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The economy is in a bad way. IMO the blue collar people and the lower-level white collar workers are getting screwed. At the same time as they get laid off, their investment portfolio drops by 50% and the house they thought was worth half a million is dropping in value month by month.

I know a lot of friends/relatives who have been living beyond their means on credit, big mortgages, big credit card debt, and lots of fancy toys. If anything good comes out of this depression maybe people will learn to be more responsible with their saving and spending.

Anyway the stock market will turn around in 3 to 4 years, I wouldn't count on it happening anytime before that.

As far as the price of oil it is a delayed reaction. Big oil companies are slashing their capital expenditures. This will decrease the amount of oil produced a few years down the road. In a few years there will be an oil price spike due to lack of supply when the economy rebounds. In the near-term future there is still an excess of supply and as OPEC members can be trusted not to stick to their production quotas I see the oil price plunging further. There will be a time to buy oil stocks in a year or two, not just yet though.