It's like a casino owner placing bets on its own tables for its employees from their paychecks. "You might win big!!!" Well. Somebody sure will. Some people did great with Enron. You know, look at the Great Depression. Stock investment capital became very easy to get a hold of--people made paper fortunes without actually putting out a nickel. The middle class entered the stock market on a massive scale. Industries were built, cities even ... But it was all built on the assumption of continuing growth. And nobody, except the actual big companies, government and banks had the cash on hand to survive if that growth just suddenly stopped. Which, of course happened. And then those aforementioned big companies banks and gov went around buying the newly enhanced infrastruicture at six cents on the dollar from all the blossoming bankruptcies. It was a period of huge absorption of real estate and money and power into the hands of those who would most be able to crash the market. Sooner or later, the house always wins. Just because there's a feeding frenzy doesnt mean there's food there. Sometimes its just hysteria.