Let's get right to the critical question. Is the stomach-churning volatility in the stock market signaling the end of the long boom in the economy and the stock market? After all, the economy is more vulnerable than before to shifts in the market with the value of household equity and mutual fund holdings more than doubling over the past four years to over 11 trillion dollars.

My answer is that the economy remains strong, and the stock market is resilient. While certain sectors of the market and economy could be hit hard in coming months, there is a lot more going on than simply the rapid emergence of dot-com startups. For instance, e-commerce is just beginning to transform many old-line companies. The best way to ride the market's inevitable storms is to own a well-diversified portfolio and to pay close attention to your financial needs rather than let yourself be whipsawed by Mr. Market's manic moods.

Still, Fed chairman Alan Greenspan must be cheered by the markets gyrations. Although he denies it, Greenspan has left a strong impression that the central bank has hiked interest rates to derail a soaring stock market. Greenspan has openly worried that rapid increases in stock market generated wealth had propelled consumer demand to unsustainable levels.

I'm skeptical. Greenspan and other economists have couched their concerns in the dry equations of the so-called wealth effect, but in essence they are saying too much wealth is bad for us. Homes are getting bigger. The roads are clogged with SUVs. Cell phones are everywhere. Ah, I can hear echoes of Thorsten Veblen's diatribes against conspicuous consumption.

But what's wrong with wealth? Sure, there are pockets of unbelievable waste among plutocrats. But that's not the story. Over the past quarter century, many workers lost their jobs and incomes were squeezed. Now, a record two-thirds of American own their homes, worker earnings are at an all-time high, the democratization of credit has finally extended to low-income workers, and all this demand is pushing business to improve their productivity.

Fast growth and more wealth is not a cause for concern.