One Year Later: To hell and (almost) back?

Remember when markets were efficient and self-correcting, the subprime crisis was contained, the U.S. economy was decoupled from the rest of the world -- and all you needed to be Fed chairman was an abiding love of Ayn Rand?

If nothing else, the market's movements over the last year -- or ever since the global financial system went down like the Hindenburg -- have disabused us of such quaint notions regarding the wonderful world of equities. Forget about trading on technicals and fundamentals. The market runs on Fear and Greed.

About this time in 2008 the Dow Jones Industrial Average and broader S&P 500 were down roughly 15 percent for the year. Those were some seriously painful declines -- but, brother, does a measly 15 percent shellacking look good right about now.