Zweig says that when someone recently asked him the question, he “laughed and said, ‘Of course not!’ But right afterward, I realized to my surprise that I could. I banged this out almost instantly: Anything is possible, and the unexpected is inevitable. Proceed accordingly.”

Here’s what some top investors told Zweig when asked the same question:

David Herro, Morningstar Fund Manager of the Decade:

Determine value.  Then buy low, sell high.  ;-)

Robert Rodriguez, managing partner, First Pacific Advisors:

Plan for the worst. Hope for the best.

Christopher C. Davis, chairman, Davis Advisors and co-manager, Davis New York Venture Fund:

Fallible, emotional people determine price; cold, hard cash determines value.

Zweig also notes that Benjamin Graham, the man known as “The Father of Value Investing”, distilled his philosophy into just three words in his classic book The Intelligent Investor, saying, “In the old legend the wise men finally boiled down the history of mortal affairs into the single phrase, ‘This too will pass.’ Confronted with a like challenge to distill the secret of sound investment into three words, we venture the motto, MARGIN OF SAFETY.”

Dreman tells Canada’s Globe and Mail that over the long term — the past 25 years — the S&P 500 has basically been in a dead heat with more glamorous foreign markets. And, he adds, “There isn’t a lot of liquidity in markets in developing countries, so you’re taking extra risk for the same gain.”

Asked how he would invest $100,000 right now, Dreman says he’d buy “good-quality stocks in a portfolio large enough to diversify, or, for the average investor, an index fund.” He thinks inflation is going to be a major issue, and says stocks have traditionally gone up when inflation is coming.

Dreman also cautions against following the crowd. “On the whole, investors don’t do as well as markets,” he says. “Even money managers want to buy hot stocks, and they waive their valuation rules. It’s very hard not to go along with something that’s exciting. The Internet, for example, was going to change our lives forever — and it did. But people paid 50 times what stocks were really worth.”

“The high-growth economies of China and other emerging Asian and Latin American countries lost some momentum as 2011 wore on, but to me they now appear poised for softer landings than their developed-market counterparts,” Mobius, of Templeton Asset Management, tells Citywire. “During the last quarter, inflationary pressures eased further in China and the industrial sector again recorded strong growth. … China will boost domestic consumption to offset an export slowdown and allow for faster gains in the renminbi to tame inflation. We also see consumer stocks benefitting from rising incomes. Among consumer stocks favoured are Dairy Farm International and, within energy, companies such as CNOOC.”

Mobius has about 20% gross exposure to China across his portfolios, he says. And he thinks the country’s currency will gain in prominence in coming years. “Despite global reservations stemming from China’s status as a developing country and its cautious approach to monetary policy, it is very possible that the renminbi could become a global reserve currency by 2020,” he says. “The renminbi might potentially replace the role of the Japanese yen, given that its usage was driven by Japan’s former economic dominance.”

“It’s time for a fresh look at housing. My conviction level does not match that in 2006, but I do think the tide is turning for housing and that the bottom is largely in,” Sonders writes on Schwab’s web site. She says a myriad of factors, including significant recent upturns in both existing and pending home sales, a rebound in construction activity, big declines in housing supply, and record affordability all contribute to her take.

“When combining record-low mortgage rates with flattish income growth and lower prices, you have record-high affordability,” she says. “In fact, the burden of new mortgage debt has never been lower. … Record-low mortgage rates, an improving jobs picture, greater credit access and rising demand for apartments are all driving [housing] starts.”

Sonders says housing is also returning to its pre-bubble state, one in which housing performance is largely regional. “One of the key characteristics of housing going forward brings us back to one of its key characteristics historically, save for the bubble period: housing is becoming ‘local’ again,” she says. “During the real-estate bubble’s inflation and subsequent bursting, housing could be analyzed nationally and somewhat monolithically. The rising tide was lifting all (house) boats, and when the tide went out, it took everything with it. But what we’re beginning to see is a broadening of conditions, with a widening spread between the have and have-not regions of the country.”

Sonders also says that while renting has taken the lead over owning in the real estate market, that won’t last forever. “A longer-term story about rent versus own is that rising rents will eventually push would-be buyers to purchase homes — a process could begin sooner than many expect,” she writes.

There are still problems with the housing market, Sonders notes, saying that one is that real mortgage rates are still too high. But overall, she seems to be optimistic, saying she thinks we may see housing actually contribute positively to gross domestic product in 2012 for the first time since the mid-2000s.

Fosback, who served as head of the Institute for Econometric Research for three decades, has a “long and eminent a record”, according to MarketWatch’s Mark Hulbert. Hulbert notes that in the latest Fosback’s Fund Forecaster newsletter, Fosback says his econometric model is calling for the stock market to rise by 19% over the next 12 months, and 89% over the next five years — that’s almost 14% annualized.

Fosback’s model uses several indicators that he has found to have predictive value, Hulbert says, and right now Fosback says the major underlying issues that will drive the U.S. market higher are “domestic corporate profits, valuations of domestic stocks, and Federal Reserve policy.” He says corporate profitability is at an all-time high, but market P/E ratios are back where they were in 1990.

As for the European debt crisis, Fosback doesn’t think it will take down U.S. markets, saying all the talk in the media about Europe is little more than “sleight of hand: Look over there … while the real action is right here.”

“The question is: What have we lost?” Shiller asks in an interview with IndexUniverse. “We’ve lost some kind of mass-production industrial capability. But I’m not sure that’s not strong for the country in the future. The U.S. has a remarkable tradition of entrepreneurship and creativity. It’s still originating all these social networking websites. It’s the kind of thing that we do, that represents American culture.”

Shiller discusses the U.S.’s employment troubles. “Outsourcing of jobs is part of the problem. Information technology, too, is replacing jobs,” he says. “Apple has very few employees compared to GM. These are all broad long-term factors.”

Shiller has talked and written a lot about the importance of “animal spirits” in the markets. And, while clouds continue to hang over the investing world, he doesn’t seem to think that investing is dead. “There’s a lot of hostility toward finance, and Occupy Wall Street exemplifies this,” he says. “But I don’t think that it’s really taking hold. People still realize that finance is necessary.”

According to CNBC.com, Bespoke says in its 2012 outlook report that it expects stocks to rise 11%, and perhaps more, in 2012 as investors realize how attractive valuations are. “The S&P 500 is currently trading below its historical average P/E and P/B ratios, and these ratios are also at their lowest levels in the careers of a large percentage of money managers,” Bespoke strategists Paul Hickey and Justin Walters wrote. “While the current level of earnings is by no means guaranteed, the economic backdrop in terms of the US economy remains stable to positive. … There is no denying the fact that the recovery has been tepid, but the manufacturing sector has been a pocket of strength, while the employment picture  is really beginning to show improvement.”

At the start of 2012, the S&P 500 traded at a P/E multiple of 13, which is below the 80-year average of 15 — and lower than it’s been at any time since 1990, according to Bespoke, CNBC reports. In addition, Bespoke’s data shows the index’s price-to-book ratio is 2.05; the average P/B since the late 1970s is 2.43. And, the S&P’s dividend yield is higher than the 10-year Treasury yield — something that, aside from the period of the credit crisis, hasn’t happened since before 1960, Hickey and Walters say.