And you want all this in an answer on Yahoo?

Go to your library or bookstore, get a couple books on investing, and read them. The complete idiots guides are a good place to start, - they don't asume any prior knowledge.

Websites such as investopedia.com, insidermonkey, thestreet, zacks, bloomberg, reuters, marketwatch. Follow twitter accounts of firms such as AllianceBernstein, ValkCorp, BlackRock, TRowe Price. They will answer all your questions.

Stocks in general have been solid investments. That is, as the economy has grown, so too have corporate earnings, and so have stock prices.

you should watch mad money on cnbc every night. you'll be an expert in no time. also, check out investopedia.com

i have no idea how the stock market works and would love to learn it. Help with key terms (such as Capitalization in terms of economics, how long is a quarter and other key terms) and how charts/ graphs work, how to invest, and everything else one would need to know if they were an expert