Back to the '70s

The 1970s produced many things of debatable merit: disco, feathered hair, the Pinto; some people love them, some people hate them.

But few would disagree that the stock market was lousy in that decade, and some analysts, unfortunately, fear that performance could be repeated in the decade to come.

Between 1970 and 1979, the Dow Jones industrial average gained just 4.8 per...