A warning to my friends.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

It's fun to chortle at the Trump Slump but none of know where the markets will go. If we did we would all be rich.

As John Maynard Keynes purportedly said "The markets can stay irrational longer than you can stay solvent."

[lagomorph777]

1. We can't control the market but we should exploit its whims.

In this case, blame it (fairly) on the Trump Tax Scam. The plunge happened the same day as millions of Americans got their big $1.50 extra in the paycheck.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

3. Stocks are trading at a Price To Earning of 34.The historical average is 16 *

*I believe those numbers are right.

[SFnomad]

2. Many, many years ago, when I "played the stock market" for the first time

I had some stocks that dropped some (well some dropped quite a bit). And when I told my broker that the stock had lost enough and "had to go back up now", he gave me a reality check and said to remember ... "the bottom is zero".

[lagomorph777]

4. The bottom is less than zero if you trade derivatives.

[SFnomad]

5. Yeah, this was just for stock purchases ... I wasn't that crazy n/t

[DemocratSinceBirth]

6. Back to my OP

Only a dunderhead like Trump would hitch his fate to something as mercurial as the stock market.

[klook]

7. And millions of dunderheads

have hitched their fate to something as mercurial as Trump.

I don't wish misery on my fellow Americans, but the Trump Slump definitely helps Dems.

[redstatebluegirl]

8. My Grandfather lost a ton of money in the crash in the 30's.

He preached to us that being in the market is gambling with your money. Don't do it unless you can afford it. In 2008 my retirement and my husband's, took a large dive because our employer doesn't give us a lot of options in terms of where it goes. Now we are looking at it again but I am now semi retired and my husband is 10 years away so it scares me a lot more.

A lot of people don't realize their company pension plans, if they are blessed to have them, are many times tied to the market. Because they don't understand finance they don't think this "adjustment" matters to them, it does.

The internet, the media, the influx of ads from anonymous pacs year round make it almost impossible for people to find the truth of what is going on.

Very very scary times.

[Freelancer]

9. Strange market drops just as big corps want to buy back stock

I'm not saying... I'm just saying...

The interplay of levers and switches and timing of Wall Street are a mystery. What isn't a mystery is that huge corporations that intend to buy back their stock with their tax cut windfall want to buy back at a vastly decreased price. Then, lo and behold the market takes a header. TV "experts" go out and blame a 2.8% increase in starting salaries. Yeah, right.

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

10. What happened Friday and Monday

was at least in part a long overdue correction.

Right now as I type this, the Dow is up some 145 points from yesterday's close. And despite all the freak-out posts last night, it did not open down a thousand points, rather it opened a bit more than 400 points lower than the previous close.

It is criminal when companies do not offer very many investment choices for a 401k. People at Enron were particularly screwed.

Meanwhile, the Dow is still up a decent amount since January 20, 2017, and a whole lot since 2008.

Among the many reasons the Crash of 1929 was so bad, was that a lot of stocks were bought on margin, meaning people only put down a fraction of the cost of the stock, expecting the price to rise and never drop. Paying only 10% was common, which meant a 10% drop in the price wiped you out. Any greater a drop and you owed the brokerage money. I'm under the impression that today, while people still can buy on margin, not that many do and they mostly have to pay 50% of the price. I have not double checked that, so if I'm wrong, I'll stand corrected.

[LanternWaste]

11. I'd pretend people laughing about the market a series of "freak-outs" too

I'd pretend people laughing, discussing and joking about the market as a series of "freak-outs" too. It allows us to look much more rational at the fictional expense of others.

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

12. Not entirely sure what you are trying to say.

Here on DU, every time the market drops a hundred points, threads get started saying "The End is Near!" with apparently no understanding that a fraction of a percent drop in the market is meaningless. And it's not as though anyone ever includes the sarcasm thing. They seem to be serious every time.

I also see a lot of gloating over any drop in the market. Maybe not a single one of those gloaters has a 401k or a pension plan (they do still exist) and will be happily living on Social Security at retirement.

Me? SS is one third of my current income, as it is supposed to be. The other two thirds is almost entirely savings and investments, with a tiny pension making up about 5% of my income. I like it when the market goes up, but I've been around long enough to know that it goes up and it goes down. Since Trump took office, I've been concerned about the climb of the Dow, knowing we are long overdue for a correction of some kind. My guess is that a correction is essentially what's happening right now.

If being rational comes only at the expense of others . . . well it doesn't. Being rational in the face of those who are irrational ought to be okay.