There's a pretty damning appraisal of the S&P 500 index here:
http://www.slate.com/?id=2068724

F*ckedGoogle goes even further, and claims:
http://www.fuckedgoogle.com/fuckedgo...irman_adm.html

Pretty damning claims, but is this just investor bitterness?

S and P are for people who don't want to take risks. That's what the index is for. You don't want to take chances with research so you use an index that does it for you. As with any index, you need to ask if someone is playing it for you.

S&P are saving the traders their shirts and that's no secret. GOOG isn't a good buy at present. Better to sell than hold and that's what S&P have allowed them to do.

I don't know if the S&P is a great or safe buy or not, but them buying into Google stock when it's an obivous bubble doesn't really suggest they have their investors interests at stake.

So much of this depends on what kind of risk you care to incur? If you are young and not touching the stuff for a while, you can easily sit tight when the S&P index is down, because in the long run it will do well. As a matter of fact, it gives greater opportunity to buy cheaper shares.

This is the most basic principle of investing but may be the hardest for the individual investor to stick to. Human nature tells us when something is going down to get out and when something is going up to get in.

In sound investing, the opposite is true. If what your in is quality, then that's the time not only to stay in but to buy more. In the long run you'll be much better off.

I don't know if I would ever invest along an index line. Seems like a fool's bet to me. It is interesting though that they often see new additions crash after joining.

Guess this puts me off ever getting Google since I keep procastinating.

You would think that when a stock goes into an index fund the price would go up because since index funds have to buy the stock, the demand is greater than the supply. But if I could figure the market out, I'd be rich.

Google stock is still doing okay - for the time being. But wait and see what happens over the next two financial reports over this year, and expect to see a climb down.

Google is trading at 80 times earnings. Does this scare anyone else or only me?

It doesn't scare me because I've not bought into the company but I agree its a major sign of weakness. Last nights earnings report seems to have stoked up the hype again and the stock has even grown 20% since S&P bought into GOOG.

...Which scares me even more . A good indicator is when I invest. As long as I don't invest in GOOG it will continue to go up. The minute Ibuy some, it will crash.

Go on, buy some - you know you want to.

If I had the money I probably would - and then the crash would begin. And I wouldn't want to do that to the rest of the Google stockolders.

I don't think there is anything wrong with buying, the only thing is that you have to watch closely for signs of the market turning.