"All told, about $7 trillion of shareholders’ wealth — the gains of the last six years — was wiped out in a year of violent market swings."
That quote from the New York Times raises an interesting question: where did those trillions go? And if, in truth, it never really existed, isn't that a Ponzi scheme?
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/01/bu..._r=1&th&emc=th