This is a retirement board so maybe some of us are looking at different things. But investors have become too used to rising stock prices, I think. We are in uncharted territory now. The total value of stocks is now 150% of the Gross Domestic Product, something that has never been seen before. In August of 1929, it was 81.4% (the previous record) and in December of 1972 it was 78.1%. By September of 1974 it was 33.7% and in July of 1982 it was only 33.3%. I lived through that with good companies like BFI and Control Data and lost my shirt (though if I had hung in there, I probably would have come out all right, but I couldn't stand the heat). This has undoubtedly colored my view. Perhaps the stock market capitalization can get to 200%, who knows, but the situation is scary. I'm not sure I have a decade left to wait for the market to recover. I want the protection of increased dividends by good companies with a chance of equity appreciation too.

brucedoe