Where have all the dollars gone?

Longgg time paa aa sssssing...

What is truly staggering about the 2008 market meltdown is not just its depth, but its breadth.

Virtually every asset class worldwide, except for gold and U.S. Treasury securities, lost value in 2008. Corporate and municipal bonds, foreign stocks, housing and commercial real estate all fell, in some cases off a cliff. Even oil and other commodities, which enjoyed big gains during the first half, ended the year lower.

Never was the phrase "nowhere to hide" more apt.

The decline in U.S. stocks approached record proportions.

Never was the phrase "nowhere to hide" more apt.

The decline in U.S. stocks approached record proportions.

-- The Dow Jones industrial average fell 33.8 percent, its worst showing since 1932, when it plunged almost 53 percent. Last year marked the Dow's fourth-worst annual performance since its 1896 inception.

-- The Standard & Poor's 500 index shed 38.5 percent in 2008, its third-worst year since 1928.

-- The Nasdaq composite index tumbled 40.5 percent, the worst annual loss since its launch in 1971. The tech-heavy index now stands 69 percent below its all-time high in March 2000.

To put it in dollar terms, the Dow Jones Wilshire 5000 index - which covers the vast majority of U.S. stocks - lost $6.9 trillion last year and $8.4 trillion since the market peaked in October 2007.

Coincidentally, $8.5 trillion is the amount the U.S. government and Federal Reserve have pledged to spend to rescue the financial system, according to a Bloomberg tally.

Foreign stocks - a favorite investment for U.S. investors in recent years - did even worse. Developed markets fell 45 percent in U.S. dollars, and emerging markets plunged 55 percent.