestop, when we look back, a lot of variables there. but i think it's a cyclical business at the end of the day that was perceived as a long-term secular decline. we turned out to be a scrappier competitor than a lot of people thought, and i think we made some investments around our relationship programs, with powerup rewards and the 31 million members worldwide that allowed us to launch this business in the heart of console. >> people think, don't shoppers downloading game titles rather than going to brick and mortar stores? that's not happening? >> there is a significant amount of digital gaming going on, jim. in fact, we're in the middle of that with our console digital sales. when you buy a digital game, if you bought last spring, you bought digital content from gamestop the same night you buy the physical game. we're going to go 780 to $850 million of digital business this year.

>> you were smart enough to see that maybe the street was wrong about your stock. you brought in a huge amount of stock. your capital allocation has been nothing short of brilliant. >> we bought about 1.2 billion of our shares. shares are trading close to 50. but what you've got to remember about gamestop, our founders, our boards, they've been in video games a long time and they challenged our management team, make sure you understand, it's a cycle, and invest to be there when the consoles return and diversify the business. >> so why shop at gamestop versus best buy, walmart, or amazon? >> well, jim, you know, the reasons -- there's a lot of good reasons. number one is, by far, the best service and most knowledgeable associates in the industry. i just got back from europe -- >> the 3,400 people you trained? >> that's right. >> i love that. >> we're training people constantly on games, more knowledge of games at gamestop than anyone else. number two, you can trade your old games, old smartphones, tablets, all those old products, trade them into gamestop. and number three, if you're a powerup rewards member, you can trade in stuff to get cool

stuff. >> what about supermac? >> supermac is very exciting. i was talking to the guys at supermac today. it's a minority investment we've made in the largest certified apple reseller. so we have a partnership with apple selling apple reluctants in supermac stores in communities that don't have apple stores. woodland, texas, shreveport, louisiana, these are cool stores to go in and get your apple products where there are no apple stores. we provide a superior level of service in those tertiary market. >> so you're a game business. europe's coming back, but how is game doing? >> we're one of the largest american retailers in europe. people don't know this. >> nobody knows this stuff. >> i just came back from italy, france, and ireland. we're in 12 countries, you know, jim, and the console business is coming back strong. >> let's talk for a moment about this. i happen to be -- at tulane this weekend, my daughter, for parent's weekend, and people are just astounded. this is the biggest movie

launch, because it's so lifelike. >> the guys at rock star and take ii a extraordinary artists and incredible people and they've delivered a game that's stunning. i'm about three hours into it. i have about a four-hour-a week budget. >> my daughter says there's some gravity problem. is that true? >> yeah. but it's a cool game, it's a stunning game. the story line is fantastic and i've got a parent's weekend next weekend too, so i've got to find some time now. >> i'm not kidding. on college campuses, this is so the rage. now, tell me how you were able to survive when the others didn't? because i saw your share gains. must have been a lot of people went under while you were still playing. >> we spent a lot of time with our publishing partners. all of those publishing partners, we've been deep into this category in lots of ways. but we also have a real strong commitment from our board to stay in this category and keep investing in it and being different and unique. we're trying to grow from the core into adjacent businesses,

like downloadable content, like refurbishment of mobile devices, which is similar what we've done for years with consoles. so we're trying to go from the core and find those adjacent businesses and stay faithful to a video game industry that has a lot of creativity in it. >> you have been a great partner of microsoft. are you surprised about xbox? >> we're great admirers of what xbox is, as is playstation and as is nintendo. are we surprised? what wen, xbox 1 and ps4 are going to be unprecedented the largest console launches in history, jim. >> i've got to hand it to you. you've navigated a trough superbly and now you're ready to fly. >> we forecast the industry to grow 20 to 30% next year and more after that. we'll see. >> best group i know of any retailers. that's paul raines, the ceo of

gamestop, gme. open your eyes to this one, because i had mine opened by my kids and now even more by mr. raines. thank you, sir. >> thank you, jim. coming up, wall street's been salivated over two tasty new stocks on its menu. tonight, cramer's pitting these hot and fresh plays against each other to find out which one investors should be chowing down on.

