this reminds me of the ONION's article about American's crying out for a new bubble. If the US and world economies continue to suck -- to put it mildly -- it's hard for Wall Street to have a sustained Bull Market.
> Editorial: Investors who kept the faith are rewarded > > THE DETROIT NEWS > > Free-market capitalism isn't such an obsolete institution after all. > > Investors who kept their faith in America's economic system were > handsomely rewarded in the third quarter, which ends today. > Diversified U.S. stock funds posted a return of nearly 15 percent > during the past three months and are up roughly 22 percent for the > year. > > Since most 401(k) retirement portfolios of American workers are > invested in such funds, the quarter continued to bring some pretty > good news to average investors. > > At least it did to those who ignored the doomsday declarations 18 > months ago when the markets suffered a dramatic collapse. Capitalism's > enemies seized on the steep fall -- at one point, the Dow Jones > average was down nearly 40 percent from its high -- as evidence that > the system was fundamentally broken and not likely to recover. > > Older workers, they moaned, would have to forget about retiring. And > younger workers, they said, would have to stake their futures on > something other than market investments -- big new government > programs, most likely. > > The pundits were certain that it would take many years -- decades, > perhaps -- for investors to recover from the blow. > > And here we are, less than two years later, and the markets are > enjoying some of their biggest quarterly gains in more than a decade > and already recovering more than half of what was lost. Those who were > panicked by the pessimists into dumping their stocks and bonds are no > doubt kicking themselves. > > What we learned from this is that acceptance of volatility is an > essential part of investing. Risk and reward go hand-in-hand. > > Obviously, the market could turn downward again at anytime. That's its > nature, and Americans got in trouble when they forgot that stocks go > down as well as up. > > But for the long term, the U.S. stock and bond markets still offer the > best opportunity for an open-eyed investor to make some meaningful > money. > > > -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- > © Copyright 2009 The Detroit News. All rights reserved. > _______________________________________________ > pen-l mailing list > [email protected] > https://lists.csuchico.edu/mailman/listinfo/pen-l > -- Jim Devine / "Segui il tuo corso, e lascia dir le genti." (Go your own way and let people talk.) -- Karl, paraphrasing Dante. _______________________________________________ pen-l mailing list [email protected] https://lists.csuchico.edu/mailman/listinfo/pen-l
