Don't forget to look at how you're planning, too. Since my stuff is almost entirely long-term retirement money, I'm a fan of dollar-cost averaging (putting in a fixed amount every month). When the market is doing poorly, at least I'm getting a better price on what I'm buying. I dread the idea of another huge depression, but since I'm still 30 years, minimum, away from retirement, the stock market taking a hit doesn't have me in a panic. Closer to retirement, yeah; I'd be worried.
And yeah, diversifying.
Apparently, the popularity of the President also affects the dollar's strength- check it out:
http://www.slate.com/id/2165579/nav/tap2/
A loose correlation at best, but entertaining reading, anyway.
Thanks for bringing this up, Randall. Short term things don't look good. Long term? Well, the Great Depression led to all kinds of changes in policy that created a strong middle class. Took a long time, but most worthwhile things do. Sometimes we need to get slapped pretty hard to start focusing on really changing things. Though I hope it won't come to that.