with the market backsliding again today, kind of like what i told you would happen as investors process the pain of the government shutdown and the looming debt ceiling debacle. what stocks should be resisting the downward gravitational pool of the averages? how about two fresh-faced ipos, fast food ipos. both managed to go up here. meals and company, which was the second company to chipotle. and the sandwich company, pot belly. we had a total of 60 deals and this has gave you an average gain of 27%. that's according to renaissance capital. that's 27% just for the third quarter.

but among so many smoking hot ipos, noodles and potbelly have some of the hottest by far. noodles gave you gain and rallied another 19%. potbelly spiked 20% when it started rising last friday. it's clear that noodles and potbelly are overflowing with mojo, at least for now. so tonight we're having a tasty face-off, helping you to find which if any to buy if there's any weakness caused by the government shutdown. before we get into the fast food casual dining steel cage death match, let me make one point. no, it's not totally insane and ridiculous these stocks have run up so far, so fast. over the last 18 months, we've seen a number of restaurant ipos that delivered some pretty remarkable outperformers. july of last year, there was the fast-growing mexican chain, rose 16.8% on its first day of trading. how about the bloomin brand, parent company of outback.

it popped then rallied another 80% in the aftermarket. what a sweeper that was. and even older and more established restaurants have been roaring lately. red robin, up 108% year-to-date. dunkin' donuts up 34%. buffalo wild wings up. so you shouldn't necessarily be freaked out and scared off by the fact that noodles and potbelly doubled in their first day of trading, although they're clearly both expensive at these levels. but which one's worth buying? right now noodles stays at about 80 times -- a lot of money! 80 times next year's estimates. potbelly slightly higher. these are absurdly high multiples, something you would expect to see from a fast-growing biotech, not a restaurant chain. so how can noodles and potbelly trade at these levels? is this a great example of irrational exuberance that it's

worth. the key to these stocks, they're both regional and national stories. that means noodles and potbelly each have strong concepts that have proven success informal a particular part of the country, and now have got growth for as far as the eye can see. they call it the runway. noodles and companies operates a chain of restaurants in 26 states along with the district of columbia, all of which specialize in, you guessed it, noodles! we had the ceo on. noodles of all varieties, from mac and cheese to pasta to pad thai. meanwhile, potbelly, 285 sandwich shops in 18 states. these regional and national names are all about putting up new stores. that's a big reason they can trade at these levels. they opened 28 to 32 new stores for 2013, increasing their store count by 14%. management said they believe they can get to 2,500 stores, then they can keep up that same level of growth for the next 15 years! they've got 15-year game plan! potbelly, on the other hand, says the only way to put up 10%

new store growth annually, longer term. so i think noodles has the better runway for growth. what about these stores? the whole national premise only works when the old stores are also successful. you can't build out a national chain that doesn't work at a regional level. last quarter, noodles and company posted a 3.4% increase in same-store sales. less than starbucks, but still better than expected. not the kind of numbers we used to see from chipotle. but potbelly is not so hot. that number really can't justify a price-driven multiple in the 80s. i'm sorry, i wanted to believe, but i can't. both companies have good bloodlines, the ceo of noodles coming from chipotle, and ceo of potbelly coming from yum brands. noodles has a more malleable concept. it has a lot less competition than a sandwich shop.

