Highlights

• As I have been prone to say over the years, bear markets don't just happen all of a sudden, any more than people or companies go broke all of a sudden.
• Rather, they (bear markets and bankruptcies) unfold over time, the result of poor decisions or conditions accumulating beneath the surface, out of view of the casual onlooker.
• Indeed, the road to a bear market or bankruptcy is paved with apparent prosperity, be it 20% rallies or brand-new houses and cars paid for. . .