1. Citigroup (C): Here's a company that is in so much trouble that I can't even begin to figure out how to fix it. There was a moment that it could have been unwound, but now your best hope is that it goes to $5 or $6 and we realize it could fail and we let the Saudis bail it out. Don't laugh -- that's the 1990 scenario. Pathetic that history repeats itself, but this is the worst-run major bank in the world. You get what you pay for. A dividend cut is next.

2. General Motors (GM): Merrill says what I thought was obvious when I said it the other day -- this one makes too much sense as a bankruptcy. Wrong cars, wrong balance sheet, one of the worst mortgage writers. Sold to you. Dividend cut needed. (Ford) doesn't have the miserable mortgage business so I am not including it in the dirty dozen).

3. Lehman Brothers: I, too, once blamed the speculators. But I now feel that the CFO firing put an end to that. This company has very little earnings power, and it has very great exposure to mortgages worldwide. It has minimal disclosure. We need a takeunder to remove it from the critical list.

4. Merrill Lynch (MER): Without a sale of BlackRock (BLK) or Bloomberg, more equity is needed. Nobody wants to put up equity for this one. We still have no disclosure on the last-in-no-out mortgages they wrote. Black box. I don't want to buy a black box. Dividend cut? Good question.

5. Wachovia (WB): Rudderless, knee-deep in unreserved California mortgages, still writing the lowest-quality mortgages as recently as Monday! Totally unacceptable. Rumored to be bought -- yeah. At under 10. Urgent dividend cut.

6. Bank of America (BAC). They bought a company that could be shut down by indictments -- it has billions and billions of going-bad mortgages. Who the heck would want that? If BAC hadn't bought it, does anyone think it would still be alive? They swallowed the Love Canal when they drank from this well. Dividend cut needed, now.

7. Washington Mutual (WM): People are talking about a bottom; I am talking about a company that has the worst collection of mortgages out there, the least verified, the worst quality, with a private-equity firm that will take your equity and crush it. Five-dollar lottery ticket. Nothing more.

8. Fannie Mae (FNM): Someone has to take the hit for this market. Some government entity has to bail out homeowners. It will be this one, and see No. 9. Dividend cut needed pronto.