...is when the blood is flowing in the streets.

I recall failing to convince an employer early on in 2000 that he should not accept stock in exchange for network services from an online retail company. The reason? Things had been too good, too long. It was time for a crash. Since then all I've been hearing has been "the recovery will be 3 months away" and "that wasn't a real recession." Yeah right.

This, however, feels honest. Red text all over CNNFN.COM. More Enrons and Worldcoms are surely out there. More terrorists too. No one knows when the market will recover, or how. Everything is bleak. No one is predicting recovery.

You win in the market by being contrarian. This is the time to buy. I think there will be a few more months of this nastyness, but I think we're near the bottom. When everyone insists that the only way things can go is down, and there is absolutely no chance of recovery, thats when you've hit the bottom. Thats when you can bet things will go up.

Its too early on in the generational cycle for a sustained depression. That won't be likely until early in the next decade.
Look for things to slowly begin to improve. The present crisis, in terms of the economy, terrorism, and corporate dishonesty, is a window into the coming catastrophe, as WWI prepared you for WWII.

As things being to improve, take stock of what just occured. In ten years all of the problems will come back to haunt you a thousand-fold. There are lessons here that you will need then.

The difference will be that you won't get to simply watch the crisis occur on CNN. You'll actually experience it in your life. You'll have to make choices. Even if you don't live in New York.

And if I'm wrong, things will be much much worse. Baby Boomers are too idealistic to be allowed to hold the reigns when the shit hits the fan. The last time such a group was running the country during a crisis was the civil war...