The S&P 500: Three Peaks

2000, 2008, 201?.  The past three times when real S&P 500 composite earnings significantly declined the S&P 500 index crashed (2008), crashed (2000), and had a historic rise (1997).

The real S&P 500 index (blue) and composite earnings (green).

The following are peak-to-trough and peak-to-peak charts of the non-real S&P 500.

S&P 500 index: from the lowest depths after the stock bubble to the highest point of the housing bubble (blue) and from the lowest depths after the housing bubble to present (blue).

S&P 500 P/E: from the lowest depths after the stock bubble to the highest point of the housing bubble (blue) and from the lowest depths after the housing bubble to present (blue).

S&P 500 index: from the highest point of the stock bubble tot he highest point of the housing bubble (blue) and then from the highest point of the housing bubble to the present (red)

S&P 500 P/E: from the highest point of the stock bubble tot he highest point of the housing bubble (blue) and then from the highest point of the housing bubble to the present (red)

How much longer can Ben Bernanke keep up his John Law routine: using the Federal Reserve (Banque Generale) to subsidize the US stock and housing markets (Mississippi Company)?

Robert Shiller's data: http://www.econ.yale.edu/~shiller/data.htm