Two days ago I posted an entry with my February 2009 review and commented about the buzz about "The Lost Decade". Well, guess what? Dow just dropped to level not since 1997.

If this is truely the excess built since the early 90s as I mentioned in the last entry, then today's closing point is nothing since we still have five more years to go.

Other than trimming the fat the market also tends to overshoot itself, whether on its way up or on its way down. With that in mind, Dow was about 3200 points and S&P was 410 points by end of 92. That means roughly another 55% and 40% to drop from today's level.

Interestingly, on Kudlow's show today someone said the opposite. He believes in a few days S&P will hit its lowest point of the year. I sure hope he's right.

Cash & Savings: $61,574 (5.25%)
Foreign Currency: $29,569 (0.48%)
US Brokerage: $60,138 (-9.64%)
Overseas Brokerage: $22,592 (-11.60%)
401(k): $25,042 (-1.92%)
IRA: $49,459 (-9.38%)
Roth IRA: $12,880 (-7.65%)
Total Assets: $261,254 (-4.68%)

Recently people start to talk about the "lost decade" as Dow and other major indexes retreated to level not seen (inflation adjusted) since 97 or 96 when Greenspan made his famous "irrational excuberence" speech.

I also read today that a Japanese academic who is known for predicting future trends claiming that the US is making the same mistake as the Japanese did about 20 years ago, which led Japan into not just a lost decade but a lost 15 years. He thinks the US will experience the same prolonged flat economical growth in the next 10 to 20 years.

I can't predict the future but what I do know is that even with the lost 15 years at Japane the country remains as the world's second largest economy the whole time and Germany never came close to capturing that spot. Japanese people are still relatively weathly compare to most countries and continue to live in a safe socity with quality public service.

So let's say if what the Japanese scholar said is correct then the question becomes - can people in the US maintain a similar life style after 15 years of stallmate?