I am no expert, just your average Joe. The stock market is kind of like gambling .. sometimes you win and sometimes you lose. Folks need to realize this before they jump into the pool and prepare themselves for the worse. Personally I didn't get caught up in the dot.com bubble because I had trouble understanding why folks would invest loads of money and not expect a company to make any kind of profit ... but that's just my opinion.
I too lost money .. but it was a paper loss and since the companies didn't go out of business, I do expect those stocks to go up eventually in time.
As for the cooked books, most of it is out in the open now and most of these companies know they are being watched and won't likly cook those books like they did in the 90's. and if they do, they deserve to get hit hard by the SEC
I have no problem jumping back in the waters of the Stock market again, but right now Wall Street is a bunch of nillie willies that need to chill out a bit .. but again, that is just my opinion ..
What about the big assumptions companies are making about projected earnings in pension funds? They add this imaginary income to the earnings they report. Verizon, Eastman Kodak, Northrop Grumman, Weyerhaeuser, Boeing, etc.
What about the dilution effect of stock options, and the reduction of earnings should granted stock options be expensed?
What about the self-dealing being done by the financing arms of companies - some are effectively buying their own products, and booking a profit?
These things are "out in the open" as you say - but the "experts" can mislead the public by manipulating the books to create an impression of financial soundness by covering up the real rot.
Lots of funny financial games are being played by most of the companies (and government) in this country. Every once in a while the music stops, and another class of investor is left holding the bag...