[jozzas]

> If you buy stock in a random Fortune 500 company and nobody wants it, you can take possession of a bunch of desks or factories or inventory or whatever their deal is

Not really, the value of the stock approaches zero, and when the company closes up shop I doubt you get anything at all as an investor. Assets would typically be sold to pay off outstanding debts.

[tptacek]

More fundamentally, the value of a share of stock is tied to earnings. When companies accumulate capital beyond their horizon of their operational needs, they issue dividends.

Yes, companies can go out of business, but that's not the point Bogle is making. He's not saying stocks are riskless. He's saying that their valuations are tied to notional future earnings and the dividends they will generate.