As for the bullish case...

First off, I view the entire monetary and financial system as something of a Ponzi scheme. Starting with currency that is debt, and running straight though a global economic model that is based on a premise of infinite growth in a finite world. This won't end well. I'd go a step further and suggest that our materialistic value and belief system is another way in which we're building castles on sand... but I digress. I view that markets as a casino, and frankly, I like gambling. So I rather enjoy the game, and love reading Seeking Alpha and anything that feeds my appetite for knowledge and insight. I prefer technical analysis to fundamental analysis because I find the "behavioral" side of investing more interesting than longer term projections based on numerical analysis. I believe in micro-caps. I believe the market rewards growth above all else, and growth is easiest and most explosive when a company is young and small. As a company matures, its growth inevitably slows. Microcap stocks tend to be extremely volatile so I believe strongly in taking profits on the way up (or exiting quickly if the entry point proves poor). I attempt to buy stocks that are pulling back in the midst of a longer term uptrend. I hold anywhere from hours to years, but usually in the 3-6 month range. I committed every investing cardinal sin between first entering the markets in 1999 and 2002, losing 90% of my money. Since then, I've found an approach that works reasonably well for me. My average return has been about 25% annually since 2003.