TimR

Imagine that ten years ago you invested in the S&P 500. How much would it be worth today, adjusted for inflation with dividends reinvested? Brace yourself: Your investment lost 44.7% - for an annualized return of -5.9%.

So we have had ten lost years. But that likely means that the next ten will produce real gains. The 1930s and the 1970s were comparable to the decade now coming to an end.

At times the hysteria on this site is so intense that it borders on nihilism. Do most of the people who post here really believe that the end of all things has come upon us? If you do - what on earth are you doing talking about stocks?

The Shrinking Universe of Dividend Aristocrats

I agree - the depths of a recession is not the time to make changes to a list like this. This is not a time to "dumb down" an index that is helpful and useful because it has strict and specific criteria.

Cramer's Mad Money - So Long Great Depression II (3/2/09)

Maybe Cramer is correct and we have avoided a depression on the scale of the 1930s.

But that doesn't mean we have avoided a very deep and long recession that will continue for another year or two. There is no way to avoid working through the collapse of the housing market; that is still happening. And the negative effects of the worst deficits since WWII have not even been seen yet and cannot be measured.

Cramer has had too many tantrums too many times. He was the one who was telling everyone and their grandmother to sell everything and hide in the basement six months ago. For those who llistened to him - AFTER the worst of the crash - there is nothing left to invest.

He announced on one talk show after another that stocks were a dangerous investment for anyone. Now he has decided that a new bull market has begun? Really? Has he heard of a bear market bounce? What does he have to say to all those people who listened to his panic and sold everything? Yes, it is ultimately their responsibility - but he did play a role.

I have heard enough from Cramer and the other celebrity-pundits. Let's have a return to the boring, sober-suited, conservative, reserved bankers and brokers of the distant past. I don't want to hear any more screaming and carrying on and wild mood swings.

S&P 500 Trends, 1980 - 2009

Thanks very much for the clear and helpful analysis

Depression? Recession? No, It's the Great Restructuring

Fascinating article. I think it might go a little too far regardng the end of the "old economy". Some newspapers and magazines will survive and so will advertising.

But the main points of the articles are clear well expressed and defended. It is good to see someone actually making sense of what is happening.

Will Obama Be Re-elected?

What is all this nonsense?

Mesmerizing? 99%? 92%?

Ths is just the breathless cry of a dazed and dazzled cult member.

If Obama's plans to overhaul the economy and turn the US into a faux-socialist state fail, you can forget about the convulsions of ecstasy.

The election is over. There is no need to carry on like this.

Mesmerizing indeed....

Five Leadership Lessons From Obama's First Month

Obama and the congress are attempting to rule entirely from the left. Ths is foolish and self-destructive. It also means that the Republicans will likely take advantage of the enormous vacancy in the center that is opening up.

This article is essentially a puff-piece praising Obama. It hardly seems necessary. The election is over.

The Coming Depression: See It Clearly Through Historical Eyes

The message is clear: despair, fear and misery are the future.

At least it's good to know what is coming.

Buy, Sell or Hold: Coke Still Has the Fizz

Thanks very much for the careful and balanced article. It is pragmatic and helpful and a nice contast with a lot of the hysteria on this site.

41st Worst Monthly Jobs Report on Record... Yes 41st

Well, the perspective is good to have. But the numbers alone were not the biggest shock of this number: it was the suddenness of it. It makes sense that the shocks of September and October would be followed by a loss on this scale, but it was still quite a blow.

Morici: Depression or Recession

Yes, it was a very bad unemployment number, but there have been other very bad numbers. Was the deep recession of 1974-75 a depression? Maybe it was.

As bas as things are, it seems that this hyperbole and hysteria is just making things worse. What will happen when the GDP number for the fourth quarter is released in January? And the unemployment rate for December? There won't be any words left - just endless screaming, shrieking and caterwauling.

This is a painful period for most of us, but if we give up hope as so many of these articles suggest, then there cannot be any way out.

Super Cycle Critical Point

Interesting.

What is the time frame for the other super cycle bear markets?