When will the DOW hit 15,000?

I'm betting on NEVER.  14,000-something will be the all-time high.  Our grandchildren (if we ever survive long enough to have them) will learn know of this number and its significant association with the peak of capitalist American society.  They won't learn of the aftermath soon after the DOW retreated from 14,000 but will be told none of it was pretty in the coming years.

>>18
The only people who got really hurt were the ones who invested all of their money in tech/internet.  If you put your life savings in one industry (and even more foolishly, in one stock) you're asking to be raped.  And people who hold on to a stock hoping it will eventually recover are also asking to be raped.

A disciplined investor will set limits, and cut losses before they get ugly.  At some point you just have to sell and take the loss, not ride it down to absolute zero.  It's painful and it sucks, and there even the chance that you could miss out if the stock really does rebound.  But it's much better to err on the side of caution.  Any losses you make on a particular stock will eventually be made up elsewhere as long as you stay in the game.