But here's the difference in 1987 the sharemarket had risen so quickly that the 50% falls in the ASX only wiped out the last 12 months of gains so it wasn't too bad. Currently the US has wiped out about 5 years of gains and we have lost 3 years of gains.
However, if you draw a trend line showing the incline in 1987 and then take the same incline it matches the slope of increase in the XAO all the way back to March 2003!