That sounds really cool. Almost like taking a time machine back to the end of World War 2 and riding the start of that post-war economic boom, huh?

There are differences, though, that make it clear that this recent "bull market" economy ain't your Grampa's bull market economy:

1) The level of household debt now would be laughed at in 1944. There is no way Americans would have believed the level of sheer, wasteful, irresponsible debt that 2007-era folks are saddled with. The debt Americans are enslaved with now makes any recent stock gains meaningless: If you look at the level of household debt versus household stock ownership, well, there just isn't a comparison.

2) People in 1943 were still people. They were not "consumers". They spent money they had, not money they didn't have.

3) Today's "consumer" is called, by the way, "resilient". But, the truly resilient man or woman lived in 1944. They were so RESILIENT that they rationed everything from food to fuel (items the government now says are not factors with regard to inflation, yet, at one time - 1944 - they were so inflationary that people saved and shared and did their best to make their money stretch to afford the basics). Today's "resilient consumer" is a lazy, drunken-sailor with empty pocketbooks and equally empty minds (thanks to their addiction to the mind-numbing garbage blasted at them from all the shiny-trinket multi-media centers scattered throughout their "home")

4) Speaking of "homes", in 1944 people lived in a house they either saved to purchase, or rented, or rented til they saved to purchase. And, the houses were modestly-built yet suitable for a family of 6. In short it was a privilige and honor to be a true homeOWNER in 1944. Today, "consumers" are told the damnable lie that it is their RIGHT to "own" a home, all the while piling up 300% in debt-owed for the next 30 years - all for the illusion that they "own" the home they live in.