Is the US following Japan's lead, Lower prices a boon to consumers, but causing headaches for retailers .

"Deflation -- a sustained decline in prices in goods and services -- is a vicious cycle. A sluggish economy forces businesses to reduce prices, which prompts consumers to delay their spending because they believe even better bargains are ahead."

I also read somewhere earlier this week, that the dollar for the first time in years was worth less than a dollar. How that is possible, I don't know. I'll try to find the article and post it.

There are For Rent signs all over San Francisco. I heard some media financial gurus interviewed on the radio on Tueday, The Dolans, and they said that they expect the market to go even lower. The Dolans said there are two many people still in the market, with dwindling stock portfolios, and at some point they will panic and take their money out to prevent any more losses. The Dolans warned that if you're still in the market, you would need to stay in for at least 9 years to make your money back. The Dolans themselves got completely out of the stock market two months ago.

My IRA is safely in money markets, but my smaller 401(k) at work is in stocks. I'd like to pull the money out of my 401(k) as well, but I think I may have missed my window of opportunity. I should have pulled out when the market was at 9,000. I would have lost money anyway, since I started putting money in my 401(k) during the summer of 2000. So much for the theory of dollar cost averaging I spaced this one out. The amount always looked okay to me, because my company was matching my amounts. SPACE CADET!!!

I doubt I will be working at my current company in 9 years, and I need to research if I can leave my money in fund if I leave the company. My 401(k) is at Fidelity, and I would love to keep my money there. I think the market may tick up at the end of February, and if it does, I might get out and take the loss. When the market does go lower, I'll go back into stocks and get some major bargains.

This is the Superbowl theory of the stock market. If the AFC wins the superbowl, the market goes down. If the NFC wins, the markets go up. Since NFC team Tampa Bay won, let's hope the theory holds, at least until I can move my money to money markets.