One thing for sure we are a lot closer to the bottom than the...

One thing for sure we are a lot closer to the bottom than the top.
Last week i looked over a graph on my super funds website. It compared $10,000 invested in 1997 compound for Growth, Balanced, Capital stable and cash. I noted whenever Growth compound returns fell below cash compound returns it was time to get ready to get set.
http://www.ssfs.com.au/go/product/personal-retirement-plan
Please note this is not a reccomendation for this fund just a guide for comparison regarding returns for cash, growth etc. Also we always seem to have a habit of saying " but this time its different" - of course it always is not not by that much. The only real worry is that by meddling with human nature (eg TARP)ie, GREED/FEAR cycle we may see some unexpected consequences, eg several years of no/slow growth to compensate for the big economic downer that we would have had if we let it all play out naturally.
Long term investors would be watching proceedings very closely at the moment.
The billions of dollars given away before Xmas by the Gov't will really benefit business as it will give business a chance to reduce inventories before everything hits the fan - and as usual the taxpayer will be footing the bill. It is very unlikely to stimulate ongoing growth.
Any increase in Xmas sales etc will be artificially induced by the hand outs.