WHERE IS THE BOTTOM ?

general motors shares hit a 62 year low , the stockmarket in general still goes lower , more mortgage forclosures , canada's giant (at one time) phone and electronics giant NORTEL keeps falling and is cutting several thousands more jobs .
anyone want to guess if there is a bottom somewhere ?

waiting at the barber today , i read a disturbing article in a business magazine : japan's stock market has been falling since 1989 ! while there have been occasional upticks , the general trend is still DOWN !
i'm beginning to wonder if all the talk about the economy and stockmarket recovering within a couple of years is just idle talk ?

listened to james cramer (mad money) on the donny deutsch show . cramer does not expect the stockmarket to recover for another five years - and he seems to have a pretty good track-record in the business . he said that he had taken enough money out of the market to see his elder daughter through university and hopes when his younger daughter is ready for university in another 5 years , the market will start to improve .

is that realism , pessimism , or what ?

we don't have much money in the stockmarket and should have put all our "extra/fun" money into "guaranteed investment certificates " rather than into the shares of a solid canadian bank . the canadian bank shares are being pulled down even though canadian banks seem to be doing quite well when compared to U.S. banks . it seems that no one trusts the banks any more .
still , it would have been worse - much worse - if we had put the money into general motors or NORTEL .

are you hopeful that the north-american (and world) economy will recover within the next two years , five years ... ?
what signs are you looking for to indicate a recovery - more jobs , increased income , low inflation ... or what ?
hbg