Good morning Darcy

The first thing people need to understand is that this downturn is different than other downturns for 2 reasons: 1) The massive Baby Boom Generation around the developed world in the U.S. and Canada....

We also predicted, using demographics, that the housing bubble would peak around 2005 as housing spending peaks a few years before overall spending, which peaks around age 47 for the average family....

2) we have seen the greatest debt bubble in modern history between 2000-2008. In the US, private debt went from $20 to $42 Trillion. It was the private debt deleveraging in 2008 that caused the last crisis and crash.

That is why we see the stimulus plans failing at some point, most likely in mid 2012 or 2013. A second meltdown is very likely to be deeper. Hence, stocks should at least retest the March 2009 lows of 6440 on the Dow and likely lower. That's how you get a 50-70% crash from current levels.

The peak in spending at age 46 does not come from retirement, but from their kids leaving the nest and their expenditures falling. /

Good morning Darcy and Mr. Dent, it is my pleasure to be with you this morning. Mr. Dent highlights some very important trends in terms of demographics. While demographics is not my specialty, we do deal with an aging population, hence the demand for income- or yield-oriented products more and more. The aging population is of some concerns to us especially in countries and/or economies such as Japan and China that may have an impact on the preformance of equities in general.

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We also believe that the fiscsal problems that the Eurozone is facing wil not go away easily or soon for that matter. This will be a long way to recovery. Economic data out of the Eurozone and the UK (such as yesterday's UK GDP release) do show us that Europe will be entering another recessionary period...

We believe that this will eventually be put to work, either through stock buyback, dividend increases and/or merger and acquisition activity...

With boomers needing income...would it be a good idea to load up on dividend or income funds in anticipation of boomers seeking out these funds in our low-interest environment ?

Yes. But the first priority should be to preserve the capital you have. Presently, long term gov't bonds are likely to do better in the early stages of a financial meltdown but at some point gov't and corporate bonds will worry about credit quality and default risk. /

We at BMO Mutual Funds have seen a much higher demand for income- and/ore yield-oriented vehicles. I would say that the demand will continue for some time. With so much cash on the sidelines, corporations will continue to increase dividends. I woudl also agree that long-term bonds will do better in the first part of theyear...

We actually saw the 2 years that were likely for a crash as 2010 and 2012. The markets did start correcting in 2010, but QE2 turned that around. We see QE2 wearing off about the 2nd quarter of 2012 and the markets heading down again...

Harry, could you go over "what went wrong" on your Dow at 40,000 prediction? When sensationalistic claims miss by that much, one is naturally skeptical of the next one. Especially when each claim is accompanied by a book you need to sell. So maybe a sober look back on what you thought you saw and why it didn't happen would help explain why that mistake was the exception and not the rule.

hello

From the last 2 generational market peaks in 1929 and 1968, it took the stock market 23 to 24 years to get back to those levels. if you want to wait that long be my guest. and the downside from the 1929 peak was 87% and the Japanese bubble burst since 1990 has seen 80% declines. That is too much to sit through./