What happened? Did the politicians learn enough from the bad old Bear-Lehman days but not enough to make a difference? Is that where they came up with this oh-so-tense "by the time the Asian markets open" nonsense? Did they jog the cobwebs free from 2008, dust off the game plan and just go out with it, as if this is some sort of a simulated dramatic crisis?

It does seem that stupid, doesn't it? Almost as if they want the market to crash so each side can say, "We had to do it to save your 401k." That way everybody's butt is protected. They can say, "We did it for you, because look what happened when we didn't get it open in time for Asia."

Unfortunately for the "lawmakers," it looks like we didn't get much of a crash after all. It looks like we were as prepared for this one as we were unprepared for Bear. And where the heck is JPMorgan's (JPM) Jamie Dimon when you need him?

So the deadline has come and gone, and it has raised the anxiety level to the point where people stop you on the street, panicked about their investments, and they simply don't believe me when I say: Stay the course, do nothing, bat on shoulders, stay in dugout, ride it out with good stocks, some gold and some cash. That's really the only responsible thing you can say to people.

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You try to "play" it and you actually get a deal, the "players" will feel totally whipsawed. You don't get a deal, you have some cash you can put to work. While you are waiting, you can play the breakout in gold if you have to play something, which people feel they do need to do.

Now if only "contempt" were a stock. We would be bidding it sky high if we could trade it, because that's how people feel about Washington -- nothing but contempt.

But they are also getting wise to the political game, and it has become more Y2K than genuine Greek tragedy, a glitch that will eventually have to be solved. Then will come the parlor game of reacting to rating agency downgrades, even if we get the ceiling raised, because we know these politicians -- I was going to write "clowns," but that's become synonymous -- aren't capable of doing anything really big or important. And even if they do, the media are so controlled by a bearish bent that it will never be enough.

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Stay the course. Own some gold. Own some cash. Do not trade it. That's pretty much all there is to it.

At the time of publication, Cramer had no positions in any stocks mentioned.

Jim Cramer is a co-founder and the chairman of TheStreet. He contributes daily market commentary for TheStreet's sites and serves as an adviser to the company's CEO.

Follow Cramer's trades for his Charitable Trust.

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