My Wife's Complaint

My wife had a complaint that what was said on CNN was misleading in regard to the stock market. She said that saying that the stock market was at 10,000 in the U.S. ten years ago is misleading because though it reached 10,000 then it was kind of a fluke and she didn't think it stayed there long enough to be compared with 10,000 now since the market is obviously in flux and could go to 9000 but then go back to 10,500 or 11,000 within the next few months easily. So saying that the stock market had gained nothing in 10 years is misleading in this respect. Also, most blue chip stocks yield quarterly dividends and this also has to be considered in the mix. So even if the stocks are now again at 10,000 each stockholder also benefited from 10 years of dividends on their stocks(if the stocks they owned yielded quarterly dividends).