The Great Depression

In 1929 the Dow Jones (known as "the market" hereafter) peaked at 381.17. The Great Depression began shortly thereafter. The ending of the gold standard. The New Deal. End of Prohibition. Social Security. Minimum Wage. World War II. Hiroshima. And then somewhere just after the end of the Korean War at the end of a slight recession we broke 381.17 in the middle of 1954. About 25 years. A full human generation.

When it bottomed out at 41.32 in the middle of 1932, it touched a low not reached since 1903. A 29 year period.

I think those are significant numbers.

http://indexes.dowjones.com/mdsidx/

And a sorta interesting graph...not real sure on the numbers and all...but it looks generally ok...

http://www.stockcharts.com/charts/historical/images2/DJIA1900.gif