virtually every metrics, a better company than potbelly corporation, but that still begs the question, does it deserve to be bought? the simple fact is that noodles is a restaurant stock trading 81 times next year's earnings. now, you know my rule of thumb if you're been watching for a long time. new people, focused, even for high-flying momentum stocks, you don't want to pay more than twice the growth rate. so i'm capped off at 56 times earnings for noodles. on the other hand, this may be the case where the size of the opportunity, 2,500 domestic locations, simply can't be contained or constrained by the traditional price earnings multiple analysis. that's the four walls of the canvas that are busting out. and with the consumer just starting to feel the government shutdown, i have to be concerned about where noodles could trade in the not so distant future. let me give you my bottom line. if you got in on the potbelly ipo like i told you, ring the register, take a victory lap. if you've got noodles, a 15%

gain. i would take profits in at least half your position here, and put noodles in your shopping list, so you can buy some back at lower levels. let's go to ellen in my home state of pennsylvania. ellen? >> caller: oh, jim! first-time caller! i saw you with the ceo from buffalo wild wings when it was in the 50s, and i loved the stock. i more than doubled it. >> yes! >> caller: and my broker wants me to sell it now and i can't stand the thought of it. >> well, you know what, i'm going to suggest that your broker is not off-base, because you've got to double. and when you get those doubles, we take half off. then we let the rest run. that satisfies his concern about capital preservation. it satisfies my concern about capital appreciation. it's not splitting the baby, it's doing the right thing. nita in georgia. nita?! >> caller: hey, jim. boo-yah! >> boo-yah. >> caller: from the peach state

of florida -- or georgia. >> all right. atlanta goes, who knows? >> caller: yeah, we did get last weekend. i hope you can give me your take on the cbrl, that's cracker barrel. >> this is a winner. this is one of my absolute favorite stocks. they've bought a ton of stock back. i like to go to cracker barrel, although i happen to tell you that that apple pie with the slice of cheese on top is a little too much for me at this age. but when i was younger, make it a double. cracker barrel goes higher. it's much cheaper than potbelly, much cheaper than noodle. even if washington, d.c., is making you lose your appetite, throw in the hunt for yummy stocks and potbelly has a lot going for it, a little rich. noodle, much room for this to go higher, but don't be greedy. stay with cramer. >> announcer: mad about "mad money"? immerse yourself in the cramer's world, while you watch the show with zeebox.

on your phone, tablet, or on the web, get sneak peeks, go behind the scenes, and join the conversation. download the free app today from the ultimate cramerican adventure. .

it is time, it is time for the "lightning round" on cramer's "mad money." rapid-fire calls, i don't know the callers ahead of time. when i play this sound, the "lightning round" is over. are you ready, skee-daddy?! time for the "lightning round" on cramer's "mad money." we'll start with david in florida. david? >> caller: boo-yah, jim bo. how you doing today? >> oh, real good. how about you? >> caller: i'm doing great. talk to me about netflix, please. >> okay. well, netflix is one of the stories that could go up or down right now. it's up so much, you'll keep seeing pots taken, every time you hear this, there's something wrong with washington. you saw washington, the stock goes up 10% immediately. if you don't, it could go down 10%. let's go to manny in new jersey. manny? >> caller: hey, jim, a big wilkes university boo-yah! >> excellent! >> caller: and a big boo-yah from my mom too. >> tell her thank you.

>> caller: we're wondering about therapeutics? >> that's not my cup of tea. so many others that i like. let's go to tony in new york. tony? >> caller: yeah, tony. jim, my problem is this here, i've had unum since it was is a insurance company and then it went to stock. i spent accumulation on the dividends and everything and it went all the way up and all the way down. >> you're fine now. i don't like it as much as gen worth. i think unum, i know what he says about it now, but i think it's inexpensive. let's go to frank in florida. frank? >> caller: hi, jim, this is english frank in naples, florida. >> fantastic. >> caller: what do you think of chart industries? >> i think that chart is up a huge amount, but i do believe that the united states is at gas to liquids and that's a very strong story.

