It is interesting to see where we have come with the Dow Jones Industrial Average. To give you some insight, the DOW closed on May 26Th 1896 at 40.94. The thought back then was the DOW would never hit 300. Well it took 45 years, but the DOW closed at 381.17 on September 3 1929. At that time the new benchmark was 1,000. Right around when my grandfather celebrated his 3rd birthday (1929), I am sure they all thought that it would almost be impossible to hit 1,000. November 14Th 1972 (my brother was almost 1 year old) it did it, it hit 1,000! During the the 80's it hovered right around 2,000. It wasn't until the 90's it really did some amazing things. It went from 2,256.43 in 1989 to 10,006.78 in 1999.Enough of the history lesson. Now here we are in 2009 and we are set to see the DOW hit 10k again. Does it mean we are healthy again, maybe not. Does it mean we are more confident as a county again, perhaps. Regardless what it means, we live in a country that is strong. Our poorest of the poor here in America are some times the richest of the rich in other countries. To put an exclamation on this point, I have a friend that lives in Russia. He is amazed that we have such big homes. In Russia, if you have a one bedroom (we in the US would consider this as a studio) we would be comfortable. Now, if you lived in a 2 bedroom (we in the US would consider this to be a 1 bedroom) we would be pretty well off. It makes me think of my Arbor Home. I live in a 3 bedroom home with a loft and just over 1800 sq. ft. of living space. In America, it is considered a modest home. Imagine how rich I look to my friend in Russia.
Just to be living in the USA makes you richer than most of the world. Enjoy this great country!
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