After dazzling critics for 10 yrs, bull market staggers up to death's door

Most of the time since 2009, gains in the S&P 500 have surpassed gains in GDP and worker pay by gaping margins

It’s been derided as a house of cards, a gift to the one-per cent, an experiment in monetary policy taken way too far.

Now a bull market that for 10 years has confounded and chastened its detractors -- by outlasting all its predecessors -- is staggering up to death’s door. And the haters and admirers are all turning out to pronounce last rites.

The fall has been swift, a spasm of nearly uninterrupted selling that dragged the S&P 500 down 19.8 per cent in the space of three months. The Dow Jones Industrial Average has plunged 5,036 points since its record, poised