Big numbers! BIG NUMBERS!!!

So the Dow Jones Industrial Average topped 10,000 last week, and the investment world rejoiced that the recession is over, confidence in the market has been restored, and all our problems are over.

Not so much. The hullabaloo over the Dow's recent surge is just more proof that the denizens of Wall Street do not live in what the rest of us like to call The Real World.

Remember, the last Wall Street surge was not associated with a surge in real wealth. The wealth was all on paper. In fact, the average American became poorer during the economic "boom" in the mid-to-late 'aughts, as real wages for the normal worker stagnated and declined even as those at the top of the pay scale saw their compensation increase dramatically.

Remember also that the most recent "boom" busted rather dramatically, precisely because all the gains were imaginary, just figures and machinations on someone's spreadsheet.

I don't get to jazzed up over the recent gains on Wall Street. Show me more living-wage Main Street jobs, and then I'll declare the Bull is Back.