let that come in and be a buyer. giovanni in indiana, giovanni? >> caller: hey, hey, boo-yah, jim! it's giovanni from indiana. i'm 25-year-old leasing consultant and i had a quick question for you. >> sure. >> caller: i'm looking at the hand on solar city and getting an itch here to buy it. >> i happen to think that solar city is in a secular and great place. i discussed this stock with my daughter this very weekend, who said, dad, if you want a solar panel, go to solar city. you think it's like circuit city, but she's got sense. solar city goes higher because it's an elon musk company. let's go to john in illinois. john? >> caller: boo-yah, jim?! what about those eagles! >> that eagle? what's up? >> caller: mho, magnum hunter -- >> i was doing a lot of work with magnum hunter. i cannot believe it.

they're able to get back on board, doing exactly what i said they were originally going to do. but it shows you how hard this is, because i had my issues. so i get do not get to anticipate the upside. let's go to mary jane in ohio. mary jane? >> caller: hi, cramer. i'm a huge fan. like to thank you for all you do for the smalltime investors. >> thank you. >> caller: i would like your thoughts on slow surf. >> that is exactly the sweet spot. that is in processing control. that's a very good business. let's go to mark in texas. mark?! >> caller: big boo-yah from texas. >> good to have you. >> thank you, sir. thank you so much for your great advice over the years. really appreciated it. >> thank you. >> caller: what do you think about green energy -- >> no. no, no. i'll press the first solar, that's come down a lot, but yingly, no. it's had a nice run. it's time to skedaddle. let's go to charles in illinois, charles? >> caller: boo-yah!

>> boo-yah. >> caller: carnival cruise line, buy, sell or hold? >> sell and go with norwegian. let's go to eric in tennessee. go ahead, eric. >> caller: jim, nice to finally talk with you. the company, one of the world's largest, a rare earth metal used to strengthen steel alloys. its ticker is i m gold. >> that's not good enough. steel's in a sector of decline. johnny? >> caller: b-b-b- boo-yah professor. >> yeah? >> caller: i'm waiting for the markets to pull back and then what do i buy, cooper company or directv? >> directv is doing well, but i like the idea of cooper companies. i like aller gen, but cooper is a terrific company. and that, ladies and gentlemen, is the conclusion of the "lightning round"!

>> announcer: the "lightning round" is sponsored by td ameritrade. coming up, energy boom? the bakken, the eagleford, the marcellus. america's shale energy has changed the oil and gas industry and tonight cramer's speaking to a company blazing a trail in what could be the next hot play. don't miss his exclusive with cimarex, just ahead. .

many have been spending a lot of time telling you about our domestic oil in the united states. and oil is a global economy. even if our economy gets hard by the mess of our elected leaders, what they've created, the rest of the world still desperately needs crude, especially both the china and european rebound has made it so it's really in demand. hence why i've been highlighting america's shales, the bakken, the eagleford, or the delaware basin. and as i told you a week and a half ago, if you're looking for the best way to play the delaware, i think it's cimarex. another world oil and gas exploration company. four years ago, natural gas accounted for 70% of the company's production.

now it's only half. and that makes up just 26% of the revenues. what i really like here is cimarex's acreage. the company has 141,000 acres in the mid-continent region, oklahoma, southwest, kansas, and the texas panhandle. the future rests in the permian. for 2014, the company is devoting more than 62% of its budget to the permian. that's why they reported a blowout quarter to months, ago, it reported a 29% increase in production. the stock has been going up in a straight line since this summer. it's up 73% for the year. now it's a point and a half off its 52-week high. selling for 17 times next year's earnings, 13% growth rate. let's take a closer look with involuntary manslaughter jordan. he's the chairman, president, and ceo of cimarex energy. mr. jordan, welcome to "mad money." have a seat, sir. all right, is it better to be lucky than good? you've got this permian, right, and suddenly it turns out to be much better than we thought.

