Wall Street Down $6.9 Trillion in 2008

The losses in 2008 were so broad and deep that every sector in the Standard & Poor's 500-stock index took a double-digit hit, and the financial sector lost more than half of its value. The Dow Jones industrial average, an index of 30 blue-chip stocks, and the S&P, a broader index watched by market professionals, were down 34 percent and 38 percent, respectively, their deepest losses since the 1930s. The tech-heavy Nasdaq composite index was down 41 percent, its worst year since the exchange was created in 1971.

Thank you Washington, for such a stellar devastation of all those greedy Wall Street buggers. A special tip of the hat to all those pretend-capitalists in business and media feverishly looking no farther than two days ahead who egged them on. Most especially, a rousing huzzah to the Progressives of the past 100 years who pushed so hard and so untiringly to make it happen. But the ultimate expression of gratitude must be reserved for those Americans who never bothered to crack a book or care very much about the character of their intellectual and political leaders' ideas, making the disaster inevitable.

So much for the practicality of Pragmatism.