[Dave]

Originally Posted by OBW

And a follow-on to all of the above.

From 1900 through about today, the stock market has gone from 68 to 16,750. That is a 24,532% increase. A little over doubling every 10 years.

And while it is 14 years, from 2000 through 2014 is about 143%. Close to about doubling over 10 years. Even with the drops in there.

So what do the drops tell us? What do they really mean? Doesn't look like judgment.

Exactly. They are called business cycles and well documented. It doesn't mean that everything is perfect such as the major recession of 2008 but we go through cycles.