is that technology? did you always know it would be? is it the higher price of oil? how did this all come together so quickly? >> it's a lot of things. people have described the delaware basin to me as a forgiving basin, it's multi-pay. we internally generate. we are scientists that build ideas, execute them, and get them done. delaware basin has been a wonderful place to be. it's really a testament to our generating teams, our ability to execute, and part of it's being at the right place at the right time. but it's a great place to play. >> okay, explain that, building -- i'm trying to get my arms around. so they build -- the process of how you found this. >> we bought it in 2005, so we got there through a major purchase we did in 2009. but sim res was a little different from a lot of our competitors, in that we are internally generating. we don't buy our inventory, we're not an acquisition company, we are based on ideas. so we're having into science,

eave into generating ideas. we're also a company, that our basic monetary is full cycle return on invested capital. foul cycle. we want to make sure that we invest a dollar, it will make its way home safely with a good return. so that's kind of our man tra, and the delaware basin has been a tremendous place to generate and build that program. >> okay, why have the majors not really understood our shale plays? i read an article in the "financial times" today about shale, basically just regret over the shale bed. what are the majors doing wrong that the independents are doing right? >> well, i don't know that the majors are doing anything wrong, jim, but it's been an amazing story, this whole development of shell. it's an amazing story, and it has been built, by and large, by small companies. you know, if you allow me a second, it's an incredible story of -- you know, everybody once talked about tech companies. that's the sexy story, right? what's happening in oil and gas is a story that needs to be told. it's a story of innovation, it's a story of technology, it's a story of perseverance,

entrepreneurism, free markets, property rights, you know, there's a reason why this explosion of production in the united states is happening in the united states and not elsewhere. and it's led to an incredible benefit for this country, in terms of national security, cheap energy, a bridge to the future. it's an amazing story, but it's been done by little independent companies. and not all of them have succeeded. there have been a lot of failures along the way. but it's a story that speaks to the best of the united states, and free markets, property rights, contract law. and it's been done, by and large, on private land. it hasn't been done by majors or central planning, it's been done by scrappy little companies like cimarex. they get up every morning and tries to invest their money. and it's a wonderful success story that the united states is in a great position with. >> totally agree. glad you were on my show to talk about it. i think it's not talked about nuch. when i see the oil coming up and up, back to 92 levels, it's just, every little company. it's like you're adding this

many and, you know, you know, adding from bakken. that's a bigger company. but eogs right there adding and it just keeps happening. how can it continue like this? >> there's been a lot of things, wind at our backs. certainly, wildwide commodity prices have helped. technology has been a huge driver in this story. and then the rocks themselves. we've learned how to unlock oil and gas from shales. when i got out of school, shales were not a reservoir. we drilled right through, didn't pay any attention to them. and it's really been the last five or six years, really to be fair, if you go back and talk about natural gas, maybe the last 10 or 15 years that the industry has understood how to unlock this tremendous potential. and it's changed the landscape, it's changed the energy security of the united states for the foreseeable future. >> do you think that we are possibly continental, not the united states, continental energy independent by 2020? >> well, i hear people say that.

it depends upon demand. >> that's a good point. conservation could play a big role. >> that's a little out of my wheelhouse, but certainly fact that we've ended -- we've reduced imports to the extent that we have is a huge benefit to this country. and it's a great time in our business. it's a wonderful time in our business. >> are there still places we don't know about that has giant fields? >> we generate every day. cimarex has teams of people that get up and look for ideas and we have no shortage of ideas. you started by talking about the delaware basin. delaware basin has tremendous potential, we've only scratched the surface, but we also look elsewhere. we haven't found the next big find in the united states. i'm very confident that this industry, these small little companies that we've talked about will do it again and again. >> just a great success story. sir, thank you so much for coming on "mad money." that's thomas jorden, the chairman and president of cimarex. while i like this stock, i like it even more now that i've spoke to the ceo. stay with cramer.

