Passively managed investments, AKA Buy & Hold, have been passe since Reagan introduced the mantra (spectre?) of deficit spending. Hell, as little as the Monday edition of IBD, one or two cups of coffee on a Sunday morning and StockCharts.com to slap a 50 and 200 day SMA on a chart could have saved the coin you already earned as well as made some additional coin these past 8 years.
I read threads like these and wonder if I'm on the same planet as everyone else. In 2000 I took a hit on the internet bubble. In the following 8 years I made more money than I ever made in my life, spent more, done more, learned more and my standard of living is higher than the previous 8, which wasn't all that bad then. I guess I wasn't paying attention to what the hell Bush and the rest of the world was saying and doing. Meanwhile, looks like we're going to take another hit.