LilBob

5 Company Results Underscore Corporate Boom, Real Economy Bust

It's a double edged sword. Money is going into the market because people are trying to save up more money-I'd like to see figures on the average percentage the typical retail investor is putting away into retirement now. But with sales declining you have people pumping money into shares that have skyrocketing PE ratios, which does not bode well for the futures of these companies. You end up with a Mexican standoff where the one whose best at riding it to the top, then first to pull the trigger and duck is the winner while everyone else gets shafted.

Recent gains in the market keep reminding me of Irving Fisher's famous quote-the one that permanently marred his career from right before the great Crash of '29 (and which, I admit, has been repeated ad nauseum of late)-"Stocks have reached a permanently high plateau."