While we slept world markets fell last night leading to over $100bn in losses in a single day.
I believe today is likely the day the DOW will dip into the 10,000's for the first time since Oct. 2004 as we are pushing into a $3 trillion dollar losses in 6 months alone.

BBC NEWS | Business | US concerns prompt market falls

How is it a loss? What was invested in the first place? If i bought stock at $5, it rose to $10, and then fell to 8$, did I lose $2? As you mentioned, the DOW will dip to lowest since 2004. That means it was even lower and so the DOW is actually UP.

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http://www.fairtax.org

Elminate all taxes on income and replace with a national sales tax.

That's pretty funny.
The DOW was over-inflated - the "up" was merely overstated balance sheets.
When the dust settles...maybe by this time next year...we will all see that not just the DOW, but the entire markets were overstated by $trillions.

Man, seriously. Go get yourself some education on economics and business. You'll end up looking a lot less silly.

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When they come a wull staun ma groon
Staun ma groon al nae be afraid
Thoughts awe hame tak awa ma fear
Sweat an bluid hide ma veil awe tears

It helps to remember that the Dow and all other exchanges are not tied strictly to reality. There are many stocks that are presently undervalued based solely on sentiment, hunch and fretting. Similarly there are stocks that are overvalued for the same reasons.

Its like this every day.

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Hope is the opposite of audacity. It's passive, an excuse for inaction.

Socialism doesn't create a rising tide that lifts all boats. It drains the lake and teaches the boat riders not to help themselves by rowing.

“What's the difference between Sarah Palin and Barack Obama?”

“One is a well turned-out, good-looking, and let's be honest, pretty sexy piece of eye-candy.

“The other kills her own food.”

What you lost was the potential gain of $2.00. Yes, you have more than you started with, but you still have less than the amount of what your stock was once valued...

not necessarily true.

You have $2...you invest $1.
Over a period of time that $1 became valued at $4 as you invested in a company that was realizing huge margins. YOu think you are doing great.
But then - you learn that the company was not telling the truth - that the company was playing all kinds of tricks to bolster it's balance sheets - and in the end your dollar is now worth $.75.

You not only lost the quarter, but you lost much more than that since the original $1 was worth more than today's dollar - so your loss is actually staggering.

I don't really stagger over a buck and a quarter, but I see your point.

My response was a direct reply to the sceario I was responding to, which was different than yours...

My point exactly. Loss is relative. So saying "100bil lost while we slept" has no real meaning. Maybe we made $200bil the night before while we slept.

__________________
http://www.fairtax.org

Elminate all taxes on income and replace with a national sales tax.

"loss is relative"...relative to what?

What part do you not understand?
Through inflation $1 is worth less than it was pre 2003.
So if stocks are flat you are losing money.
If stocks are down you are REALLY losing money
If stocks are slightly up - you are losing money.
You are only making money if the % of gain is greater than the inflation rate and the mean value of the original dollar when invested.

Overall the entire market has lost $2.5 TRILLION dollars this year alone.
Sooo any gains made in going on 5 years is lost....there is NO way jviehe NO WAY that the markets will be good in the next 5 years - there is absolutely nothing that gives any indication that the large gains in the last 5 years is anything but smoke and mirrors.

You put 5,000 a year into your retirement program for 20 years and were told it was growing, that it was worth over a million. When you retire you find that it's worth $110,000.

Cheer up, at least you made money!

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“ The subjects of every state ought to contribute towards the support of the government, as nearly as possible, in proportion to their respective abilities; that is, in proportion to the revenue which they respectively enjoy under the protection of the state.”

Adam Smith , The Wealth of Nations 1776

"We have always known that heedless self-interest was bad morals; we know now that it is bad economics"
FDR's second Inaugural Address

Markets are always up in the long term. Im not worried about a single day blip.

__________________
http://www.fairtax.org

Elminate all taxes on income and replace with a national sales tax.

The problem of course is that the long-term can be 20+ years based on historical performance, and this is a significant fraction of a human lifetime. If an investor has a use for money before then (retirement, home, etc.) the long-term returns won't make them happier.

OK fine, and 500 years ago there wasn't a stock market at all, at least we're better of than that. So stop whining and be thankful we have TV and the Printing Press.

{sigh}
Not sure what you are not getting here...

Ok...let's say you are retired, and you are now wanting to get the money from your 401k account that you have saved for a kabillion years.
Oh...but crap - the markets for the last 6 months have been down 3000 points and you are down $10,000's.....

Not everyone has "long term" - we don't live forever.
I maintain that the market in the last 5 years (surely you agree with this) is over bloated to the nth degree. A major adjustment one way or another is inevitable...without question a lot of retired people are going to get caught with their paints down if they retire when the inevitable large adjustment takes place - they won't have 20 years to ride it back out.