Oh Stand, Stand By Me

I try to keep my blog on a professional level, but today I am going to depart, slightly from form.
Everyday, I wake up and check the markets. What's the Dow doing? What's the TSX doing, the Nasdaq? Whats happening in Europe? My heart soars with the rallies and sinks with the selloffs. I have been investing in the market since I was about 27. I grew up poor on 15th St. in Saskatoon -- I like to joke, we were so poor our street couldn't even afford a name. I have ridden out some scary times in market. I reported on market crash of October 87 from the floor of the TSX, before it was computerized and there were still traders on the floor--investors thought it was the end of the world. Sound familiar?
The last 6 weeks, like everyone,I have been watching my portfolio shrink -- make that shrivel!
The market is full of fear. Mutual fund redemptions are soaring. What is really happening is hedge funds are dumping their stocks and people who bought on margin are being forced to sell -- And the market is going to keep falling until those leveraged buyers are squeezed out of the market. A few other things have to happen too, and it will take at least two years to recover.
We've had at least a dozen 'market meltdowns' over the last 5 decades -- and every one was followed by a raging bull market. It's true.
Everytime the market goes through one of these, mutual fund redemptions soar, and as soon as it rebounds mutual fund sales climb. They sell low and buy high everytime.
Now, will it be the same this time? Will I be able to count on the market to rebound, will it Stand By Me again?? --- Here's Ben E. King