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

[senorlou]

I hate to sound like a Republican, but the insurance and financial "industries" need to be shrunk down to the size where they can be drowned in a bath tub. And yeah, Buck fush.

[ProfessorDuh]

Amen.

[apoyo]

"6 years of market gains wiped out in 2008"

That's because it was never real money or real returns. Can't save what isn't there to begin with.
Just like the salaries needed to pay those mortgages were never really there and nobody bothered to make sure there was real money to back up the loans. It was risk? what risk? we'll just pass it on to the next fool.

We were all living in Wonderland with Alice. We are just grasping the fantasy.

Well, Alice doesn't live here anymore.

[FreedomCorpse]

the end result of ponzi scheme's based on pure illusion.

[markinaz]

What about those McDonalds IN Wal-mart, they must be making a killing.

[TJCole]

"It's in the contract Yossarian...!"

[tomas0808]

LOL. Good one.

[satyriasis]

Yeah deleveraging will have that affect.

[gjohntheterrible]

Buck Fush

[humble liberty]

Yeah but the salaries and commissions were still pilfered and not wiped out (if they were cashed), so it's a double whammy.

[ReasonIsMyReligion]

Yup.
Churn baby churn.

[ReasonIsMyReligion]

Adjust for inflation (understated as the official index is), and it's even worse.

[rich misty]

Republican mantra "Americans are whiners"

[redhot200822]

So while you are whining, what exactly are you accomplishing?

[Dolmance]

Thank God for those tax cuts for the rich.

[redhot200822]

I'll pay 50% per year, if you will.

[jsgaetano]

You mean the "Bush Boom" was just a house of cards?

Shocking.