[jyl]

Looked at some LT charts

S&P Composite Index (I think this is the S&P500)
1946 18
1950 18
1955 40
1960 55-ish
1968 110
1972 120
1974 75
1978 100
1980 120
1983 160-170
1990 350
1995 550
2000 1500
2003 900-ish
2006 1200
eyeballed so not exact

DJIA
Don't have chart pre-1976
1976 1000
1982 800
again, just eyeballed

So, true, that from the mid 1960s until the early 1980s the stock market did a lot of churning. So far that's happening again in the 2000s.