For the record, I asked the question in good faith. A decline in the stock market is worrisome, but not the end of the world.
I'm sure you did and I don't blame you for asking! Just try to remember where it (the Dow) was when that awful Dubya person sent our poor deluded children into that fearsome Iraq place in March of 2003 to face hideous gasses, nukes and atomized germ warfare... Against that Nebuchanezzar II, That pillar of UN compliance and whirled peas... Sodamn Hussane!!!
The Dow was down around 7500 the previous October, IIRC!!!
But, ya know, they told me to cheer up... Things could be worse! So I cheered up... And sure enough!!! They got worse!!!