6 Years Of Market Gains Wiped Out In 2008

All told, about $7 trillion of shareholders' wealth -- the gains of the last six years -- will be wiped out in a year marked by violent market swings.

But what is striking is not just the magnitude of the declines, staggering as they are, but also their breadth. All but 2 of the 30 Dow industrials, Wal-Mart and McDonalds, fell by more than 11 percent. Almost no industry was spared as the crisis that emerged in the subprime mortgage market metastasized and the economy sank into what could be a long, gray recession.

Read the whole story here.

Comments

[rabiddog6708]

And yet Americans keep buying back in. Give me a dollar for every time I've heard this was a great time to get some deals in the market, as if you can trust the value or performance of any of Stock. Enron was not the only company creating fake business ( or creative accounting) to inflate the value of their stock. Keep pouring your savings into the casino called Wall Street, suckers. I'll see you as I drive by the bread lines.

[Viper]

In reality much of the gain prior to 2000 was wiped out given the devauation of the dollar and inflation.

But as the dollar goes down..earnings will again increase... of course just like before under BUSH the increases will be largely foreign sales translated to U.S. dollars ( currency translation gains). Smoke and mirrors... as oppsed to increases in unit output or increased profit margins...


Regards
.

[Justinpassing]

The Blatant manipulation of the market to keep the values as high as they presently are is beyond egregious... it's down right comical..... Unfortunately, that is all it takes to lure in the suckers..... the appearance that the markets are growing again......that's all it takes....... No Objective basis required........ no objective reasoning....... no objective rational...... just upward momentum........ as shallow as all that and it's been working like a (witless) charm for all these years.

[xrepublican]

Heck of a job Georgie...... That 'home ownership society' turned into record foreclosures and a collapse of the world's financial system from all the toxic debt that resulted...... and all that deregulation and lack of oversight worked SO well.......

[tomas0808]

We can wipe out the rest too, and rebuild a new better system if we just hold onto the little money we have, don't invest in stocks and only buy necessities. The whole deal will collapse within a year

[Vyvjala]

president dip$hit bloviated, mission accomplished, wall st. got drunk and it should of sobered up...

[Okay]

The market is almost the numerical personification of human emotion. You can regulate it but to control it is to kill it.

[Carolab]

The Plunge Protection Team has been controlling it since at least 2006, under Paulson's and Bernanke's leadership.

[PhilipTaylor]

Nice Theory! But no proof of that as we had "FAIR Markets" with regulations for most of the period 1932 to 2000 and it worked JUST FINE!

The idea of deregulation and let them "SELF ENFORCE" has proven to be a DIASTER!

TRUTHS:
1. If Greed > Fear then Greed WINS and AMERICA Loses
2. If Fear > Greed then Greed is STOPPED in its TRACKS and AMERICA wins
3. Fear = Justified Punishment for Crimes

[PhilipTaylor]

6 Years of Gains PUT IN THE POCKETS OF THE RICHEST 0.01% who run Wall Street!

The LARGEST TRANSFER OF WEALTH PER MONTH IN HISTORY!

Obama MUST REGULATE FEES, SALARIES, BONUSES, STOCK OPTIONS, and TOTAL INCOME to NO More Than the Package the US President makes of about $2 Million. Most of the cr ooks will think that is POVERTY and will LEAVE the business and "THAT IS A GOOD THING" for AMERICA!

A Fresh Start in a NEW REALITY!

[FreedomCorpse]

the 'mba president' was in 'charge' during all of it. This is what they teach in business.

[djgonebad]

Seems like that's the case, just look at all the THRIVING cooperations in the United States. The MBA era at it's finest. Sounds like a working title for Juniors inconsequential memoirs. "The White House Years- Working the Neo-Con Line with G.H.W. McBush's C- Mentality".

[djgonebad]

My depression-era grandmother always said- "CASH IS KING" and saving it was the "QUEEN".

But, Americans buy into the "GREED" factor. They want "STUFF" and use debt to obtain it; believing saving money is bad, but debt is somehow good.

[Carolab]

It's not our fault. The markets have been manipulated to the advantage of the bankers and the rich.

[Erdgeist]

Of course the gains were wiped out! What do you expect? Republican have always been greedy scoundrels when it comes to economics -- championing always the most immoral of economic theories. What they did, especially in the last eight years, is like getting rid of the police department proclaiming that since all men are God's creatures they would never think of stealing from widows and orphans. Well we found out much to our misfortune that, indeed, the bulk of men (especially Republicans) do steal from windows and orphans -- and would sell their nation to the highest bidder for the right price.

[Antifascist-08]

Just read the comments by all these Wall St. wonks.

This is how people with no moral or ethical compass see the world.

Brainwashing.

These are the great leaders of our economy?

Amazing ignorance.

[ProfessorDuh]

Whatever happened to the Republican plan to "privatize" Social Security into the stock market, because stocks always only go up? Too bad the "deregulated" Wall Street crooks couldn't get their claws into the subsistence safety net for America's seniors and rip it apart, isn't it?
Don't just think of the many disasters Bush actually managed to create. like Iraq and Katrina. Think of the disasters he TRIED to create, until he was blocked by wiser, saner, more honest people.

[waverly]

Actually, I believe FDR created Social Security to protect us from Wall Street. That was the whole idea.

[tomas0808]

I would say Eat the Rich but their flesh is sure to be toxic and corrupted

[Antifascist-08]

Yuk.

[unite4change]

Don't buy into this bull, big business made profits for years and immediately took those profits out of their companies. The American people have been played once again while our news media kept us distracted with fake news.