Chris, I agree with DaCounselor, keep posting all of us need our point of views challenged IMO. After re reading the posts i don’t think we are too far off. Yes if you were bearish on the market this year you have been wrong to this point, you are correct. I used the illustration showing stock market performance converted to inflation adjusted dollars and gold to show what a rising market looks like when the currency that market is valued in is falling. The point I’m making is not so much using these as a tool to invest but to show that the US economy is not roaring like many pundits would have you believe. In essence I’m defending the bears because many of their assumptions have played out, the housing slump has slowed the economy, the consumer is showing signs of slowing, and retail is punk except for higher food prices at Walmart. The Fed is also lowering their GDP forecast for 07/08 as of this week (expect more of this). Hopefully it won’t be as bad as the NAR revising their forecast every month. In the face of a strong global economy that is putting more pressure on the dollar. What caught the bears off guard was the strong global economy and the exposure of multinational companies in those markets that are in the S&P and Dow plus the vast amount of liquidity sloshing around with too few places to go. i guess my response to you was more centered on the actual US economy verses stock market performance. The markets can be very humbling.