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hey, we're in a hole with bernanke these days. what happened with those who put

the economist full out of steam, and therefore we were in such good shape, that the fed just had to taper? where are the jokers who scoffed about bernanke could shut us down? do they still think he's stupid or that he's lost his mind? but bernanke has our back, can we dream about getting a way out of this mess. we're boxed in to where we're going to have not just a shutdown, but a modified default unless he adjusts. that sounds like being half pregnant, but it's pretty easy to imagine john boehner simply refusing to hold a majority rule vote. he pretty much told us he wouldn't by saying there's not enough votes in the house, so he's simply not going to hold one, which reads to me like he doesn't want to hold the vote because it might pass. so the president will have to make a move unless he wants us to go into a recession, which he really doesn't. plus, it's difficult to see how this doesn't throw the world into recession. we don't know what the world economy looks like when the dollar ceases to be the world

reserve currency. the president and congress are taking the role off. it's almost impossible to imagine that our debt won't be downgraded several notches by the ratings agencies, because for consistencies' stakes, your bond should be taken to junk status in that scenario. how can a good rating be maintained if the bonds are in default? that would create a fantastic world for the president to say, whoa, let's deal with the real issue. let's get away from the day-to-day worries and instead use the question to create genuine reform. let's have a discussion about what's going to burst the country's finances. would that mean president obama's caving to the right? i think the president would be paving to avoid economic collapse that might be ten times the size of the lehman disaster. how's that not the thing to do? either that he finds a way to invoke the 14th amendment and issue debt that's the equivalent of financial war bonds, or sell some script. california did it. the latter makes sense, anything could make sense if you can get the supreme court to solve the problem.

if anything seems blatantly unconstitutional, it would be the idea that the country doesn't need to pay its bills. but the president gives in a bit, then you have to say to yourself, well, where can this market go? we've got tons of data that says that we were just getting back on our feet. we have interest rates that are much lower than we were just a couple of months ago. we can handle a tapering. it would seem to be a dream scenario, a long-range fix for entitlements and a short-range end to the madness. unfortunately, this kind of thing is way too businesslike and not political enough. i think the president knows that a recession could occur. i think he might believe it could be the end of the republican party. those who want to raise the debt ceiling even as they pay lip service to doing so get re-elected because that's what the constituents want. which brings us back to bernanke, who my coed in college took merciless heat for suggesting this could occur. bernanke will buy all the bonds necessary to keep the ball rolling until the end of october. but once we get to where the keel is empty, then it will be lehman times ten and we'll have to suffer through a hideous

decline until the smoke clears. i want to start with those dividend players. you want full faith and credit, you may have to go to corporations, because they aren't political and they know how to pay their bills and their dividends. stay with cramer. i'm jim cramer and welcome to my world. >> announcer: one man, one vision. >> i just want to make you money! >> announcer: eight weeks. >> you need to get in the game! >> announcer: tens of thousands of miles traveled. >> this new black gold rush is just getting started. it's the sound of american industry roaring back to life. >> announcer: hundreds of ceos. >> my life story can be your life story. >> announcer: thousands of followers. >> boo-yah, jim bo! >> announcer: millions of your e-mails and tweets. "mad money" thanks cramerica for being with us for over 2,000 episodes.

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we get to the close, one of my favorite investors bought a stake in one of my favorite companies. a big stake in hallson. it is a canadian oil company. a lot of people say, i would rather have these american shale companies.

i vastly prefer cimarex, because cimarex has that growth that we all crave. i like to say there's always a bull market somewhere, and i promise to try to find it just for you right here on "mad money." i'm jim cramer and i will see you tomorrow! much more than i ever imagined, you know, i'd ever have. >> incredibly, he made that ton of money during the worst financial disaster since the great depression. [ticking] trillions of dollars have evaporated from 401(k) accounts that had become the primary retirement vehicle for the majority of american workers. >> there clearly has been a raid on these funds by the people of wall street, and it's cost the savers and the future retirees a lot of money that would otherwise be in their account independent of the financial collapse. [ticking] >> amazingly, we have-- 16 out of the 44 houses on this