[NYC Republican]

To be fair, and play devil's advocate, it can be viewed as stagnation over 6 years, in that it dipped and just returned to its high. You would expect about 10% growth each year, on average, and with compounding, you're looking at up 77%... So, even though that's somewhat aggressive, the Dow, by those (admittedly somewhat lofty) standards, the Dow should be at the 18,000 level by now...

I know, I know, that's simplistic as it doesn't account for 911, etc...

[ARCADIA]

It is also a nominal level. In adjusted to year 2000 dollars it would probably sit well below the six year high.

[georgia2006]

it also ignores the fact that stocks from 1997-2000 were in a massive bubble