Originally Posted by SteveZ

That's just reality, as opposed to being high on fantasies.

The market goes up - then down - then up - then down. The more it goes up due to credit-based transactions, the less the dollar is worth, so any "gain" is phony anyway.

People look at the stock market as a way to make money without labor. That's gambling! Sometimes you win, more often you lose. If you are lucky, you end up breaking even in comparison to the good old-fashioned savings account.

It was not that long ago (July 22, 2002) when the market dipped to 7,784 due to the dot.com bubble-burst. The dot.com's were bad investments, just like packaged sub-prime mortgages. Stuff happens and we're still here. The economy rebounded without any bailouts to the dot.coms, and the sun still came up over the Eastern horizon.

Why the doom and gloom? A DJIA of 10,365 (today's closing number) is still a long way from 7,784. The glass is nowhere near 1/2 empty.