You would think 1st that's a really bad joke being played, and 2nd that if it were all the least bit true (and it all is, isn't it)  that the shit had hit the fan.

...but instead, it's happened so slowly to us like that frog in a pot of water brought slowly to a boil as he (us) the frog cooks.

We're cooked aren't we? GM, Ford, Chrysler, the shift of the Gov't to the left wall, job closings left and right, and the value of our saving minus about 40%.

Are we cooked this time?

The hope I used to harbor in the back of my head, as I was preparing for the worst, was something along the lines that "The economy can't fail... there are too many people with too much to lose... they'll always figure something out..."

That hope is gone.

To answer your question: We're not perma-cooked... but we are slowly but surely getting cooked.

Your savings are only down 40% if you transferred all of your savings to equities at the very peak of the market.

Why does this get repeated so often?

Who here has seriously lost 40% of the money they have had invested?

Me, I'm at a point where I may have been almost better off with cash under my mattress the past 10 years - but that is hardly "down 40%" - it is more like "breaking even."

All I know is there are some good bargains out there if you have some extra cash around and can pick them at the right time.