Today is the 30th Anniversary of the Start of the Great Bull Market, 1982-2000

A twofer from the Wall Street Journal.
First up an article from August 13, 2009:

For economic historians and defenders of the Reagan revolution, this week will forever be seen as the anniversary of one of the greatest bull markets in history.

It was on Aug. 12, 1982, that the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped to its 1980-82 recession low of 776.92—almost precisely where the Index had closed in January 1964. Starting as a trickle, the decline in inflation and long-term interest rates picked up speed that summer, and investors in common stocks began to have confidence that they were being liberated from the shackles of double-digit inflation and interest rates, an innovation-sapping regulatory regime, and a tax code that was antithetical to capital formation.

During that lazy summer, institutional and individual investors came to the conclusion that the back of inflation had been broken. Not insignificantly, they also believed that they had a friend in the White House.

When Henry Kaufman of Salomon Brothers said that Treasury yields had reached their highs in a note to clients on Aug. 17, 1982, stock prices exploded. This provided free-market optimists with desperately needed evidence that their principles would provide a path forward. The simple—yet difficult to achieve—strategy of getting the government out of the way and turning the economy over to free enterprise set the stage for a period of tremendous economic growth and wealth creation....MORE 

And from Today's Heard on the Street column:
After 30 Years: Raging Bulls to Aging Bulls

It was 30 years ago this week that the greatest secular bull market in history began. But is it a happy anniversary?
Given the carnage of the past 12 years—the popping of the tech bubble and the worst financial crisis in modern times—some prognosticators say that even after recent gains we may still be in the early stages of a new secular bull market. Though it may not equal what we saw from 1982 through 2000, a pale imitation still would be welcome.

The best of times tend to follow the worst ones, but the most bullish soothsayers may not be looking back far enough. Even after all the damage that has been done since 2000, the preceding 18 years were strong enough to make the total return over three decades look remarkable.

"We are at the higher end of returns, so it's going to be nearly impossible to replicate the last 30 years in the next 30," predicts James Bianco, president of Bianco Research.

The S&P 500 Total Return Index has produced a compound annual gain of 11.32% since August 1982. The average return during the entire 20th century was 10.1%, according to "Triumph of the Optimists," a study of investment returns by Elroy Dimson, Paul Marsh and Mike Staunton. While it seems like a small difference, an untaxed pot of money invested in 1982 would be 28% lower today using the lesser rate. Most investors gladly would accept the long-run return right now. But another remarkable factor of the last three decades—a historic fall in bond yields—won't be repeated.

When it comes to inflation-adjusted returns, bond bull markets are a huge boon to stocks. Conversely, the opposite can create a huge drag. For example, the decades after World War II generally were a golden period for corporate America. But from 1946 to the autumn of 1981, benchmark Treasury yields went from their all-time low to their record high. And though stock indexes did well on paper, the S&P 500 rose just 0.63% annually in inflation-adjusted terms.....MORE

Here are the yearly returns for the Great Bull. Don't drool.

Table 2: Annual Returns by Year:

Dow Jones Secular Bull Market 1982 to 1999
Year	P/E	Start	End	Return
1982	7	874	1046	19.54%
1983	10	1046	1258	20.27%
1984	9	1258	1211	(3.74%)
1985	11	1211	1546	27.66%
1986	13	1546	1896	22.64%
1987	16	1896	1939	2.27%
1988	14	1939	2168	11.81%
1989	17	2168	2753	26.98%
1990	17	2753	2633	(4.36%)
1991	18	2633	3169	20.36%
1992	20	3169	3301	4.17%
1993	21	3301	3754	13.72%
1994	21	3754	3834	2.13%
1995	23	3834	5117	33.46%
1996	26	5117	6448	26.01%
1997	31	6448	7908	22.64%
1998	36	7908	9181	16.10%
1999	42	9181	11497	25.23%