I was curious what the Dow would look like if it were a savings account. From the year I was born (*cough* 196x *cough*) thru today, the Dow has returned the equivalent of a savings account paying 4.5%, compounded monthly. If the Dow drops another 10% from here, the return is 4.3%. If it drops to the uber-bearish 5k, the return is 3.8%. If it drops to the Schiff wet dream level of 4k, the return is 3.4%. The average annual inflation rate over the same period has been 4.6%, using the official gov't numbers.
So much for buy and hold. It's not even beating inflation over the last 49 years!! Of course that ignores dividend payments.