The loss is real, and the semantic contortions of the Republican Party's propaganda rag can't wallpaper over it. It all depends on when you bought stocks, doesn't it? If you bought more recently than three years ago, you very likely lost everything. 100%. It's cold comfort that the Dow's abstract number is still as high as three years ago.

I read the Republican Party's platform back in the summer of 2000, as it was becoming apparent that the economy was headed for a bad fall. The platform at one point crowed about how 52% of American households were now playing the stock market; back then Republicans were really riffing on the Clinton boom and how it made capitalists out of the Common Man. And I remember thinking to myself, "whoo-boy! There's a nasty train wreck comin!". I sure was right about that, wasn't I? As in any pyramid scheme, the big losers were the people who got in late--average Americans who fell for the hype and phony "analyst" recommendations, and jumped on the bandwagon in the last 3-4 years.

Sure everything's peachy from the WSJ's perspective. Its readers are the long-term players, the people who started the bubble, and, being at the apex of the pyramid, made out like bandits by screwing everybody else. I'm sure they're quite pleased with the profitable havoc they've wreaked.

--Robert