Today many people seem sure that the subprime situation and associated problems will bring on a long-term market decline that could carry stock prices much lower. When conclusions like these become widespread, the conclusion or the timing or both are often wrong. Think back to how many people agreed with former Federal Reserve Board Chairman Alan Greenspan’s famous (or notorious) ‘irrational exuberance’ speech, in December, 1996. Yet nearly four years passed before the market hit its ultimate peak. In between the Greenspan speech and 2000 market peak, we went through a market setback in response to an economic crisis that started in Thailand in 1997. At that time, investors talked about the so-called “Asian contagion”, and feared the crisis would spread to the west. Instead, we got over it and many markets went on to new highs. We may be on a similar track right now. I still take a generally optimistic view of the market, but I could be wrong. So…