As if Bush didn't have enough trouble with angry seniors and his Medicare mess, the stock market just continues to stink. Expectations have been high for the market but actual results have been dismal. That's always a dangerous combination for politicians.
Just under half of the investors polled this month said that they were either somewhat or very optimistic about the performance of the stock market over the next 12 months.
In the meantime, strategists like Mr. Casey expect the market to tread water for some time to come, predicting that stock prices will remain flat for a couple of years even as earnings rise.
The Employee Benefit Research Institute study found that people in their 60's are still down 8.7 percent on average in their accounts for the four-year period beginning Dec. 31, 1999, and lasting through the end of last year. Participants in their 60's with more than 30 years of tenure on the job are even worse off; their account balances fell 15.5 percent on average during the period, the study said.
