If Japan is so bad off why is the US copying it? I tend to agree, giving money/liquidity to those who don't earn it encourages bad behavior, pushes up asset prices, and increases their debt load. One can't simply do anything magical with the economy without repercussions. Sadly Japan and now the US, have fostered even bigger TBTF banks dependent on a flat economy and low interest rates on top of free QE money.

This is nothing but socialism for the banks and it leads to bad behavior and eventual ruin just like always.

I also agree that the bull is getting very long in the tail and is probably set to drop early next year. Of course, it depends on whether governments do something to prolong the upturn at the cost of an even worse downturn later. For the long term viability of the market, I hope they don't. As it stands, the next downturn will likely be bad as asset prices seem way out of balance from the economy already.

Yay, coordination probably means that their economies will all pop spectacularly at the same time. In general we all know why this is dumb, dumb, dumb. It's because such global economic asset based pops are much worse than regional downturns.

I agree that fundamentals and stock prices seem out of whack. They have been like this for several years thanks to the central bank pumping up assets and not the economy. How long they will do this before another downturn will determine how bad off we are when the downturn comes. Of course, once again like under Greenspan the central bank keeps on believing it can prevent a downturn. Really? Do they even read economics books?

Abenomics is just the end game for the QE games they have been playing for decades. It is the beginning of failure because the QE is too big and unsustainable. Also, it only temporarily affects the economy with long term problems. As for lower birth rates etc. this is also partially caused by QE's long desolation of Japan's economy which has stuck it in a zombie mode for decades.

Regarding peacefulness, this is one of Japan's saving graces.

No, but you can avoid the 9 or 8 worst days if you are nimble enough. Don't buy into a selloff until you are clear its over and generally its best to sell into a justified sharp drop and buyback your shares for a lower price when its over.

The US should learn from this because we are now copying them and are on 5 years into the 25 years Japan has taken to be a utter economic failure. This has proven QE can destroy even the most robust of countries because it obstructs economic adaptation and change, encourages continued unproductive and even harmful behaviors, prevents the growth of the private sector specifically small business, saddles the country with failing state supported companies, prevents the country from addressing overgrowth in government and tackling its debt issues, encourages overextension of debt, prevent necessary economic rebalancing and price declines, and is a massive step towards a socialist economic system.

Japan, wake up or you will find your economy closer to N. Korea than the US. Same goes fore the US.

Good choices but the clean energy stocks are getting their whistle cleaned by dropping oil and energy prices. We will see how much more they can stand if oil prices drop further. The good news is that pump prices and oil distillate prices remain artificially high as oil companies refuse to pass off the price declines to consumers.

Last time oil prices were at this price gas was under $2.50 a gallon in California and around $2 nationally.

1) The US is still importing tons of oil due to current US oil company contracts thus leaving a surplus at home which they are now trying to export (a bit ridiculous).

2) The US oil collapse is coming. Now is not the time to invest in more production.

3) The oil price decline should have happened sooner along with everything else but the Federal Reserve is trying to prevent the natural price declines associated with a downturn which did nothing but prolong the downturn for years because the economy can't realign without the natural savings it gets from price declines.

4) Politicians and the government don't make jobs save ones that cost more jobs, they destroy them unless they cut taxes. Given they do not do that, they could care less if the US oil economy collapses or the rest of the economy. In fact a weak economy allows their banker friends to issue even more QE money and give them out like candy to them and the politicians. Thus, regardless of what everyone says, most bankers and politicians love the zombie economy. It means they get rich while you get poor.

Even if there is no taper just a stoppage of QE it will eventually lay this market low. I give that until spring next year unless the Fed gives up on ceasing QE and resumes it yet again. If they do it again they deserve even more to be the pincushion of playing politics by artificially keeping the market aloft on money printing to support the current administration.